are only playing with phrases and wondering if the teacher will find them out; this thing is happening every day in our schools, and as a rule the attempt to hide behind words is successful. It is a game of hide-and-seek between teacher and pupil—a masquerading with words.

If it is true that accurately worded statements from the book or instructor do not necessarily elicit accurate thinking from the pupil, less faith should be placed in mere verbal accuracy, and the somewhat cruder statement from the child should be more willingly accepted. The latter is his own and is genuine. The exact definition very often does not appeal to him, and, in that case, instead of being forced to learn it, he should be scolded if he allows himself, parrot-like, to repeat it. The boy who said that "number tells about the how-muchness of things," had the essence of the definition; why not judge him by that and preserve his individuality? It is one of the most difficult things in the world for one to be himself in the true sense, and school instruction, instead of discouraging the real expression of self in the use of words, should count that one of its high functions. Did not the boy have an accurate idea of a bat, who defined it thus: "He's a nasty little mouse with injy-rubber wings and shoestring tail, and bites like the devil"? Does the textbook come closer to the child's thought by describing it as a "Mammal with a wing membrane extending

from the enormously elongated bones and fingers of the fore limb to the comparatively short hind limbs"? The adult's love of accuracy and graceful form of expression too often misleads him in these matters.

gotten

The uselessness of such a memorized definition is How reproseen from the fact that, when once forgotten, there duce foris no way of reproducing it except by turning to the statements. book. Now the fact is that any rule or general truth directly taught to a child will probably be forgotten a discouraging fact, but certainly true; and as text-books are not to be kept at hand throughout life, how is the definition to be made. available? The really useful generalization, the one that brings with it a feeling of strength, is the one that can be reproduced, after having been forgotten, through the data out of which it arose; it should be so closely associated with these and so directly an outgrowth from them that they can replace it when lost; the child himself should draw the generalization from the data in the first place, then when it is forgotten it should be reproduced by his own unaided effort. The first thing, then, in regard to the acquisition of definitions, principles, etc., is that the child reach them by his own thinking and state them as well as possible in his own words.

The ability to do this depends greatly, of course, upon his intimate acquaintance with the data themselves; the individual notions and their points of similarity must be well known to him; in other words,

When to use

the book statement.

the first, second, and third steps must have been properly covered.

But should he never accept the words of another? He may, and undoubtedly should, at times, but not until he has done his own thinking on the matter and feels the crudeness of his own wording. The mistake consists in offering the book's statement prematurely, before the need of it is felt. If the definition for case in grammar, or the rule for the division of fractions, is taught before the meaning itself stands out clearly in the mind, there is serious danger lest it may never be rightly comprehended; the reason is that the child, having once memorized the definition or rule, refers to it for guidance and is unwilling to turn back to speculate about its origin. It is very difficult, after having gotten the words for an abstract thought, to go back and get the thought itself, for the mind is not then in a learning attitude; having secured the semblance of knowledge, it is deceived into thinking that it has the whole thing and is impatient of delay. The only safe method, then, is to move slowly toward any definition, taxing in full the learner's ability to think and express himself, until the correct conception is reached. After that, if there is difficulty merely about a brief and accurate wording, the form of statement given by the book or teacher is entirely in place and may be learned by heart.

Occasionally at the end of the discussion it is pos

sible to clothe the principle in a classical garb; for example, the proverb, "How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!" expresses the ruling idea in the Golden Touch; "In unity is strength," the one suggested by the historical facts presented in Chapter II. The Germans are far more accustomed to summing up their conclusions in this form than we, and the practice certainly adds grace and force to their speech. The reason for preferring a classical form of expression for a weighty thought over an ordinary form, is much the same as that for preferring a classical poem to a poor one. Hence school instruction should encourage familiarity with such proverbs or maxims as are found in Poor Richard's Almanac, the Bible, and Æsop's Fables, in poetry, etc., and should do so by selecting them to express valuable sentiments that have been taught.

Value of

proverbs and

poetic form.

as useful summaries.

Text-books are often in place in the fourth step. Text-books Many of them, as the ordinary small geography for beginners, brief outlines of United States history, grammars, etc., are little more than brief summaries of the main facts belonging to the studies that they represent. If these facts have been slowly reached, i.e. to a fair degree inductively, they should be finally reviewed and accurately summarized. Such text-books accomplish this in an excellent manner. Among some teachers it is the custom to require pupils to enter their generalizations or main outlines of facts in small blank books, with proper headings; one book

When generalizations are premature.

is kept for each study and, as soon as an important topic has been finished, it is written in its proper place. Thus the children practically make their own books.

Sometimes, especially with young children, it seems advisable not to teach the rule at all, relying upon the concrete facts whatever their nature—to suggest it of themselves. This applies to arithmetic and to literature, as well as to other studies. Froebel emphasizes it strongly in the kindergarten. Little people who cannot appreciate the statement of an abstract rule may remember how a typical example was worked and solve another in the same way; or in literature they may recall a story together with the feeling it produced, thus receiving some benefit from it, while a full statement of the moral might prove too abstract, or, on other accounts, unwholesome. It requires much delicacy on the part of the teacher, especially when teaching morals, to distinguish what is best to be done in this regard.

In teaching the rules and analyses of arithmetic teachers sometimes demand from children a premature exactness and fulness of language. It is obvious that exact verbal statements in description of concrete objects are difficult, still more so are rules and abstractions which are much more difficult to understand and formulate. Children in the fourth or fifth school-year are often teased and worried over a long, exact, and tedious analysis of a problem in denomi