Eagerness to answer questions combined with thoughtful answering. Good manners and right conduct generally. Thoroughness in work. In the recitation the battle is lost or won. Success here almost invariably means a good school.
Failure here means failure all along the line.
The teacher's purpose must not be merely to hear the children say over some things they may have learned from books, but she must look upon the recitation as the chance of her life as a teacher, and as the chance of the child's life in its development. All things must be conducive to this end. In low tones. Not too rapidly. In the recitation.