Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1898-12-08
The Use of Words.

II. F. crutcher, Of Hot Spring, in Inland Journal.
There is nothing that the common
school can give child that will be of
greater Influence and value in life than 4
a mastery Of the English language
BY mastery / mean control of its +
wonderful resources, both descriptive !
and expressive.
Children readily acquire vocabu.
larry and many teachers content them
selves with allowing the child to exc
press his constantly increasing thought
store with this limited and therefore
hackneyed word supply. How much
better and wiser is it to make this
meagre stock bat the beginning OF
constantly growing and variously rich
fund.
Frequently we hear men who bring
forth inspiring thought hat loses all
its force because Of inadequate express
sion. And on the contrary, how we
hang on the tongues Of men who deftly
handle words and seem never to need
an apt expression, | remember once
listening to MIR. George KEENAN,, the
Siberian traveller. Wonderful, indeed,
was his mastery Of words. How viz
idly he brought before his hearers
without any external effort, the sad
scenes Of Siberian prison life. Sim
pie, beautiful, well ch, sen words, but
never will forget their impressions,
If this then be a true power Of lam
guage, how assiduously should teach
ers cultivate children III the expires
sion of thought
First give the young mind the con
tent and then aid in is elegant utter
anee Words must ever be reverenced
only as the instruments Of thought.
Words present SO many nice distinc-
tons and shades in meaning that we
readily recognize cultured person
by careful discrimination in their
use. So in the school room it is nee
essary to aid pupils Of all ages in &C
quiring words and using them to ex-
press thought, the more original the
better.
An excellent opportunity for i'm
parting words, and at the same time a
knowledge OF their meanings, occurs
in connection with object lessons. But
} in language work the time is still
more oppoitune since one can legiti.
mately make word study at times pre-.
eminent. On such occasions | send
all OF class of beginners to the black
board. | then select such an object
as | deem best for my purpose and
: have il put in each pupils hand
After they have carefully examined it,
| bid them turn 10 the board and write
II sentence which shall embudy the
; point OF quality that appealed to them
When pupil whites IA sentence it is
not TO be appropriated by another. ]
f especially insist that the object be
called by its proper name, not an ''it"
nor "this." When each has a com
plrted sentence we examine them all
, in connection with the object, and see
: if they be app ltcahle. Once ! gave Il
class complete plant, root, stem and
flower. One little girl wrote, che
flower is green" showing that the
child mind confused the plaut with
the Hover. A boy wrote, "the flower
is in blossom" On this some discus
sion occurred "What do we often
say instead Of blossom?" The answer
came quite promptly, Flower" Would
you say that flower was in howef?"
Finally, some one suggested that 1.-THE
plant was in blossom" SO the sem
tence was amended 1t is well To have
as many synonyms afterwards inserted
in the sentences as the children may
suggest and you may see to be correct.
As the class advances many other
me MS will present themselves for fa.
mlliarizing the young minds with
words.
But now is the work DOLLY begun.
The children must be taught to use
discriminatory the words cleaned,
and TO use them as often as they can.
So have them keep little lists where
they will be easily accessible, as in
note books. Too many new words
must not be allowed at time, and the
teacher must look out for occasions
when a new word will come in pat. !"
Spelling should also be connected with
this word gathering. In short, the
words with their meaning or synonyms
make excellent spelling lists.