intelligent criticism of the one incongruous word in these lines by Wordsworth.

And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine,
A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
A Traveler between life and death.

To a large extent, appreciation of In Memoriam depends upon accurate and scientific knowledge. Judgment of its esthetic level depends upon keen thought. The frequently quoted quatrain describing the four methods of measuring the passage of time becomes really clear only after the exercise of thought.

Just recognition of the labored phraseology evolved by Tennyson depends upon the application of thought to the third line. The incongruity becomes apparent at once. Here thought determines a matter of stylistic nicety.

Summary. The past twenty-five years have witnessed many changes in the attitude toward the teaching of English. Traditional conceptions of both content and methods have been subjected to keen investigation. Results have been tested by scientific measurement. Experimentation of every kind has been introduced. Many of the changes have produced so little betterment that they have been discarded. From others have come decided improvement in results.

Through all the endeavors, the aims of the teaching of English have remained the same;-1. Knowledge and

appreciation of literature; 2. Ability to write; 3. Ability to speak; 4. Ability to think. Attainment in all of these is the purpose of instruction in English, for such attainment is a direct contribution towards fitting the pupil for life.

Exercises. See page 345.

CHAPTER II

THE TEACHING OF PROSE FICTION

Interest in romantic literature.-The boy and girl in high school represent in taste the youth of the race. The 'teens delight in romance. Beginning with this fact clearly in mind the teacher should arrange the reading and study of literature to link closely with that natural interest of the pupil. Profiting by observation of children in the home or in the schoolroom, or accepting the testimony of students of child psychology, the teacher will be convinced that the younger high school pupils like romantic stories of some length. Periodicals for adolescents depend upon the continued story. Children to whom stories are told like the never-ending ones. Parents have to develop a skill at improvization and complication similar to the fecundity of the medieval reciters of metrical tales. A director of plays for children reports that his experience finds little response to the short dramas. His appreciative audiences are satisfied only by the long delineation of the adventures of hero and heroine. Nor do the audiences think less of a play because it depicts characters with which they are already familiar. On the contrary they seem to like all the better dramas written around their old friends.

Romantic literature in earlier years.-The application of these facts to the teaching of English is that romantic stories should be included in the course of study, and included early. If it be true that children are not as generally disposed to read as they used to be and should be, and reading is considered a worthy form of mental exercise for

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supposedly educated adults, every endeavor should be made in high school to attract pupils to the value and delight of the printed page. Before the spreading of educational facilities and compulsion drew into the secondary schools such a heterogeneous conglomeration as they draw now, it was true that the pupils had been accustomed to read. Today teachers of English cannot complacently take the reading habit or training for granted. The problem of inculcating a knowledge and appreciation of literature has a novel, difficult factor which was at one time less significant. Skilful instruction in the grades will have done much, but not all. The teacher in high school must appreciate the more difficult point of attack against accumulated inertia, and into the delicate but purposeful approach inject the most winning pedagogical methods and personal enthusiasm.

Teacher's dual point-of-view.-This latter phrase,must not be misunderstood. The mature teacher must be appreciatively and critically far above the level of the class. Fully conscious of this difference between himself and the young high school pupil, the teacher about to present reading should examine the attitude of mind he should be able to assume. He must consider this phase of his work-in fact, practically all phases of teaching-from a dual point of view. As a trained, cultured, mature adult, he must have intellectual capacity, literary taste, and artistic appreciation far above the level of the class he is instructing. Coupled with that equipment, or as an inherent part of it, he must have a peculiar power call it dramatic, if you please of a vicarious yet sympathetic participation in the experiences of his pupils. He must transfer his emphasis from the material to the unfolding of their minds. For some teachers, (we may assume that they are by nature the most gifted and best suited for the profession), this dual rôle is easy to maintain. To others, it is the most difficult readjustment re

quired by the classroom. Some instructors never pass from absorption in the material to interest in the growth of the pupil. Many have intellectual attainments not much beyond the best in the class. This is the kind of teacher who keeps only ten pages ahead of the assignment. Pupils apprehend, dimly or clearly, the limitations of this kind of instructor. Other teachers become so engaged in sympathetic understanding of pupil nature that they neglect the material of the course, and accept as highest achievement whatever the undisciplined offer of the class determines. Not knowledge of material alone, not identification with adolescent life, will produce the best teaching. The dual point of view is the basis for the best results in the course in English.

Qualities of romantic literature.-As romance is so appropriate to the youthful reader, the teacher should know what kind of fiction belongs under this heading. If the qualities become clear in his own mind, he can use them neatly in a class discussion to sow the seeds of literary discrimination. If pupils are asked to tell what a romance is, they will invariably answer that it is a love story. A mature person know's better. The essence of romance is strangeness. Romance in its broad sense is not a kind of literature; it is a quality, a spirit permeating many aspects of literature, music, and graphic art.

The essence of romance is found in the strange, the novel, the unusual, the extraordinary, the extravagant. In the history of the changing fashion of the world's literature, an enthusiasm for romantic themes and treatment has followed invariably the regular periods of restriction to realistic or classic methods and material. The literature of the age of Shakespeare reached the zenith of romanticism. To corroborate this statement, consider for a moment the elements of any play of his. Then having examined his plot incidents, visualize his characters-practically all of them are romantic.