he that in literature is not simple and obvious fidelity to tlie specific fact or event he to appreciate that the truth of art like the of lies in its accuracy in representing truth in the abstract he to appreciate the of the nursery question which asked only for the literal fact and he begins to comprehend something of the au excellent illustration for practical use is a poem like how they brought the good news j from to any live wholesome boy is sure to with the swing and of the verse the sense of the open air the excitement the doubt the hope the climax it is easy to lead the class on to consider how such an experience would be and to go on from this to point out that the poem does not describe a literal actual occurrence but that it is a expression of the zest and of a superb all but ride with the added excitement of being responsible for the freedom or even the lives of the folk of a whole city the first feeling of the class on learning that a ride was not taken is sure to be one of disappoint ment it is better to meet this frankly and to for it by interest in the em talks on teaching literature of feeling one great source of the lack of interest in literature at the present time is that the material practical character of the age makes it difficult for the general reader to respect anything but the fact literature is apt to present itself to the hard headed young fellow of the public school as a lot of make stuff and � at best a matter of rather frivolous ent the way of this common attitude of mind is to the appreciation of wliat fact in art really means to cultivate a clear perception of how a poem or a tale may be the truest thing in the world although with imaginary personages and with incidents never happened ah an of the sense in which literature is a sort of of human feeling somewhat more remote from the ordinary life of a child may be taken another poem of s the lost leader my experience is that most youth of the school age start out by being able to little or nothing of this by a little however � beginning perhaps as simply as with the way in which a lad feels when a school fellow he had faith in has failed in a crisis has for some personal ge gone over to the other party in a school election or of how the class would feel if some teacher who had been with the students in some effort to obtain an extension of privilege to which the scholars felt themselves to be honestly entitled had for see ms purposes swung over to the opposite side the whole thing may be home the may be led on to imagine what are the feelings of a youth eager for the cause of freedom and the of man when one whom he looked to as a leader one in whom he has had absolute faith deserts the rank for honors or for money once the young minds are on the right track it is by no means impossible to bring them to see pretty clearly that in the poem is not the question o� a particular man or a particular cause but that is dealing with a universal expression of the pain that would come to any man to any one of them in believing that the leader who had been most trusted and had in reality been unworthy and had betrayed the cause his followers believed he would gladly die to defend these two examples from i have taken almost at and not because they are unusual in this respect for this quality is the universal property of all real literature and indeed is one of the t ts by which real literature is to be identified any selection which it is worth while to give v at all must have this relation which i have called but of which the true name imaginative and it is certainly one of the import ant parts of anything which in a high sense is properly to be called teaching literature to make the scholars realize and appreciate this the next step is more difficult because far more and i confess frankly that it is all but i talks on teaching literature impossible to propose formal instruction may deal with ia the aim o� � ture is largely the attempt to produce a mood the prime aim of the is to induce in the reader a of feeling which will lead inevitably to the reception of whatever he offers in the same mood in which be offers it in the simplest cases no is needed for even with school boys a ringing to take a simple and obvious example has somewhat the same effect as the dashing swing of martial music whoever comes under its influence falls into the frame of mind in which the ideas of the verse should be received the thoughts are accepted in the spirit in which they were written and the effects of the are as great or greater than the influence of the meaning it is a commonplace to call attention to the part which the melody of poetry or the of prose plays in the effect hut how to aid pupils to a to this language of form is not the least of the problems of the teacher � the means by which an author or his mood do not always appeal to lie young indeed beyond a certain limited extent they appeal to most only after careful cultivation in the understanding of art language it is as idle to suppose that literature appeals to everybody and without education aa it is to suppose that or 