The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-27

They Become, SO That when
They Get to College They Cam
not Read Aloud at AII-How to
Teach the Subject.
Miss Marion Jean Craig gave her
first talk on Teaching Reading as an
Art" in the High school assembly hall
yesterday afternoon before a large
gathering of teachers of the St Paul
schools. Miss Craig's address was in
terestng and instructive, and it is
doubtful if there was any one present
who was not benefited by it or who
went away without a number of bright
and vital new ideas on child training.
Miss Craig said: I'VE must first con-
slider the fundamental principals Of
art. Art is a revelation Of a soul, an
Interpretation to a life 1t shows US
beyond an ideal. 1t tells US something.
An artist sees something in life and
with his Imagination idealizes it, in
marble, music, on canvas or in a book.
In the expression of an ideal there
must be something to say What
thought is brought to being by the
reading? Back of the spoken words,
what is the thought? Art has no self
consciousness. Reading is not a per-
Torrance. 1t is a revelation of the
truth; children can be taught this.
THE artist has a relation to his pub
lie. One is not reading to oneself,
but to others. There is a great deal of
difference. Art is true to nature; it
must be. It idealizes nature, to be
sure But great art must be true to
nature. 1t is a difficult thing to be
true to nature. Why, it is difficult to
answer. The reading in the public
schools is very poor. In the second
and third grades it is pretty poor, and
It grows steadily worse till the ma
5ority Of the students in the colleges
cannot read aloud at all. Teachers in
the colleges testify to this. The rem
edy is with the teachers.
stimulate creative powers rather
than initiative. The teacher must love
the study of reading to see more in it.
Children are magnificent eIocution
masters. Watch the child at pIav-
Listen to 1t tell stories. Watch him
as he turns a broom into a horse and
plays with it; or turns chair upside
down and plays it's a ship. Listen to
the children as they play stories Is
the eye dull, the hand still? No, there
is a light in the eyes, a grace in the
BODY, which comes as a response to
the light within.
ASK the child what it is doing at
play. We are playing pretend
Bring the imagination into art in
struction. Let's PRETEND is the basis
OF all art. No one ever tires of let's
pretend It is the Imagination which
makes life beautiful, which keeps us
young. 1t is the eye Of our religious
nature. Without imagination life is q
waste.
observe then two principles in art,
imagination and response to that i'm
aginatiOn. Try to have the child get
hold of the ideal instead Of the words.
Say Children shut your eyes, and
give them a picture to idealize-a
horse. Ask the children what they see.
Seine will say a brown horse, a street
car horse, a racing horse. Or say a
cottage-some will see a cottage away
out IN the green country, another here
and another there. Then develop the
senses. Here is a rose, how many can
see it, can smell it, can feel it's velvety
leaves? Or a % ct; how many can tell
the difference between the odor Of the
violet and the rose. The sense to smell
must be very keen to detect doors thus
Or the taste-a lemon, a watermelon.
How many can taste them? How
many can hear the bell ringing? They
innust be taught to observe. Very few
tPeople stop to realize how much Is
iueeded in sense training.
i when one develops the senses one
gets infinitely more out of literature.
We should always ask ourselves or the
child can we hear the man chopping