Year: 1873

their own.natural and Characteristic ways
of expression.


The foundation of vital expression
should be laid in the recitation-room.
Every child should be encouraged, in his
recitation, to place his own best idea of
the subject in his own language before
the class. How often the teacher cents
in" with a correction, distracts the childs
attention from the subject to the words,
and makes a complete muddle of his
effort. Let the child give his own best
view, in his own way, at first, and, when
his expression is corrected, preserve as
much of his own original style as may be-
Many youth has been offered up at the
shrine of grammatical propriety. A style
of recitation in which every child should
be encouraged to develop his own pecu-
liar mode of expression and to respect
the originality of speech in his associates,
would be an excellent preparation for
writing


A good teacher will also perpetually
study the mental habits of his pupils,
and try to learn in what things each is
most deeply interested Every opportu-
nifty to overhear the talk of children with
one another, and note their characteris-
tic ways of putting things" should be
improved. If the teacher can learn what
particular thing any child is deeply con-
cerned in, and persuade it to talk to him
on paper about it, he may secure genu-
inc composition. All instruction about
writing should be feeling after these
topics of vital interest to the scholar.
and the encouragement of the most nat
ural and characteristic way of setting
forth his ideas and feelings about it. Err
rors in handwriting and spelling of
course should always be noticed. The
grammatical correction is matter of far
greater Importance; for we are convinced
that, in a majority of cases, the natural
style of the child is destroyed in the
effort to reduce his performance to for
NAL grammatical propriety.


We are aware that such an idea would
upset great many very elaborate and
learned methods of teaching composition,
room essays, and make the whole pro-
cess of developing the art of expression
slow and difficult to the teacher; indeed,
many teachers could make no headway
in this direction. But we are convinced
that apart from a certain amount of
needful instruction that everybody re-
quires in the preparation of business pa
pers and the formalities of correspond
ence, it would be better that nothing
were done than many present methods
insisted on. An absurdly disproportion-
GU POA OeSAASOi III Jul SOOhGA 10 HOboSh-
ed to making young "orators" of school
boys and "authoresses" of school girls
The American people are being strangled
in a muddy ocean of worthless ''gab' and
worse writing, and, what with our eter-
nal speechifying and scribbling, it is
marvel that we know anything. Happy
is. the parent who can keep his children
away from the bewilderment of children's
books, newspapers, magazines, and new
novels, until they have the opportunity
for fresh, natural, and wholesome OBJ
servation and feeling of the life about
them, and learn to speak truthfully of
the things they really know. The labors
of our best teachers often come to moth
ing, because their scholars are drenched
in this turbid food or crazed with the
desire for sensational writing and speak
ing. Harriet Martineau congratulated
Daniel Webster on the wonderful facility
of speech among public men in America,
Madam said he, "it is our great nation
al misfortune" The grand aim of the
teacher should be to rescue American
children from this fog-land of words and
cloudy fancies, plant their feet on reali
ties in the world of nature and the world
of souls, and develop, in every youth,
that form of expression, through speech
and pen, which most itly and forcibly
sets forth his own genuine apprehension
of the world in which he lives.


A D. MAYO.


SPRINGFIELD, Mass.