grade schools and then enters the work-shop or the counting-room needs to be trained to a correct use of language rather than to a critical knowledge of its grammar; and on the other hand, those pupils who are to go on to the higher and to the highest institutions of learning, need in addition to such training a careful study of the language itself, not only as a matter of information, but as a basis for the study of other languages.

I would by no means undervalue the importance of the study of grammar. I believe that no one can justly claim any great degree of scholarship who is ignorant of the grammar of his own language. But in granting so much, I do not forget that by far the larger part of our pupils in the grammar and primary schools must inevitably leave school and commence the struggle for mere existence without catching one glimpse of that higher education so delightful and so precious to the favored few.

Let us, then, to-day, while considering the subject of language teaching, consider especially the means by which we can cultivate in our pupils the habit of correct speaking and writing.

The best way to teach a pupil to use language well is to require him to use it on all proper occasions in expressing his ideas concerning something with which he is familiar.

STORY-TELLING.

I recommend that the first steps be taken in the line of story-telling. Children love stories, and from their earliest days are fed on them by mothers and nurses. This love for stories clings to us until old age creeps on, and even then many a weary hour can be made less weary and painful by means of some good story told or read to

the aged sufferer.

This natural love for stories should be utilized in the school-room and made the medium for many a valuable lesson.

Little children are brought to the Primary School at the age of five or six years. the language and to use it.

They are to be taught to read Without stopping to consider how we are to teach them to read, let us consider for a moment the beginnings of language teaching.

Taking advantage of their love for stories, let us begin by telling the little ones some carefully selected story. Any story will not do. It should be one so well adapted to the age and understanding of the children. that it will at once secure their attention by commanding their interest. It should be short and pointed. A pointless story is of no value to a child. His mind can never grasp its details. The story may also inculcate good morals and illustrate some of the cardinal virtues. Honesty, truthfulness, industry, purity, love to God and man, kindness to dumb animals, bravery, benevolence, unselfishness, obedience to parents, etc., may all be illustrated and impressed upon the minds of young children by means of carefully selected stories better than in any other way. A hundred such stories will become a hundred little sermons carefully stored in the minds of our little ones to guide and guard them through the devious ways of life. One such story is worth more to the child than a hundred serious talks by the teacher, falling, as such talks generally fall, upon minds preoccupied by matters of greater interest to the child.

Assuming that the story has been told to the children, the latter should be required to reproduce it, orally, in their own language. The first efforts of the children will, of course, be crude and incomplete. But any effort

should be sa actory to the teacher and should receive her commendation. Let each little one tell all that he can remember without interruption or assistance from the teacher, except such help as is necessary to prevent absolute failure. Other pupils may add any details that may have been omitted, and the teacher may throw in an occasional question to direct the attention of the class to any undiscovered facts or inferences. The same story may be told and re-told during the same exercise, some pupils giving only a part, while others may be allowed to give the whole, if time will permit.

With the youngest pupils, say those five and six years old, a new story every two or three days will be necessary, but the old stories must constantly be recalled until the danger-point is reached; viz., when the pupils begin to use language borrowed from some other pupil.

If stories are read to young pupils they will quite readily reproduce the words of the book; but if the teacher tells the story there is much less danger that the pupil will reproduce her exact language. Some teachers find it very difficult to tell stories. Such must of course read them, notwithstanding the danger mentioned. When the story has been read or told to the pupils, and before any attempt has been made to reproduce it, it will be well to question the class, in order that the main facts may be clearly understood and properly arranged by the children. Such an exercise as the one just outlined will give the pupils the training in the use of language that they most need. The story interests them, if properly selected, it teaches some valuable lesson that will assist in their moral training, and in its reproduction they are using their own language to express the ideas gained from the story. A few minutes every day given to this kind of work will yield most excellent results.

Thus far I have only spoken of the reproduction of stories orally. But while this work is going on, the child is learning to read and to write. At the end of his second year in school, and much earlier than that in some schools, he has attained sufficient facility in writing to add one other accomplishment in the line of story-telling; viz., he can write his stories. A story should not be written by the pupil until he has repeatedly reproduced it orally, otherwise he will be very likely to use in his oral reproduction the same language that he has already used in writing, and all naturalness will be lost.

Lest some teachers misunderstand the work already outlined, I will repeat.

During some half-hour devoted to language work, the teacher will either tell or read to the class some carefully selected story. She will then question the pupils upon the details of the story to insure a correct understanding on their part. Perhaps during the same half-hour several pupils will have time to reproduce it orally, while others will have time to make slight corrections in the work of the few.

When the next lesson in language is called, other pupils should be required to tell the same story, and similar criticisms to those mentioned above should follow.

With the youngest pupils a new story should now be given, and be treated as above; but with pupils who are able to write, the lesson should be the reproduction of the old story in writing.

This latter work should not be interrupted by any conversation whatever. No questions by the pupils as to the details of the story or the spelling of difficult words should be allowed, because it interferes with and interrupts the thoughts of the pupils. The teacher may, however.

take silent note of errors in form, spelling, punctuation, capitals, etc., and comment upon them at some future time when the class can give undivided attention to the criticisms.

When the work of the half-hour is done, the teacher should designate two or three pupils to copy upon the blackboard the contents of their slates. This work of copying can be done when the pupil can best spare the time. During the next language lesson these blackboard exercises should be criticized by the pupils, directed by the teacher, until all errors in spelling, punctuation, capitals, and syntax have been detected and corrected.

A simple mark made over the error, on the board, will sufficiently designate it, but the correction itself should not be made. The two or three exercises copied upon the board should be treated in this way, and one of them re-written upon the slates by the pupils to insure a correct understanding of the errors indicated. usually be necessary to correct any of the written exercises except the few selected to be copied upon the board.

It will not

The kind of work already indicated should be carried on systematically through the first few years of the pupil's school life, in connection with other work that will now receive our attention. It should be mentioned here that all reading lessons may be used as material for language lessons, the pupils being required to tell in their own language the substance of the lesson either before or after it has been read in the class.

LETTER-Writing.

Letter-writing is an important branch of language work. The pupil's training in this work should commence as soon as he is able to write with some degree of