But the right word fitly spoken is what I mean. The rich strong word that exactly voices the sentiment of the heart, and wings into the outer world the exact idea of the mind is the word that should be selected. Such words are thought in action; they are the weapons of the soul; with them its battles are won by convincing logic, entrancing eloquence, fascinating conversation and persuasive appeal. It is this right use of words that Dr. Nightingale has in view, when he says: "Words are the amunition in the battery of intelligence; steam in the engines of thought; true coin in the exchange marts of scholastic culture, the common carriers of all thought, and the drawn swords in all strife." If this is true a rich and extended vocabulary is of great importance, that every noble thought of the child may enrobe itself in the language that befits it. For while a blemish in a diamond may be removed by polishing, a defect in language affects the very fiber of the human soul, and defies all ordinary efforts at removal.

can

In extending the child's vocabulary, we enlarge his ability to set forth his thought in suitable oral or written language. This properly includes three things-the spelling, the pronunciation, and the ability to use the word as an instrument of thought. It is essential that these three go hand in hand, at least in all schools above the lowest primary. The power to use words effectively is greatly impaired in many schools by teaching the child to spell the word without giving him a mastery of its use. For it is the use of words rather than their spelling, that makes them circulating mediums of thought. And words you spell, but cannot use are like dollars stored in a vault; they accomplish nothing. It is not the spelling alone of the word, but the spelling and the use of it, that makes it part of the child's vocabulary. In extending his vocabulary he should be taught to syllabize, as an aid both in spelling and pronunciation. The child learns to pronounce words by hearing them pronounced correctly or by consulting the dictionary. He learns to use them by gleaning their meaning from the printed page, by hearing others use them appropriately, or by a study of the dictionary. Out of these facts arise three suggestions that will greatly aid in enlarging and enriching his vocabulary. (1) In diction and pronunciation the teacher should be a correct model for the child. As she uses a new word, he is likely to use it. (2) The words in the spelling books for intermediate and grammar grades should all be separated into syllables and marked for pronunciation; and each should be used in a sentence that will clearly set forth its meaning. In the absence of this the teacher in pronouncing all words to be spelled, should use each in a sentence. (3) In the grammar grades and the high school more time should be given to the study of the dictionary to give the child a purer diction and the ability to appreciate the delicate shades of meaning contained in words. Our language is especially rich in synonyms, words expressing approximately, but not exactly, the same idea. And richness and purity of diction call for the word that will exactly express the shade of meaning desired. This study must not de

generate into hair-splitting distinctions and puerile subtleties, but to that exactness which enriches speech. A copious and correct speech avoids monosyllabicism on the one side, and stilted polysyllabicism on the other. Accurate and scholarly diction calls forth the right word in the right place and avoids all clumsy expression. And this study of the dictionary will greatly aid the child in acquiring the power to use English words in their proper places.

Then if we teach empty words without their corresponding ideas, we are likely to illustrate Pope's words in the Dunciad, and place our schools on a level with those whose work called forth his scathing criticism.

Since man from beasts by words is known,
Words are man's province, words we teach alone.

*

We ply the memory, we load the brain,
Bind rebel wit, and double chain on chain.
Confine the thoughts, to exercise the breath,
And keep them in the pale of words tili death."

Beneath the surface of Pope's fine satire is a lesson in pedagogy that it is well for us to heed. We may kill the thought as well as the interest by exercising the breath in spelling meaningless symbols. Such misguided efforts would reduce language to a mere jargon of words. But effective work in orthography always presents the jeweled gems of thought along with the beautiful caskets in which they were first placed by the philologists. Separated, each is useless, but united they form one's vocabulary. The child's vocabulary, then, includes only the words he can use in oral and written language. And it follows that a rich and extended vocabulary is one of the most important of all aids in acquiring a fluent and facile use of the mother tongue.

(5) Another stepping stone to better English is the oral language lesson. The importance of oral work in the primary grades is often under. estimated. There seems to be a notion that much of the language should be written. In practical life oral speech is far more important than written. The use of the former is a thousand times that of the latter. Habit is stronger than instruction, and the habits of expression formed early by the child remain in spite of the knowledge of syntax he acquires later. As a result many persons who can write in almost faultless English are unable to give utterance to a dozen thoughts without the most glaring errors in syntax.

The main object of language instruction in the primary school is to give the child habits of correct oral expression. Since the child can talk before he can write, and much faster than he can write, the oral lesson must be regarded as the chief instrument of instruction in such schools. The child enters school with incorrect habits. If you cannot remove them and form correct ones, all other instruction will be of little use in oral speech. The best work that can be done in the elementary school is to note the incorrect habits, and then induce the child to talk in such a way as will remove them. This oral work may proceed along many lines. (1) Place an object before the child. Train him to observe its size, shape, color, characteristics and use. Then induce him to talk about it as his observations suggest. This will train both mind and tongue. (2) Place a picture be

fore him. Train him to read in it, if possible, the artist's meaning, and also what his own im agination suggests. Then induce him to talk about it. This has one advantage over the first, it cultivates the imagination, and when you touch the imagination, says the late Dr. White, you unlock the powers of expression. (3) Tell the child in faultless English a fascinating story. The tone and language should be such as will expand and enrich both his morals and his vocabulary. Then let him reproduce the story, using as much of the choice language as possible. This trains the memory and the morals, as well as the art of expression. And in all this oral work the teacher should remember that clearness of thought, facility of utterance, accuracy of expression, and richness and purity of diction are just as important as in written language.

Then there is too much written work in the school. Dr. Rice says that all the instruction given in a day could be done in two hours. Much of the written work takes time and gives no educative return. Arithmetic without pencils or crayon in some primary schools would save much time and give the pupils much more ability. And the endless round of copying and writing language work in the elementary school requires time, saps the vitality of the child; it is often injurious to his eyes, leads to incorrect habits of posture and pen holding, and gives very little educational return. The oral language lesson in economizing time and effort, and in giving correct habits of oral expression, is a most important stepping-stone to better English. And its value and possibilities as such in the elementary school have scarcely been realized

(6) Another important stepping stone to higher planes of linguistic culture is the reading and study of the masterpieces of good English. The value of this aid none can doubt. Next to the child's association with cultured people in the home and in the school no other agency is so potent in the enrichment and cultivation of the child's habitual use of English as literature. The child absorbs his mother tongue from that part of his environment in which he is deeply interested. If we can create an interest in good literature, and bring an abundant supply of it into his environment, we thereby create the conditions in which the process of absorption may, nay, must take place. Literature is a most impressive teacher. All unconsciously the child is trained by it into the automatic use of a correct and copious English. It is the business of the school to put this effective teacher into right relations with the child, that all obstructions to this work may be removed. And the most important phases of this right relationship are those of environment and interest. Through the agency of books, choice gems, stories and poems we can create a taste for the best, and if possible supply a good literary environment where the child may mingle with the great and wise, roam, unmolested, the vast treasures where wisdom's priceless gems are scattered free." Mr. Lowell once said, "The Greek classics are crammed with life." So are many of the English classics. And the child that feels the thrill of that life is influenced by it. The truth and beauty of that

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life, coined by the great masters of thought and expression into their choicest gems, must all unconsciously, through the power of imitation and absorption, become a part of the child's life. His life meets the author's at the glow points of interest, and part of the richness and beauty of the larger life is transferred to the child as his permanent possession.

The influence of literature on the great writers is very suggestive. The reading of two books made Hans Christian Andersen a great author, and gave to the world one of its brightest literary stars. Milton from childhood read the choicest literature of all schools. It is said that he was familiar with the best classics before he was twelve, and his fame as a writer was secure and his name immortal before he was thirty. Bryant at nineteen astonished the poets of the old world with his Thanatopsis, but he escaped the modern language lesson and much of the technical grammar while he devoured voraciously the best in literature. Hawthorne studied classics before he produced them. John Burroughs ascribes to Emerson his improved literary style, while "Mathew Arnold taught him clear thinking and clean writing." "Charles Lamb devoted much attention to early English literature." Speaking of the education of his talented, yet erratic sister, who aided him so much in the preparation of the "Tales from Shakespeare," he says: "She was tumbled early, by accident or design, into a spacious closet of good old English reading, and browsed at will upon that fair and wholesome pasturage." The flower of Athens' best culture, thronged the Academic Gardens to hear the sweet speech of the master, "melodious as the song of the cicadas in the trees above his head." Yet, Plato lived before the days o language lessons and technical grammar, and four hundred years before the first rhetoric. Addison was the pride of the London literary world at twenty-three, but his father was a "voluminous and an agreeable writer," and the boy lived in an atmosphere of literature and culture. In speaking of the dignity that marked the expression of some of the earliest writers, a modern critic remarks: "Their speech was noble because they lunched with Plutarch and supped with Plato."

These examples are very significant. And while our children in the schools are only common mortals, when we think of them in connection with these great stars, yet the same law holds good. And if they are permitted to lunch and sup with the grand masters of thought and expression, they are sure to absorb some of their force and elegance.

After selecting the gems, poems, stories and books for this work, the question naturally arises, how shall we use them that the best results may be secured? The best answer to this question is that the child needs the facts of literature rather than facts about it. The value of this subject is mainly in its content, not its form; in its subject matter, not its history. The husks and shells of form, and facts that throw light on the history of the subject are important in their place, but their value is as nothing when compared to the kernels of thought. The child must be fed mainly on the facts of literature spiced with the simple his

torical dressing that will interest him. He must get the subtle aroma of good English as it comes to him bottled up in the clearest thought and the choicest gems. He is to read, memorize and think about the best and absorb as much of it as possible. He may not be able to comprehend all of the wealth of thought and the beauty of expression in a gem of literature, but he can apprehend and absorb part of it. He cannot drink the well dry, but he can slake his thirst and make part of its contents his own. The study of literature is one of the great stepping stones to better English. And the teacher who would do most for the child must remember that the facts of the subject are better than facts about it; that content is better than form; that habits of expression are caught as well as taught; that apprehension precedes comprehension, and that absorption is the most potent of all processes by which the child is to acquire a mastery of the mother tongue.

(7) Composition is an important steppingstone to better English. In it the purpose is to put the thought into the best possible English. All the pupil's knowledge of the fundamental facts of language is brought to bear upon the written sentence or paragraph. The mind of the child sits in judgment upon the expression. It demands clearness, force, and elegance. The composition may not embody these qualities to any great extent, but the mind that makes the effort is lifted toward them, for facility in any art comes not so much from practice, as from careful practice on the highest level of the pupils' best effort. This practice in composition is one of the greatest aids to linguistic excellence. And no teacher can expect a child to be able to express his thought freely and forcibly in choice phraseology and terse English without abundant practice in the art of composition.

(1) One of the simplest forms of composition is the dictation exercise. This exercise is exceedingly valuable in helping the child to break up a current of thought on any subject into suitable sentence units. It also aids in the mastery of the mechanical forms of written language. In short, no other exercise is superior to dictation in teaching the form and meaning of words and in fixing the rules for punctuation and for the use of capitals.

(2) The reproduction of stories is an important phase of composition work in the lower grades. The story should be told in choice English, and a few important words from it, that will enlarge and enrich the child's vocabulary, written on the board and thoroughly taught to him. These words should be placed and grouped in the order in which they occur in the story, that they will not only serve as suggestive keynotes to its reproduction, but aid also in its division into paragraphs.

(3) Letter-writing is another important phase of composition. And in this it is well to note that the letter includes more than the heading, address and the subscription. These are important in their place, but it is the body of the letter that is valuable as a composition exercise. Some teachers think the work of letter writing is completed when the child can punctuate correctly these formal parts. This is a mistake. The child is just prepared then to

begin the work. Do not neglect the form, and be sure to emphasize the content.

(4) In the intermediate and grammar grades the paragraph should be given some attention. At first it will be very imperfect, but with much practice it may be made a unit of composition. As such it will have an introduction, à discussion and a conclusion. Its unity will be as complete in itself as the unity of the composition.

(5) The personal narrative is an important aid in composition. It may be real or fictitious, giving an account of some experience or some imaginary trip or adventure. It is one of the easiest forms of composition. The material is within easy reach of the child, and its personal character breaks up the stiff formality that is liable to mark all early efforts to compose. It is always one of the most popular forms of composition. The child experiences a keen delight in relating what he has done, where he has been and what he has seen. The teacher who will give it a trial will find the personal narrative a simple and yet a most valuable part of composition.

(6) Description is another important part of composition. This is simply the portrayal of the characteristics or appearance of anything by means of words. It is perhaps a little more difficult than simple narration, and in practice should follow rather than precede it. To describe well is as difficult as it is important. For it calls for careful observation and accurate delineation. And yet it holds such an important place in almost every variety of composition that every child at some stage of his language work should have some practice in it. The child's imagination is likely to magnify and distort things, and great care must be exercised lest his description, by the use of too many superlatives, overdraw and exaggerate the real facts.

(7) The argument is a form of composition that may be used to advantage in the eighth grade and the high school. It is a statement of reasons that establish a definite conclusion. Force and clearness in expression are its essential characteristics. The child at this age may not reason with much logic, but in all debate the purpose is so definite, that the language part of it is easier for him than is generally imagined. Children have their opinions on simple subjects, and in the interests of both logic and language they should be trained to express them. On the play ground they are constantly affirming or denying, and the argument is such an important weapon of linguistic warfare that every child should be trained to construct it.

(8) After the child has had some practice in these simpler forms, he is ready to try the more formal composition. This embraces several paragraphs, and is a unit in itself including an introduction, a discussion, and a conclusion. The production of a formal composition naturally subdivides into three distinct parts, the subject matter, the order of its arrangement, and its written expression. The first and second are the joint product of the teacher and the class. Together they suggest the thought and arrange the outline for the composition. Each main division in the outline will

suggest the subject matter for a paragraph. It is wise to select simple subjects within the range of the child's thought. Care must be taken if you select historic, geographic or encyclopedic subjects, lest the pupil learn to compile rather than compose. This can generally be avoided by having the composition written in the school under the immediate supervision of the teacher. After the subject is selected one lesson period is spent in its development. The field of fact around it is carefully examined and explored. The teacher directs the thought of the class, and suggests the lines of investigation. Under skillful guidance the pupils think, discover, conclude; they select and arrange material, and a rough skeleton outline is prepared to give form to the composition, and to direct the child's thought at each point as he writes. This concludes the first and second stages of the work, and it is well to wait for a week or ten days before writing, that the child may have time for reading and thinking on the subject. The third stage of the work is mainly that of the child. The outline is before the pupil, but the thought it suggests and its written expression are purely his own. He grasps the pen with pleasure because interest, preparation and arrangement have robbed the formal composition of its terrors. The result is a set of compositions from a class; each writes the same form and general thought content because of the outline, but each coined in the individual expression of the child who wrote it.

The correction of these compositions is an important part of the work. It is wise to have one member of a class write on the board that all may get the benefit of the public criticism of it. As the class writes, the teacher should move from seat to seat, making suggestions, and correcting and preventing errors. If all the rules for punctuation and for capitals belonging to the grade are taught early in September, the pupil can apply them during the year, and save the teacher much of the work of correction. All misspelled words should be corrected and used for special drills. All grammatical errors should be collected in a book for that purpose, and then made the basis of a lesson in grammar before the next composition is written. It is wise to place the initials of the pupil in this book opposite the errors he has made, that you may bring those errors directly to his notice in the class. After the compositions have been corrected individually by the teacher, the child should rewrite them in a book for that purpose. This plan of correcting compositions requires some time and much work on the part of the teacher. But it will bring its return. The individual child is brought face to face with his imperfect English, and he soon acquires some power to direct his own thought, and to select the language with which to express it.

The number of compositions to be written in the year must vary with the grade and capacity of the children. The reproduction of the story, the writing of personal narratives, simple descriptions of short letters, require little previous preparation on the part of the child, and one or two such exercises can be written each week. But the formal composition is different. takes the language period of one day to gather and arrange the material; another for the writ

It

ing, and a third for the lesson in false syntax that springs from it. It thus takes three days to write and correct each one, and one every ten days would devote three-tenths of the child's time to composition. This is not too much. The teachers who require but three or four compositions in a year should never find fault with the childrens' defective English. They might just as well try to fatten a turkey by feeding it four times a month as to make a pupil clear, strong and accurate in composition by writing four times a year. The way to learn to write is to write. And the teacher who has no better plan, and who will faithfully and persistently follow the imperfect one suggested above, will find that there is, at least in the higher grades, no other stepping-stone to better English that is more important than composition.

(8) The formal study of technical grammar and rhetoric is a valuable stepping-stone to better English. But it is to be noted that this belongs to the seventh and eight grades and the high school, and that the child's habits of expression are largely formed before the influence of these studies can be brought to bear upon them. They put him in possession of the fundamental facts of language, and these facts aid him in understanding good literature, and in critically passing upon his own English or that of another. White says that English grammar at the proper age trains the analytic judgment, develops the power to interpret language, and establishes a standard for the correction of errors in one's speech and in that of others; but it is of little value to the child in acquiring the art of expressing with facility what he knows. Compayre, quoting Herder, says 'Grammar must be learned through language, not language through grammar." And Spencer declares that as grammar was made after language, so it must be taught after it." Marcel thinks that grammar is not the stepping-stone, but the finishing instrument." These eminent authorities seem to agree that technical grammar is something in a course in English, but not everything. And the thoughtful teacher cannot fail to see its true value. He will not regard it as a fetich to be worshipped with blind adoration, or a pariah to be despised and shunned, but rather as a valuable servant in the work of interpretation, and as a judicial critic that passes upon errors, and ever holds aloft the standards of accuracy and elegance. And while it does not greatly aid in the mastery of the mother tongue, and contributes little in the fluent and facile use of the vernacular, yet it throws light on the science of language, gives a logical mental discipline, establishes the rules of syntax, and furnishes a key to the interpretation of good literature. And hence it must be regarded as one of the stepping-stones to better English.

(9) The last stepping-stone to good English and perhaps not the least in importance is the literary society. And it is to be regretted that it is in so many communities passing into "a state of innocuous desuetude." In it the child studies and declaims the choicest and best, and tries to exress his own thought in terse, strong, accurate language. These efforts are rich in their returns. The masters of debate have ever been masters of logic and of clear, strong Eng

to write was announced to me, I was reminded of that modest request from my

twenty-five years has been marked by increasing discussion, uncertainty, and doubt, among educators, as to what subjects ought to be studied in all or in any of our schools; and when and how much if at all.

The problem of English will always be important. For syllables," says Selden, " govern the world." The tongue is sharper and "the pen mightier than the sword;" and he who is master of these subtle weapons will help rule the race. The "power to think well, speak well, and write well," is the crowning glory of all education. It means facility, fluency, accuracy, clearness, force and elegance in the use of language. And while it is the chief purpose of the school to give this power, yet it is almost as rare as it is desirable. It is important, then, that every teacher shall have a clear and comprehensive view of this whole subject; that he shall see definitely the causes of defective Eng: lish, the aims of all instruction in this department, and the stepping stones by which all may rise to a better use of the vernacular; and that all the lines of language-work, the formal, the literary, and the creative, shall be carried forward, side by side, each supplementing, aiding and correcting, yet not superseding or overshadowing the others, until the pupils in all institutions from the elementary school to the college, shall be given a more complete mastery of the mother-tongue.

HIGH SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY.

The following paper on this subject was read by Dr. W. D. McFarland, of the Academical Department of the Pittsburg High School:

You do not, of course, expect me to talk to the point of this topic. To do that would be an unpardonable piece of presumption, since for the past ten years no writer on this topic has so far as I have observed-ventured to do more than to talk at it and around it. I shall modestly follow in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessors.

Some years ago a young girl in one of my college classes said to me in a leisure hour, "Professor, tell me all about the theories of the 'Higher Criticism' of the Bible." There were then only a few more than six hundred diverse, and in many cases, contradictory theories about the whole or parts of the Bible; and, generally speaking, no two theories nor even two critics agreed. When the topic upon which I was expected

Committees of Fifteen, Committees of Ten, District Associations of Colleges and Secondary Schools, with annual meetings, and newspaper and magazine writers, have all been busily advocating every imaginable sort of theory in education. To-day there is scarcely anything left about which there is uniform agreement. During these years the entire school system has been theoretically overturned and torn in pieces, from the kindergarten-which did not exist when some of us went to school-to the university, which name is nowadays applied to almost anything above the grammar school. The high school has come in for its share, and rather more than its share, perhaps of the slashing criticism that has poured its broadsides into everything older than yesterday in education.

And I am expected to jump into this caldron of discussion and criticism, and bring up the elements of an ideal “High School Course of Study" that shall please everybody and suit all conditions! It would be easier to begin at the beginning of school life, and lay out a new course from kindergarten to university. That has been attempted in the "Proposed Extended High School Course" that is to be discussed at several interstate conferences this year. Some considerations that effect the general situation are worth noting, in order to clear the way.

1. The idea has become epidemic that the school methods of two generations ago were too severe. They are stigmatized as "dry" and "uninteresting; and for a generation a large part of the energy of the educational world has been devoted to the effort to discover and put in operation some easy and entertaining method of imparting knowledge. This is a perennial epidemic, especially among children of all ages.

2. Of late the educational world has been invaded by the modern and American spirit of haste, which invariably leads to cheapness and sham, and then tries to cover the sham with tinsel and spread eagleism. At the same time, contradictory as it seems, more thoroughness in school work is being demanded. The colleges are every year demanding more from the high schools, in order that the college course may be shortened; and already the high school courses of study are far too heavily loaded. Many pupils break down, and drop out, and miss their opportunity to get an education. The reaction from this strain, and the disappointment of failure, both tend to create a desire for some easier way. But the increased demands upon the high school com