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ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY 
 SCHOOL 
 
 BY 
 
 WALTER ]^ARNES, A. M., 
 
 OEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
 GLENVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA 
 
 CHICAGO NEW YORK 
 
 ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY 
 

 Copyright, 1913, 
 
 BY 
 
 ROW, TETERSON & CO. 
 
 ©CI.A351i22 
 tU)f 
 
TO MY FIRST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL 
 TEACHER OF ENGLISH — MY MOTHER 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is an expansion of a series of articles on 
 "English in the Country School," which appeared in the 
 West Virginia Educator. As the work progressed, it be- 
 came evident from the scores of letters and inquiries 
 which poured in upon me that the subject was a timely 
 one. Finally it was suggested that perhaps the ideas ex- 
 pressed in the articles should, after some elaboration and 
 certain slight changes, be issued in book form, to the end 
 that country teachers in other States than West Virginia 
 might receive whatever benefit such a theme and treat- 
 ment might bestow. 
 
 The author wishes to express his thanks to the West 
 Virginia Educator, both for printing the articles and for 
 allowing the material to be used for this book. Thanks 
 are due also to the many country teachers who have, by 
 inquiries and suggestions, turned my attention to certain 
 topics that had been overlooked or inadequately treated. 
 
 To the three persons who so kindly lent their time and 
 their talents to a close and critical examination of the 
 material for the book: Prof. John Harrington Cox, of 
 West Virginia University; Mr. L. J. Hanifan, Rural 
 Supervisor of West Virginia; and Miss Ina Barnes, Pri- 
 
PREFACE 
 
 mary Supervisor of Public Schools at Williamson. W. 
 Va. — to these three, I, as well as those who receive any 
 good from this volume, owe a debt of gratitude. Cer- 
 tainly a large share of what value ''English in the Coun- 
 try School" may possess is due to them. To some of my 
 colleagues for many valuable suggestions, to the pub- 
 lishers who have generously donated many books to my 
 use, and to my wife for help and encouragement at every 
 stage of the work, my thanks are here publicly expressed. 
 Neither should I neglect to acknowledge the invaluable 
 assistance I have received from the dozens of books on 
 English which I have carefully studied in the preparation 
 of the material for this book. Sometimes I have given 
 credit; but often, no doubt, I have received a helpful 
 hint from some source which I have been unable to trace. 
 
 W. B. 
 Glenville, W. Va., March 15. 19 13. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction . = ....„.„ .o - . o ......,.» o o 9 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 One Reading o .... . 17 
 
 Two Literature in Lower Grades . . 42 
 
 Three Literature in Upper Grades. 81 
 
 Four The School Library 129 
 
 Five Spelling 161 
 
 Six Grammar 176 
 
 Seven Language 188 
 
 Eight Composition Work 200 
 
 Nine Means of Self-Education, and Bibliogra- 
 phies 253 
 
 A Hundred Books for a Rural School Library 279 
 
ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 "English in the Country School" is an attempt par- 
 tially to solve some of the problems connected with the 
 study and teaching of English in country schools. Of 
 course, I do not hope to cultivate exhaustively this wide 
 held ; I hope only to break ground somewhat and perhaps 
 scatter a few seeds broadcast over the upturned soil. 
 ^^'hat I shall say, however — to abandon the figure — bears 
 directly on the country school teacher in his efforts to 
 give instruction in the most important of the common 
 school branches. 
 
 That English is indeed the most important study in the 
 common schools I do not for a single moment doubt. 
 Consider. It includes reading, spelling, language work, 
 composition work, literature, grammar, writing, talking 
 — rather important activities those in school or out. To 
 be sure, all the common school branches are essential; 
 but most of them arc branches. English is the trunk 
 of the tree — the trunk, which is rooted deep in the 
 soil, to which all the branches are vitally connected, and 
 through which courses the life-giving sap. The child 
 
 9 
 
10 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 cannot readily learn arithmetic, for example, unless he 
 reads ^\■ell. or history, imless he has had hrought to his 
 attention the correlatini^- hterature. lie cannot recite 
 without talking- or Nvriting. English, in its various phases, 
 is the one study with which every other study in tlii? 
 school curriculum correlates. It is the most important 
 of the formal subjects, of the disciplinary subjects, of the 
 cultural subjects. It is essential alike to the abecedarian 
 and to the college graduate. It brings to us the richest 
 vicarious experiences and teaches tis to express otir own. 
 first-hand experience. 
 
 *'\\'ell. suppose I gxant." interposes some reader, "that 
 English is the most ituportant study in the course. Surely 
 the subject has been adequately treated. 'Of making 
 ntany books there is no end" in this matter." But Eng- 
 lish in the coiuitr}- school — that is another matter, quite 
 another matter. Many of the problems that are set the 
 country school teacher are not those the city teacher has 
 to solve: the children in his care come from environment 
 different, and should be educated for environment dilYer- 
 ent from that of city children : and, moreover, the rural 
 teacher himself is quite a distinct person from the urban 
 teacher — distinct in preparation, in experience, in per- 
 sonality. 
 
 Furthennore. the text-books in the various mother 
 tongue studies should not be — and some day will not be — 
 the siime for countrv schools and citv schools. The 
 
INTRODUCTION 11 
 
 autlior of a series of language books recently recognized 
 this fact when he stated that his series was not to be 
 considered as a possible text for all the schools in a cer- 
 tain state, because "it was designed especially for city 
 schools and was therefore not adapted to the needs of 
 country schools/' I believe that, while the country teacher 
 can derive much good from the study of books that deal 
 with the general problems concerning the teaching of Eng- 
 lish, "^ and while his pupils may profitably use text-books 
 which were designed for city schools — still both the coun- 
 try teacher and the country pupil need guide-books and 
 texts written especially for them. So far as I know, no 
 such books exist. "English in the Country School" there- 
 fore is a new book, and should, if it accomplishes its aim, 
 be a useful volume to the rural teacher. 
 
 I have stated that the problems growing out of the 
 teaching of English in country schools are not the same 
 as those in city schools. Let me expand that thought so 
 as to justify this new book on English, and also to show^ 
 clearly what are the problems that must be solved, par- 
 tially at least, in this book. The general problem in the 
 country is different in seven important respects : 
 
 English in Country vs. City ScJiools 
 
 I. In the preparation of the teachers. Yevy few 
 country teachers in the United States are as well pre- 
 * A list of such books is given on pages 264-271. 
 
12 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 pared as city teachers to give instruction in English. 
 Comparatively few rural teachers have had much pro- 
 fessional education, or. in fact, academic education. 
 Moreover, country teachers do not serve as long, on the 
 average, as city teachers; they often quit teaching after 
 three or foiu" years, just when they are becoming pro- 
 ficient. Of course, one may say that they sJiouId have 
 adequate preparation and should continue longer in the 
 profession ; but the fault is not theirs. The salary paid 
 the country teacher in many sections of the United States 
 hardly justifies him in preparing himself to work in rural 
 schools or in continuing in the profession longer than he 
 absolutely must. "Only 46.3 per cent of the people in the 
 United States live in the cities, but 54.5 per cent of the 
 amount paid teachers is paid in cities."* The natural con- 
 sequence of this difference in salary is that when an am- 
 bitious young countr)' boy or girl prepares himself to 
 teach, bv attending a normal or high school, he betakes 
 himself forthwith to the city, thus draining the rural 
 districts of some of its best talent. But whatever the 
 cause, or whatever the eft'ect, the fact remains that the 
 average rural teacher is not as well prepared to teach the 
 English branches as is the city teacher. 
 
 2. In the supervision of teachers. The city teacher has 
 over her a superintendent or principal, and perhaps a 
 supervisor of her department. These give immediate 
 
 * Lfnited States Bureau of Education. Bulletin No. 493. 
 page 19. 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 tr 
 
 thought and attention to the problems that may arise con- 
 cerning the Enghsh work. But the country teacher has 
 Httle guidance of this sort. Even if district supervision 
 is maintained, the country teacher is not directed as well 
 as his city colleague. 
 
 3. In library facilities. The country school is not as 
 well supplied with libraries as is the city school. Now, 
 as a library is the laboratory apparatus for the teaching of 
 English, difference in this regard is a matter of tremen- 
 dous importance. 
 
 4. In regard to the time for English work. In the 
 first place the school term is much shorter in the country.* 
 In the second place, even if the country school were in 
 session as long as the city school, the teacher, having all 
 grades under his direction and consequently more classes, 
 has less time to devote to any one subject and to any one 
 pupil. This makes a great difference in the work in 
 English. 
 
 5. In the grading of pupils. In city schools the course 
 of study is more definitely outlined, and the children of a 
 certain grade have had more definite work in the previ- 
 ous years. Thus the teacher deals with pupils having 
 much of the same known preparation. In country schools. 
 
 * In 1909 ihe average number of days school was kept was 184.3 
 for city schools and only 137.7 for rural schools, and the term 
 "rural" includes all so-called "cities" and incorporated places of 
 2,500 or less — which would mean that the difference in length of 
 term between city schools and real one-room country schools is 
 greater than that given above. 
 
14 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 however, the constant changing" of teachers interferes Avith 
 snch definite grading and promotion, Moreover, the 
 crowded program often makes it necessary to combine 
 pupils of different ages in one class for purposes of con- 
 venience. This is. of course, a serious hindrance. 
 
 6. In the nature of the pupils. Every person is the 
 product of two forces : heredity and environment ; and 
 modern science is showing. I think, that the latter is much 
 more important than the former. The country child, 
 having environment and experience so different from the 
 city child, soon develops a dift'erent personalitv — different 
 in many ways : in habits of thought and expression, in 
 physical and intellectual qualities. The country child is 
 inclined to be more unresponsive, more serious and slow, 
 more inexpressive, more practical and matter-of-fact. In 
 solidity and steadiness he is usually superior to his city 
 cousin ; but he needs to be awakened emotionally, he needs 
 to be quickened in desire and power of expression. This 
 means that the course of study for the rural school must 
 be widely dift'erent from that in city school, and that 
 especially must the teaching of the English subjects be 
 different. 
 
 7. In the aim of the schooling. One of the perplexing 
 modern problems in American life is how to keep a fair 
 percentage of the country boys and girls in the country. 
 This is not a problem that can be solved entirely by the 
 school; but the school should and can do a large share. 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 h has been often pointed out in the last few years that 
 the text-books used in country schools are full of material 
 for city children, thus unconsciously but forcibly direct- 
 ing" the mind of country boys and girls away from the 
 farm to urban life. We are at last beginning to perceive 
 that, if we are to prevent the brightest and most am- 
 bitious young folks from deserting the farm and seeking 
 their fortunes in the big city, we must make farm life 
 attractive. And the proper place and time to begin is 
 during childhood and in the country schoolhouse. We 
 can so shape the work in arithmetic that the country boy 
 will be set ciphering and thinking about the pecuniary 
 problems of the farm. And we can so shape the work in 
 the English branches that we can center attention on the 
 desirable phases of country life, on its manifold advan- 
 tages over existence in a city. 
 
 How these disadvantages can be obviated and these 
 advantages utilized is to be discussed in the chapters 
 of "English in the Country School." 
 
 This volume is designed for all teachers in rural 
 schools, whether in a one-room building or a consoli- 
 dated school. To be sure, the problems involved by the 
 presence of all grades in one room, by lack of time, and 
 bv the absence of close supervision have been largely 
 solved by consolidation ; but the other problems for which 
 a partial solution is attempted in this book can well be 
 studied by the teacher in the consolidated school. The 
 
16 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 questions concerning the amount and kind of reading, of 
 composition work, and of language work, etc. — these 
 questions are as pertinent to one country teacher as an- 
 other. Rural schools throughout the United States are 
 so diversified that no book can hope to be completely ap- 
 plicable to any one school. It has seemed best therefore 
 in this volume to write more directly to the teacher in the 
 one-room school without adequate supervision. The fact 
 that I do not argue for a closer supervision and the con- 
 solidation of schools wherever feasible is not to be taken 
 as evidence that I do not favor such progressive action. 
 As a matter of fact, I believe we will solve the problems 
 of the country school only when we have passed beyond 
 the era of the isolated, one-room building. 
 
 V^ 
 
CHAPTER ONE 
 
 READING 
 
 Many of us learned to read by what is known as the 
 Alphabet method, and a few of us are doubtless teaching 
 by the same method. Following this process, we re- 
 quire the child to learn the alphabet, then teach him how to 
 put the letters together to form words. That is, after 
 the young child has learned his a-b-c's, we show him that 
 "c," "a," "t" placed together in a word spell "cat," which 
 stands for the animal of that name. Of course, children 
 can learn to read by that method — we did it, and thou- 
 sands are doing it now. But it has many defects — so 
 many that it has been abandoned by all trained teachers. 
 What are some of these defects?* 
 
 Defects of the Alphabet Method 
 
 I. It is slow. Doubtless you have had pupils that 
 could scarcely learn their a-b-c's by the end of the first 
 year. And that is not the worst of the matter. When a 
 child has learned his letters he has not learned to read; 
 he must then be showed how to put these letters together 
 to make words. That would not be very difficult if the 
 
 * Those who have already abandoned the alphabet method 
 will do well to omit pages 17-31. 
 
 17 
 
18 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 letters were pronounced the same by themselves and in 
 words. But they are not. We pronounce "b" "bee," "c" 
 ''see," "d" "dee." etc. ; but when we use these letters in 
 words we articulate only the consonant sounds, leaving 
 off the "ee." We do not, for instance, pyoiiouncc "cat" 
 "see-a-tee"; we merely utter together the three sounds. 
 Just how difficult it is for the child to learn a new word 
 by the alphabet method you can see by observing how he 
 often has to struggle and strain. He comes to a word 
 that he cannot make out; you advise him to spell it, and 
 he calls the letters one at a time, but even then he cannot 
 recognize and pronounce the word, familiar though it 
 may be when spoken, because the noincs of the letters do 
 not give him enough clue to the soiiiids. In short, the 
 method does not help him to acquire new words rapidly 
 and easily : it is a slow method. And we make it slower 
 than it need be, because we insist that the hapless urchin 
 learn the letters in a fixed order : "a," then "b," then "c." 
 on to "x-y-z-and-so- forth." This takes time and is of 
 no possible value until the child is old enough to consult 
 a dictionary. All this makes learning to read by the a-b-c 
 method a slow and difficult process. 
 
 2. It is artificial. Of course, it serins natural to those 
 who are acquainted with this method only ; but when 
 once we have seen a better method in operation we realize 
 that the old way is artificial. Learning to read is acquir- 
 ing the power to recognize thought expressed in written 
 
READING 19 
 
 or printed Tx'ords and sentences. No letter expresses 
 thought (except "a," the article; "O," the interjection, 
 and *'I," the pronoun) : it takes a complete word or a sen- 
 tence. If a mother should try to teach her baby to talk 
 by beginning with sounds, we should call her method 
 artificial; it is natural to start with words and proceed to 
 sentences as soon as possible. It is just as artificial for a 
 teacher to teach her young pupil to read by beginning with 
 letters instead of words and sentences. A child learns a 
 new word in speech as a zvord, not as a combination 
 of sounds; he should learn a new word in reading as far 
 as possible, as a word, not as a combination of letters. 
 
 3. It is unrelated to life, because it is artificial. The 
 word "hen" is recognizable as the symbol of a familiar 
 idea; but "h," "e," "n" represent nothing in any child's 
 experience. Every country child has seen a hen, but no 
 child has seen an "h," or an "e," or an "n" — they don't 
 exist, in earth, fire, air, or water. 
 
 4. It ignores the process of apperception, which is the 
 process of "acquiring new ideas by means of old ideas 
 already in the minds of the pupils," (McMurry.) When 
 we employ the alphabet method, we fail to make the 
 best use of the experience of the child, we fail to begin 
 with what he knows, and lead to what he does not know. 
 
 5. It tends to a neglect of phonics, of sounds. To be 
 sure, it is possible to take up the sounds, even though one 
 uses the alphabet method; but it is rarely done. Now, 
 
20 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 the child must have a knowledge of the elementary sounds 
 in order to make use of the diacritical marks in his spell- 
 ing book or in the dictionary. We know by experience 
 how difficult it is to make a self-conscious boy or girl in 
 the fourth or fifth grade articulate the sounds of the let- 
 ters.. It appears foolish to him — and a country child is 
 peculiarly sensitive to anything that makes him ridiculous. 
 If you train the child in the first grade to utter the sounds, 
 he soon forms a habit that seems quite natural. Then 
 when you are ready to initiate him into the mysteries of 
 the diacritical marks, your task and his is easy and pleas- 
 ant. 
 
 6. In general, it does not produce as good readers. 
 Have you ever noticed a boy or girl as far along as the 
 eighth grade, or even a grown man or woman, moving 
 the lips while reading to himself? And have you ever 
 noticed a person limping, halting along through a bit 
 of oral reading, compelled to stop now and then to spell 
 out an unfamiliar word? Have you ever tried to account 
 for it ? It is partly . because the person has not read 
 enough for the process to become easy, but it is largely 
 because he learned to read by the alphabet method. If 
 one learns to read by spelling out the words as he comes 
 to them he may never overcome the habit. It can be 
 overcome by dint of much insistent training, but it takes 
 much of the country teacher's sorely needed time. 
 
 7. For all these reasons learning to read by this 
 
READING 21 
 
 method is uninteresting. We complain a good deal that 
 our children quit school before they have obtained all that 
 the school can give them. Though, for several reasons, 
 this complaint is not so common in the country as in the 
 city, yet about one-half of the country children leave 
 school by the end of th^e sixth grade. Why do they leave? 
 Usually because they find life outside the schoolroom 
 more interesting than life in the schoolroom, A little 
 fellow comes to your school — some of you call him up to 
 your side two or three times a day, whenever you can 
 snatch a few moments from your other work, and make 
 him plod through his letters. Then you send him back 
 to his seat — and there he sits, with nothing to occupy 
 his mind except occasional admonitions to be quiet. In- 
 teresting? I, for one, do not blame any sensible child 
 for letting his mind run home to where something real, 
 something interesting is going on — where he can crack 
 walnuts, or build a snow man, or play in the hay-mow, or 
 hunt eggs, or even help build fences. Of course, I am 
 not blaming all the child's lack of interest in school on the 
 method by which he is taught to read; but much of the 
 blame should be laid upon this, since so much depends 
 upon it. As the Committee of Fifteen has well said: 
 'Tnasmuch as reading is the first of the scholastic arts, it 
 is interesting to note that the whole elementary course 
 may be described as an extension of the process of learn- 
 ing the art of reading." If the child learns to read by 
 
22 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 a method which is easy, pleasant, and interesting, he will 
 be able to master all his other subjects more readily ; then 
 school life will be. in general, interesting and attractive. 
 
 TJic Xc:>.' Mrfliod of TcacJiijig Rcadi}ig 
 
 Psychology (^ which is a scientific study of the laws of 
 human personality) and pedagogy (which is a logical 
 application of those laws to the teaching process) have 
 together worked out a much better method of teaching 
 children to read than this old one. This is not the place 
 for a detailed explanation of the modern method. All I 
 can do is to state the important features of it and refer 
 you to books which discuss it in full. (See pages 264-5.) 
 It is often called the "Combination" method, sometimes 
 the "W'ord-Sentence-Phonic" method, because it is a com- 
 bination of these three dift'erent methods. Briefly, here 
 is the process : 
 
 I. The teacher holds up before her pupils, or calls up 
 before their minds, some object like a ball and asks them 
 to name it. Then she writes or prints the word on the 
 board, explaining that that is the written expression of 
 the idea "ball." Other words she takes up. or "develops." 
 in the same way. training the children to recognize each 
 word and to distinguish between them. Some primary 
 teachers contend that very little drill is necessary, if the 
 original impression upon the child's mind is deep: and 
 tliat seems plausible, though I have never obsen-ed any 
 
READING 23 
 
 primary teacher, however, skillful, who did not need to 
 do some drilling, some repeating. 
 
 2. After teaching the word the teacher uses it in a 
 brief sentence, such as, "Roll the ball," "Spin the top." 
 By drills and frequent reviews the child is speedily taught 
 to recognize these combinations of words as representa- 
 tives of ideas, and thus learns to read sentences as wholes. 
 Many teachers use imperative sentences containing action 
 wo;"ds, performing the actions mentioned as they teach 
 the sentences. 
 
 3. The teacher, while training the children to recog- 
 nize single words and to read entire sentences, also drills 
 in phonics. By grouping words such as "ball," "tall," 
 "fall"; "dog," "log," "hog"; "cat," "rat," "bat," and 
 having the child articulate each sound, a clever teacher 
 soon brings the little learners to a point where they can 
 analyze a new word, can pronounce it and recognize it, 
 just from uttering in rapid succession the sounds that 
 compose the word. Of course, since the English lan- 
 guage is not phonetic (that is, words are not always pro- 
 nounced as spelled), the results of the phonic teaching 
 are not ideal; but anyone who has never watched work 
 of this sort will be surprised at the ease with which chil- 
 dren learn to discriminate between the different sounds of 
 the same letter, and at the readiness with which they 
 "sound" words instead of spelling them. The simpler dia- 
 critical markings are introduced rather early, so that the 
 
24 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 child learns to pronounce a word even when the pro- 
 nunciation is quite irregular. 
 
 4. Pupils acquire the alphabet names of the letters 
 'incidentally, or learn them rapidly with a little special 
 effort after they have attained the power to use phonics 
 and to read. The names of the letters need not be learned 
 until the child is ready for oral spelling, which, according 
 to this plan, is not taken up so early as under the older 
 method. The order of the letters may be taught the 
 children by means of an alphabet song, which is to be 
 found in many first readers. 
 
 This is a brief exposition of a very difficult subject, 
 but at least it shows the outline of the method. Hardly 
 any two teachers follow the same order, unless they are 
 working under very strict, fixed supervision. Many begin 
 wath sentences ; others with words ; some introduce phonics 
 at once, others later. In fact, it is one of the many advan- 
 tages of the method that it allows and encourages plenty 
 of originality on the part of the teacher. But however 
 the method is varied, the alphabet names always bring up 
 the rear. 
 
 Advantages of the Combination Method 
 
 The combination method is undoubtedly much better 
 than the a-b-c. It avoids all the defects of the latter; it 
 gives the child more ability to recognize new words; it 
 encourages him by enabling him to read alrhost immedi- 
 
READING 25 
 
 ately ; it makes the process of reading a process of thought- 
 getting, since it emphasizes the idea rather than the form ; 
 it teaches the child to read more rapidly, more easily, and 
 more expressively. And because it is a better method it 
 is now used by all trained teachers. 
 
 Why the New Method Is Not More Generally Used in 
 the Country 
 
 "But if it be a better method, why is it not being used 
 everywhere, in the 'little red schoolhouse' as well as in 
 the great brick structure of the city?" It is being used 
 more and more. I have no statistics to prove this, but 
 educational journals from all over the United States bear 
 me out in my assertion. And wherever it is installed and 
 given a fair trial it demonstrates its superiority to the 
 alphabet method. "Then why is it not being introduced 
 more rapidly?" Here are some reasons: 
 
 I. The average rural community, being extremely con- 
 servative, is averse to adopting anything new — new meth- 
 ods of teaching reading, new farm machinery, new ideas 
 in politics. Thoughtful persons have observed that the 
 introduction of agriculture into the course of study for 
 rural schools has met with its fiercest opposition among 
 country people, the very class that the new study was de- 
 signed most to benefit. The attitude of some country 
 men toward any modern process or invention or method is 
 either indifference or active hostility. I have heard farm- 
 
26 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ers say that they saw no use in a silo — "^^Iv father didn't 
 have one, and I've got along without one all my life." 
 And I have heard farmers and country teachers say : 
 "I don't know about this newfangled way of teaching 
 reading. / learned my a-b-c's first, and / learned to read 
 all right." An up-to-date country teacher stated in an 
 institute not long since that he had nearly lost his posi- 
 tion the preceding winter because he had taught beginners 
 to read by the new method. Of course, this is all wrong. 
 The fact that our fathers, or even that we formerly cut 
 the meadow with a scythe, is no reason that ivc should 
 not noiv use a mowing machine. This conservatism 
 among country folk is, except when extreme, one of the 
 most valuable elements in American life. City dwellers 
 are too prone to be swept off their feet by some strong 
 current, some fad. some "new thought," "new healing." 
 The sane deliberation of country people serves as an ad- 
 mirable check on the rash radicalism of city folk; it is a 
 ponderous, slow-moving balance wheel, without which 
 the complicated machinery of the government would rush 
 to speedy ruin. It is, I repeat, a necessary quality except 
 zvhcn extreme: and extreme it often is. But it is a bias 
 of mind, a fundamental characteristic of country people, 
 especially of the older generation ; it cannot be removed 
 by impatience, by ridicule. "All the natural forces of 
 country life," says IMiss Mabel Carney in her compre- 
 hending and comprehensive book. "Country Life and 
 
READING 27 
 
 the Country School," "seed-time and harvest, seasonal 
 change, and the annual cycle — tend toward quiet and 
 routine, and so impress themselves upon the sub-con- 
 sciousness of a people governed by them that they cannot 
 fail to influence character." There can be no doubt that 
 the new method of teaching reading is much superior to 
 the old method; but we must be diplomatic, patient and 
 reasonable in advocating its adoption. And when once 
 it is adopted and found good, we shall call down bless- 
 ings upon that same conservatism which will then cleave 
 to the new with as much tenacity as it formerly clung 
 to the old. 
 
 2. The new method, though it is a time-saver for the 
 pupils, is a time-consumer for the teacher — and the coun- 
 try teacher has to be a veritable miser with his minutes. 
 But it also takes more time to select good seed-corn. The 
 foresighted farmer knows, however, that when the best 
 seed-corn is found it grows more rapidly, that it is more 
 robust and healthy, and that it produces a more abundant 
 yield than does corn shelled hit-or-miss into the planter. 
 So that time is really being saved by using care in the be- 
 ginning. In general, the country teacher spends too much 
 time with his advanced pupils. If he would devote suf- 
 ficient time to starting the little ones right, he would 
 need less for them when they grow older. A country 
 teacher must economize his time ; but it is poor economy to 
 stint the children in the lower grades, when it is certain 
 
28 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 that much more time will have to be expended later to 
 make up for a defective start. Sometimes I doubt if the 
 country teacher • is quite sincere in advancing the plea 
 that he does not have time as a reason for not teaching 
 primary pupils to read by the new method. I fear that 
 the reason many a teacher neglects the little folks is that 
 he is more interested in the advanced work. As one 
 teacher expressed it, "We don't like to fool with the 
 young-uns." There is a general theory — or was not 
 very long ago — that anybody can teach primary reading, 
 but that only a superior teacher can give instruction in 
 grammar and higher arithmetic — a theory which is flatly 
 contradicted by the fact that the primary teacher in a city 
 system receives a higher salary than the upper-grade 
 teacher. No ; it is not altogether a question of time ; it is 
 partly a matter of wise distribution of the time. Once a 
 country teacher realizes that the teaching of primary 
 reading is about the most important service he is called 
 upon to perform, he will so adjust his work as to obtain 
 the additional time necessary to teach by the better 
 method — he will quit robbing little Peter to pay big 
 Paul. 
 
 3. Some teachers who object to the introduction of the 
 new method into country schools state that the modern 
 process will interfere with discipline and seat work of the 
 older pupils. "I tried it once," writes a country teacher 
 whom I had asked to give in his experience, "and all the 
 
READING 29 
 
 big boys and girls stopped studying to look on. And they 
 all laughed." That's too bad. But let me assure you of 
 this: if you were to initiate a practice of dancing a jig 
 every morning just before noon, your pupils would grow 
 so accustomed to it that about the tenth day they would 
 not glance up from their books. The human mind, espe- 
 cially the child mind, soon accommodates itself to almost 
 anything. Once a habit or practice is accepted as a part 
 of the order of things, it ceases to excite attention. The 
 introduction of the new method, because it is new, will 
 perhaps interfere with discipline and seat work for a 
 while ; but it will be an old-established fact to your pupils 
 long before it is to you — and surely yon can get used 
 to it. 
 
 4. The new method, though easier than the old for the 
 children, requires more skill on the part of the teacher. 
 Now, that is a fact : it is the only valid objection to the 
 universal adoption of the combination method in country 
 schools. The alphabet method is, indeed, almost the 
 easiest bit of teaching that anyone can be called upon to 
 do. The combination method is more difficult to learn and 
 to practice; it implies considerable knowledge of child 
 nature and skill in the application of pedagogical princi- 
 ples; it requires originality and versatility. Though, of 
 course, it grows easier after it has become habitual, yet 
 it is always a complicated process, so complicated that it 
 never becomes perfectly mechanical. But the time is com- 
 
30 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ing when no other method will be used — though when 
 that time comes the teacher will be receiving a salary com- 
 mensurate with his increased efficiency. The a-b-c 
 method will go — that is certain; the question each coun- 
 try teacher should ask and answer for himself is, "Shall 
 I go zcith it, or go from it? Shall I give up teaching or 
 acquire the necessary training?" 
 
 Training N' ceded for tJic Nczv Method 
 
 It is to be hoped you will not give up teaching, for 
 one of the serious defects in the American rural school 
 system is that young men and women do not remain long 
 enough in the profession. Teaching a country school is, 
 in many respects, a comparatively pleasant and profitable 
 occupation, and is destined to become yet more pleasant 
 and profitable. Do not quit teaching; get the training. 
 How? If you can secure the money, attend a good 
 Normal school, preferably one that offers a short course 
 for rural teachers. If that is not feasible — and with many 
 of you it is not — train yourselves. This is discussed later. 
 (Chapter nine.) It is the only course open to many of 
 you. The new method of teaching reading is so difficult 
 that you must have training. And if that training be 
 acquired by dint of consecrated hours of earnest, am- 
 bitions self -improvement, the more honor to you, and. 
 it may well be, the more success to you. "Self-schooled, 
 self -scanned, self-honored, self-secure," wrote Matthew 
 
READING 31 
 
 Arnold concerning Shakespeare, You, country teacher, 
 may be that also, according to the measure of your abili- 
 ties. 
 
 Suggestions for Teaching Reading 
 
 But since this book is intended to discuss conditions as 
 they are, and to suggest ways of carrying on the work, 
 as well as to point out ideals, I wish now to present some 
 general rules for carrying on the work in reading, 
 whether you teach by the new method or the old, or while 
 you are changing from the one to the other. Let us con- 
 sider first the matter of silent reading. 
 
 Silent Reading 
 
 I. Connect the particular lesson as closely as possible 
 with the child's life and experience — the country child's 
 life and experience. Fortunately, almost all primary 
 readers contain subject matter that is familiar to the 
 country boy and girl. Some are better than others in 
 this regard, notably 'The Outdoor Primer," published 
 by Rand, McNally and Co., New York City. (See list 
 on page 280.) Open the "Reading Literature Primer and 
 First Reader" (Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago), or "First 
 Year Language Reader," by Baker and Carpenter (Mac- 
 millan Company, New York), and you will find that 
 practically every page deals with animals — dogs, cats, 
 mice, cows, horses, sheep, birds, fowls — vx'ith aspects of 
 
32 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 nature, with children and childish pursuits and interests. 
 This is the very material out of which the country child's 
 ideas are woven. But from the beginning, the child's 
 home-built experience must be enlarged; new ideas must 
 be presented and grasped. These new ideas must be 
 cohered to the old. The cat must grow into the tiger, 
 the dog into the lion; the brook that loiters past the 
 school-house must deepen and widen and expand into 
 the river, the sea; the cluster of houses must be "boomed" 
 into a city; the -blacksmith shop must become a foundry. 
 And, teacher, the child must be led by you from what 
 he knows to what he does not know. You should not, 
 or need not, do all the work, of course; simply blow the 
 fire and the child will hammer and weld fast the new to 
 the old. 
 
 2. Connect the reading lesson proper with all the other 
 lessons; continue it throughout the day. Connect it 
 with number work, with writing; base, to some extent, 
 your spelling lessons on it. In order to do this, you will 
 have to shift the order of the reading lessons. This has 
 its disadvantages, but it has more than compensating 
 values. If you can arrange the material in all your classes 
 so that your children in each grade are busy with the 
 same subject or with related subjects in Geography, His- 
 tory, Nature Study, Arithmetic, Reading, all on the same 
 day, you are making learning an organic process, a process 
 by which all the materials from all the branches are 
 
READING 33 
 
 arranged in natural, logical, and usable order in the minds 
 of your children. All the other subjects depend largely 
 upon reading; see to it that the reading lesson is going 
 on continuously, whatever the particular branch you are 
 pursuing. 
 
 3. Encourage the smaller children to listen to the 
 larger ones reading. We used to think that was a capi- 
 tal crime; now we know it is merely a capital way to 
 stimulate a greater desire to read. 
 
 4. Encourage the parents, the elder brothers and sis- 
 ters to help the little ones at home. Some city teachers 
 prefer to have their young pupils entirely in their own 
 charge; and this is well. But your time is too precious 
 to ignore or discourage any assistance, from whatever 
 direction it comes. The probability is that among the 
 patrons of your school are some ex-teachers. Why not 
 let them help you? Most of them will take an interest 
 in their own children, if you consult with them. 
 
 5. Encourage the child to read a great deal. "Read 
 much, not many," is a poor maxim for the primary grades. 
 If possible, persuade the parents to buy two or three dif- 
 ferent readers for each of the lower grades. If that is 
 not practical, at least have plenty of good supplementary 
 books in the school library, genuine children's books, and 
 use these in the class work. The use of the library and 
 the development of the reading habit is discussed in 
 another chapter. (See pages 129-160.) 
 
34 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 6. Inasmuch as silent reading is merely thought-get- 
 ting, make sure that your children are getting the thought 
 in what they read. Have them retell the story, set them 
 thinking by proposing suggestive questions. 
 
 7. Train the young people in silent reading. Do not 
 let them develop the habit of moving their lips as they 
 read; do not let them carry on too long the habit of fol- 
 lowing the lines with their fingers. Show them how to 
 read rapidly by reading sentences instead of words. One 
 of the reasons so many country people read little is that 
 they have never learned to do anything but plod. Of 
 course, this habit of rapid reading cannot be developed 
 until the child has mastered to some extent the mechani- 
 cal difficulties of the process; but it should be begun as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 8. Take some time to assign the reading lesson. Most 
 country teachers fail to realize that the assignment of a 
 lesson is quite as important as the preparation of the 
 soil before the grain is scattered. Plan your day's work 
 so that you will know just what reading lesson you are 
 going to take up next; do not simply command at the 
 close of a recitation : "Take the next lesson." Intro- 
 duce it by a little anecdote or a series of questions which 
 lead up to the subject matter of the following lesson. If 
 you succeed in arousing a lively interest in the child, you 
 have "made a loam that is deep enough for the seeds of 
 desire," as George Eliot says. I have seen a lesson in 
 
READING 35 
 
 reading so cleverly assigned that the children could hardly 
 wait to get to their seats, so much did they wish to begin 
 work. 
 
 Oral Reading 
 
 So much for silent reading. And it is silent reading 
 that is most important — most important in school and 
 most important by far after school life is over. But oral 
 reading is necessary, and for several reasons. 
 
 I. It furnishes excellent drill in pronunciation. 2. 
 It enables the teacher to discover whether the pupil is get- 
 ting the thought. 3. It makes the thought clearer. Any 
 kind of expression makes an idea more one's own, and 
 thereby more vivid. 4. Good oral reading is a pleasing 
 art and one mark of culture. 5. Oral reading, necessitat- 
 ing as it does proper emphasis and phrasing, subtle 
 shading and inflection, distinct, clear-cut enunciation, and 
 rich, vibrant intonation, is the best means of training the 
 speaking voice. 6. Most good prose and all good poetry 
 was written to appeal to the ear as well as to the mind. 
 We fail to get the utmost from literature when we ignore 
 the elemental beauty of the sound. 
 
 For all these reasons the teacher should emphasize oral 
 reading. Especially is the last reason given important 
 for the rural teacher. For literature is almost the only 
 artistic expression to which the country child has an 
 opportunity to yield himself. Great paintings, sculpture, 
 
36 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 architecture, he rarely sees; great music he rarely hears. 
 But great literature — that is his, as much as anybody's. 
 And no one, whether poet or peasant, is a complete indi- 
 vidual who does not respond generously to some artistic 
 expression. Let me now suggest a few points in con- 
 nection with the teaching of oral reading: 
 
 How to Teach Oral Reading 
 
 1. Make yourself a good oral reader, I say "make 
 yourself," for most of us have to go to school to our- 
 selves in this respect. Spend some time every day read- 
 ing aloud, trying to express the thought of the printed 
 page naturally and effectively. Read aloud to your class. 
 The child's "whole vocation is endless imitation"; see to 
 it that your pupils have good oral reading to imitate. 
 
 2. Be sure, whenever possible, that your pupils discern 
 the thought before they try to express it. The best oral 
 reading is impossible when the reader starts a sentence 
 without knowing the complete thought. Have the new 
 words understood and pronounced before the lesson is 
 read; and the best time for this is when you assign the 
 lesson. Children in the first and second readers should 
 be drilled for some days on words before they meet these 
 words in their lessons. This means planning for days 
 in advance, but every efficient teacher realizes that thor- 
 ough planning is necessary for good work in primary 
 reading. 
 
READING 37 
 
 3. It is a good plan, before you begin oral reading 
 in class, to have the thought of the selection told in the 
 pupil's own words. This will be of assistance in reading 
 the individual sentences, 
 
 4. Correct mispronunciation and formal errors after 
 the pupil has finished reading. Remember that the 
 thought is more important than the form. An engine 
 loses time and wastes fuel when it must halt at each cross- 
 road and hen-coop : let the child keep steam up till he has 
 finished the run. 
 
 5. Ideal oral expression is natural expression. Time 
 spent on such matters as "counting one for a comma, 
 two for a semicolon," etc.; or on the dire consequences 
 of letting the voice fall when a question mark is sighted 
 ahead ; or on insisting on "a slight pause at the end of a 
 line of poetry" ; or on reading in a "loud, sonorous voice," 
 whatever the natural key of the selection; or on ranting 
 in false "elocutionary" style — all this is time ,worse than 
 lost. Neither is it a matter of great importance that the 
 book be held in the left hand at 12.9 inches from the 
 tip of the nose, or that the heel of one foot should fit 
 snugly into the arch of the other foot, or even that the 
 reader stand at all. Do you, teacher, always stand when 
 you read? Natural reading — that's the desideratum. 
 
 6. Have some poetry memorized, and memorize it 
 yourself. Needless to say, nothing should be learned by 
 heart before it is learned by head. And when your pupils 
 
38 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 "deliver declamations," see to it that they don't declaim 
 and exclaim and proclaim the meaning out of the selec- 
 tion. Naturalness here, also. » 
 7. Occasionally, on Friday afternoon, try dramatizing 
 a reading lesson. Did you ever try to play a reading les- 
 son ? Take any selection, with even the simplest elements 
 of a story, and you can make that selection glow with 
 life by having it acted. This is especially good work for 
 the country child, who is usually too backward and self- 
 conscious to "let himself go." Children should be viva- 
 cious and sprightly and full of high spirits: country chil- 
 dren often are not. Usually the rural teacher is a very 
 strict disciplinarian, often the father and mother are 
 hardworking, practical persons; by example and precept 
 the young child is made stolid and matter-of-fact. He 
 needs to be roused intellectually, to be thrilled emotion- 
 ally. Dramatizing a story is helpful in this. It also 
 develops the spirit of co-operation, of team-work, which 
 is sometimes stunted in the country child. And country 
 teachers have a good deal better chance to do this work 
 than the city teacher has, for the former have all kinds 
 of children to take the roles in the improvised play — 
 the big scholars for giants or "great, huge bears," the 
 little tots for children or fairies or "little, wee bears." 
 Tr}'' this a few times and see if the children do not enjoy 
 it even more than the good old spelling-bee, the traditional 
 Friday afternoon game. 
 
READING 39 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 In this chapter I have merely opened this subject, the 
 most important in the school curriculum; I have but 
 plowed a furrow around an immense field. It is for you, 
 teacher, to reflect and observe and experiment until you 
 have solved, partially at least, most of the perplexing 
 problems that are involved in every phase of the work. 
 We are successful teachers largely in proportion to the 
 extent to which we solve these problems. Teaching read- 
 ing properly affects so vitally the other school activities 
 and studies of our children and connects itself so inti- 
 mately with the development of the reading habit so 
 important to country people, that we cannot study the 
 subject too zealously and practice it too thoughtfully. 
 If we succeed in this one branch, we shall have gone far 
 toward a solution of the teaching of "English in the 
 Country School." 
 
 The Query Box 
 
 As the articles on which this book is based were appearing 
 in the West Virginia Educator and The Southern Educator, 
 and as I have been speaking on these topics in teachers' in- 
 stitutes, I have received dozens of letters from country 
 teachers concerning some phase of the general problems of 
 English in the Country School. These letters usually made 
 pointed, intelligent inquiries, and, incidentally, gave me very 
 helpful suggestions, so that they have contributed no little 
 to the making of this book. Whenever a letter contained an 
 inquiry concerning some phase of the work that I had omit- 
 
40 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ted from an article. I have endeavored to answer that letter, 
 by implication, in the chapters of this volume ; since it is evi- 
 dent that a significant question, bearing on an important de- 
 tail of the work, would be asked by many readers, and so had 
 better be disposed of at once. \\'henever the inquiries made 
 have been a little aside from the main theme of the book, I 
 have not put a discussion of the points involved in the body 
 of the book, but have considered them one by one at the end 
 of the chapter most closely related to the query in the letter. 
 Thus I have been enabled to treat the subject matter of each 
 chapter without many digressions, and at the same time to 
 satisfy those who may be curious concerning points rising 
 out of the theme of the chapter itself. This section I have 
 called "The Query Box." 
 
 I. Do you not think that the nei.v method of teaching 
 reading makes learning to read too easy for the children? 
 
 This question, it is evident, involves the question of formal 
 discipline, which I discuss briefly further on in this book. 
 (See page 179.) Let me here answer the question, Yankee- 
 fashion, by asking another : '"Do you think the use of the 
 mowing-machine makes farm work too easy?" Teaching a 
 child to read is putting into his hands a tool for acquiring 
 knowledge. If you can supply him with a tool by which he 
 can do more work than with some other tool — can do more 
 per hour and. at the same time, save energ}-. by all means 
 do so. Acquiring the power to read is. for many, a difficult 
 task at the best ; it is tedious and iminteresting in the extreme 
 when the child is kept long on the a-b-c's. There is no virtue 
 in hard work, when, with the same expenditure of time and 
 energ}'. one might do three or four times as much, especially 
 when he can have more enjoyment in the doing of it. Our 
 country schools have proceeded too long on the theory that 
 the more drudgery the child is compelled to do. the better 
 
READING 41 
 
 will he be trained to work. The best work is always done 
 by the people who have the best tools and put the most heart 
 into the work. Put the child in possession of the power to 
 read as soon as possible; then when he comes to something 
 that will challenge his interest, he will work hard enough. 
 Nor does this mean that the teacher shall do all the work. 
 It only means that he will direct the child along the easiest 
 road to knowledge. 
 
 2. Do you not think that the modern method of teaching 
 reading is too much like playf 
 
 It is not at all like play for the teacher; it is hard work. 
 But it is much like play for the child. Not too much, how- 
 ever. Every bit of work into which the spirit of play does 
 not enter is drudgery — and drudgery is one of the most mel- 
 ancholy things in the world. The farmer who does not do 
 his work with somewhat of the play instinct is treading a 
 dreary round of monotony that will end in intellectual and 
 even moral death. We obtain little happiness from doing 
 work that we have to do ; it is what we want to do that most 
 develops us. Of course, every person has to do a certain 
 amount of drudgery ; but the less there is, on the farm or 
 in the schoolroom, the more happiness and the more con- 
 structive work will there be in the universe. In teaching 
 reading, literature, composition writing, any of the English 
 branches or any other branch, endeavor to get the children 
 to do their work in the spirit of play. Self-inspired, self- 
 initiated, self-sustained, self-completed activity is the activity 
 that counts most in developing a character with the power of 
 initiative and with virilitv. 
 
CHAPTER TWO 
 
 LITERATURE IN THE LOWER GRADES 
 
 ■ Perhaps a few teachers will be surprised, after hav- 
 ing finished the preceding chapter on Reading to discover 
 a chapter — two of them in fact — on Literature. "Aren't 
 they the same?" I have been asked. "Isn't Hterature com- 
 posed merely of zvordsf and doesn't one read Hterature? 
 How, then, does reading differ from Hterature?" Just 
 in this: Anything read is reading; i. e., reading matter; 
 but only a certain kind of that matter is literature. The 
 readers in our country schools are, of course, full of read- 
 ing matter; but some of them are quite empty of litera- 
 ture. Naturally the question springs out : "Wliat then, 
 is literature?" 
 
 What Is Literature? 
 
 Well, now, to be quite frank. I don't know, I know 
 that literature is intensely interesting; that it makes me 
 serious, or happy, or gay, or patriotic, or religious — 
 rouses me to some keen, healthy emotion; that it makes 
 me feel and think and desire to act; that the expression 
 of the thought seems the very best. All this and more 
 do I know about Hterature, but as for giving a definition 
 — I must confess my impotence. Here are some col- 
 
 42 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 43 
 
 lected by Professor John Harrington Cox and inserted 
 in his excellent little book, "Literature in the Common 
 Schools" : 
 
 "Literature is a record of the best thoughts." — Ralph 
 Waldo Emerson. 
 
 "Literature is an artistic embodiment of life, the work 
 of the selective judgment and creative imagination."— 
 /. Rose Colby. 
 
 "Literature may be broadly defined as the adequate 
 expression of genuine and typical emotion." — Arlo Bates. 
 
 If you will examine these definitions, you will see that 
 they do not define, as the authors of the definitions would 
 themselves confess. To define anything is to bound it 
 in, to fence it. When you have defined anything, you 
 can say of it : "Here it is ; it ends precisely at this point 
 or along this line; it includes everything within this 
 boundary and excludes everything outside." To define 
 a word is to separate that word from all other words 
 whatsoever and to include every possible shade of mean- 
 ing that the word can have. The word "literature" is too 
 extensive to be fenced in, too subtle to be woven into 
 homespun, too volatile to be imprisoned in a vial; it is 
 "As broad and general as the casing air." No one can 
 define life, or the human face, or music — at least, not in 
 such a way as really to comprise all that those terms 
 mean; and no one can define literature. 
 
 But though literature is indefinable, it is intelligible 
 
44 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 and recognizable. We can be sure at least that a good 
 many pages in the average reader used in the country 
 school are filled with reading matter, not literature. 
 Attempts have been made to construct a series of readers 
 entirely out of literature; such are "The Reading-Litera- 
 ture Series" (Row, Peterson and Co., Chicago) ; "The 
 Heart of Oak" series (D. C. Heath and Co., Boston) ; 
 Williams' "Choice Literature" (American Book Co., 
 Cincinnati) ; and, for the upper grades, Elson's "Gram- 
 mar School Readers" (Scott, Foresman and Co., New 
 York). The second and third series named, excellent 
 though they are, are nearly always used as supplementary. 
 Almost all basal readers contain both literature and other 
 reading matter. 
 
 Not Every Reading Lesson a Literature Lesson 
 
 Now, although I think literature is about the most 
 important thing in this world except life itself, I see no 
 reason to complain because our school readers are not 
 "chock-full" of literature — especially our primary read- 
 ers. It is not necessary to make every reading lesson a 
 literature lesson. 
 
 Why not? 
 
 I. The teaching of reading in the lower grades must be 
 largely formal and intellectual, while the teaching of lit- 
 erature is alwavs cultural. Let me be understood. We 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 45 
 
 know, of course, that \ve must not deal with the formal 
 any longer than is necessary, and that we must teach it 
 along with that which has real subject matter. (See 
 pages 206-7.) But we also, know that in primary reading 
 Ave ..must emphasize pronunciation, meaning of new 
 words, and the getting of ideas, because the child is 
 .becoming acquainted with letters and words. Now, in a 
 literature lesson v;e must emphasize the emotional con- 
 tent. Of course, before the emotional and cultural con- 
 tent can be reached, the words must be known; but when- 
 ever we emphasize the mechanics of reading, the spirit 
 of the selection departs. That is something that even col- 
 lege professors of English are prone to forget. We 
 should not make every reading lesson a literature lesson, 
 then, because the emphasis upon the two is different. 
 
 2. Literature does not* furnish enough of that par- 
 ticular information which the lower grades need; in fact, 
 the imparting of information is hardly a function of 
 literature at all. The child needs to read in connection 
 with his geography, for example; where shall he find 
 much literature that will give him information? Of 
 course, he can get plenty of geographical reading matter 
 — Carpenter's Geographical Readers, for instance, or the 
 "Little People Everywhere" series, published by Little, 
 .Brown and Co., Boston. But these are reading books, 
 not compilations of literature. We cannot make every 
 
46 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 reading lesson a literature lesson, then, because we cannot 
 always find the material to correlate with your other 
 school work. . 
 
 3. In the lower grades the literature is always a year 
 or two in advance of the reading matter. Suppose we 
 have a certain selection which we may teach either as 
 plain reading or as literature; as literature you might be 
 able to put it in the first grade, but you could not teach 
 it as reading before the third. The reason for this is 
 obvious : in the literature lesson in primary grades the 
 teacher always takes the initiative, while in the reading 
 lesson the children should be required to perform most of 
 the work by themselves. This thought is developed more 
 fully a little later (see pages 63-4) ; it is more important 
 than we usually think, 
 
 4, There is not sufficient literature to furnish reading 
 matter in the lower grades, especially in the first grade. 
 Open a first reader, even one that claims to be completely 
 literary, and see how few of the great masters of litera- 
 ture you find represented there. Literature is often very 
 simple, but it is usually not simple enough to serve as 
 reading material for little children. There is a good deal 
 of excellent poetry written especially for little children : 
 Mother Goose, Stevenson, Miss Rossetti, Blake, Mrs. 
 Richards, Frank Demster Sherman; and it should be 
 taught to children. But it is not taught as reading les- 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 47 
 
 sons; nor could it be. There is not much prose Hterature 
 that can be utiHzed as reading material for the first or 
 even the second grade. Much that we use has the proper 
 subject matter, and even the proper treatment; but little 
 of it is couched in that perfect, permanent phrase which 
 is the final and fundamental mark of literature. If we 
 use the literature appropriate — fairy stories, etc., we must 
 read it or tell it to the children; and that is not a read- 
 ing lesson. If we write it down in simple enough lan- 
 guage to serve as, material for a reading lesson, we have 
 spoiled it as literature. I am not contending that we 
 should not introduce a considerable amount of literature 
 or that we should not carry over from the literature all 
 we possibly can to assist the child in learning to read. 
 ( See page 67. ) I am only insisting that we do not have 
 sufficient childish literature to give children practice in 
 the art of reading. Now, children must have plenty of 
 reading matter; and if there is not in circulation enough 
 genuine sterling coin — why, we must issue some paper 
 money, I suppose. 
 
 Do not attempt, therefore, to make every reading les- 
 son, especially in the first grades, a literature lesson. In 
 the upper grades you can do this; in fact, some states 
 have adopted readers for the lower grades and literature 
 readers for the upper grades. Some one has said that in 
 the lower grades the children learn to read, and in the 
 upper grades they read to learn — or to feel. You should 
 
48 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 teach cJiildroi to read, and you should teach literature to 
 eJiiIdre)i; but the process is different. Examine each 
 selection in your readers, therefore, to discover whether 
 it should be taught as a reading lesson or a literature 
 lesson ; then proceed to teach it in the manner suited to its 
 classification. 
 
 Tests of Literature 
 
 But of course, there is little use in suggesting that we 
 examine a selection to discover whether it is literature 
 material or reading material, if we do not know what to 
 examine it for. Definitions do not render much assistance ; 
 but are there not tests which one can apply? Yes, there 
 are tests; the difiiculty is that their application requires a 
 considerable amount of special training. It is much like 
 the determination of good soil : there are tests one can 
 apply, but one must be a specialist to apply these tests. 
 However, here are two very simple means of discovering 
 whether a selection is literature, and therefore to be 
 taught as literature : 
 
 I. See who the author is; if he is known to you as a 
 great writer, you may expect this particular selection to 
 be literature. That is not always true, of course ; for even 
 the greatest of writers sometimes produces inferior crea- 
 tions. But usually only the best productions of an author 
 are inserted in a school reader. 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 49 
 
 2. Most of the poetry in the reader is Hterature — at 
 least the editors of the reader think it is Hterature. 
 
 But those two means of recognizing Hterature are not 
 certain. Here are three that are better, though they are 
 harder : 
 
 1. Are the words expressive? the phrases striking? 
 the sentences as a whole clear and forcible? the sentences 
 well connected in each paragraph or stanza? the para- 
 graphs or stanzas well connected with each other? And 
 does the whole selection deal with only one main thought, 
 and that a thought worth while? 
 
 2. So far as you can judge, are the emotions sincere 
 and healthy? Are the characters human and natural? 
 Are the ideas and opinions of the author true to the facts 
 of life and nature? 
 
 3. When you read the selection aloud, does the sound 
 (especially if the selection is poetry) remind you of the 
 idea? For example, does the sound of Bryant's "Robert 
 of Lincoln" suggest the jollity of the bird's song and the 
 happiness of his life? Does the sound of "Thanatopsis" 
 suggest the solemnity and majesty of the thought? On 
 the other hand, does the light, tripping, gay music of 
 "The Death of the Flowers" fit in well with the som- 
 breness of the theme? 
 
 If you can answer these questions in the affirmative, 
 you have some good evidence that the selection is litera- 
 
50 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 tiire. Here are four other ways of testing a selection ; 
 this time you observe the effect of it on your pupils : 
 
 1. Does it give pleasure to your pupils? 
 
 2. Does it make clear, interesting pictures in their 
 minds as they read? 
 
 ,^. Does it arouse their feelings and thoughts? 
 
 4. Do they like to read it over and o^•er ? 
 
 If the selection under inspection stands all these tests, 
 you may be contident that it is literature. But after all, 
 the best way to determine the literary excellence of any 
 poem or story is to develop a critical taste by wise and 
 wide reading. After you have read thoughtfully a great 
 deal of good literature, you will not have to apply tests 
 to decide whether a ucnn selection is literature — you will 
 just know it. as a lapidary is able to pick out a diamond 
 from a handful of rhinestones. 
 
 ''Liicyciturc" a Coinprclicnsk'C Word 
 
 But you must remember two facts : that what is lit- 
 erature for you may not be literature for your pupils ; and 
 that "literature" is a very comprehensive word, indeed. 
 It includes everything from "Paradise Lost" down to 
 "Little Boy Blue." Anything written that gives pleas- 
 ure and stirs healthy emotion is literature — which is 
 about as indefinite a definition as anv one could find. But 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 51 
 
 in proportion to the degree in which an affirmative answer 
 to these last four questions is true, in that proportion is 
 the selection examined, great literature. 
 
 Types of Literature in Lower Grades 
 
 Naturally, after the question of what literature is has 
 been answered, we must next consider the different forms 
 that literature may take. For the lower grades the favor- 
 ite types are : 
 
 1. Mother Goose Melodies. These are short, musical 
 jingles on childish subjects, often containing a nonsensical 
 idea. They are replete with repetition and alliteration, 
 and move with a natural rhythm that is quite irresistible. 
 It is healthful literary food for the child. And it is par- 
 ticularly nutritious for the country child. Its tricksy 
 humor, its brightness and rollicking jollity, its music and 
 its suggestiveness — all these make a strong appeal to the 
 farmer's little boy and girl, whose life is all too likely to 
 be solitary and melancholy, devoid of the natural childish 
 emotions. 
 
 2. Nonsense Verses. These are usually longer and 
 somewhat more difficult. They depend for their interest 
 on absurdity, on patent exaggeration, on a conscious turn- 
 ing upside-down of the familiar. Funny new words are 
 invented, grotesque animals and plants created — the sole 
 aim being to raise laughter. Edward Lear, Lewis Car- 
 
52 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 roll, Carolyn Wells, and Laura E. Richards are perhaps 
 the favorite nonsense-verse makers. These jingles, like 
 the jMother Goose verses, are lively in rhvthni ; thev are 
 as musical as the popping" of corn in a popper. The sense 
 of rhythm is innate in nearly every child, and it should 
 be developed. The little boy or girl in the country par- 
 ticularly need this style of verse, to counteract the ten- 
 dency toward apathy which a lonely life develops. 
 
 3. Tlic ''Child Lyric." This is the more serious poetry 
 of childish thoughts and experience. It deals with nature 
 — animate and inanimate — with children, their toys and 
 sports, their habits and ideas. The good child lyric must 
 have simplicity without emptiness: it must be vibrant 
 with those emotions common to children ; it must be musi- 
 cal. Any moral lesson it may carry is quite incidental ; 
 but it often contains a small segment of a universal truth. 
 He who properly learns Stevenson's ''The Wind" will 
 some day see that this charming little poem contains the 
 same thought that is expressed in the words of Jesus : 
 "The wind bloweth where it listeth ; and thou hearest the 
 sound thereof, but canst not tell wdience it cometh and 
 whither it goeth." The child w-ho feels the emotion in 
 Christina Rossetti's "Town INIouse and Country Mouse," 
 who feels the tenderness in the last line : 'Toor little 
 timid, furry man" — is tracing a small arc of the large 
 circle drawn by Robert Burns in his poem "'To a ■Mouse." 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 53 
 
 4. "Cumulative Talcs/' as they have been aptly called. 
 Three of the most famous of these are "The Old Woman 
 and the Pig," "The House That Jack Built," and "Henny- 
 Penny."* This kind of literature is created by beginning 
 with a single idea, adding new details one by one, each 
 time going clear back to the first step and retracing the 
 steps in order. Repetition and a constantly repeated 
 refrain are the most prominent literary qualities of this 
 type. They have humor and furnish genuine fun; and 
 when well told or read, they keep the listening youngster 
 on the alert. They are, therefore, to be highly recom- 
 mended to the country teacher as capital material for his 
 youngest pupils. The average country child is not as 
 quick and responsive as the city child, because he has not 
 been awakened by so much contact with the world. Any 
 literature that froths over with fun and sets the senses and 
 the emotions tingling with the intoxication of ardent 
 interest — that is a very delicious drink for the country 
 child. It may be said incidentally, that, on account of the 
 numerous repetitions, the cumulative tale serves admir- 
 ably in teaching reading, as well as literature. 
 
 5. Fables. A fable is a short story in which the lower 
 animals think, feel, talk and act like human beings, the 
 story itself illustrating some truth of human experience. 
 The qualities in this literary type make a direct appeal 
 
 * "The Reading-Literature Primer,"' Row, Peterson & Co., Chi- 
 cago, is made up entirely of these cumulative stories. 
 
54 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 to the child. Animals always interest him ; and talking 
 animals absorb him. The story element, too, has a strong- 
 charm; it is simple, direct, brief. It is full of action, 
 often stirring action. It works up to a climax and often 
 ends in such a way as to appeal to the child's sense of 
 justice — which is always "poetic" justice. The moral. 
 so often grafted on the end of the fable, should be pruned 
 away, so that the little reader can. when adroitly ques- 
 tioned, draw his own conclusion and make his own 
 applications. 
 
 6. Animal Stories. These resemble the fables, but 
 they are usuaMy longer and usually do not point out any 
 particular lesson in conduct. Kipling's "Jungle Book." 
 Joel Chandler Harris' "Uncle Remus Stories," and 
 Thompson-Seton's "\\'ild Animals I Have Known." are 
 perhaps the best specimens of this type. (^The second is 
 too difficult to be read by the children: they cannot mas- 
 ter the dialect. But they easily understand the stories 
 when they are read or told.) Country people come into 
 closer contact with animals than do any other class of 
 people. All literature, therefore, that deals with animal 
 life in an imaginative way is doubly valuable for country 
 children : it deals with material with which they are 
 already acquainted, and it brings them into a desirable 
 sympathy with animals. The country child is too prone 
 to take a matter-of-fact attitude toward the lower ani- 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 55 
 
 mals ; he rarely sees in them the resemblances to humanity, 
 the weakness, the cunning, the lovableness that most dumb 
 animals reveal to one who watches them sympathetically. 
 
 7. Nursery Tales and Fairy Stories. These rhay be 
 considered as one type, though they are not precisely the 
 same. A Nursery Tale is "a narrative of imaginary 
 events, wherein is celebrated a hero of more or less hum- 
 ble origin, a child's hero, who, by his own wit and energy, 
 together with the possession of a charm, is enabled to do 
 stupendous deeds, which bring to him material happi- 
 ness"; while a Fairy Story is "a narrative of imaginary 
 events wherein the chief actors are beings other than man 
 and the gods — beings who have power to help man or to 
 tease and molest him, but not the power utterly to destroy 
 him."* The child, however, makes no distinction, and I 
 suppose we need not. Both tell a story in which a hero 
 or heroine — usually a child — does wonderful deeds, and, 
 often with fairy assistance, arrives at some highly desir- 
 able goal. "Jack and the Beanstalk," "Cinderella," "Puss 
 in Boots," and "Goldilocks" are four representative speci- 
 mens of the nursery tale; and Hans Andersen's collec- 
 tions contain some of the best fairy stories. The story 
 in these types is often long and, to grown-ups, rather 
 tiresome, perhaps; but to children it seems full of excit- 
 ing climaxes, of hair-raising adventures with brutal giants 
 
 * Harriott Ely Fansler in "Types of Prose Narratives," Row, 
 Peterson & Co., Chicago. 
 
56 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 and malicious fairies. The cliaracters are well marked 
 and easily understood by the child. The young reader 
 finds some humor and derives exquisite delight from see- 
 ing the child hero overcome great odds and achieve suc- 
 cess. The best specimens of this type are suffused with 
 feeling, and, moreover, make demands upon the com- 
 pliant imagination of the young. Fairy stories are excel- 
 lent for the country child, for the work-a-day existence 
 of his later life has a strong tendency to make him exces- 
 sively practical and hard-headed and unimaginative. Let 
 the farmer's boy and girl have all the fairy stories and 
 nursery tales they can consume — Grimm, Andersen, 
 Jacobs, Lang, Perrault and all that delightful company. 
 
 Other Types of Literature 
 
 These seven types include all the forms of literature 
 for country children, so far as their own reading is con- 
 cerned. But there are other types that they should be 
 made familiar with : these the teacher must read or tell — 
 preferably tell. Country children should know the tra- 
 ditional myths and legends; but, since these do not exist 
 in any literature comprehensible to the average little child, 
 the teacher must give them in a suitable form. You will 
 find these old-world stories retold in certain collections. 
 Literature is simply honeycombed with references to 
 these old tales, and you and your children must be 
 familiar with the tales before the references are clear. 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 57 
 
 Another kind of literature you should acquaint your 
 pupils with is that vast store comprised in the Bible. 
 Perhaps you cannot read from the Bible in your school; 
 but you can, at least, retell some of those good old stories 
 that are a part of the world-knowledge and world-cul- 
 ture : the story of Joseph and young David and Samson 
 and Daniel. And here let me record my conviction that 
 you, Country Teacher, should be a teacher in the Sunday 
 School, if your religious convictions will permit. Per- 
 haps the city teacher should not conduct a class in the 
 Sunday School, though I am not so sure of that : but you, 
 as one of the leading citizens in your community, should 
 identify yourself with this good work, both from a 
 religious motive and because you will thus have a chance 
 to teach your pupils some of the choicest literature. 
 
 The Subject Matter of Primary Literature 
 
 So much for the forms, the types. Now as to the 
 material. This is indicated in the names of the forms; 
 but perhaps a few additional hints can be given. The 
 material, it may be remarked, is more important than the 
 form, so far as children are concerned. It is not of 
 pressing importance whether the form be one or the other 
 of these seven kinds, so long as it contains the material 
 that children want and need. What should be the nature 
 of the material in literature presented to country chil- 
 dren, little children ? 
 
58 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 I. It should deal with nature and the great out-of- 
 doors. The I'eason for this is obvious. Children often 
 care for nature more than does the average adult, and 
 country children should care for it very much indeed. 
 Now, some country children have very little feeling for 
 the beauties and wonders of the natural world. Perhaps 
 it is because they come in contact with the creations of 
 nature so much that they become matter-of-course, and 
 therefore make little impression on the mind. Perhaps 
 it is because this contact is largely on the utilitarian side : 
 it is difficult to see any beauty in the purple aster when it 
 has become a troublesome weed. Perhaps it is because 
 the average country dweller, even the country child, is so 
 afraid of sentimentality that he avoids even the appear- 
 ance of sentiment. At any rate, the love of nature is not 
 highly enough developed among country people in gen- 
 eral and country children in particular. That school 
 branch called "Nature Study'' is the best for inspiring 
 and developing this love for all the graces and beauties 
 and wonders of the realm of nature; but literature, espe- 
 cially poetry, has an important and a peculiar value in this 
 regard. Nature Study satisfies largely the intellectual 
 curiositv of the child, whereas the literature of nature 
 appeals to his emotional side. 
 
 It is not enough that we be surrounded by nature's 
 creations ; we need to have our eyes and our hearts opened 
 by the inspiring words of a poet. Occasionally IMother 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 59 
 
 Nature, impatient of our slowness of comprehension, our 
 lethargy of heart, sends to us an interpreter — a Words- 
 worth, a Burns, a Keats. If we listen to him for a time, 
 we are instructed how to observe, how to appreciate, how 
 to feel ; then, and only then, are some of us brought into 
 an ardent affection fgr nature. In general, the nature 
 poetry for young country children should be simple and 
 concrete; it should not be too subtle, too profound. It 
 should deal with the ordinary experiences of country life, 
 without laying very much stress upon ethical lessons. 
 Many of the great nature poets draw deep philosophic 
 truths from their observations and reflections, others 
 reveal the close parallelisms between the phenomena of 
 the natural world and those of the social and spiritual 
 world; these are not for young children. 
 
 2. It should emphasize the altruistic feelings that 
 develop in the early years : love for animals and pets, 
 love for brothers and sisters, for father and mother. This 
 is not the period for teaching patriotism or the feeling of 
 kinship with the whole universe. That will come later; 
 at this time it is meaningless. A child's love grows by 
 what it feeds upon : it expands as each experience is 
 digested and assimilated. 
 
 3. It should be highly imaginative. Among country 
 people there is a feeling that the fairy story or any litera- 
 ture that departs from the exact fact is injurious. In some 
 
60 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 rural communities the prejudice against tiction is so 
 intense that children are never allowed to glance into any 
 volume that is suspected of being a "novel." Of course, 
 this is quite wrong. Shall we shut our children off from 
 some of the greatest literature in the world merely because 
 "it isn't so?" The average country child is literally starv- 
 ing for something to feed his growing, glowing imagina- 
 tion upon — and we give him cold, hard facts. The litera- 
 ture country children most need is the fanciful, the 
 imaginative, the exaggerated. Deprive them of this, and 
 you make them serious-minded, cold-blooded, ultra-prac- 
 tical, stolid. 
 
 4. It should contain plenty of lively fun. Childhood 
 is the time for gaiety and jollity, and the literature for 
 children should minister to the child's love of laughter 
 and merriment. We would all be better men and women 
 and live richer and fuller lives, if we could but carry 
 over into maturity some of the optimism and cheer of 
 childhood. To be sure, existence cannot all be fun and 
 lightness of heart : "There is a time to laugh and a time 
 to mourn;" but the adult who has forgotten how to 
 laugh and how to play is indeed a wretched being. If 
 we nourish the young child upon literature that contains 
 fun, that child will probably grow into the full stature of 
 a man — a man capable of meeting the ills and calamities 
 of life, sweet-tempered under adversity, proof against the 
 
LITERATbRE IN LOWER GRADES 61 
 
 various shocks and changes of mortaHty. Literature for 
 country children, then, should contain plenty of youthful 
 humor. 
 
 Having discussed the types of literature for young 
 country children and the contents of that literature, let 
 me now speak briefly of certain other characteristics. 
 
 Characteristics of Children's Literature in the Lower 
 
 Grades 
 
 I. Much of the literature should be poetry. One 
 fundamental of poetry is emotional power. "Poetry is 
 emotion recollected in tranquillity," says Wordsworth. 
 We have already seen how important it is that the coun- 
 try boy and girl should be made to feel deeply. There is 
 no necessity that the life of country folk should be hum- 
 drum and monotonous ; it should be filled with emotion — 
 honest love for the beautiful and the true and the noble. 
 There is more emotion in life than in literature; but lit- 
 erature can help us to train and guide and idealize the 
 emotions of life. The country child should be fed largely 
 upon poetry for another reason : it develops the sense of 
 rhythm. The melodies of Mother Goose comprise some 
 of the most rhythmic verses in all literature. "Perhaps 
 the best quantitative verses in our language are to be 
 found in Mother Goose," says James Russell Lowell. 
 Now, rhythm is the basis of music; and if the sense of 
 rhythm, which is latent in nearly every child, is unde- 
 
62 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 veloped in youth, perhaps the unfortunate individuals 
 will be forever debarred from the enjoyments of music. 
 (See page yj.) 
 
 2. The selections should be brief. If it is poetry, the 
 lines are often short and the stanzas composed of few 
 lines. 
 
 3. The language, while it should be in advance of the 
 child's speech, should not be difficult. If the child is 
 interested in the subject matter, he will clamber over 
 many a tall word ; but generally he should be able to under- 
 stand the meaning without very much mental agility. 
 Children's literature should not abound in figures of 
 speech; it should be concrete, very concrete. 
 
 How to Teach Literature in the Lozccr Grades 
 
 Now for the most difficult of all the problems concern- 
 ing literature for country children in the primary grades : 
 how to teach it? Here is the most valuable general sug- 
 gestion that I can give : so teach it that it will appeal to 
 the child's emotional nature. Be sure that it makes him 
 feel. Literature does not exist to communicate informa- 
 tion, but to arouse emotion. Do not expect the child to 
 know any more when he has mastered the selection. If 
 you have caused him to feel a good emotion and have 
 planted in him just the tiniest grain of an idea, you have 
 tausfht literature. 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 63 
 
 It is almost impossible to present very explicit direc- 
 tions about the teaching of literature, because each selec- 
 tion must be treated differently. Here, however, are 
 some broad suggestions : 
 
 1. Always connect the literature with the child's life. 
 Start with some simple, familiar fact in his experience — 
 the experience of the country child. For example : you 
 are to teach Stevenson's "My Shadow," or Rossetti's 
 "The Wind." You begin with informal conversation 
 about shadows or about the wind, and lead your class 
 to the point where the central idea of the poems will 
 appeal to them. Be sure that you always base your teach- 
 ing of a selection on something known to your pupils. 
 This will mean that you can not teach the selections in 
 the order they come in the book; you must choose to fit 
 the occasion, the mood, the idea. Teach "Cock Robin" 
 when the robins are to be seen; teach Kipling's "Seal 
 Lullaby" when the sea and the seal are in the minds of 
 the children. Of course, some selections cannot be so 
 easily brought in : but there is a certain moment or mood 
 for each unit of literature. 
 
 2. You should generally read the selection aloud 
 before asking the children to attempt it. You are not now 
 trying to teach new words or pronunciation or even 
 inflection and expressiveness; you are trying to start a 
 feeling in these little hearts. You will not usually read 
 
64 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 it aloud until you have got the children in the proper 
 mood to receive it ; but you must read it aloud, and read it 
 well, before you can truly say you have completely taught 
 literature. I recommend that the teacher read first, 
 because very much depends upon first impressions. If 
 you were going to try to move your children with a selec- 
 tion of music, you would not ask one of them to play. 
 We must realize that a literature lesson is not a reading 
 lesson, not a language lesson, not a lesson in nature study ; 
 it is a means of communicating emotion. You must fol- 
 low Longfellow's advice : "lend to the rhyme of the poet 
 the beauty of thy voice." Of course, as the children 
 become able to read well, let them read before you do; 
 but yoH should always read. Literature yields all its 
 emotion only when the human voice has sent the emotion-, 
 laden words through the ear-mechanism into the mind. 
 If you cannot read well, subject yourself to a strict 
 apprenticeship until you have learned the art. 
 
 3. After you have read the selection aloud, you should 
 then have another informal chat with the class. Bring 
 out, by questions, the more difficult ideas, and see that 
 the chief thought from which the emotion springs is 
 clear. 
 
 4. Next, have the children read. Aim to secure nat- 
 uralness and expressiveness. If a pupil does not clearly 
 express the meaning and the emotion of any sentence or 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 65 
 
 Stanza, question him diplomatically until he grasps the 
 thought of the author; then ask him to express that 
 thought. But if you have read well and have brought 
 but the meaning of the selection in your discussions with 
 the class, the children will usually read with feeling and 
 understanding. Needless to say, all this requires time — 
 so much time that you cannot conduct a literature lesson 
 every day. But this work is fundamental; devote to it 
 all the time you possibly can. We are all inclined to be 
 "minute-wise and hour-foolish" in teaching small children. 
 
 5. Have the children memorize the selection if it is 
 short and easily learned. If it is real literature, it will 
 expand and deepen with significance and beauty, as the 
 children become men and women. Some rural teachers 
 make a practice of writing a stanza or short poem on the 
 board in the morning and requiring the children to learn 
 it within the day. That is a good plan ; but I suggest that 
 it would always be well to select as a memory gem some 
 poem that has been studied in class. It is never good 
 pedagogy to force children to commit to memory any- 
 thing that they do not understand tolerably well. Some 
 teachers require too much memorizing. But children 
 commit easily; and if you choose your selections with 
 care and make sure that your pupils comprehend the 
 meaning, you are not likely to err in this direction. We 
 all know that in later life a stanza from a beautiful poem 
 
66 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 learned in childhood will often come drifting into the 
 mind, luminous with significance. 
 
 6. Be careful how you bring out the "lesson" of the 
 lesson. We teachers are too much inclined to use a 
 magnifying-glass to lind a moral in a bit of literature. 
 "That's something practical," we think; "that's worth 
 while." Says IMiss Isabel McKinney ("Study of Litera- 
 ture in the Upper Grades") : "It is a pity for the teacher 
 to make moral what the writer has made spiritual." 
 IMuch literature contains ethical thoughts ; but much of 
 it has no more moral significance than a selection of music. 
 Don't force a moral into a selection that makes no attempt 
 to draw a moral. And if it does develop a moral, don't 
 thrust it down the throats of your pupils ; merely arouse 
 the emotion that the selection glows with, and the moral 
 goes home of its own power. 
 
 FurtJicr Suggestions for TcacJiiug Literature 
 
 These half dozen directions are but suggestions. Each 
 selection will need different treatment. The teacher 
 should examine each bit of literature he is to teach for the 
 most essential characteristic. In some selections it is the 
 music of the words and phrases; in some it is a descrip- 
 tion of a scene; in others it is the expression of an 
 emotion; in still others it is the development of some 
 ethical theme. Appraise each selection and emphasize the 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 67 
 
 one element or idea that is its core; then subordinate the 
 details or eliminate them entirely. And the teacher should 
 not worry if the children do not comprehend the intel- 
 lectual and emotional content as thoroughly as he does. 
 One of the many virtues of great literature is that it 
 keeps on deepening and widening in significance as the 
 individual develops. Your wider experience assists you 
 in interpreting a bit of literature better than the children 
 can; you read more out of it and into it. Be content if 
 your pupils appreciate the underlying thought and feeling ; 
 as they grow, the selection will grow. 
 
 One suggestion more. I have been insisting that we 
 must make a difference between a reading lesson and a 
 literature lesson. AA^e teach reading so that our pupils 
 may be able to master the mechanics of silent and oral 
 reading; we teach literature so that they may feel a 
 worthy emotion and may develop their imagination and a 
 taste for the beautiful. But naturally our children will 
 transfer from their lesson in reading much that will help 
 them in their literature lesson, and vice versa. A lesson in 
 literature should inspire in our pupils a desire to read 
 well, so that they may be able to enjoy literature; just as 
 story-telling o-ften furnishes an incentive to young chil- 
 dren to learn to read — so that they can read for them- 
 selves the stories the teacher tells. It is highly desirable 
 that this transference of ideas and motives should take 
 place; and. so long as the teacher holds firmly before his 
 
68 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 mind the fundamental differences in teaching reading and 
 teaching Hterature, only good will come from this carry- 
 ing-over proces's. Alternate your reading lessons and 
 literature lessons, just as farmers rotate crops: each will 
 assist the other. 
 
 A Model Llssoji in Pr'iDiary Literature 
 
 If you have followed carefully the thoughts developed 
 in this chapter, you will have formed some derinite ideas 
 about the kinds of literature that young country chil- 
 dren should study and the qualities of that literature, 
 and will have some ideas about the teaching of a selec- 
 tion. Let me now illustrate all this by showing how to 
 teach a specific poem. This is chosen in accordance with 
 the principles laid down above. I have chosen poetry 
 rather than prose because in some respects it is harder to 
 teach and because poetry should, as I have said, con- 
 stitute a goodly proportion of the literar}' diet of the 
 young country boy and girl. Doubtless many of you can 
 teach this poem more successfully by plans of your own 
 than by following this model ; but perhaps all can extract 
 some usable hints. 
 
 The selection is a poem by Christina Rossetti. *'The 
 Rainbow." 
 
 Boats sail on the rivers, i 
 
 And ships sail on the seas ; 2 
 
 But clouds that sail across the sky 3 
 
 Are prettier far than these. 4 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 69 
 
 There are bridges on the rivers, 5 
 
 As pretty as you please ; 6 
 
 But the bow that bridges heaven, 7 
 
 And overtops the trees, 8 
 
 And builds a road from earth to sky, 9 
 
 Is prettier far than these. 10 
 
 Study of the Poem 
 
 Now, it is evident that before teaching this poem (or 
 any other selection of literature, for that matter) you 
 must understand the poem and feel the emotion that 
 permeates it. To direct your study, work by this simple 
 outline: i. The Contents; 2. The Form; 3. The 
 Predominant Emotions; 4. Reading Aloud. 
 
 The Contents 
 
 The contents are very easily analyzed. There are 
 but two main ideas, i. White- winged boats sail on the 
 rivers and ships sail on the seas. White clouds are ships 
 crossing the sky-ocean; they are much prettier* than real 
 ships on real oceans. 2. Over the rivers extend very 
 pretty bridges joining one bank to the other. The rain- 
 bow is a bridge, too, reaching over the tops of the highest 
 trees and joining earth and sky. This bridge is far pret- 
 tier than real wooden bridges over real streams. These 
 two main ideas are connected, of course, else the poem 
 would lack unity. They are connected by the similarity 
 in the language used to express the two ideas. They are 
 
70 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 connected by the fact that the clouds in the tirst stanza 
 and the rainbow in the second are both phenomena of the 
 sky. and that the river is a feature in both main thoughts. 
 Moreover, they are connected by the natural relation 
 between the clouds in the lirst stanza and the rainbow in 
 the second. 
 
 The Form 
 
 The poem consists of two stanzas, of four and six 
 lines or verses, though we might almost as well consider 
 it as one unbroken lyric. There is but one rhyme-vowel. 
 long-"e." followed by the "z' '-consonant. Three accented 
 words are found in each line except 3 and 9. which have 
 four accents. The short lines produce a sprightly el^'ect. 
 Avhile the two longer lines suggest stateliness and create 
 a slower movement. Three lines end with a word of two 
 syllables accented on the first: "rivers," ''heavens": this 
 produces a light, tripping effect. Notice the alliteration: 
 of "p" in verse 6; of "b" in verse 7; of ''t" in verse 8. 
 Notice particularly the frequent use of the consonant 
 "s" especially what is called "soft-s," which is really the 
 "z"-sound — one of the most musical of English sounds. 
 The words are all short. ]\Iuch repetition is found. 
 
 Does all this seem unnecessarily analytical ? May he it 
 is: but if you are to read this little poem aloud as well as 
 the beauty of the sound deserves, you will study how ]Miss 
 Rossetti succeeded in getting the peculiarly soft, musical 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 71 
 
 effect so noticeable throughout. You will not, of course, 
 attempt to teach these details to your children. 
 
 The Predominant Emotion 
 
 It is comparatively easy to understand the contents 
 and the form of a childish poem such as this. And easy, 
 also, to discern the predominant emotion : love of pretty 
 clouds and the beautiful rainbow. But it is not enough 
 to see the emotion; you must feel it. Wordsworth 
 exclaims : 
 
 ]\Iy heart leaps up when I behold 
 
 A rainbow in the sky. 
 
 Do our hearts leap up? Probably not; we are not as 
 sensitive to the influences of nature as Wordsworth was. 
 "Too feeble fall the impressions of nature on us to make 
 us artists," says Emerson. But white clouds sailing 
 across the blue sky are beautiful. As I write, I see them 
 from the window — graceful, majestic, mysterious — sug- 
 gestive of limitless space, but suggestive, too, of the holi- 
 est peace — hinting at that ineffable feeling of the pres- 
 ence of a living Creator, that feeling always set vibrating 
 by an inanimate natural object moving — running water, 
 trees swayed by the wind, floating clouds. If we do not 
 feel to some degree the charm, the loveliness of the 
 "clouds that sail across the sky" ; if we do not discern 
 the beauty, the marvelous beauty of the rainbow, "God's 
 promise stretched across the sky," — if we do not feel this, 
 
72 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 \vc arc not yet ready to waken in our children the emotion 
 that is the very essence of this poem. Xor can anyone 
 give us a rule that \vc may follow in order to feel the 
 beantv of Nature. \\'e must simply yield our spirit to 
 the spell of all that is noble and grand and gracious and 
 lovely, and this will create in us a heart capable of ap- 
 preciation. 
 
 Ri\idiiu7 Aloud 
 
 If you have, in preparing to teach this poem, taken 
 the tirst three steps, yon will he able to read it aloud with 
 intelligence and sincerity. Here are some miscellaneous 
 sviggestions : 
 
 I. This is a simple poem: read it simply. 
 
 J. Emphasize those words that have most significance. 
 For example: "Boats sail on the rivers," not "Boats 
 sail. ti;j the rivers." In other words, avoid the sing-song. 
 
 3. Stress the alliterative words. For example: "As 
 prot-{\ as von f^icase" : "And over-^i/^.x' the trees." Thi> 
 must not be overdone, but the sounds must be strong- 
 enough to produce their natural musical ettect. 
 
 4. Bring out the contrasts in ideas. For example: 
 "Boats" and "rivers"" in line i are contrasted with "ships" 
 and "seas" in line 2; and "clouds" and "sky*" in line 3 
 are contrasted with the words in both the preceding lines, 
 and so should be stressed strongly. Perhaps a slight nod 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 73 
 
 of the head would be natural in readmg "Prettier far 
 than these." 
 
 5, Make pauses whenever they seem natural and sig- 
 nificant. For example : There is only a brief pause after 
 line I, because line 2 is joined closely to it by the 
 conjunction "and," which shows that the two thoughts 
 it connects are similar in meaning. But a longer pause 
 should be made after line 2, because the next line brings 
 in a new thought introduced by the conjunction "but." 
 There should be no stop after line 3, because it must be 
 closely coupled with line 4. Lines 7, 8, and 9 should be 
 read with only a slight pause at the end of each line, 
 because the idea is not complete until line 10 is read. 
 
 6. The predominant literary quality in this lyric is the 
 music of the words when read aloud. To make it musi- 
 cal, make your voice a true musical instrument. Try to 
 make your tones as soft and pleasant as possible; the lan- 
 guage itself will help you. The out-of-door life that 
 country people lead is inclined to roughen their voices; 
 but most of us do not have musical voices because we 
 do not want to have. If you, country teacher, will read 
 this poem, and others like it, over and over, training your 
 voice to be low-pitched and melodious, lingering on the 
 broad vowels and musical consonants, "making your Eng- 
 lish sweet upon your tongue," as Chaucer quaintly says — • 
 after a time you will drill out of your speaking voice all 
 
74 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 the ugly, rough, harsh, rasping tones, and your reading 
 will be unto your children, "as a very lovely song of one 
 that hath a pleasant voice," as Ezekiel says. 
 
 Have I over-emphasized this matter of oral reading? 
 I do not think so. I simply cannot conceive of a satis- 
 factory lesson in literature in the grades, especially in 
 the primary grades, unless the teacher reads the selec- 
 tion, and reads it with taste and appreciation. 
 
 TcacJi'uig the Poem 
 
 ^^>ll. you have, we will suppose, prepared yourself to 
 teach this poem, "The Rainbow." Now. how teach it to 
 country boys and girls? Your study of the selection has 
 already told you how, in part; let me but make a half 
 dozen suggestions. 
 
 I. Neither your pupils nor yourself have ever seen 
 the ocean, perhaps, or even sailboats on the river. Your 
 children, then, lack some of the previous impressions 
 upon which you would ordinarily base your instruction. 
 But in the introductory chat which should always precede 
 the teaching of a lesson such as this, you can certainly 
 give the class rather definite ideas of the sea and of sail- 
 ing-ships; and certainly you can work back from the 
 concept of the sky and clouds to that of the ocean and 
 ship — though that is, of course, reversing the order of 
 the poem. Pictures of the sea will be of help here. As 
 for the bridges, most of your pupils are familiar enough 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 75 
 
 with them, although they are not "as pretty as you please," 
 as in England, the scene of this poem. At any rate, make 
 sure that the children see the resemblance between the 
 ships on the ocean and the clouds in the sky and between 
 the bridge and the rainbow. Draw out by questions this 
 resemblance, and do it before you attempt to read the 
 poem. 
 
 2. If possible, teach this selection on a suitable day — 
 either when beautiful white clouds are overhead or when 
 the rainbow is visible. Touch very lightly on the phys- 
 ical cause and nature of the bow; but you may allude to 
 the thought of the rainbow as being the visible of God's 
 promise not to destroy the world with another flood. You 
 ■might also refer to the Greek story of Iris, the goddess 
 of the rainbow. But do not, by too many diversions, 
 injure the central aim of the lesson: to teach this little 
 poem in such a manner as to make a lasting impression 
 on the hearts of your children. And do not be too impa- 
 tient to see the results; one of the most serious hin- 
 drances to good teaching of literature is our natural, but 
 harmful craving to figure the profits. Be content in the 
 faith that the results from good literature are permanent 
 and inevitable. Teaching a poem to children is much 
 like sowing clover to plough under; it may not yield any 
 returns at the time, but harvests in the future will be 
 more abundant. If, years hence, a farmer, driven to 
 
76 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 shelter by a summer storm, sees the bow of beauty bridg- 
 ing the heavens and murmurs this httle lyric which you 
 taught him — you have had upon that person an effect 
 literally incalculable. 
 
 3. Read the poem aloud to the children. Read it as 
 naturally, as effectively, as musically, as possible. 
 
 4. Then have your pupils read it aloud. We are pre- 
 suming this is a "sight" poem — that is, your pupils have 
 never seen it before. If it is not in your readers, write 
 it on the board ; then have it read aloud by each member 
 of the class. 
 
 5. Ask your pupils to commit the poem. If you have 
 introduced it well, have made the children feel and think, 
 and have read it well, it is already lodged in those sen- 
 sitive hearts entrusted to you to quicken. It is easy to 
 over-do memory work; but undoubtedly that child who 
 has scores of such little gems treasured up will be a richer 
 man — richer in noble feelings, richer in worthy works. 
 
 6. Keep the poem before the children for a time and 
 recall it to their minds at every suitable opportunity. 
 Teach them, for example, this other little poem of Miss 
 Rossetti's : 
 
 If all were rain and never sun, 
 
 Xo bow could span the hill ; 
 If all were sun and never rain, 
 
 There'd be no rainbow still. 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 11. 
 
 And when you teach this, coax back the first poem to 
 memory and compare the two. And, by the way, make 
 comparisons of this sort whenever possible. If a phrase 
 or a line or an idea in one selection is reminiscent of 
 another selection, lead the children to note the resemblance. 
 
 The Query Box 
 
 I. Do you think it a good plan to set to music the poems 
 taught in class? 
 
 Yes, I think it an excellent plan — if you can do it. But it 
 requires an unusual musical and artistic gift to set words to 
 music. A poem may be beautiful, a selection of music may 
 be beautiful, and the two may be mechanically fitted ; but the 
 spirit of the two may be so diverse that their union is an 
 offense to art. Probably the rural teacher should not at- 
 tempt to have his pupils sing a poem studied in class. 
 
 But the country teacher should, by all means, make every 
 effort to train his pupils in music. Not a day should pass 
 without some singing. This whole subject lies without the 
 limits of English in the Country School, so I shall not at- 
 tempt to discuss it — farther than to point out what is obvi- 
 ous : Since music and poetry possess, as forms of art, so 
 many common qualities, he who loves music very often loves 
 poetry. Both are artistic expressions of emotion, both make 
 their effect through sound, both depend somewhat upon the 
 element of time. The one complements the other. Both, 
 therefore, are important factors in developing culture in 
 country children. The teacher should love music and should 
 teach his pupils to sing; he should love poetry and should 
 teach his pupils to read it — but he had best not try to teach 
 the two together. 
 
78 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 2. Is it possible to require too much memorizing of 
 poetry? 
 
 Yes, possible. But if the teacher is careful to select only 
 the best, and if the children show a reasonable appreciation 
 of what is selected, it is very unlikely that too much poetry 
 will be required. The trouble has been that we have often 
 assigned for memorizing a poem that the children could not 
 understand or appreciate, often requiring memorizing before 
 class study. The average child will commit to heart a sur- 
 prising number of poems with ease — if only he loves the 
 poems, 
 
 3. Would you have one pupil correct another's reading? 
 
 If it is a reading lesson, I should, though I should insist 
 that the corrections be made after the reading. But if it is a 
 literature lesson, I should want the children to close their 
 books while the one pupil is reading. The chief corrections 
 that should be made to an oral reading of a selection of liter- 
 ature are general criticisms concerning the interpretation : 
 emphasis, quality of tone, phrasing, etc.; and these correc- 
 tions should be framed as questions which will reveal to the 
 young reader the error he has committed. So far as possi- 
 ble, and by every means possible, let us endeavor to create 
 the impression that the child, when reading literature, is feel- 
 ing and interpreting an emotion, and that that is the one 
 important matter. 
 
 4. Should the children he taught to distinguish the differ- 
 ent types of literature? 
 
 Xo. There is no reason why the children should be taught 
 the difference between a lyric and a narrative poem, or be- 
 tween a fairy story and a nursery tale. If only they enjoy 
 the literature they read and study, if only they feel deeply; 
 that is sufficient. Neither should children be expected to 
 
LITERATURE IN LOWER GRADES 79 
 
 tell the reasons for studying each selection. The teacher 
 must be able to recognize the different forms and to realize 
 what each selection should do for his children, so that he 
 may nourish them upon a "balanced ration" ; but the children 
 themselves should not be expected to see the value of each 
 poem and story or to classify the literature into types. As 
 they grow older, perhaps they will, of their own impulse, 
 study the differences between the types; but if they never 
 take an interest in such matters, it is of little moment. 
 
 5. Would you teach the Bible in the country school f 
 
 If there is sectarian opposition to the teaching of the Bible, 
 it is best for the teacher not to attempt it. It is never wise to 
 arouse religious prejudices ; they may be foolish, but since 
 they exist, they should be taken into account. 
 
 Even if there be no sentiment against teaching the Bible 
 in the public school, it is not desirable, perhaps, to spend 
 much time in Bible instruction. The most that the country 
 teacher can do in the public school is to tell the choice stories, 
 to read some of the beautiful passages — in general, to give 
 the children an interest in the "Book of Books." The coun- 
 try teacher should consider the Sunday school a sort of sup- 
 plement to the public school, and should there give the con- 
 secutive, thorough instruction in this book, the knowledge 
 and love of which is so important to the intellectual, moral 
 and religious life of any child. 
 
 One thing is certain : country people should be acquainted 
 with the Bible. As has been often pointed out, it makes a 
 strong appeal to rural people. It is, in large part, the record 
 of an agricultural and pastoral people, whose founder and 
 whose greatest king were shepherds, whose life was almost 
 wholly rural. Some of the most beautiful psalms are full of 
 pictures of the country, some of the most impressive parables 
 
80 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 of Jesus make use of rural imagery and occupations. Who 
 except one that has lived in the country can appreciate to the 
 full the Twenty-third Psalm, or the parable of the Sower? 
 The Bible is the peculiar property of country folk ; let us love 
 it and revere it as our book. 
 
CHAPTER THREE 
 
 LITERATURE IN THE UPPER GRADES 
 
 In the previous chapter I discussed the types, contents, 
 and quaHties of Hterature for country children in the 
 lower grades, and gave suggestions for teaching. I shall 
 follow the same general plan for literature in the upper 
 grades. 
 
 Difference Between Lower and Upper Grades 
 
 Just a word of caution. The use of the terms, "lower" 
 and "upper" grades is likely to be misleading. The 
 growth and development of a child is, normally, regular 
 and uniform from about the age of six until the period 
 of adolescence, which begins somewhere between the 
 ages of eleven and fourteen. This period marks the 
 great change in the life of the individual; during these 
 years childhood ends and maturity begins. This change 
 is so striking that it is obvious. But the changes that 
 have taken place in the child up to this period are not 
 clearly marked. We know that the child develops from 
 six to twelve, but we cannot notice a very decided develop- 
 ment from year to year — a year's growth in a child can- 
 not be determined like that in a tree : by examining the 
 
 81 
 
82 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 rings. But the fact that we cannot see the child, or a 
 stalk of wheat, changing from day to day or from year 
 to year, does not mean that a change is not taking place. 
 For two or three years before adolescence Nature is pre- 
 paring the child for that great evolution. \\'e cannot 
 stop to discuss the development of the child, though every 
 teacher should be infonned on this important subject. 
 
 The child of twelve is a far different person from the 
 child of six — that is very evident. All this is to remind 
 ourselves that the phrases "lower" and "upper" grades 
 are not to be considered as signifying exact periods in 
 the child's life. The literature for the lower grades and 
 that for the upper grades overlap. The literature for a 
 pupil in the third, fourth, or fifth gxade should have in 
 part the characteristics of the literature for the lower 
 grades, and in part the form and characteristics of the 
 literature for the upper grades. In other words, as the 
 child's nature changes, the literature should change. The 
 eight grades are divided into two sections because it is 
 convenient, not because it is exact. 
 
 The Country Teacher's Advantages in Grading 
 
 And here let me remark that the country teacher has 
 a better opportunity than the city teacher to shift and 
 shape the work — in literature and in every subject — 
 according to the slow, or rapid, development of the indi- 
 vidual child. If it is evident that a bov in the fourth 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 83 
 
 grade is ready for fifth grade reading and literature, the 
 teacher can promote him to that grade in the one subject. 
 This should always be done. It may make the grading and 
 classification of the school more difficult to have a pupil 
 in the fourth grade in some studies and in the fifth grade 
 in others ; but the inconvenience caused the teacher is not 
 comparable to the advantages that will accrue to the child. 
 Keeping in mind, then, the mental reservation that 
 there really is no distinct line of demarcation between 
 the literature for the lower grades and that for the upper 
 grades, let us see what are the types of literature for 
 upper grades. (The types given here refer only to litera- 
 ture used in class. The nature of the books read outside 
 of class, of books that should be in the school library, 
 will be discussed in another chapter.) 
 
 Types of Literature 
 
 I. Ballads. These are of two kinds: Popular ballads 
 and literary ballads. The former originated among the 
 common people hundreds of years ago. Nobody knows 
 who wrote them; in fact, it is not likely that they were 
 written for a long time. They were handed down from 
 one generation to another by word of mouth, changes 
 creeping in, probably, with each re-telling, until finally 
 they were written and fixed in permanent form. The 
 literary ballad is a poem zvrittcn by some one poet in 
 imitation of certain characteristics of the popular bal- 
 
84 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOI. 
 
 huls. The best of those possess the same quahties as the 
 older ballads. In general, a ballad, whether popular or 
 literary, tells, in an artless, direct, almost childish fashion, 
 some pathetic, humorous, or exciting short story in 
 poetry. The usual themes are "fierce wars and faithful 
 loves." The characters are frank, simple, primitive. 
 unsophisticated — moved b>' intense elemental passions 
 and high ideals of honor, constancy, chastity, bravery. 
 The best ballads are surcharged with emotion — that 
 strong, natural emotion to which the child from ten to 
 fifteen years responds. The best ballads are picturesque, 
 too. and send the imagination of the youth chasing over 
 the scenes of the story. When properly read, they ha^■e a 
 rough-and-ready rhythm, much simple alliteration and 
 rejietition, and a musical grouping of sounds. Ballads 
 are not usually the product of the gTcat artist: but. if not 
 artistic, they at least are not artificial. One of the most 
 noted popular ballads is "Chevy Chase;" an excellent 
 literar}- ballad is Longfellow's "The Wreck of the 
 Hesperus." 
 
 J. OtJicr Xarratirc Pocnis. These should deal, in 
 general, with the same subject matter, and play upon the 
 same emotions, as the ballad. They are usually more 
 carefully finished: but the charm for the boy and girl 
 lies not in the polished workmanship so much as in the 
 storv and the characters. Obviously, the poem should 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 85 
 
 not be saturated with pathos. Scott, Southey, Campbell, 
 Macatilay, Longfellow, and Whittier have written delight- 
 ful narrative poems for children. 
 
 3. Lyrics. A lyric poem does not tell a story, though 
 it may hint at one; it exists merely to express an emotion. 
 Naturally, then, the proper lyric for the country boy and 
 girl in the upper grades is the lyric that arouses their 
 finer, stronger feelings — patriotism, self-sacrifice, bravery, 
 devotion to duty, love for animals and farm life — 
 altruistic emotions, in short. If they deal with love 
 between man and woman, it- should be with the larger, 
 more obvious phases of the emotion. Lyrics are very 
 valuable for country children, whose emotional natures 
 are sometimes starved — even as the emotional natures of 
 city children are often gorged. 
 
 4. Humorous Verse. This is to take the place of the 
 Mother Goose jingles and Nonsense poetry taught to the 
 younger children. It is evident, I think, that any person 
 is much happier if he has a lively sense of humor; and 
 it is equally evident that whatever natural humor one has 
 can be developed by the proper kind of literature. The 
 humorous verse for country children in the higher grades 
 should be of the boisterous, hearty, jovial kind; but it 
 should never be malicious and sarcastic. A few poems 
 of the desirable flavor are : Cowper's "John Gilpin's 
 Ride," Browning's "The Pied Piper," Hood's "Nelly 
 
86 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Gray" and "Sally Brown."' Lowell's "The Courting," 
 and Holmes' "The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay." 
 
 5. Hero Stories. These are many and varied ; but in 
 them all the chief interest is centered in the exploits of a 
 hero, a militant hero — a knight, a king, a demi-god — 
 Beowulf. Arthur. Siegfried. Hercules, Jason. Ulysses, 
 Joshua — some of the doughty worthies of the gallant 
 days of derring-do. Many of these stories haye been 
 retold by modern authors and are fixed in immutable 
 form. Ha\ythorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood 
 Tales." Kingsley's "Greek 'Heroes.'' Lanier's "King Ar- 
 thur," and Pyle's "Robin Hood" are specimens of this 
 type of literature. Of course, the appeal of these stories 
 is mainly to boys — boys in the hero-worship period. But 
 this hero-worship period should never end ! Carlyle 
 says: "Xo nobler feeling than admiration for one higher 
 than himself dwells in the breast of man." "It is the 
 yiyifying influence in man's life." "Society is founded 
 on hero-worship." "Heroes." states Emile JMontegiit. 
 "are those individuals who draw to themselves and absorb 
 within themselves the characteristics and the thoughts 
 of the common people, who either sum up an epoch or 
 create it. and who make themselves almost immortal by 
 making themselves masters of their times." We all need 
 to know and admire these "INLasters of their times." The 
 country bov and the count rv man will be the better for 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 87 
 
 anything that helps in the development of the spirit of 
 hero-worship — though country folk can assuredly claim 
 that they are more devoted to their heroes and more 
 prompt to recognize the heroic than are their city friends. 
 Let us not fail, however, to introduce the country boy 
 to the great heroes of history and legend. He needs an 
 ideal of flesh and blood, a dauntless battler against 
 paynims and giants and dragons, "gorgons and hydras 
 and chimeras dire." 
 
 6. Wonder Tales. These include the more mature 
 fairy stories and all the frankly supernatural and imagina- 
 tive — in prose the Arabian Nights stories, and in poetry 
 such stories as Drake's "The Culprit Fay," Bryant's 
 "Sella," and Coleridge's "The Ancient Mariner." These 
 Wonder Tales are to replace the nursery stories and fairy 
 tales of the lower grades, and to continue the develop- 
 ment of the child's imaginative faculties. As I have in- 
 sisted throughout, the country child needs a great deal 
 of the fantastic, the highly imaginative to counteract the 
 strong matter-of-fact environment in which his life is 
 cast. The city child is not only provided with more litera- 
 ture of this sort, but he also has opportunities of seeing 
 the improbable and tbe imaginative in moving picture 
 shows and in such theatrical productions as "Peter Pan." 
 Let us compensate the country child for the lack of these 
 opportunities by bringing to him as much of this sort of 
 
88 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 literature as possible — and there is a large amount of it 
 in existence. 
 
 7. Orations. Such noble expressions of deep feeling 
 as Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech, Patrick Henry's well- 
 known "Give me liberty or give me death" oration, and 
 Webster's "Supposed Speech of John Adams" should be 
 known to every American schoolboy, whether in city or 
 country. Pupils in the upper grades are fully old enough 
 to feel the thrill of patriotism, which, after all, is but a 
 W'idening of the altruistic emotions to include the nation 
 instead of merely family or neighborhood. Our pupils 
 are familiar with the stirring events of our history; in 
 geography they have learned somewhat of the size and 
 the grandeur of the United States; they should be taught 
 to feel an intelligent and desirable pride in what is, in 
 most respects, the most wonderful country on earth. And 
 in order to produce this feeling of just pride the great 
 emotional expressions of this pride should be known and 
 loved. Perhaps the average boy and girl will not fuljy 
 comprehend this literature; but they will understand 
 enough to set their hearts beating with the worthy feel- 
 ing of independence. Sir Walter Scott says, "I rather 
 suspect that children derive impulses of a powerful and 
 important kind from reading things which they do not 
 comprehend. * * * Set them on the scent and let them 
 puzzle it out." No fear lest a great oration will be mean- 
 
LlTl'KATURl': IN Ul'l'EK eiRADJiS 89 
 
 inglcss if il is well tuuglit — taught so that the fcchngs 
 of the chiUhxMi arc awakened. The eiiiolional powers 
 often soar over the plodding intellect and arouse to nohlc 
 action long hefore soher reason has coni[)leted his quib- 
 blings and douhtings. 
 
 8. Informal lissays and SkctcJics. These should be 
 of the familiar, discursive tyi)e, on everyday themes. Nat- 
 urally, they should deal with subjects closely related to 
 country life and character. Some of Washington Jr- 
 ving's are excellent ; many of those in the Sketch-Book and 
 most of those in Bracel)ridge Hall discuss the delights of 
 country life in an easy, graceful style that should charm 
 any boy or girl in the early teens. A few of Charles 
 Lamb's are suitable for children, a few of Hawthorne's 
 and ;l few of Thackeray's. Country children also like 
 some of John Burrough's sketches on nature subjects. 
 Many great literary men have expressed their best ideas 
 in the informal essay or sketch, and country children 
 should he introduced tt) this type of. literature before they 
 leave school. 
 
 9. Short Stories. These arc not merely stories which 
 are short, not merely anecdotes. "A short story is a 
 brief, imaginative narrative, unfolding a single predomi- 
 nating incident and a single chief character; it contains a 
 plot, the details of which .are so compressed and the whole 
 treatment so organized as to produce a single impres- 
 
90 ENGLISH IX THF. COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 sion."* Much of the great literature of the modem world 
 is being- expressed in the short-story form, and the eoun- 
 try child has a right to the best that literary artists are 
 producing. The boy or girl on the farm who does not 
 know Hawthorne's "Groat Stone Face" and "The Three- 
 fold Destiny" — to name but two among many. — \'ol- 
 taire's *'Jeannot and Colin." Stevenson's "Will o' the 
 ^lill," some of ]Mary W'ilkins Freeman's stories of New 
 England life, and short stories of this nature, has missed 
 some of the most inspiring literature for country folk. 
 
 Rnt the country child should know the famous short 
 stories, regardless of whether or not they make an appeal 
 to his particular world. Re should be acquainted with 
 "The Legend of Sleepy FIollow." and "Rip \'an Winkle." 
 with some of Kipling's, some of Bret Harte's. some of 
 Conan Doyle's. In general, the short story suitable for 
 the upper grader is one that develops a simyle theme, with 
 plainly marked characters and plenty of action. Subtle 
 analysis of personality, certain phases of the passioti of 
 love, the pessimism and cynicism that characterizes many 
 of the best short stories for adults — all this should be 
 avoided in the literature for children. Much of Edgar 
 Allan l\>e's work in this vein, artistic though it is. must 
 be omitted from the child's reading course . "In my 
 very early boyhood." says the late Andrew Lang. "Edgar 
 Poe made me feel terribly frightened with 'The Fall of 
 
 * Esenwein's "'Writing: the Short-Story." pajjo oO. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 91 
 
 the House of Usher.' Is that the book to place in the 
 hands of a morbid infant of ten summers?" But dozens 
 of excellent short stories are suitable for school children; 
 and the unity of impression, the singleness of aim and 
 conciseness of treatment make this form a useful and 
 effective literary type for young people. 
 
 Subject Matter of Upper Grade Literature 
 
 Hiose are the nine types of literature most suitable 
 for class study in a country school. What should be,' in 
 general, the subject-matter of this literature? 
 
 Nature and Country Life 
 
 I. Much of the literature of this period should be 
 devoted to Nature and to the charms of rural life. A 
 bright young farmer once remarked that Whittier's 
 "Barefoot Boy" had done more to keep him on the farm 
 than had all the bulletins of the Department of Agricul- 
 ture. Perhaps that was an exaggeration. But there can 
 be no doubt that if the boys and girls in the country 
 could behold, in the mirror of poetry, the wonderful 
 attractiveness of the life to which they are often indif- 
 ferent, they would not be so eager to rush away to the 
 city. "But would you idealize country life?" a con- 
 scientious rural teacher once asked me. Surely; idealize 
 country life. We must idealize life in even the most ideal 
 conditions, if life is to satisfy. We must hold steadily 
 
02 FNCa.lSH IN TMK COIN TRY SCHOOL 
 
 before our iniiuls the luaiiitokl advantages ot existence 
 on the tann — heahh. fresh air, active, out-of-door lalx'ir. 
 fretHioni from superior authority, opportiuiity for the 
 Ix'st family relationship, the peace and tranquillity, the 
 pR^ximity to Nature; and \ve must ignore the undeniable 
 dis;\dvantages attendant on this inixle of living. Country 
 folk should thank fortune that practically all literature 
 idealizes country life, and niral teachers should see to it 
 that their children are brought into contact with the best 
 of. this. 
 
 I he Xature-literatiire for cv>iintr\" children in the up- 
 jxT grades should l>^ of the cultural t\~i^e. Xow is the 
 time for the pR"> found analogies between Nature and 
 Imman life: for Bryant's "Waterfowl." for Tennyson's 
 "Bugle Song." for Bums' "To a Field Daisy." and "To a 
 Mouse," for Wordsworth's "Three Years She drew ' 
 and "The Daffodils." and for dozens of others, wherein 
 the poet uses some natural object or animal to introduce 
 or illustrate a great tnith — ^wherein he delivers Nature's 
 niess;\gvs. Now is the time for enforcing the lessons to 
 K^ found in Gray's "Elegy." Goldsmith's "The Deserted 
 Village." and dozens of others, wherein the poet points 
 out the nobility of rural character and the importance of 
 the agricultural classes. 
 
 Much prose exists also that will reveal to the city- 
 enamoureil K\v and girl the advantag^es of niral life. 
 Much great literature, K>th prose and poetr>-. has been 
 
ij'ii<;i-:A'riJRi': in ui'ri':i< (ii<Ai)i':s 93 
 
 written by men and women who were reared on a farm; 
 hnt it is only when they look back upon their childhood 
 that they realize that the country life is, in many essen- 
 ti.al respects, the most nearly ideal mode of existence. 
 Cannot we teach that lo our hoys and j^irls so that nirniy 
 of them may remain on the farm, happy and contented 
 with their life? Someone has said that it takes culture 
 to appreciate country life and that culture can be ob- 
 tained in America only in the cities. That may have been 
 true; it may be true now. l>ut if rural teachers can 
 measure up to their opportunities, it will not be true in 
 the future. 
 
 Idealization of Women 
 
 2. The literature for the boys in the hij^dier j^rades 
 should idealize woman. Most country men are not very 
 chivalric, it has been said. They take it for j^ranted that 
 women should w^ork harder than they really ought tcj do; 
 they are not tender enough and affectionate enough. Most 
 country men are faithful and devoted and kind; but 
 many of them have never been trained in the arts of 
 courtesy and chivalry. Perhaps this view is ern;neous. 
 At any rate, country boys should be mmrished upon liter- 
 ature which will subtly insinuate ideals of true gentility 
 and refinement in their relation to womankind. Love of 
 man for woman has been the inspiration and theme of 
 much great literature, though, obviously, a large propor- 
 
94 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 tion of it cannot be utilized for children in the public 
 school. But the broader aspects of the subject should be 
 dealt with in the literature of this period: chastity, devo- 
 tion, tenderness, honor, reverence. The teaching of this 
 theme requires rare delicacy and tinesse, but the teacher 
 must not shirk his responsibilities. It is certain that the 
 sex instinct begins to develop during the latter years of 
 the school course, and it is equally certain that our civili- 
 zation demands the postponement of mating for several 
 years after the course is tinished. It is the plain duty of 
 the public school, in country and city, to equip its boys 
 and girls with high ideals of sex and sexual relation- 
 ships. We must not awaken these powerful impulses, 
 but we must guide and restrain and temper them, when 
 Nature has asserted herself. The teacher, by careful 
 selection of literature and by deft, sympathetic instruc- 
 tion through that literature, must do all in his power to 
 turn the strong current of emotion, so fraught with pos- 
 sibilities for good or evil, into the right channels. 
 
 Patriotism 
 
 3, The literature for the upper grades should contain 
 a good deal of patriotism. Certain critics, who have 
 witnessed the obtrusive Americanism of our countrymen 
 while touring European countries, seem to be a little 
 afraid that we are too patriotic. They tell us that the 
 United States is not so superior to the other countries of 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 95 
 
 the world that we need boast continually of our superior- 
 ity. Well, most of us will live all our lives in America; 
 it is a magnificent country, with a glorious past, a great 
 future. We should be proud of our citizenship, proud of 
 our independence; and the country school should inspire 
 the country boy and girl with a strong feeling of loyalty. 
 I do not see how we can do too much in this regard; if 
 we make Americans so patriotic (?) that they are offen- 
 sive when abroad, we must console ourselves with the 
 reflection that only a small fraction of one per cent of 
 us ever go abroad to make ourselves offensive, and that 
 while we remain at home we can display our patriotism 
 as much as we please — so long as we do not offend 
 against the laws of good taste. Few nobler, finer emo- 
 tions are given us than the love of country; let us develop 
 it in our school children by bringing before them high 
 ideals of conduct and virile expressions of feeling, as 
 found in our literature. 
 
 History • 
 
 4. The literature for the upper grades should deal with 
 the events of history — not American history only, but 
 the history of the entire world. It is a real document, 
 detailing the failures and achievements of our struggling, 
 upward-looking, forward-fronting human " family. Cer- 
 tain events in this record are full of heroism, of self- 
 sacrifice, loyalty, persistence; such events are full of in- 
 
96 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 spiration in themselves, and can be used as models for 
 emulation. Surely any country boy will be a better man 
 if he takes to heart the lesson in Miller's "Columbus" — 
 not because he will ever be called upon to perform an 
 achievement like discovering a new continent, but be- 
 cause he will certainly be called upon to persist in some 
 worthy endeavor in the face of opposition and discour- 
 agement. Surely any child will grow into a better man 
 if he feels the quiet heroism showed by the lad in Brown- 
 ing's "Incident of the French Camp," or because he 
 appreciates the spirit of obedience to higher authority as 
 displayed in Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade." 
 Of course, literature cannot make a hero out of every 
 boy, a heroine out of every girl. Life, experience, is the 
 best developer of heroism, as of every excellent human 
 quality. But the study of good literature is the best 
 possible preparation for the experiences of life. Can 
 anyone doubt for a moment that a soldier in his first 
 battle will fight the more boldly if some gallant martial 
 poem is sounding in his mind — Barry's "The Place Where 
 Man Should Die"' or Bryant's "The Battlefield" ? And 
 does anyone doubt that the farmer can apply to his daily 
 life the inspiration of any example of heroism, if only 
 the teacher has known how to teach the farmer boy the 
 truth that the commonplace round of the days and weeks 
 requires heroism as genuine, if not so striking, as the 
 great crises of life? Literature based on history has all 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 97 
 
 the value of history — that is, fact; and all the value of 
 literature — that is, truth. 
 
 Optimism 
 
 5. The literature for the upper grades should be bright 
 and cheerful. There is little place in the school curricu- 
 lum for the pessimism of Matthew Arnold or the mor- 
 bidness of Poe. An occasional selection of what may be 
 called "hopeful melancholy" is desirable; but, in general, 
 the outlook on life should be optimistic. There is an op- 
 timism that is blatant and pretentious, that does not face 
 the facts of life intelligently and manfully; and there is 
 an optimism that confronts sorrow and disappointment 
 with a bold eye and dauntless courage, and while it recog- 
 nizes the ills of life, looks hopefully past them. This 
 kind of optimism realizes that the fundamental laws of 
 existence are often inexorably cruel, but calls for sub- 
 mission to those laws as the sole means of gaining tran- 
 quillity. Such poems as Clough's "Submit," or Tenny- 
 son's "Crossing the Bar," or Browning's "Prospice" are 
 full of a beautiful resignation that is sure to impress itself 
 upon the hearts of children. No matter if they do not 
 understand completely. In a day of gloom these hope- 
 ful little expressions of mingled grief and trust may 
 return to the memory like sentences from the sacred 
 Scriptures. 
 
 During the foregoing discussion of the subject-matter 
 
98 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 of literature for the upper grades I implied several dif- 
 ferences between the literature for the lower grades and 
 that for the upper. Perhaps I had now best state those 
 differences : 
 
 Diffcroiccs BcticcL)! Literature for the Upper and the 
 Loicer Grades 
 
 1. There is proportionately less poetry in the upper 
 grades. Of course, the older children must have quite a 
 good deal of poetry, it is so perfectly adapted to children 
 and to the functions of the school curriculum. But so 
 much excellent prose exists for children in the higher 
 grades that poetry must give up some of its claims. 
 
 2. The literary units are longer in the upper grades. 
 Each selection should deal with only one theme, of course ; 
 but the theme often is of such a nature that it demands 
 fuller treatment than the selections for younger children. 
 As a general rule, the selections for younger children 
 should be short enough to be mastered at a single lesson, 
 though this is not always practicable. 
 
 3. The literature for the upper grades is more com- 
 plex, more mature. The characters are more highly indi- 
 vidualized, though they should be far from subtle and 
 should undergo little development. The plot is more 
 complicated, though it should still be quite easy to follow. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 99 
 
 The road may turn and wind, but it should be plainly 
 marked. 
 
 4. The predominant emotions of the literature for the 
 upper grades is more altruistic — ^that is, the feelings ex- 
 cited by the reading are wrapped about people other than 
 the reader. Admiration for a brave man or a daring 
 deed, hero-worship, love of country — ^these are emotions 
 that work toward freeing the child reader from the prison 
 house of self and leading him out into the liberty of love. 
 Young children are normally selfish; men and women 
 should be unselfish; and literature has an important part 
 in developing the unselfish emotions in upper grade chil- 
 dren. 
 
 5. For all these reasons and others, literature of the 
 upper grades is more intellectual. It is still highly emo- 
 tional, of course, else it is not literature. But the mental 
 reaction that follows a well taught literature lesson in 
 the upper grades is marked. The emotion the child feels 
 incites him to think, to compare, to reason, to remember, 
 to imagine. 
 
 6. In the upper grades every reading lesson should 
 be a literature lesson. This may not be possible in the 
 lower grades; but the rule should be strictly followed in 
 the more advanced classes. Of course, the pupils are to 
 read much that is not literature in connection with their 
 other school work; the point is that the recitation period 
 
100 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 should be consecrated to literature, not just reading mat- 
 tor. 
 
 Xeedless to say. many minor differences exist between 
 the literature for a primary grade and for an advanced 
 grade — ditTerences of content and of form. But enough 
 has been said to indicate the nature of the literature for 
 the upper grades. This one problem, then, remains: 
 How to teach literature in the higher grades, fourth to 
 eighth, in the country school. I cannot solve this prob- 
 lem — in fact, the solution varies with each selection and 
 each class, but I shall make some suggestions. 
 
 TcacJiifhj of Literature in the Upper Grades 
 
 1. The voice of the teacher is still an important factor. 
 But during this part of the school course the children 
 themselves should be encouraged and trained in the de- 
 lightful art of reading aloud. I say "delightfur* art. 
 if so be that the teacher is able, through his own pleas- 
 ing, natural reading, to kindle a desire to read well aloud. 
 and then is able to direct this desire. Try. then, to get 
 the boys and girls in the upper grades — slow, stolid, 
 inexpressive boys and girls though they often are — try to 
 get them to burrow to the heart of a poem or story, to 
 feel the emotion, and then to manifest that emotion by 
 spirited, s>Tnpathetic. natural oral expression. 
 
 2. But good oral reading is not possible until the heart 
 of the reader is stirred bv the emotion of the selection. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 101 
 
 Let us remember that. If we force our pupils to read 
 aloud before they have feeling and thought to express, 
 we are sure to produce stilted, inexpressive, unnatural 
 reading — the "sing-song," the "rant," the "snow-plow," 
 the "hop-skip-and-jump," and all the other school-bred 
 monstrosities. Let us see to it, then, that the boys and 
 girls feel before they read. And how make them feel? 
 
 3. In assigning a lesson, tell your class what to look 
 for. I illustrate this later in my suggestions concerning 
 the teaching of two specific poems. In general, each 
 selection you take up in class should be assigned for study 
 the preceding day, so that the pupils will have plenty of 
 time to master it — the method contrasting sharply wdth 
 that used in the lower grades, where the study should 
 follow the class work. In the lower grades the teacher 
 must expect to do most of the work in the literature les- 
 son ; but throughout the more advanced grades the study 
 and analysis of the selection should be shifted upon the 
 pupils. Very rarely, however, should the pupils be ex- 
 pected to set to work intelligently without some pre- 
 liminary suggestions from the teacher. In the eighth 
 grade, of course, it should be the aim of the teacher to 
 train his pupils so that when they leave school the fol- 
 lowing year they may have attained the power to analyze 
 a selection independently — as someone has expressed it, 
 the teacher should strive to make himself unnecessary. 
 
102 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 4. In assigning a selection and in studying it in class, 
 ask questions that bear directly on the country child's 
 experience. The children must understand with the ideas, 
 the experience, they already have: they learn by using 
 what they know. Let us make sure that our pupils are 
 seeing clearly the connection between this bit of literature 
 and their previous life. 
 
 5. Since literature is composed largely of pictures, we 
 must see that the pictures are clear and vivid. This 
 means leading the children to use their imagination. For 
 example : Here is the first stanza of ]Mrs. Hemans' "The 
 Landing of the Pilgrims" : 
 
 The breaking waves dashed high 
 On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
 
 And the woods against a stormy sky 
 Their giant branches tossed. 
 
 Country children that have never seen the sea cannot 
 bring this picture clear before the inner eye. But they 
 can imagine, with the aid of the teacher, the height of 
 the waves and their violence as they dash against the 
 rocky shores, so hard and cold and stem and inhospitable. 
 i\nd they can fill in the background easily enough : the 
 great limbs of the trees, twisted and contorted by the 
 fierce wind, gesturing and threatening like the arms of 
 mighty giants: all this standing out against the sullen 
 storm clouds. The children can paint beautiful pictures 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 103 
 
 on the canvas of their imagination — but the teacher must 
 suggest, insinuate, question, draw out, guide. 
 
 6. Since the Hterature for the upper grades makes in- 
 sistent appeals to the child's unselfish emotions, we must 
 see that those appeals reach the heart of the reader. Good 
 literature always arouses good emotions. Sometimes 
 these emotions are general — love of Nature, patriotism; 
 sometimes the emotion is more definite. But in either 
 case the ethical call should ring out loud and command- 
 ing. When we perceive that the child hears that appeal, 
 then our work is done. We have prepared that future 
 man and woman to be a better farmer and farmer's wife. 
 For the happy life, and therefore the useful life, is the 
 life filled with noble emotions, unselfish emotions, which 
 engender noble, unselfish deeds. As Wordsworth 
 phases it, 
 
 We live by admiration, hope, and love, 
 
 And even as these are well and wisely placed. 
 
 In dignity of being we ascend. 
 
 7. In planning your literature work for the upper 
 grades, as for the lower, you will do well to follow the 
 seasons and the activities of the neighborhood. In Sep- 
 tember teach, for example, Helen Hunt Jackson's "Sep- 
 tember" and Caroline B. Southe/s "Lady-Bird"; in Oc- 
 tober, Allingham's "Robin Redbreast"; in November, 
 Alice Gary's "November" ; and so on throughout the 
 
104 EXGUSH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 school year. The hohdays should he celebrated with the 
 appropriate poems, and the various occupations of coun- 
 try life from fall till spring should, as they come and go. 
 be made the occasions for studying- carefully selected 
 literature on these themes. A word of caution may be 
 advisable, however. In these days a gTeat deal of very 
 mediocre writing for school children is being done. At 
 ever}- Thaiiksgi\4iig time, for instance, school journals 
 are tilled with so-called poetr}- for the occasion. ]^Iuch of 
 this is haniiless enough, except that it presents poor 
 models of poetr}- and interferes with the forming of good 
 taste: btit the countr}- teacher is too busy to spend his 
 time and the time of his school on anything but the 
 very best. There is so much that is excellent that we do 
 not need to fritter a^^■ay our precious moments with 
 make-believe literature. The countr}- teacher will do well 
 to purchase such a book as Bertha Hazard's "Three Years 
 With the Poets" (^Houghton Mifflin Co.. Boston"), and 
 follow the seasons with the very best of poetr\-. 
 
 S. Require your children to commit some literature — 
 much poetry and a few- choice orations. In the lower 
 gxade you should specify what selections are to be mem- 
 orized: but in tlie upper section of school it is well to 
 allow the children to choose their OA\-n passages for 
 memorizing. Since certain tliemes and certain bits of 
 literature appeal to certain children, the task of com- 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 105 
 
 mitting can be made easier and more enjoyable if the 
 teacher will allow the pupils some option. Often a coun- 
 try teacher makes a mistake in assigning memory passages 
 by requiring the children to learn his favorites, thus 
 ignoring the individuality of his pupils. Especially do 
 country teachers err in requiring children to memorize the 
 ethical lessons in literature, which probably is another 
 manifestation of intense practicalness. They ask the boys 
 and girls to memorize the last stanza of Bryant's "Water- 
 fowl," or Holmes's "Nautilus," or Tennyson's "Bugle 
 Song," because they feel that this is the heart of the 
 poem. They sometimes pass over the more beautiful 
 passages in order to concentrate on the useful. 
 
 Of course, the ethical message is more immediately 
 useful and certainly more generally applicable. Like- 
 wise the Proverbs of Solomon are more immediately 
 useful and more generally applicable than the Psalms of 
 David. Yet the Psalms are more eventually useful, and 
 since they are not so universally applicable, they make a 
 stronger appeal in the particular idea or emotion they 
 communicate. The fact is, we err as much in trying to 
 read immediate results from our literature as a farmer 
 does who plants his steep hillside in grain rather than 
 apple trees, because the grain brings speedier returns. 
 The chief profit to be sought in the study of literature is 
 the formation of character; and character is a plant of 
 slow growth. And perhaps it never produces fruit to be 
 
106 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 sold at so much a bushel ; perhaps it produces only beauti- 
 ful blossoms — gentleness, kindliness, aspiration for the 
 good and noble and lovely, in Nature and in human char- 
 acter. Of course, this does not mean that we should not 
 require our pupils to commit the ethical lessons of many 
 poems, because often they are beautiful as well as useful; 
 but we must not be constantly seeking for a translation of 
 the beautiful into the language of the moral and the 
 didactic. Have your children memorize much literature 
 then. If you teach a selection well, if your pupils feel 
 the emotion, the mere after-act of memorizing will not 
 be an arduous task. An emotion is a powerful lever; it 
 can produce a remarkable amount of work with little 
 expenditure of energy — like the old-fashioned sweep, it 
 easily draws water from a deep well. 
 
 Model Lesson 
 
 Perhaps I can make the ideas of this chapter more 
 concrete and usable by giving illustrations of the teaching 
 of two poems. Both these poems I have taught to coun- 
 try children, following the general plan outlined here. 
 
 The first poem I have selected is Sir Walter Scott's 
 "Jock of Hazeldean" : 
 
 I. "Why weep ye by the tide, ladie? 
 \Vhy weep ye by the tide ? 
 I'll wed ye to my youngest son. 
 And ve shall be his bride : 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 107 
 
 And ye sail be his bride, ladie, 
 
 Sae comely to be seen" — 
 But aye she loot the tears down fa' 
 
 For Jock of Hazeldean. 
 
 2. "Now let this wilfu' grief be done, 
 
 And dry that cheek so pale ; 
 Young Frank is chief of Errington 
 
 And lord of Langley-dale ; 
 His step is first in peaceful ha', 
 I His sword in battle keen" — 
 
 But aye she loot the tears down fa' 
 
 For Jock of Hazeldean. 
 
 3. "A chain of gold ye sail not lack, 
 
 Nor braid to bind your hair. 
 Nor mettled hound, nor managed hawk, 
 
 Nor palfrey fresh and fair; 
 And you the foremost of them a' 
 
 Shall ride our forest queen" — 
 But aye she loot the tears down fa' 
 
 For Jock of Hazeldean. 
 
 4. The kirk was decked at morning-tide, 
 
 The tapers glimmered fair ; 
 The priest and bridegroom wait the bride. 
 
 And dame and knight are there : 
 They sought her baith by bower and ha' ; 
 
 The ladie was not seen ! 
 She's o'er the Border and awa' 
 
 Wi' Jock of Hazeldean. 
 
 This poem, though probably not the best of Scott's, is 
 good literature. 
 
U18 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Litcniry Ciiaractcristics of the Poan 
 
 1. It is full of genuine emotion — simple, natiu'al, hu- 
 man emotion, not the subtle, sophisticated sentiment of 
 the supercivilized. The devoted, constant love of the 
 heroine for Jock of Hazeldean is the theme; and school 
 children, though they are not able to appreciate this fully, 
 are able to appreciate the loyalty of "the ladie." and ad- 
 mire her for cleaving to her humble lover even when 
 commanded and entreated to wed the young lord. The 
 author feels the story, and somehow he shows us that 
 he is speaking from the heart. Scott did not compose the 
 first stanza. He heard it when he was young and it so 
 totiched him that when he was older he wrote the re- 
 mainder. It haunted him. in a sense, until he had given 
 artistic finish to the fragment. The poem. then, is genu- 
 itie — and that is an adjective applicable to all good poetry, 
 all good literature, 
 
 2. It is strikingly musical, (a) The lines are short. 
 consisting of alternate three and four accents, (^b") The 
 rlmne order is simple: with the exception of stanza I. 
 lines I and 3. lines 2 and 4, lines 5 and 7, lines 6 and 8. 
 rlnme — that is. the longer and the shorter lines are 
 paired of¥. (c) There is some musical alliteration. For 
 example: In Une j, stanza III, "b" is alliterated: in line 
 3. "m" and "h" are alliterated in pairs: in line 4, **t*" is 
 alliterated. (^d> Only the broad, sonorous vowels are 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GR/VDES 109 
 
 used in the poem; the thin, unniusieal, piping vowels, such 
 as short-"i," short-"e," short-"a" are almost eliminated. 
 The broad Scotch vowels are especially musical, (e) The 
 last two lines of each stanza, when well read, fall upon 
 the ear with a pleasing, musical tone. 
 
 3. It makes answerable demands upon the imagina- 
 tion. A story is told by hints. A Scotch maiden of high 
 but poverty-stricken family sits weeping. Her lover, 
 Jock of Hazeldean, is absent from Scotland for the time; 
 and while he is away, her hand is sought by Frank, the 
 young lord of Langley-dale. The old lord of Langley 
 comes to her first ; then her own father commands her to 
 cease weeping for her absent lover and to marry her 
 noble suitor (stanza II). Finally the young noble him- 
 self entreats her to become his bride, promising her every- 
 thing that her heart can desire (stanza III). But to all 
 she turns a deaf ear, plainly showing that her heart is 
 over the water with Jock of Hazeldean. At length, how- 
 ever, Jock not returning, she gives in to promises and 
 persuasion and yields a reluctant consent to Frank. But 
 on the very morning of the wedding day she flees over 
 the Border with Jock, who has secretly returned. This 
 story, or this essentially, does the poem tell when read 
 with the imagination. 
 
 4. It paints clear pictures — clear, at least, to the reader 
 who allows his imagination to fill in the details. The 
 
no ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 lovely lady weeping piteoiisly for her absent sweetheart, 
 her steadfastness, her slow and uncertain yielding to im- 
 portunity — this is a distinct picture. And very vivid 
 indeed is the scene in the church on the bridal morn. 
 
 Hozi' to Teach tlic Poem 
 
 This poem should be assigned for study and then dis- 
 cussed the following day. It needs no special introduc- 
 tion, though you will do well to dovetail it in with other 
 reading along the same line. Assign it with certain 
 directions and questions. For example : 
 
 1. Tell the story hidden in this poem. Let each one 
 work this out by himself ; then tomorrow we will have all 
 the different versions and see who has the best one. 
 
 2. Look up all the unknown words in the large dic- 
 tionar}-. (The teacher had best pronounce here the 
 Scotch dialect words.) 
 
 3. The first stanza is part of an old poem. Do you 
 think Sir Walter Scott has made the last three stanzas 
 like the first? (By* the way. a version of the old ballad 
 is given in Child's "English and Scottish Ballads." If 
 you can get a copy of that, you might read the old poem 
 and see if it is as good as Scott's.) 
 
 4. Be able to give an imaginary picture of the lady in 
 the poem; of her father: of Jock of Hazeldean. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 111 
 
 5. Imagine the scene at the church on the wedding 
 morn, while Jock and his "ladie" were fleeing "o'er the 
 Border and awa'." 
 
 6. Does this story remind you of another by the same 
 author? (If your class has not read "Lochinvar," you 
 might take it up soon for comparison with this.) 
 
 7. Read the poem aloud, trying to make your voice 
 tell the story. Imitate the voices of the old lord, of the 
 lady's father, of young Frank. 
 
 When the lesson is being recited, take up these differ- 
 ent topics and expand and vivify the pupil's knowledge 
 and feelings. See if you cannot start a lively discussion 
 on some phase. Have the boys and girls read the poem 
 aloud; then read it yourself. Make the scenes plain, 
 make the story vivid, make the poetry musical. 
 
 Dramatising the Poem 
 
 This would make a good play. Five persons would 
 take the principal roles. The lady sits weeping; she is 
 approached by the three persons hinted at, who speak to 
 her the words of the poem ; but she remains quietly weep- 
 ing. At last she seems to give in. The scene now changes 
 to a church, bedecked for a wedding. But the bride does 
 not appear. All run from the church, only to discover 
 that she and Jock have fled. A simple dramatization of 
 the story is easy; but nothing else makes such a deep 
 
112 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 impression on the mind. Try it some dark, tiresome day. 
 and see if it does not inject new life into all of you. 
 
 Composition JJ\^rk on the Poon 
 
 Have some composition work done on the tlieme of 
 the ston\ A written composition telling the story; a 
 description of the scene at the church; a letter from the 
 lady to her father: Jock's account of the event, as told by 
 himself to his children years afterward — any of these 
 would be suggestive subjects for written work. 
 
 And let us remember that this is not primarily knowl- 
 edge work or memory work. Accuracy, reasoning power, 
 knowledge, a retentive memors*. are all desirable: but 
 our first motive, always in teaching literature should be 
 to arouse the imagination, to develop healthy, noble 
 emotions. 
 
 A Second Model Lesson 
 
 The second illustration is George R. Sims's ''The 
 Lights of London To\\-n." It is inferior in poetic quali- 
 ties to the preceding poem, but the graphic teaching of its 
 central thought should secure it a place among the favor- 
 ites of ever}- countr\- boy and girl. 
 
 The way was long and weary, 
 
 But gallantly they strode. 
 A country lad and lassie. 
 
 Along: the heavv road. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 113 
 
 The night was dark and stormy, 
 But blithe of heart were they, 
 For shining in the distance 
 The Lights of London lay. 
 O gleaming lamps of London, that gem the city's crown, 
 What fortunes lie within you, O Lights of London Town. 
 
 The year passed on and found them 
 
 Within the mighty fold, 
 The years had brought them trouble, 
 
 But brought them little gold. 
 Oft from their garret window, 
 
 On long, still summer nights, 
 They'd seek the far-ofif country 
 
 Beyond the London Lights. 
 O mocking lamps of London, what weary eyes look down, 
 And mourn the day they saw you, O Lights of London Town. 
 
 With faces worn and weary. 
 That told of sorrow's load. 
 One day a man and woman 
 
 Crept down a country road. 
 They sought their native village. 
 
 Heart-broken from the fray; 
 Yet shining still behind them. 
 The Lights of London lay. 
 O cruel lamps of London, if tears your lights could drown, 
 Your victims' eyes would weep them, O Lights of London 
 Town. 
 
 HoTx: to Teach the Poem 
 
 Teach this poem in connection with your Geography 
 or Agriculture work, or fit it in somehow with the regu- 
 
lU EXGl.ISVT IX THK COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 lar work of the school. A rural teacher is remiss in his 
 duties if he does not often discuss with his advanced 
 pupils the advantages and disadvantages of living in the 
 country, as compared with the conditions in the city. 
 In one of these discussions ;^ which may be started in 
 almost any school subject") introduce this poem. Write 
 it on the board and have the pupils copy it in their note- 
 books. Call their attention to the fact that a story is 
 told in this poem, each stanza containing a part of the 
 ston,\ Ask them to imagine the details : how old the 
 "lad and lassie" are. in the first chapter of their life, and 
 how old the "man and woman" are. at the conclusion 
 of their adventure; what is the relationship between the 
 couple — are they brother and sister, or husband and wife?; 
 why they leave the country-, and why they return to it; 
 difference l>etween their approach to London and their 
 de^xirture from it — in their faces, their gait, their feel- 
 ings. Ask them also to examine the words carefully 
 and to try to determine the significance in each word and 
 phrase: "the mighty fold"; "They'd seek" — how .nw^; 
 "victims' eyes" — in what respect are these persons t'lV- 
 tims: why "'cflcatning lamps" on the first stanza, "mock- 
 ituj lamps" in the second, "cruel lamps" in the third. Ask 
 the pupils to study out all these points and then to read 
 the poem aloud. 
 
 The next day return to all these points and both test 
 the knowledsfe of the children and vivifv that knowledsre 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 115 
 
 l)y, other suggestive questions. Before the discussion is 
 ended — and it should be a discussion, wherein all take 
 free part, not simply a series of questions and answers — 
 be sure that every child has a distinct image of the events 
 of this story. 
 
 The Story the Poem Tells 
 
 The poem, when read with the understanding, runs 
 about as follows : A young man and woman, who have 
 lived all their lives in a small village, have lately been mar- 
 ried. Both are tired of rural life, so, since they have 
 heard much of the delights of the great city, of the for- 
 tunes to be found there, of the gaiety and glitter, they 
 resolve to leave their friends and relatives and go to the 
 metropolis to live. After walking several days they come 
 in sight of the lights of the city. The roads are muddy, 
 the night is dark and stormy, but their hearts are uplifted 
 by the thoughts of the happiness and fortune awaiting 
 them within the radiance of those far-off lamps. 
 
 Years pass on. Do they find the happiness and for- 
 tune? No; they have found only misery and penury. 
 From the window of the garret, which is their home, they 
 look far away out beyond the city, trying to catch even a 
 glimpse of the village they left so gladly, talking over the 
 peace and contentment of their former life. The lights 
 gleam as brightly as when they first sighted them, but 
 now they seem mocking and treacherous. 
 
116 ENGLISH IN THE COINTKV SCHOOL 
 
 At lon^ih thov ^ivo up the tis;lu. "Fho city has not 
 broug'ht thcni joy and riches, as they expected; they 
 resolve to return to their native village. They have held 
 on so long' only Ixvaiise they hope that they may yet suc- 
 ceeil and Ixvanse they shrink from going* lx\ck home to 
 CvMitess their mistake and their failure. But. at last, 
 broken in spirit, they leave their g-;uret and turn their 
 backs npon the city. There they go, creeping along the 
 roa«.l o\ er which many years before they strode so conti- 
 dently — ;\n old man and \von\ari. aged with sorrows more 
 than with \x^ars. 
 
 At that point in the road where they caught the tvrst 
 glimj^se of the lights, years jxist, they halt and look Ixick. 
 The lights are still gleaming, but now it seems a cruel. 
 bitter, taunting gleam. And as the couple think of the 
 high hopes with which they tirst g-azed upon those lights, 
 as they retlect uixhi the years of duKlgery, of misery, of 
 ix^verty. as they reali::e the trag-e^ly of those \*ears of 
 wasteil. mined life, they Ivgin to weep bitterly. Then 
 they iMovl on toward their old home. \Miat do they 
 find there ? \\*e do not know. Perhaps friends aiid rela- 
 tives who help them start life ag-ain. ^x^rbai^s a sulxlued 
 happiness, which can be called happiness only in contrast 
 to what they have exjx^rienced. The city has wrecked 
 two more li\tes. 
 
 That is the story, which should be pieced tog-ether with 
 hints from the |xxMn and welded with the imagination. 
 
LI'I'l'lRA'J'Ukli: JN UI'I'KR GRAJJJCS 117 
 
 After your discussion has revealed all the sad st«jry, liavc 
 the cuin])Iete narrative told hy some one or twcj of the 
 class. 
 
 If your work has been well done, some mcnihcr of the 
 class may express doubts as to the veracity of the poem 
 as a ])icture of real life. Now, we know this is (jnly one 
 side U) the (|uestioii; we know that ])ersoiis frcjni our 
 neighborhood have succeeded in the city; we kn(jw that 
 the city has advantages which a rural coniniunity can 
 never possess. We should not leave a false impression 
 in the minds of the pupils. We can do tliis, however; 
 we can teach our pupils this truth : *Mwery young ])erson 
 who longs for life in a great city should read this 
 message thoughtfully and resolve to face stern realities 
 wherever he may seek to do his life work."* That is 
 enough to give pause to the young man or woman who 
 sees nothing l)ut drudgery and isolation in farm life and 
 nothing but pleasure and an easy road to fortune in city 
 life. The poem presents a poetical picture of real life; 
 let it carry home its message. 
 
 Oral Reading 
 
 After the discussion has brought out all these points 
 have the poem read aloud by several members of the 
 class. This poem is not great literature; consequently 
 
 *This sentence is quoted from a discussion of tliis p^jein in 
 Searson and Martin's "Studies in Reading," University I'ui^- 
 lishing Co., Chicago. 
 
lis ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 the sounds are not very suggestive of the ideas. But if 
 your children have felt the emotion, they will compel the 
 sounds to hint at the thoughts. They will draw out the 
 first line of stanza one, to imitate the length of the road; 
 they will emphasize "gallantly" and ""strode" in the sec- 
 ond line to imitate the contident manner of the young 
 couple : they will make the contrast between lines live and 
 six in the first stanza and between lines three and four in 
 the second stanza: they will stress each word in line six 
 of the second stanza, to convey the impression of the 
 dragging of the hours: they will render the last two lines 
 of each stanza in such a way as to indicate the feelings 
 which the lights inspire at different periods in the his- 
 tory of the man and woman. This emphasizing of cer- 
 tain words, this slowing up and accelerating of the move- 
 ment, together with the changing of the pitch of the 
 voice to express varying emotions is one of the important 
 phases of oral reading, and one of the most difficult. 
 Perhaps, the teacher will need to read the poem as it 
 should be read, and then ask the children .to imitate him. 
 Like every other art. oral reading needs constant drill. 
 One other matter you will have to give careful attention 
 in this poem is the natural tendency toward sing-song. 
 With most of us the feeling for rhythm is so strong that 
 it urges us to utter the words in a poem in a monotonous 
 regularity, which is destructive of the meaning. As we 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 119 
 
 read we should, of course, be conscious of the rhythm, 
 but we should feel at hljerty to vary the movement at 
 any time; because we happen to be keeping step to band 
 music is no reason we should march into a puddle of watec 
 that lies in our path. We should feed young children 
 upon Alotlier Goose and oilier rjuantitativc jingles to de- 
 Nelojj the sense of rhytlim; IaU as their musical taste im- 
 proves w^e should introduce the higher musical ideas: 
 phrasing, the ritard, the accelerando, the sudden pause — 
 variety, in brief. In this particular poem, for example: 
 the alliteration of "w" in the first line of stanza one, of 
 'T' in the third line and in the eighth line — these and 
 other alliterations in the poem should be stressed to bring 
 out the musical value ; but it is not necessary to read the 
 lines containing these words in strict tempo. Lines two 
 and four of the first stanza contain the same number of 
 syllables, but line two should be read in about half the 
 time required for line four. It should not be pronounced 
 
 "But rjal\a.nt-ly they strode," 
 rather, 
 
 "But gallantly they strode" ; 
 
 That is, we hurry over the word "gallantly," slurring the 
 last syllable, in order to make the voice carry out the 
 idea in the words. Again, lines five and six in the second 
 stanza should not be read in exact tempo : 
 
120 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 rather, 
 
 "Oft fro]ii their aarret rcu/dow, 
 On Jong, still siu/inicr }iights" ; 
 
 "Oft from their ^cTrret ziiudozi.'. 
 On lo}ig, still siimmeT nights/' 
 
 In short, the rh}thm should be interrupted whene\er the 
 thought requires it. After we learn this and have ac- 
 quired some skill in reading, we get much more pleasure 
 from feeling the rh}-thm beating away in the back of our 
 mind, so to speak, and yet departing from it to obtain 
 a certain effect. This is true of other details of rhythm. 
 After we have subordinated our sense of rh}'thm we do 
 not allow the feeling for time to make us pause at the 
 end of a line. \\'e read, for example, lines one and two 
 of the second stanza rather like this : 
 
 "The year passed on 
 
 And found them within the mighty fold." 
 
 That is. we ''phrase" words — we pronounce together 
 those words that compose a grammatical, or. rather, a 
 logical phrase, breaking up the rhythm to do so. This 
 may sound complicated, but when once the idea is per- 
 ceived by the children and they have been drilled and 
 trained, after they learn to disregard the strong pull of 
 the rh}-thm and to substitute the subtler and more artis- 
 tic intimations of the thotight. they make rapid progress. 
 In educatinsr the children to do this it is necessarv that 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 121 
 
 the teacher instruct both by precept and example ; he must 
 explain in simple, untechnical language the principles of 
 good oral reading, basing his instruction on the specific 
 specimens of literature studied, and he must illustrate 
 these ideas by his own reading. It is almost impossible to 
 make good oral readers out of our pupils unless we are 
 good readers ourselves; that is one of the arts that can 
 be acquired only by personal contact — it cannot be 
 learned from books and is rarely attained by the child 
 through his own efforts. 
 
 Memorising 
 
 After the poem has been read by several members of 
 the class and by you, assign the poem for memorizing. 
 This is one of those bits of literature that should be 
 stored away in the mind, to exercise an influence in 
 after years. As other selections of literature and other 
 mentions of this theme in other studies are met, call back 
 this poem, so that it may be re-examined and re-appreci- 
 ated in the light of new knowledge.' 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Does all this seem worth while? Perhaps it may 
 appear that, since there is so much to be learned and so 
 little time, so much attention should not be squandered 
 upon this poem — which, after all, does not teach any 
 facts. Just there is one place country teachers are likely 
 
122 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 to go ^v^o^g. Mere facts can be mastered any time; 
 there is no easier task than learning facts — if a person 
 wants them. "There's the rnb." The really important 
 work of the teacher is to stimulate a desire to kuozc, to 
 arouse an interest, to awaken an emotion. We have had, 
 in the country and in the city school, too much grinding 
 away on facts — facts for their own sake, facts unrelated 
 to interest and to life, ^^'e waste time in school by fail- 
 ing to inspire a motive for acquiring facts, and we send 
 our children out of school without incentive to know, 
 without intellectual curiosity. The teacher who succeeds 
 in quickening strong, compelling, healthy emotions is the 
 teacher needed in the country school. 
 
 The Query Box 
 
 J. Is not some of the literature you recommend too full 
 of the fighting spirit^ 
 
 In the letter in which this question was asked the writer 
 intimated that in these days of the universal peace move- 
 ment it would be well to eliminate from the reading of 
 children all laudatory references to battle. It is a natural 
 view, but, I am convinced, an erroneous one. In our en- 
 deavor to create a perfect state of society, we must never 
 make th^ mistake of opposing Nature. Now, Nature has 
 decreed that every individual shall have a period of child- 
 hood, during which he is to pass through the various stages 
 which civilization itself has passed through in its evolution 
 from barbarism. Shorten the period of childhood or elimi- 
 nate from it any of the experiences and emotions that be- 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 123 
 
 long to it, and you thwart Nature in her plans for the 
 mature individual. There is no road to perfect manhood 
 but the road through childhood. Nourish the child on the 
 emotional food that his nature craves, prevent him from 
 devouring the unhealthful and poisonous, and Nature her- 
 self will conduct him through the successive stages from 
 infancy to maturity. 
 
 One of the emotions which Nature has decreed that the 
 child shall feel is the emotion arising from the theme of 
 combat — fighting, danger, swords, w^ounds and blood. Nor 
 can this fighting spirit be nourished on anything else. A 
 child cannot grasp the conception of spiritual conflicts, of 
 moral battles, of social courage. If, for example, the indi- 
 vidual is to feel the Christmas spirit, he must, when a child, 
 be taught to believe in a concrete Santa Claus, which, as he 
 learns later, is the embodiment of the Christmas feeling of 
 generosity. There is no way of attaining to a knowledge of 
 the abstract except through the concrete. If we wish the 
 man and woman to possess that essential quality, the fighting 
 spirit, we must nourish the boy and girl upon martial emo- 
 tions. Neglect this, and we deprive the individual of that 
 virility, that delight in conquering, that joy in overcoming 
 difficulties, which is the very foundation of success in every 
 field of endeavor — in farming, as in business life. As. Dr. 
 F. E. Clark says (quoted in Dean Fisk's "The Challenge of 
 the Country"), farming furnishes an ideal "moral equiva- 
 lent of war" ; but only in case the farmer boy has had his 
 fighting spirit roused by the strong, definite emotion rising 
 from real fighting, in experience or in literature. 
 
 Besides, even if we could develop strong men and women 
 without nourishing the childish love for combat upon stir- 
 ring martial literature, and if we should eliminate all litera- 
 ture dealing with the glorious aspects of war, we should be 
 eliminating some of the most effective literature ever writ- 
 
124 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ten. The martial element has been the theme and the 
 inspiration of so much great literature that we could ill 
 afford to cut out of a child's reading all laudatory refer- 
 ences to the subject. Love, religion, and war are the three 
 great themes of literature, as they are the great movers of 
 human activity; and we should not ignore such a universal 
 theme and feeling. 
 
 I do not believe, then, there is any real danger in giving 
 the children in our country schools much literature dealing 
 with war. The country boy and girl must have their feel- 
 ings awakened, and we should not deprive them of any 
 literature that will quicken their emotions into life. 
 
 2. Should Tit' teach the biographies of authors, zi-heii ue 
 study their nvrksf 
 
 As a general rule, the lives of authors are uninteresting 
 to children. The biographies children care most for are 
 those of warriors, pioneers, adventurers, explorers — the 
 active, full-blooded spirits. Children care little for heroes 
 of the study, the laboratory, the schoolroom; they delight 
 rather in men and women who do things. For this reason 
 the life of the average author is devoid of interest to the 
 average child. ^Moreover, one needs to know very little 
 about an author to appreciate his writings. Occasionally a 
 bit of personal history will throw light on a particular selec- 
 tion : and, naturally, these anecdotes should be known to 
 the teacher and should be told to the children. But the 
 study of the lives of literary men is not the study of litera- 
 ture, and often it hinders rather than assists. 
 
 5. Hozi' can a teaeJier arouse i>i his pupils a cjenuine hn-e 
 for poetry f 
 
 The correspondent who made this inquiry stated that he 
 could inspire a love for reading and that he usually made 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 125 
 
 readers out of his pupils, but that they never chose poetry 
 to read. That, perhaps, is a common experience, in country 
 or in city. We spend a good deal of our time in school 
 teaching poems, yet we rarely inculcate a love for poetry. 
 I suppose fiction will always make a stronger appeal than 
 poetry, from the very nature of the two and from the very 
 nature of men and women. But, inasmuch as the greatest 
 literature of the world is poetry, in one form or another, it 
 is evident that any one who leaves it out of his reading is 
 failing to get the best. "How can the teacher arouse in his 
 pupils a genuine love for poetry?" It is a difficult problem. 
 I believe I have stated, in this chapter, about all the methods 
 I am acquainted with. The teacher must himself love 
 poetry : that is the first requisite. Then he must so teach it 
 that it appeals to the children as being enjoyable and beau- 
 tiful, as containing exalted thoughts expressed in an artistic 
 manner. He must train his children so that they can extract 
 the thought and feeling from poetry, easily and completely. 
 He must have them commit some of the most striking poems, 
 after they have been intelligently and sympathetically s^^udied 
 in class. He must choose poems that have as much narra- 
 tive element as possible. He must teach music, that the 
 children may have their artistic natures developed by an 
 art kindred to poetry. It is a difficult problem — so difficult 
 that no teacher can succeed with all his pupils. But it is 
 possible for the teacher so to teach poetry to his children 
 that they will, in after years, turn occasionally to a favorite 
 poem or a favorite poet and taste the rarest joy that a reader 
 can experience. And, as the country is the place to enjoy 
 poetry, and as country people have, in general, less oppor- 
 tunity to obtain inspiration from other forms of art, the 
 country teacher must make a special endeavor to instill a 
 love for poetry in the hearts of his children. 
 
126 ENGLISH IN THE CO L'NTRY SCHOOL 
 
 7. Arc pictures of any raiiit- in tcaciii;uj litc>\Uiirrf 
 Pictures are of value, in teaching literature, in two ways. 
 They are \-aluable, tirst, as being artistic expressions of emo- 
 tion. The development of appreciation for pictures is sure 
 to assist in developing appreciation for any artistic expres- 
 sion of the beautiful. He who learns to love good pictures 
 learns also to love literature, music, architecture, sculpture — 
 all the forms of art. In short, acquaintance with pictures 
 and a liking for them implies general culture, without which 
 literature fails to achieve its highest results. Pictures are 
 valuable, secondly, as direct and immediate aids in inter- 
 preting particular selections of literature. Poems are often 
 founded on pictures or inspired by them, as Markham's 
 "The Man with the Hoe" was based on Millet's famous 
 painting of the same name; and many pictures are either 
 inspired by certain poems or, at least, deal with the same 
 subject. Blake's painting of the Canterbury Pilgrims is 
 based on Chaucer's description of the group; Watts's "Sir 
 Galahad" is an attempt to tell with colors what Tennyson 
 had already expressed with words; Douglass' "Fvangeline" 
 and Wontner's *T.oma Doone" are imaginative portraits of 
 these famous characters in literature. Even when the pic- 
 ture has no close connection of this sort with a selection of 
 literature, it may treat a subject that is used in literature, 
 so that the two explain each other. It is possible for a 
 teacher who is acquainted with pictures to tind appropriate 
 pictures for many selections of literature. Inasmuch as 
 intelligent reading is. from one standpoint, but a reconstnic- 
 tion of the various pictures suggested in the literature, an 
 appropriate picture is an aid to reading. There is. perhaps, 
 a danger that, if children have a real pictitre before their 
 eyes, they will neglect to constmct pictures in their mind : 
 but this certainly is not a danger we need fear in tlie country 
 school. 
 
LITERATURE IN UPPER GRADES 127 
 
 The rural teacher, then, will do well to acquaint hnnself 
 with pictures. Fortunately, excellent copies of nearly all the 
 famous paintings can be obtained very cheaply, so that there 
 is no reason country teachers and country children should 
 not be familiar with the best in this realm of art. Later in 
 this book (See page 271) I give a list of pictures suitable for 
 country children, a list made out by careful students of this 
 subject. The country teacher will do well to purchase some 
 of these, frame them with passe-partout, and hang them on 
 the walls of the school room. He will do well, also, to pur- 
 chase for his own use, pictures that will illustrate particular 
 selections of literature which he teaches. Secure catalogs 
 from some of the large picture companies and select the 
 pictures by their titles. Every teacher of elementary English 
 should have a good-sized collection of pictures of this sort 
 to lend to his pupils. 
 
 5. Should country children study long literary selections 
 in class f 
 
 As I have said, nearly all the class work should be on 
 short selections. The unity of any bit of literature is injured 
 when only a part of it is studied at a time. But it is evident 
 that some of the best literature is too long for one lesson. 
 It is certainly better in a case of this sort to study the selec- 
 tion on successive days and endeavor to grasp the central 
 unity after the selection has been completed. The study of 
 long selections has the value of training the children in com- 
 prehending more complex stories and ideas. Of course, the 
 teacher will select the literature especially suitable for 
 country children : in poetry, such selections as Lowell's "Sir 
 Launfal," Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night," Whittier's 
 "Snowbound," etc. ; in short stories, Irving's "Rip Van 
 Winkle," "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," etc. As to novels 
 and romances, the country teacher's time is too limited to 
 
US FXGT ISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ponwit Iviin to study any of these in class. Rut he can and 
 shouKK as I explain in the next chapter, introduce his pupils 
 to these in various Nvays and talk thetn over with the lK)ys 
 atid girls. Some rural teachers have tried some of Shake- 
 speare's easiest plays and have had tolerable success. The 
 "Julius C;vsar" and part of the "Midsummer Night's Dream" 
 and "As You Like It" are perhaps the best for elementary 
 schools. In general, the cv">uutry teacher will do well to put 
 nK>st of his time on the briefer selections : if he takes up a 
 longer one. he had best require much of the reading to be 
 done outside of class and reser\-e the recitation period for 
 discussions and for study of the more im|X'>rtat\t chapters or 
 incidents. Later, the names and addresses of publishers who 
 issue cheap editions of the longer classics are given. (^Soo 
 page 2og.) 
 
CTIAPTKR FOUR 
 
 Till': SCHOOL Lir.RARY 
 
 ^■J Rural rroblcin 
 
 One of the most important problems connected with 
 ciuuitry life in the Lhiited Slates is that of keeping;' on the 
 faiin the ambitions, intelhj;ent, capable yonns;' men and 
 women. In many sections o{ iVmerica, especially sec- 
 tions where great cities abonnd, those young people most 
 highly talented leave the country at the earliest possible 
 moment and betake themselves to the city, llere they 
 dexelop then- talents and de\'ote to mban ci\ili/,ation those 
 energies and those intellectnal and moral jiowers which 
 would ha\e been so serviceable to the rural communities 
 the)- have left. 
 
 Now, no one should blame these young men and 
 women ; they are merely seeking what seems to theiu the 
 best sphere for happiness and service. 1'hey leave the 
 farm because the_v (\o not bud on the fruau the opportuni- 
 ties they feel they need. They leave the farm because 
 they ctMisider life on the farm empty, narrow, isolated, 
 monotonous, full of drudgery. They leave the farm be- 
 cause farm life does not challenge their powers, does not 
 
 129 
 
130 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 appeal to them as worth while. It is their right to leave ; 
 the blame is to be placed upon the conditions that have 
 nrged them to leave. 
 
 A second problem is that of developing on the farm an 
 aggressive, yet cnltm'ed personality. The city not onlv 
 carries away the best : it also presents more opporinnities 
 for shaping militant, forceful characters. Of two 
 brothers, alike in endowments, the one that goes to the 
 city usually surpasses in qualities of leadership the one 
 that remains on the home farm. Experience moulds char- 
 acter; and the richer, fuller experience of the city has 
 called out powers that might, in the comury. have 
 remained forever latent. 
 
 It is evident that the solution of both these problems 
 is identical. Make fann life satisfying in the deepest 
 meaning of the word, and boys and girls will stay on the 
 farm and will develop more completely their natural 
 powers. If city life is more attractive, country boys and 
 girls will go to the city. If country life does not offer 
 the proper environment for developing personality, the 
 city will always excel in leadership. There is no escape 
 from those conclusions. 
 
 Of course, the city must have and will have its fair 
 quota of coiintPk^-bred boys and girls. As Dr. Tosiah 
 Strong has shown in his "'The Challenge of the City." 
 urban America will continue to outstrip mral America 
 in the economic race. Conditions of life are such that 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 131 
 
 thousands upon thousands of country Ijoys and girls must 
 go to the eity to live. Even if this were not true, the city 
 would always offer a strong challenge to the more ad- 
 venturous, restless type of young man and woman in the 
 country. We must concede that it is impossible entirely 
 to dam the great stream of rural youth that rush from the 
 hills and valleys to empty themselves into the urban 
 ocean. The city needs constant rejuvenating from the 
 country; the city housewife depends upon the country- 
 man for food hardly less than the mammoth industries 
 of the city depend upon the brain and the muscle of coun- 
 try boys. Let the city have its just proportion ; but let 
 us make farm life so attractive that the city will not 
 entice away the best we have, and so stimulating that we 
 will be able to compete with city life in developing virility 
 and culture. 
 
 What Is Wrong With the Farm? 
 
 Just what is wrong with farm life? Just why do 
 young men and women leave their homes in the country, 
 often comfortable homes, to shape their own future, to 
 work out their own fortunes. Much has been written 
 on the subject and many inquiries and investigations con- 
 ducted. In general, the reasons that stand out as most 
 universal are three. Because work on the farm involves 
 much drudgery. Because life on the farm does not ap- 
 peal as being interesting — does not provide the element 
 
132 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 of conflict, does not bring one in contact with much of 
 the world, does not challenge one's intellect and furnish 
 incentives to struggle and conquer. Because life on the 
 farm is lonely. These three reasons are interdependent : 
 because drudgery is involved, farm life does not appeal 
 as interesting; because it is lonely, it fails to challenge; 
 etc. But one or more of these fundamental reasons 
 actuate most young people to leave the country. 
 
 Tlic Remedies 
 
 Along with the discovery of the causes have come 
 many plans for remedying conditions in the country, so 
 that rural life may retain a fair share of its youth and 
 develop it to the fullest possibility. Drudgery has been 
 eliminated by hundreds of inventions and labor-saving 
 devices. Farm life has been made more interesting by 
 the formulation of a science of Agriculture and the con- 
 sequent lifting of farming to the dignity of a profession. 
 It is made challenging by the discovery that success in 
 farming requires shrewdness, foresight, energy^ co-opera- 
 tion, and a vast fund of scientific knowledge — in short, 
 many of the highest intellectual powers. Moreover, as 
 farming becomes more profitable, the margin of leisure 
 is extended, and country folk have more time and money 
 to devote to travel and to the pursuits of culture. All 
 this is revolutionizing farm life. In many sections of 
 America the country is more attractive than the city. Ir 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 133 
 
 it too much to hope that the time will come when in every 
 corner of our land a fair proportion of the most highly 
 gifted of country-bred boys and girls will find their field 
 of greatest service and of keenest enjoyment on the 
 farm? 
 
 The Problem of Loneliness 
 
 But what of the problem of the loneliness of rural 
 life? Will such marvelous improvements as those men- 
 tioned disperse the isolation that country people find so 
 irksome? Even if farming is profitable, dignified, and 
 interesting, will it compensate for the depressing absence 
 of human society? We are naturally social creatures. 
 Can we be satisfied with any mode of existence that does 
 not bring us into close and frequent contact with men 
 and women? Well, we are improving in this respect 
 also. Within the last few years many agencies have been 
 at work to destroy the isolation of farm life. Improve- 
 ment in roads, the use of automobiles in the country, 
 interurban trolley lines, the rural telephone, rural mail 
 delivery, parcels post, the Agricultural Fair, the Grange, 
 the consolidated school — all this is doing wonders in 
 bringing farm homes closer together and in providing 
 that social intercourse which human hearts crave. 
 
 The Rural Teacher's Duties 
 
 Now, what can the rural teacher do in helping to solve 
 these problems in rural civilization? Much. He can 
 
m KXGLISH IX Till- COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 briui;" into pioniiiiciioo those studios that boar directly 
 I'.pou farm lite: .Vgriculturo. \amro Study, etc., and he 
 can sc> shape all the studios that they make a close con- 
 nection with rural conditions, ^loroovor, ho can make 
 his school one ot the social centers of the community and 
 can carry into the community a hii^hor degree of culture 
 and a stronger personality than is possessed by the aver- 
 age member of the comnumity. These, however, are 
 matters we cattnot discuss here, \\hat can the teacher of 
 Kuglish do? Or what can the teacher do through the 
 luiglish studies ? 
 
 J7ii' Rcadiiur Habit 
 
 In previous chapters I have shown how the teacher can 
 utilize literature in inculcating love for Nature and the 
 dignity of country life; and later I show how he can 
 direct and motivate composition work so that it appeals 
 to coutury boys and girls. Here let me introduce the 
 pn'mar}'" thought of this chapter: one of the most power- 
 ful factors in making niral life less lonely is the improve- 
 ment in the country home library and the development 
 of the reading habit among country people, and one of 
 the truest services the rural teacher can render his com- 
 mimity is in instilling in his pupils a love for books and 
 in training them in hvibits of reading. Books are not 
 people, but they are the nearest substitutes. Books do 
 not completely satisfv our social instincts, for we cannot 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 135 
 
 talk to them or react on them. But they can fill our 
 leisure moments with interest and amusement; they can 
 Ijring the thoughts and emotions of the great world near 
 to us; they can emancipate us from loneliness and the 
 deadening round of monotony. If country life is to be 
 rich and full enough to satisfy, country people must de- 
 velop the reading habit — and this habit must be begun in 
 the rural school. 
 
 Country People Not Readers 
 
 Is it not remarkable that one of the most delightful 
 methods of filling leisure hours has never been widespread 
 in rural districts? Ignoring for the time the educative 
 and cultural value of reading good books, is it not strange 
 that the entertaining value of reading has not made a 
 stronger appeal to country people? We complain that 
 our lives are barren, monotonous, lonely, yet we neglect 
 the very best means, aside from social intercourse, of 
 crowding the days full of a rich variety of intellectual 
 and emotional delights. To the lover of books a desert 
 or an uninhabited island or the most secluded farm home 
 is a world teeming with life, provided he is furnished 
 with his favorite literature. Loneliness? There is little 
 loneliness for him who loves books and possesses the 
 books he loves. We country folk, who most need books, 
 we have made least use of them. The libraries in our 
 country homes are small, cheap and poor — not comparable 
 
136 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 to the libraries in the homes of our city friends in the 
 same social and financial circumstances as ourselves, 
 
 JVJiy Country People Do N'ot Read More 
 
 ^^lly do country people not read more books and better 
 books? One reason is often given: they do not have the 
 money to spare to purchase books. That this partially 
 accounts for the fact is proved by the increase and im- 
 provement in the country home library that often follows 
 greater earnings by the farmer. But that this does not 
 entirely account for it is proved quite as conclusively by 
 the fact that many a farmer in good circumstances does 
 not lay out any money in books, and that even in suc- 
 cessful years he invests his surplus gains in machinery, 
 stock, land, or buildings, rather than in a library. 
 
 Another reason often given is that country people do 
 not have time to read. They work so hard during the 
 day, it is said, that they are too tired to read at night. 
 Now, it is undoubtedly true that during a part of the 
 year farm folks are too busy to read much and are too 
 fatigued to read even when they have the leisure. But 
 the average country man has more spare time in the win- 
 ter than the average city dweller. And Sunday is theirs. 
 For Sunday is not so sacred that we dare not read good 
 books — good fiction, good poetry, as well as reading mat- 
 ter that is distinctively religious. Country people have, 
 generally speaking, plenty of time to read. The true 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 137 
 
 reason for their devoting so little time to reading is fur- 
 ther to seek. 
 
 Still another reason — and one that comes closer the 
 truth — is that reading does not appeal to the average 
 country man or woman as worth while. Their life makes 
 them utilitarian in theory and practical in action. A field 
 of corn, a new plow, is something real, actual, useful; a 
 book represents no concrete wealth, stands for nothing 
 calculable or marketable. Building a good fence is doing 
 something practical, valuable, necessary; reading a good 
 book is frittering away time. An hour spent in cultivating 
 a field with a hoe is an hour profitably and sensibly used ; 
 an hour spent in cultivating a mind with a book is an 
 hour thrown away. Many a countryman feels a veritable 
 scorn for books and a veritable contempt for a reader. 
 Partly as a result of this attitude, and partly for reasons 
 that cannot be here enumerated, many country people 
 feel that reading "novels" is a vicious habit, to be 
 frowned upon for moral reasons. 
 
 Reading Habits Should Be Formed in Youth 
 
 Of course, it is very easy to present telling arguments 
 against this attitude. But it is not arguments that are 
 needed. The only way to convince the farmer that read- 
 ing good books is worth while is to persuade him to read 
 until he forms the habit, and the only way to do that is to 
 train him in the reading habit while he is yet young, while 
 
138 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 he is yet in school. To be sure, some men and women, 
 reaHzing the importance of reading, do endeavor to estab- 
 lish reading habits; but it is usually only a pathetic en- 
 deavor. Consciously to attempt to form a habit of this 
 sort is nearly always such an arduous task to an adult that 
 it defeats the primary purpose of reading: to give pleas- 
 ure. A habit so formed must be striven for so strenu- 
 ously that it usually manifests itself in awkward, forced, 
 conscientious plodding and misses the spontaneity, the 
 naturalness, the unconscious activity of the habit formed 
 in youth. 
 
 Hozi' to Secure a Rural School Library 
 
 One of the largest services, then, that the country 
 teacher can render is to train his boys and girls in proper 
 reading habits. To do that he must have the proper 
 school library. Naturally, the first question is how to 
 secure such a library. The ideal way is for the school 
 authorities to provide the money — all of it or a part of it 
 — as in many sections they do. When they do not, sev- 
 eral plans have been tried. 
 
 I. Organizing free traveling libraries for country 
 schools. In many States the plan has been well worked 
 out. In some cases the whole State is the unit, in others 
 the county. Perhaps the latter method is preferable. On 
 the whole, it is a very satisfactory plan, especially in its 
 provision for a constant rotation of books from year to 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 139 
 
 year, or oftener ; but it should not replace the permanent, 
 stationary library, owned by the individual school ; it 
 should rather supplement that. 
 
 2. Asking patrons to contribute books for a perma- 
 nent library or to lend books for a school term. This 
 plan has never worked well — not because patrons are un- 
 willing to contribute but because the volumes they donate 
 are usually almost worthless to children. It is pretty 
 hard to persuade a child that any book his parents enjoy 
 reading is worth his reading — and it often is not! Aside 
 from the most important question of the subject-matter 
 and treatment, the book enjoyed by most adults is not 
 mechanically suitable for most children; it is not illus- 
 trated well, not printed well, is not covered properly — in 
 short, makes no visual appeal to the child. 
 
 3. Asking patrons to contribute money. The first 
 drawback to this plan is that teachers feel a natural re- 
 pugnance to begging money. This could be overcome, 
 no doubt, or it could be obviated somewhat, by having 
 each child do the canvassing in his own family. But in 
 general so little money is obtained in this way that the 
 results do not justify the humiliation and the labor in- 
 volved. It may serve to eke out some other method, but 
 cannot be relied upon as the only, or the chief method. 
 Of course, if the community is fortunate enough to have 
 in its midst a well-to-do, benevolent citizen, who is will- 
 
140 KNGLlSn IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 ing" to i^ivo to the school, he shonUl ho ahowcd and on- 
 conrai^wl lo coiurihiuc as much as he w'\\\. 
 
 4. Giviui;' entortainnieiits. These are of various 
 kinds : hox suppers, pie sociahles. plays, literary pro- 
 lirams. etc. This is one of the most popular anU success- 
 ful modes of raising money for books, in that it furnishes 
 plenty of good fnn and usually nets large financial re- 
 turns. The objections to the box supper, or similar func- 
 tion, are that die fun is likely to be too rough and boister- 
 ous and that it sometimes, though rarely, stirs up ill-feel- 
 ings or precipitates a quarrel where a grudge has already 
 existed. The last two methods of raising money are un- 
 objectionable, provided the nature of the performance is 
 commendable. Often the play or the recitations, dialogs, 
 etc.. on the progTam are cheap and trashy. It is vain to 
 attempt to train children in the appreciation of good 
 literature when the means employed to raise mone}- for 
 the literature present false models for appreciation. A 
 good principle to adopt is : always choose some fonn of 
 entertainment tlie preparation for which will incidentally 
 gi\e the children instruction and wholesome entertain- 
 ment. In this way the performance will earn money and 
 furnish a motive for tlie children to study good literature. 
 I suggest later t^see page 2y^) some dialogs and plays 
 that are bright, pleasing and amusing, and at the same 
 time refined and artistic. The declamations should be 
 chosen bv the same standards bv which srood literature 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 141 
 
 is selected for class study, except that they should be so 
 simple that most of the value of the selection can he 
 easily appreciated by an audience as it is being read. 
 
 Whatever plan you adopt, add some books to your 
 library each winter. If you have none, get some; if you 
 have some, get more. When the local school authorities 
 discern that you anrl your pupils are in earnest, and when 
 they observe the beneficial effects of a library upon tlie 
 school, they will render all the moral and financial sup- 
 port they can. 
 
 What Is a Proper Library? 
 
 I have said that if we are to train in proper reading 
 habits, we must have the proper rural school library. 
 After you have the money, how expend it? What is the 
 proper rural school library? 
 
 I, A large library. We have been entirely too modest 
 in our demands. A one-room rural school library should 
 have not fewer than one hundred books, and five hundred 
 is not a book too many. Twenty-five books is much bet- 
 ter than none, of course; and we have done well to con- 
 tent ourselves with meager beginnings. But now that 
 we have made a start, let us not rest until we have in- 
 stalled in every country schoolhouse a good-sized library. 
 It costs money, for all that books are so inexpensive 
 nowadays; but we simply must get the money. 
 
142 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 2. A library for all the grades. j\Iany rural teachers 
 ignore the little folks in selecting books for the library 
 as well as in other matters. The reading habit should be 
 started early, before the children have become too much 
 absorbed in affairs external to the school and have formed 
 other habits inimical to the reading habit. Of course, 
 more money should be apportioned to the upper grades, 
 because upper-grade books cost more per volume and 
 the children in those grades should read more; but the 
 younger pupils should not be neglected. 
 
 3. A well varied library. It should contain books of 
 all types, on all suitable themes — collections of poetry, 
 fairv stories, animal stories, nature stories, hero stories, 
 adventure stories, history stories, biographies, light es- 
 says, supplementary readers — boys' books, girls' books — 
 something that will appeal to every possible variety of 
 child. Some teachers squander the school's money by 
 purchasing whole sets of standard authors or a costly 
 encvclopedia, or even books on pedagog}^ In my posses- 
 sion are a number of lists of books in country school 
 libraries. Examination of these lists corroborates the 
 statement made by students of this question; they show 
 that far too much money has been expended for "mature" 
 classics and far too little for real children's books. The 
 school library should be for the children ; it should be as 
 varied as the ages, dispositions, tastes, interests, and per- 
 sonalities of the children themselves. 
 
THE SCHOOL LII'.RARY 143 
 
 4. A library coiiii)c)sc(l lari^cly of lilcralurc. To 1)0 
 sure, the "information" book slioukl be represented; there 
 should be books on A[;-riculture and Nature Study that 
 contain only information; there should be supplementary 
 readers in Geoi^raphy, History, and the like ; supplemen- 
 tary readers for the reading' classes; l)ooks dealing'" witli 
 the various phases of rural life. But, as the rcadinsj;' habit 
 most desirable for country people to accpiire is the habit of 
 reading purely for pleasure rather than for information, 
 the majority of the books in the rural school library should 
 contain literature, which, as we have seen, exists to arouse 
 pleasant emotions rather than to give information. Some 
 books do both ; l)ut they are literature in so far as the 
 chief appeal is to the emotions, and "reading matter" in 
 so far as their chief appeal is to the intellect. "Informa- 
 tion" books are valuable, but "literature" books are 
 invaluable. We country teachers need to remember that 
 
 .pleasure is profit; that 
 
 "The days that make us happy, make us wise," 
 
 as Mr. John Masefield says. Let me repeat : the most 
 profitable reading is that which is done for pleasure, and 
 the reading habit most worth forming is the habit of 
 reading for the sheer fun of it. Let the country schocjl 
 library, then, be made up largely of children's literary 
 classics. 
 
 5. A rural school library. A classic is a classic the 
 
144 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 world over; it belongs in the country school library as 
 much as in the city school library. But there are certain 
 books that make a particularly strong appeal to the coun- 
 try child, and there are others that were written directly 
 for him. Critics tell us that literature is universal in its 
 appeal, which, of course, is true. But it needs no critic 
 to discover that a certain bit of literature makes an espe- 
 cial appeal to individuals of a certain nature, disposition, 
 interests, outlook on life, and that therefore a certain 
 type of literature will be most stimulating to country 
 people. Those books that are most suitable for country 
 children should find a place on the shelves of the rural 
 school library. 
 
 In addition to the books for the library proper, the 
 school should have some of the best periodicals for young 
 people. (See a brief list on page 274.) The subscrip- 
 tions can be made for just the school months; but if the 
 building can be kept open during the summer the papers 
 come the year round. 
 
 Hozi' to Select Books 
 
 In this discussion it is implied that the selection of 
 books for a rural school library is a difficult task. It is 
 indeed — so difficult that perhaps the teacher should never 
 attempt to make his own selection. !Most book companies 
 have prepared lists of books suitable for the grades (with- 
 out reference particularly to the country school) ; but. of 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 145 
 
 course, they mention only the volumes they publish. Few 
 satisfactory bibliographies of books for a rural school 
 library have ever been compiled, though many states have 
 prepared partial lists. Dozens of well classified biblio- 
 graphies of children's books have been published by pub- 
 lic libraries and by schools; though these do not specify 
 what volumes are best for a country library, the careful 
 teacher can pick out suitable books for the rural school. 
 I have made out a list of books that should be in every 
 country school library (see pages 279-86), and give 
 addresses for excellent bibliographies of children's books. 
 (See pages 268-9.) ^^t perhaps the surest and most sat- 
 isfactory plan for the rural teacher to follow is to consult 
 the district or the county superintendent or v^rite to the 
 state superintendent for advice. So much depends upon 
 the proper selection of books that the rural teacher had 
 best put the problem upon those that have made a careful 
 study of the whole subject. 
 
 Hozv to Use the Library 
 
 After the money has been secured and a well chosen 
 library installed, the next problem is to make the library 
 serviceable. Some teachers labor hard to earn the money 
 and exercise judgment in selecting books, then either 
 ignore the library or build such a wall of restrictions 
 about it that nothing short of a positive hunger for read- 
 ing will make the pupils climb over. A library, even a 
 
146 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 choice libran-, is simply a bit of apparatus, like a dic- 
 tionar}-, or a black-board : it will not «ofr if self. And it is 
 fo be used. The books should be taken care of, and the 
 teacher should be zealous in seeing that they be not 
 roughly handled. But this zeal can be carried so far that 
 the pupils hesitate to use the libraiy- at all. The highest 
 compliment any book can receive is to be -woni out with 
 reading. 
 
 Here is the proper place, perhaps, for a few sugges- 
 tions concerning the use of the rural school library. 
 
 1. Keep the books in a book-case, either purchased by 
 the school or built by the older boys. Arrange the vol- 
 umes by grades and by subject matter. Purchase a small 
 blank-book, in which you list all the titles in your librar\- 
 and in which you give one page to each pupil, writing his 
 name at the top of the page. AMien a pupil takes a book 
 home, he should be charged with it; when he returns it, 
 he should be credited. 
 
 2. The teacher and the older girls and boys should act 
 as librarians, each sending a week at a time. The 
 librarian should keep a strict accoimt of all books bor- 
 rowed and returned. Once a month the teacher should 
 make an inventor}-, to assure himself that all the volumes 
 are in the libran,- or are properly charged. 
 
 3. Ask the older girls to pro^4de needles, thread, and 
 paste and to keep the books in as good condition as pos- 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 147 
 
 sible. rin general, let the children do much of the work. 
 It makes them feel responsible, gratifies their delight in 
 ownership, and develops the co-operative spirit.; 
 
 4. Allow any pupil to take a book from the book-case 
 any time he has leisure during the day. He should not 
 be required to ask permission; but he should be required 
 
 to replace the book. Of course, some pupils will need 
 to be repressed if they develop a tendency to read so 
 much that they seriously neglect their studies; but even.- 
 child in school has some leisure time, which he should 
 be allowed to use in reading. 
 
 5. Just before dismissal for the day, set aside five 
 minutes during which the children may borrow books to 
 take home. It is best not to wait until after school is dis- 
 missed, lest the child be so anxious to join a group of 
 
 boys and girls going in his direction that he will not stop 
 for a book. 
 
 6. Allow a child to keep a book out for a week if he 
 wants it that long. Encourage him to pass the book 
 round at home so that every member of the family may 
 read it. The more persons, young and old, that a 
 book can reach, the greater sen,-ice is it rendering the 
 community. 
 
 7. The same regulations should apply to the periodi- 
 cals. A small table should be provided, and the magazines 
 
148 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 spread out. Allow and encourage the children to pass to 
 the table and to read there or to carry the magazines 
 back to their seats. Permit the periodicals to be taken 
 home under the same conditions as books, except that a 
 current number is to be kept only one night or over Sat- 
 urday and Sunday. Preserve the back numbers of the 
 magazines and, have the girls sew them together. In a 
 few years the school will possess a library of young folks' 
 magazines — for the value of such periodicals does not 
 depend upon the current news as much as upon the 
 articles and stories. 
 
 8. If you live in the vicinity of the school you teach, 
 keep the building open once a week during the summer 
 for the purpose of keeping the books and magazines in 
 circulation. If you cannot do this, persuade the authori- 
 ties to appoint some trustworthy young person for this 
 work. The reading habit formed during the winter 
 months should not be entirely broken during the summer 
 vacation. 
 
 Hozv to Persuade Children to Form Reading Habits 
 
 But perhaps the task that requires most skill and 
 diplomacy is the task of persuading the pupils to use the 
 books. Some children need no persuasion; all that they 
 require is access to the library. But many children must 
 be encouraged, urged, cajoled, enticed; they don't "take 
 to" books. What can the teacher do to attract the bovs 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 149 
 
 and girls of this type to the Hbrary and to train them in 
 the formation of the reading habit? 
 
 1. Secure attractive books — books with pretty covers, 
 with large print and clear white paper, with wide mar- 
 gins, with artistic pictures. Fortunately most publishers 
 nowadays take real pride in issuing children's books that 
 are both attractive and inexpensive — it may be because 
 they realize that most children ask, with Alice in Won- 
 derland : "What is the use of a book without pictures 
 or conversation?" A volume should delight the eye and 
 appeal to the sense of beauty. Besides, a picture is very 
 helpful to a youthful reader; it assists him in imaging 
 the scenes and events of the story. 
 
 2. Read an interesting passage or a lively story from 
 a book in the library, letting the children know what the 
 volume is. If you choose the right kind of book and 
 read well, you may awaken some child's desire to read 
 a book that contains such attractive stories. Some teach- 
 ers read or tell only a part of an exciting story, stopping 
 short at a climax and telling the children they may read 
 the remainder for themselves. Some city teachers read 
 a whole book in installments; they state that if they do 
 this reading the first thing in the morning, it brings the 
 children to school promptly. Perhaps the country teacher 
 cannot spare the time for this, but it might be tried. And 
 there need be no hesitation lest a book that suits the 
 
ISO ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 younger pupils will not suit the older ones. The teacher 
 can choose a book that is suitable for about the fourth 
 grade, and most of the children below and above that 
 grade will listen attentively. If any child does not. let 
 him go on with what does interest him — some other book 
 or his studies. 
 
 3. Make close correlation between the library books 
 and the school studies. In History, refer to books or 
 stories that will illustrate the lesson and deepen the 
 impression, or read a little from a great oration or a his- 
 torical peom. In Geography, make use of whatever travel 
 books the library possesses. In Agriculture or Nature 
 Study, point the pupils to certain volumes that deal with 
 a particular theme in which they are interested. I am not 
 speaking of Supplementary Readers, though of course 
 they should be in the library and should be frequently 
 used by the class; I refer to single volumes which can be 
 taken home and read just for the fun of reading — not 
 "information" books necessarily: rather "literature" 
 books, which yield pleasure first, profit second, which are 
 read not only to illustrate a lesson, but also because it has 
 been suggested by the lesson. Especially close connec- 
 tion can be secured between the reading or literature les- 
 son and the library books. If your class studies a cer- 
 tain incident from a longer stor\'. or a part of a poem, 
 or any fraction of a literary unit, you can often interest 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 151 
 
 a child sufficiently to induce him to take home the hbrary 
 book containing the whole story or poem. A selection in 
 the literature lesson may be suggestive of another in a 
 library book, or it may serve to introduce- the children 
 to other selections of the same writer. The skilful teacher 
 thinks of numerous ways of connecting the regular work 
 of school with the books in the library; and this is one of 
 the best means of starting the children in the reading 
 habit. 
 
 4. Encourage the older children to help the younger 
 one select books. A word from a pupil in praise of a 
 book is often worth a panegyric from the teacher. It is 
 a good plan to set apart a few minutes once a week or 
 oftener for the children to say what books they have been 
 reading, to state what they are about, and how and why 
 they like them. Encourage frankness in this; it is never 
 well to force children into an attitude of false praise. If 
 they do not care for a book, the teacher may diplomatically 
 indicate what values they have overlooked ; but it is poor 
 policy for him to defend it. See to it that the library 
 contains no worthless volume, then let the children range 
 over it almost at will. Some teachers adopt the practice 
 of looking through the book account of the pupils once a 
 month; and if they observe that a certain pupil is reading 
 one type of book exclusively, they suggest some related 
 type. That is an excellent plan, if the teacher uses 
 
152 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 diplomacy in his suggestions. It enables the teacher to 
 discover which pupils are not reading enough, so that he 
 may give them special attention. But the more com- 
 pletely the teacher can assume the attitude of letting the 
 library books earn their own popularity, the better. An 
 attractive book is kept in circulation nearly all the time, 
 because the children advertise it, while a dull book gathers 
 dust on the library shelves, let the teacher praise it how 
 he wnll. 
 
 5. The teacher should seize every opportunity to "talk 
 books*' informally with individual pupils — at recess, in 
 class, before and after school, whenever a convenient 
 moment presents itself. Some teachers require the upper 
 grade children to write reports on the books they read. 
 I doubt the wisdom of that practice. A composition 
 may occasionally be based on some phase of a book, or 
 the story may be retold as an exercise in oral com- 
 position — that is about all the "accounting" for the 
 books read the child should be asked to make. ^luch 
 better than the written review or report is the informal 
 conversation, in which the teacher, by pointed questions, 
 directs the child to look for the essentials : the theme of 
 the book, the elements of interest, the basal characteris- 
 tics that make it like some books and unlike others, the 
 most exciting, humorous, or pathetic passages and chap- 
 ters — in general, the most obvious and most important 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 153 
 
 qualities. The teacher should strive to make his pupils 
 intelligent readers, but should not hold them so strictly 
 to account that they will not read with freedom and spon- 
 taneous pleasure. We teachers have a theory that a per- 
 son should be able definitely to state why he likes a 
 book, in order that he may formulate canons of taste. 
 That is a worthy ideal ; but let us not forget that children 
 are not so analytical as we adults are. If they enjoy a 
 book and can present even vague notions of the reasons 
 for their liking, that is sufficient. Nothing should be 
 allowed to interfere with the impression that reading a 
 book is fun — good fun, with no examination waiting at 
 the end to see how much we remember and how much 
 information we have acquired. The formation of the 
 reading habit — that is the one ideal for the teacher to 
 keep in mind. 
 
 6. Have an intimate understanding of the nature of 
 each pupil, and select for him those books that will appeal 
 to his nature. A teacher often puts a stumbling block 
 in the path he is urging his pupils to follow, by insisting 
 that they read a certain book, willy-nilly. A certain 
 classic may make almost a universal appeal and 3'et not 
 inspire even a passing interest in a particular child.''' If 
 it does not, after you have made a tactful attempt to start 
 
 * A teacher once told me that she had supposed every boy 
 in the universe would enjoy "Robinson Crusoe," but that one 
 of her boys the preceding winter had brought the book back to 
 the library, "disguste'd with Crusoe's cowardice." 
 
154 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 the captious reader on the right track, do not call him a 
 numskull and force him to struggle through a volume 
 he dislikes — heartily, by this time. Some books appeal 
 to boys, some to girls; some to the rough, robust, out- 
 of-door type of .child, others to the quiet, subdued type — 
 and we make a serious mistake when we compel a child 
 to read any book, however admirable we or others may 
 regard it. Of course, we can, by the power vested in us, 
 require a pupil to read a certain book; but that almost 
 inevitably gives a check to the formation of the reading 
 habit, since the obtaining of pleasure is the only genuine 
 and permanent motive for reading. And let us be espe- 
 cially careful not to force, or even persuade, a child to 
 start a book that is beyond his years. In the selecting 
 of books for children, the general law of development 
 holds good: Furnish the child with what his healthy, 
 normal appetite demands, at the same time guarding him 
 against vicious influences and tendencies, and Nature 
 herself will see that he grows into maturity. Every 
 teacher of English knows dozens of young men and 
 women who never succeed in enjoying certain great lit- 
 erature because a teacher has forced them into it too 
 soon; and most of us know many others who fail to get 
 the most out of certain other literature because they are 
 introduced to it too late. Perhaps the greatest mistake 
 into which an earnest, well-meaning teacher can fall is 
 that of taking up a position three or four years in advance 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 155 
 
 of his pupils and admonishing them to be men and women, 
 before they have really ceased to be boys and girls. A 
 teacher who demands of his pupils that they toil through 
 "The Vicar of Wakefield" or "Cranford" or "Adam 
 Bede" or Addison's Essays commits a three-fold crime 
 against the children : wastes time they might be spending 
 in suitable reading, forces them into distasteful reading 
 and thereby hinders the formation of the reading habit, 
 and hermetically closes their hearts against specimens of 
 literature which would in later years be attractive and 
 inspiring. There is plenty of literature for every period 
 of life; if this literature is read in its natural order, it 
 offers an easy path to reading habits; but if it is taken up 
 out of its natural order, the entire system becomes disor- 
 ganized and discontinuous. Nourish a child upon the 
 proper childish literature, and when he is old he will 
 relish mature literature. 
 
 7. All this implies what is perhaps the best means of 
 encouraging children to read and of establishing the read- 
 ing habit: the teacher must be himself a lover of books. 
 Rarely does a teacher uninterested in reading succeed in 
 causing his pupils to love books; rarely does a teacher 
 interested in reading, fail. We all have felt the force of 
 example ; and perhaps in nothing else is example so forci- 
 ble as in reading and in love for books. The teacher 
 should know books for more than one reason. He needs 
 to know them for his own sake, to develop his person- 
 
156 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 alitv, and to give him hours of freedom and joy. Our 
 profession, full though it is of the joy of service, is all 
 too likely to be dull and monotonous — 
 
 "Toniorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day." 
 
 Dealing" as they do, with immature minds and unformed 
 characters and focusing their attention upon studies that, 
 through repetition, become void of interest, country- 
 teachers need often to be lifted up by the sublime truths 
 of literature, to converse in books with characters of 
 lofty intelligence and serene souls. All we teachers need 
 this for ourselves and we need it for our pupils; for the 
 inspiration, the culture, the wisdom we obtain will filter 
 down into the most commonplace duty and service of the 
 school — or, rather, lift the entire range of service to a 
 higher plane, ^^'e need this in order to make ourselves 
 better teachers ; for, as Robert Lloyd phrases it, 
 
 "Little w'ay his learning reaches. 
 Who reads no more than what he teaches,'' 
 
 But we should not spend all our time reading mature 
 literature; we should read and re-read children's litera- 
 ture — and find keen pleasure in it. It is to be hoped 
 that we have, when children, read and loved the great 
 children's classics, for one of the finest joys of life is that 
 experienced bv the man or woman as he re-reads some 
 childhood favorite. The man who has lost his taste for 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 157 
 
 "Gullivers 1 ravels," "Robinson Crusoe," "Tom Saw- 
 yer," "Treasure Island," the "Arabian Nights," and such 
 tales, that man, like him who has forgotten how to play, 
 is not the man to teach children. Do you remember 
 Cov/per's lines? 
 
 " 'Twere well with most, if books that could engage 
 Our childhood, pleased us at a riper age." 
 
 The more of the tastes and ideals of childhood we carry 
 over into maturity and develop there, the better are we 
 prepared to guide and instruct children. The teacher 
 should knozu every book in the rural school library better 
 than does any child in school, and should love them not 
 less. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Let us recapitulate. Reading good books will do much 
 to make the country man and woman more contented. 
 Reading is a habit. The habit should be formed in youth. 
 The best place to form this habit is in the country school. 
 The country school library should consist of many well 
 selected books; these books should be easily accessible; 
 and the teacher should, by all possible methods, encourage 
 the children to read them. The person who has formed 
 the reading habit has discovered one of the secrets of a 
 happy life. Happy the teacher who can cultivate such 
 habits in his pupils ; fortunate the child who comes under 
 the influence of such a teacher. 
 
156 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 alitv, and to give him hours of freedom and joy. Our 
 profession, full though it is of the joy of service, is all 
 too likely to be dull and monotonous — 
 
 "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day." 
 
 Dealing" as. they do. with immature minds and unformed 
 characters and focusing their attention upon studies that, 
 through repetition, become void of interest, country 
 teachers need often to be lifted 1^:1 by the sublime truths 
 of literature, to converse in books with characters of 
 lofty intelligence and serene souls. All we teachers need 
 this for ourselves and we need it for our pupils; for the 
 inspiration, the culture, the wisdom we obtain will filter 
 down into the most commonplace duty and service of the 
 school — or, rather, lift the entire range of service to a 
 higher plane, ^^'e need this in order to make ourselves 
 better teachers; for, as Robert Lloyd phrases it, 
 
 "Little way his learning reaches. 
 Who reads no more than what he teaches," 
 
 But we should not spend all our time reading mature 
 literature ; we should read and re-read children's litera- 
 ture — and find keen pleasure in it. It is to be hoped 
 that we have, when children, read and loved the great 
 children's classics, for one of the finest joys of life is that 
 experienced bv the man or woman as he re-reads some 
 childhood favorite. The man who has lost his taste for 
 
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY 157 
 
 "Gullivei's 1 ravels," "Robinson Crusoe," "Tom Saw- 
 yer," "Treasure Island," the "Arabian Nights," and such 
 tales, that man, like him who has forgotten how to play, 
 is not the man to teach children. Do you remember 
 Cowper's lines? 
 
 " 'Twere well with most, if books that could engage 
 Our childhood, pleased us at a riper age." 
 
 The more of the tastes and ideals of childhood we carry 
 over into maturity and develop there, the better are we 
 prepared to guide and instruct children. The teacher 
 should know every hook in the rural school library better 
 than does any child in school, and should love them not 
 less. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Let us recapitulate. Reading good books will do much 
 to make the country man and woman more contented. 
 Reading is a habit. The habit should be formed in youth. 
 The best place to form this habit is in the country school. 
 The country school library should consist of many well 
 selected books; these books should be easily accessible; 
 and the teacher should, by all possible methods, encourage 
 the children to read them. The person who has formed 
 the reading habit has discovered one of the secrets of a 
 happy life. Happy the teacher who can cultivate such 
 habits in his pupils; fortunate the child who comes under 
 the influence of such a teacher. 
 
loO KNC.l.lSU IX rUK COUKTRV SCHOOL 
 
 rtMvdinji" is to siipplv only the best ohiUlrou's litovaturo and 
 then to let the children read it for pleasure. It it is genuine 
 children's literature, it will be more interestinsi\ more enjoy- 
 able, than any cheap, easy tiction in existence. 
 
CIIAI'TI.!' inVK 
 
 si'i':LLixr; 
 
 No ])()()]< <]c-d\\]]i^ vvilli I'Jij'IiJi ill \]\(: Connlry Sriiool 
 would be coiDjjlele witliout a 'lisciissiou of Spcllinj^. It. 
 is one of the group of studies which we call by the gen- 
 eral name of "Engb'sh" studies. Tt is vitally connected 
 with Composition work and with Primary Keading. 
 
 Spelling a Pavorile Subject in Country Schools 
 
 But while the subject is important in any school, it 
 seems especially imjjortant in the country school, because 
 we have always devoted so much time to it. Country 
 teachers give a great deal jnore time and attention to 
 Sjjclling Iha)] city teachers do. In some of om- rural 
 schools we have from three to six classes in Sj>elling; 
 perhaps some teachers use an hour a day in the Spelling 
 classes. The subject is a favorite one with country 
 teachers and country pupils. Why? 
 
 The Country Teacher's Practicalness 
 
 Perhaps the answer is not to be found chiefly in the 
 country teacher's intense practicalness. I realize that I 
 have tried to account for several characteristics of his 
 teaching by this characteristic of his personality; but 
 
 161 
 
162 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 undoubtedly it is one of the most noticeable points of 
 divergence between the rural and the city teacher. Any 
 subject that appeals to the former as useful, as utilizable, 
 as immediately and directly serviceable, he holds most 
 important; and since Spelling is useful, he gives it a chief 
 place in his daily program. Now, practicalness is a desir- 
 able attribute, in a school teacher or any person whatso- 
 ever. But there are two kinds of practicalness. The 
 first is that which demands immediate returns from an 
 investment of time, money, effort, which exacts a strict 
 account from every penny and every second, which 
 focuses its eyes and concentrates its attention on the 
 direct, tangible result; the second is that which is willing 
 to invest time, money, effort for returns far in the future, 
 which does not expect an exact equivalent for every 
 penny and every second, which focuses its eyes and con- 
 centrates its attention on the distant, often incalculable, 
 results. The first type of practicalness manifests itself 
 in a school teacher that insists on information; the sec- 
 ond in the teacher who tries to build character. The 
 first demands immediate, concrete results : ability to spell, 
 to cipher, to know the facts of History and Geography; 
 the second desires to inculcate ideals of taste, culture, 
 character. Surely, this latter may be called practicalness. 
 It aims at the largest returns and it keeps its eye on the 
 most important, the most permanently useful. 
 
 In general, country teachers are short-sighted in their 
 
SPELLING 163 
 
 practicality. They are continually stopping to figure up 
 what they have done so far, always trying to weigh or 
 measure results. If anything goes out of sight, they 
 think it has been wasted. If their pupils cannot reel off 
 a certain number of historical facts, they think they have 
 failed to teach. They test everything by the visible signs : 
 if a child has memorized a poem, he has learned some- 
 thing; if he has felt the emotion but has not memorized 
 the words, he has carried away nothing from the poem. 
 They are not content to wait for results; if a pupil is not 
 able to produce evident proofs of study, they think both 
 themselves and the child have lost time and effort. 
 
 This attitude is largely responsible, I believe, for the 
 over-emphasis placed upon Spelling in rural schools. 
 Here is a study where we can see results. We assign a 
 child twenty words to learn; if he learns them all, he can 
 be graded one hundred; if he learns eighteen, he is graded 
 ninety. It is so definite, so satisfactory, so visible. 
 Assign a literature lesson — and how are you to estimate 
 the results? It cannot be done; and if it is attempted, 
 the literary value is lost. We call spelling practical 
 because we can measure the returns ; and though the 
 selection of literature may be measureless in its results, 
 we exalt spelling to a higher rank than literature. Un- 
 doubtedly too much time is devoted to Spelling in coun- 
 try schools. 
 
104 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Objections to Our Mctliods of Teaching Spcl}i)ig 
 
 ]\Ioreover. the country child, despite the greater num- 
 ber of hours he spends at his Spelhng work, is not a 
 better speher than the city child — not so good, some 
 investigators claim. If. then, the subject is given undue 
 importance and then, in spite of the emphasis placed 
 upon it, is not taught any better, surely we had best 
 examine our course of study and our methods of teach- 
 ing to see if we cannot discover what is wrong. Coun- 
 try teachers, who complain that they do not have sufficient 
 time, had best see if thev cannot save time both by depos- 
 ing spelling from its position as one of the most impor- 
 tant subjects and by preventing any waste in methods of 
 teaching, ^\'hat is wrong? I present several objections 
 to our way of teaching Spelling. 
 
 I. Spelling is treated as a separate branch. This has 
 two evil results, i. It takes more time than it should. 
 2. The pupils get the impression that when the spelling 
 lesson has been learned and recited, they are through with 
 spelling for the day. The spelling-book has been thrown 
 out of the window in many schools, and spelling is taught 
 without a text at all. I quote from a recent article in the 
 Journal of Education. "Text-books, that is, spelling- 
 books, are not necessary for teaching spelling: one bet- 
 ter be without text-books than have them and be obliged 
 to use them." I do not believe that: I quote it only to 
 
SPELLING 165 
 
 show a certain modern tendency. It would not do for 
 country schools; but it suggests that we have been rely- 
 ing too much on the spelling-book. A good text in spell- 
 ing is very useful. It saves the teacher's time and energy; 
 It provides a better list of words than any inexperienced 
 teacher could possibly compile ; it increases the pupils' 
 vocabulary; it is convenient for assigning and studying 
 lessons. I heartily believe in the spelling-book for coun- 
 try schools; but the most perfect book in the orthographi- 
 cal universe cannot make good spellers — unless the 
 teacher uses the book intelligently, and unless he teaches 
 spelling in connection with all the other school subjects — 
 reading, arithmetic, history, etc. 
 
 2. Spelling is taught too much by the oral method. 
 As a matter of fact, one rarely needs to spell (^ outside of 
 the school) except when he writes; and if schooling is a 
 preparation for life — it is that, whatever else it may be — 
 surely, written spelling in the school is more important 
 than oral spelling. "But doesn't oral spelling prepare 
 just as well for writing as written spelling does ?" That 
 depends. Experiments have shown that some people 
 learn best from what they see, while others learn best 
 from what they hear. Moreover, the act of writing the 
 word has an educative value; one might almost say that 
 the words are engraved on the brain when they are being 
 written on paper. Besides, in a written lesson each pupil 
 
166 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOI 
 
 spells all the words, whereas in an oral lesson he spells 
 only a small proportion. And again, the record is more 
 easily kept when it is written. The teacher can examine 
 the pupils' papers and make a list of the words misspelled, 
 then can drill on these words. 
 
 3. Spelling is often taught in country schools without 
 any elTort to show the meaning and use of the words. 
 Kow. it stands to reason that ability to spell without the 
 power to use the w^ord is idle — more useless than to a 
 
 farmer would be the knowledge of how a plow is manu- 
 factured without the ability to plow a field. The words 
 spelled, then, should be used in sentences, intelligent sen- 
 tences. If. for example, you are presenting the word 
 "nimble." do not approve a sentence like: ''The boy is 
 nimble" — that kind of sentence does not really illustrate 
 the word. Let the sentence sliow the meaning : "John 
 was nimble yesterday when he dodged three boys." And, 
 let us not take too much for granted in this matter. The 
 mere word often sinks out of the memory unless buoyed 
 up by an idea. 
 
 4. The necessity for drill is not clearly enough seen by 
 country school teachers. As we know, hundreds of our 
 commonest words are not spelled according to the sound. 
 These words must be learned outright by insistent drill. 
 They must be spelled and used over and over until the 
 spelling is mechanically correct. Instead of teaching 
 
SPELLING 167 
 
 words to which the child can attach no real meaning, wc 
 
 fc- 
 
 should concentrate on the usable, every-day words. 
 
 5. The few valuable rules for spelling are ignored iw 
 many rural schools. In fact, many teachers do not know 
 that such rules exist. Of course, they should be taught 
 only to the more advanced scholars ; but they are too use- 
 ful to be shoved entirely out of the way. 
 
 6. The "dictionary" habit is not formed in most coun- 
 try schools. If your school does not have a large, modern 
 dictionary, get one; and then have it used. It requires 
 a good deal of training to make free use of the diction- 
 ary. Many of our pupils do not "make a path to the 
 dictionary," because they do not know how to find the 
 information they want when they get there. When your 
 pupils chance upon a new word, encourage them, require 
 them, to find the meaning in the dictionary — but first 
 show them how to look. To this end you must teach the 
 diacritical marks and the sounds of the letters, as well as 
 syllabification. Of course, much of this is especially for 
 the upper grades. 
 
 7. Children in country schools are not taught how to 
 study spelling. They are not trained to observe the word 
 closely, to compare it with others, to write out the more 
 difficult words, to notice their own blunders in orthogra- 
 phy, to connect the word with a familiar idea, to use it in 
 
168 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 conversation and writing". Time is thus lost, and, worse 
 still, the child's mental powers are not fully developed. 
 
 8. Spelling is considered too important a subject in 
 country schools. It ranks with history and geography 
 and hygiene and the other "content" branches — that is, 
 branches that contain mental food. Spelling does not give 
 the mind much to feed upon. One may be a first-rate 
 formal speller and yet be a crass ignoramus — witness 
 Teems Philipps in "The Hoosier School-Master." And 
 it is quite possible for one to be a poor speller and still 
 be a wise, learned person — as was Robert Louis Steven- 
 son. To be sure, the ability to spell correctly is one index 
 of an education and cultivation — a mark artificial but 
 necessary : there is no gainsaying that. But it is con- 
 ventional, extrinsic, incidental, not real knowledge or cul- 
 ture — any more than the dinner bell which calls farmers 
 from the field is the dinner. Spelling correctly is like lift- 
 ing one's hat to ladies : one is the sign of education, the 
 other of politeness; but they are only indicative of knowl- 
 edge and culture. 
 
 9. Too much time is devoted to spelling in country 
 schools because it is a favorite subject and considered 
 easy to teach. The lesson is concrete. It presents to the 
 pupil a definite task to be done ; it appeals to the teacher 
 as a bit of work easily assigned, easily graded, easily dis- 
 posed of in recitation. To both pupil and teacher it has 
 
SPELLING 169 
 
 a special attractiveness because spelling is a matter of 
 correctness or incorrectness, not of reasoning or judg- 
 ment, because the oral recitation is a sort of game, and 
 because it can be learned. But, oh, the pathos of it! To 
 think that one of the emptiest of all school subjects should 
 be the favorite because it can be learned. Teacher, those 
 boys and girls would naturally be a hundred fold more 
 eager to learn something real, something that would make 
 them think and feel and grow, if only we had the power 
 to teach. When will we discover that the learning of 
 detached, isolated facts is not education, that verbal mem- 
 ory is not education? When will we learn that nature 
 study, geography, hygiene, history, literature are the real 
 developers of mentality and spirituality? When will 
 we learn that our boys and girls will not increase 
 in mental avoirdupois by feeding upon the mere hushes of 
 knowledge ? 
 
 lo. The old-fashioned conception of spelling as a sub- 
 ject that develops the intellect still prevails in many coun- 
 try schools. The erroneous belief that if a person trains 
 himself in spelling, he is training his whole mental power, 
 training his observation, his memory, his judgment, as a 
 whole — this belief is chargeable, in part, with the over- 
 emphasis placed upon spelling. This is not the place for 
 a discussion of that question. Surely it has been proved 
 by experiment and experience that training in spelling 
 
170 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 does not mean training the po\Yers of the mind : it means 
 simply training- in spelling and in those allied facts and 
 subjects — nothing more. 
 
 How to Teach Spelling 
 
 And now, after presenting these indictments against 
 the teaching of spelling in country schools, let me make 
 some definite suggestions, in order to amplify and empha- 
 size what has been already said. 
 
 1. Teach spelling in connection with all the school 
 subjects. 
 
 2. Especially teach spelling in connection with com- 
 position work. \Mien a word is used, that is the psycho- 
 logical moment to teach the spelling of the word. In a 
 sense, no one is interested in a word until he has to use 
 it. It does not belong to him. He feels no sense of 
 proprietorship. 
 
 3. Be sure always that the words spelled are under- 
 stood. It is not necessary to define them formally; but 
 their meaning should always be clear. In the lower 
 grades this usually means leading the pupil to infer the 
 import of the word; occasionally it means telling him 
 outright. In the upper grades the dictionan.- habit should 
 be formed. But even here \\e must encourage \Yhat may 
 be called the "context" habit — by which is meant the 
 habit of inferring: the meanins: of the word bv examina- 
 
SPELLING 171 
 
 tioii of- the sentence in which the word is imbedded. This 
 is not guessing; it is reasoning. And let us rcmeml^er, 
 too, that 'the hterary significance of a word is often quite 
 distinct from the dictionary meaning. This examination 
 of words for their meaning should often be a part of the 
 lesson assignment. 
 
 4. Drill hard on the important words. The good 
 speller is not he who can spell the difficult words, those 
 sesquipedalian monstrosities which, in the last pages of 
 the old-time spelling-book "upheave their vastness," as 
 Milton says. The good speller is he who can distinguish 
 between "to" and "two," "there" and "their"; that can 
 spell "silo" and "mulch" and "grammar." Concentrate 
 on the necessary words. Make out occasional lists of 
 common words often misspelled. 
 
 5. Have plenty of written spelling. In the lower 
 grades oral spelling is more desirable in many ways; but 
 advanced pupils should usually write their lessons. 
 Recently Dr. Maria Montessori, the great Italian teacher, 
 has re-discovered how rapidly and efficiently the muscles 
 of children can educate their minds. Her pupils learn to 
 read by writing; see if yours cannot learn at least to spell 
 by writing. Occasionally have your children write sen- 
 tences using the words to be spelled. 
 
 6. See to it that your pupils in the upper grades learn 
 the diacritical marks, phonics, spelling rules, syllabifica- 
 
172 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 tion. etc. Just how this should be done is a problem for 
 each teacher. It should not he forced ; it should grow out 
 of the desire of the pupil to gain more knowledge. But 
 it should be thoroughly done. 
 
 7. Help your children study. In assigning a lesson 
 point out the hard words and show wherein the ditftculty 
 lies. This is the natural occasion to discuss the meaning 
 of new words and to compare them with others. Limit 
 the time allowed for studying the lesson, so that the 
 pupils will not get the habit of scattering their attention. 
 Recent experiments in the Horace INIann school in New 
 York have proven that children who have been taught 
 how to study spelling become more proficient than those 
 left to themselves, and moreover, they prepare their les- 
 sons more rapidly. 
 
 S. After all this it may seem paradoxical to offer my 
 eighth suggestion : Do not take up so much time with 
 spelling lessons. Apparently I have insisted that you do 
 more work than you have been doing; now I ask you not 
 to use so much time. But if the previous suggestions are 
 examined you will discover that I am consistent. First, 
 much of the work will be done incidentally, in connec- 
 tion with other lessons ; it does not subtract any time from 
 the spelling period. Second, your pupils will do more on 
 their own initiative. This means that tliey will learn to 
 spell with more auto-interest and consequently in less 
 
SPELLING 173 
 
 time. Third, though the following ot my suggestions 
 does necessitate more work for the teacher, it is work 
 that can be performed outside of school hours. One of 
 the most difficult problems in the country school is the 
 problem of time. But it is a problem of time in the school- 
 room. When school is over for the day, the average 
 country teacher does not work nearly as long as does the 
 city teacher in preparing his lessons for the next day — 
 that is, in preparing work for the pupils. In the even- 
 ing you can spend time profitably correcting spelling lists, 
 making out new lists, marking the spelling mistakes in 
 written work handed in, preparing your spelling assign- 
 ments for the next day, planning methods of making 
 spelling as attractive and useful as possible. Save time 
 for yourself and your pupils in the school-room by work- 
 ing at home. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Accepting these suggestions does not imply the aban- 
 donment of the Spelling-book. But it does imply that 
 the Spelling-book is to be subordinated. Spelling should 
 not stand as a separate study; it is of value only in its 
 relationship to other branches. It should lead to the dic- 
 tionary habit, since every person needs often to consult a 
 dictionary. It is of value in learning to read, since often 
 we can, by spelling a word, discover what the word is. It 
 is of some value In learning to talk, since the discovery 
 
174 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 of new words, by the spelling' proeess. is an important 
 way of enlarging- our voeabulary. It is of great value in 
 writing, since the question of how to spell a word is con- 
 stantly coming up whenever we write. Spelling is not to 
 bo ignored by any means : but it does not exist by and for 
 itself, as Arithmetic does, or GeogTaphy. or History, or 
 Literature, or Hygiene, or Agriculture. H" it docs not 
 lead somewhere, if it does not attach itself to some others 
 of the school activities and the school arts, it is almost 
 worthless. H* a graduate in the niral school is able to 
 spell e\ cry word in the Spelling-hook and has not learned 
 how to consult a dictionary, has not acquired a curiosity 
 aK'tut words, and, alx^ve all. has not learned to spell cor- 
 rectly in his writing, the time spent in mastering the 
 Spelling-book is time practically wasted. 
 
 The Oueky Box 
 
 What is JVordStudy, and hoic docs it differ from Spelling f 
 
 "^^*ord-Study" is quite different from Spelling, though 
 the two are usually taken up together in the elementary- 
 school. It is concerned with the history and deri\ation of 
 words, their connection with other words of the same class 
 or family, with prefixes, suffixes, etc. Spelling is almost 
 eiuirely a formal subject, but word-study often implies in- 
 vestigation and thinking. It is a very large subject and 
 quite difficult, since it requires not a little knowledge of 
 other languages, especially Latin. Greek. French, and Anglo- 
 Saxon. However, a gv»od deal of work along this line can 
 be done in the country school. L'sually it is interesting to 
 
SPF.TJJNG 175 
 
 children and throws nuich hght on SpclHug and other 1mi- 
 gHsh subjects. To ilhistrate: It is interesting to a child to 
 know that "daisy" means "day's eye" ; when one knows that, 
 he sees some signilicance in the name. (Many (lowers and 
 phmts, by the way, have very nnexj)ectcd derivations, some 
 of them quite pretty and quaint.) A child who has difficulty 
 in remembering what a "([uart" is — he will have no difficulty, 
 of course, if he is taught in the proper way — will get new 
 light on the word when he learns that the word is connected 
 with the word "quarter" ; that is, a quart is a quarter of a 
 gallon. Some little knowledge of the past is gained when 
 a child learns that "lantern" used sometimes to be spelled 
 "lanthorn" because its sides were made of horn scraped thin 
 and transparent. Hundreds of words that were once mean- 
 ingless and dead become endowed with life when they are 
 examined in the light of their origin and history. "In a 
 language like ours," says Coleridge, in "Aids to Reflection," 
 "so many words of which are derived from other languages, 
 there are few modes of instruction more useful or more 
 amusing than that of accustoming young people to seek for 
 the etymology, or primary meaning, of the words they use. 
 There are cases in which more knowledge of more value may 
 be conveyed by the history of a word than by the history of 
 a campaign." 
 
 The country teacher will do well, then, to train his pupils 
 in the habit of searching out the origin and biography of 
 words. He should also teach the value of the common 
 suffixes and prefixes, and the general laws by which words 
 are regulated. And, since the country teacher cannot be a 
 linguist. I have suggested a few books (See page 275) in 
 which much information and entertainment can be found. 
 
CHAPTER SIX 
 
 GRAMMAR 
 
 Perhaps no change in our ideas about the teaching of 
 English in rural schools is more significant than that tak- 
 ing place in so many sections of the United States in 
 regard to formal grammar. In not many progressive 
 states is the old-style grammar to be found as a text for 
 common schools. In most states we now have a book or 
 a series of books on Language, designed to guide teacher 
 and pupil in speaking and wri'ting. Here and there, how- 
 ever, are states or counties in which the old-fashioned 
 grammar is still strongly intrenched; and all over the 
 country are to be found teachers who apply the tradi- 
 tional method to the new books. For he who wishes to 
 emphasize the purely grammatical phases of the English 
 language can make a grammar text out of any book, even 
 out of "Paradise Lost" — thus giving a new and appro- 
 priate meaning to the title. Let me,, then, in this chapter 
 review the question of the teaching of formal grammar. 
 That these are not original ideas is proved by the fact 
 that the shift from formal grammar to language work has 
 already taken place, and for reasons such as I here state. 
 
 176 
 
GRAMMAR 177 
 
 What Is Formal Grammar f 
 
 But perhaps I had first better explain what "formal 
 grammar" means. It means that part of language study 
 which is concerned chiefly with definitions and classifi- 
 cations of the parts of speech, with inflections and con- 
 jugations, with parsing and diagramming and analyzing. 
 "Formal grammar" is that which deals with the "form" 
 of the language rather than the meaning, with the science 
 of speech rather than the art of speaking. 
 
 Arguments for Formal Grammar 
 
 Believers in the teaching of formal grammar in com- 
 mon schools base their belief upon three supposed values. 
 Let me examine these and answer them as completely as 
 the necessity for brevity will permit. 
 
 I. The study of Grammar trains our boys and girls 
 to speak and write more correctly, more forcibly, mere 
 fluently. That surely would be a strong argument for 
 formal grammar, if it could be maintained. But as a 
 matter of fact, the study of grammar does not train much 
 in speaking and writing. What the study of Grammar 
 can do is : First, to enable us to distinguish one part of 
 speech from another; second, to use the forms of the 
 inflected parts of speech correctly, as their position in the 
 sentence and their connection with other words demand; 
 third, to recognize the grammatical relationship of the 
 
178 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 phrases and clauses in a sentence; fourth, to give us, in 
 general, a standard for grammatical correctness within a 
 sentence. Grammar deals only with correctness, and only 
 with graiHDiatical correctness; it ignores the logical and 
 rhetorical principles of language; it says little or nothing 
 about force, expressiveness, choice of words, arrange- 
 ment of sentences with reference to each other, unity, 
 coherence, emphasis — in general, those fundamental 
 qualities of language, spoken and written, (which are 
 taken up later; see page 214). Even if Grammar dealt 
 with the whole science of language, the study of Gram- 
 mar would not tra'ui in speaking and writing. The only 
 way of learning to speak and write well is by practice 
 in speaking and writing under proper guidance, by read- 
 ing good literature, and by imitating good models. It is 
 possible for one to know formal Grammar thoroughly — 
 to be able to parse, diagram, analyze, and perform all 
 th^ other mental gymnastics demanded, and yet not be 
 able to converse fluently and effectively or even correctly, 
 and not be able to write a good business letter or an inter- 
 esting social letter. And it is possible for a person to be 
 utterly ignorant of the science of formal Grammar, and 
 yet be able to speak and write with ease, force, and even 
 correctness. The only way to learn to swim is to swim; 
 the only way to learn to talk and write is to talk and 
 write. 
 
GRAMMAR 179 
 
 2. Study of the rules and principles of Grammar trains 
 the mind. In other words, it is a disciplinary subject — 
 a subject that gives the whole mind discipline or train- 
 ing. It is not feasible here to discuss the theory that 
 there are certain branches of learning which so exercise 
 and develop the entire mind that a person can perform 
 any work better — the theory which has been concentrated, 
 so to speak, in this axiom : "A person can plow around a 
 stump better if he knows Latin and Greek." The only 
 way to test the validity of such a theory is to examine 
 it by experiment, experience, and reason. Without enter- 
 ing into the mass of arguments for and against the theory 
 and detailing the experiments, let me here state that it 
 seems to me that the theory of formal discipline is 
 unsound. Mastery of formal Grammar does not make 
 a person a better thinker except in those subjects in which 
 the knowledge gained in the study of Grammar is needed ; 
 it will not develop the power to acquire other knowledge 
 except to that extent to which the person can "carry 
 over" the knowledge gained in the study of Grammar 
 and "carry over" those definite habits of study that are 
 fundamental in all study. Even the memorizing of the 
 rules of Grammar will not develop general memory, 
 except as a person has learned the underlying principles 
 of memorizing and has trained himself in the basic habits 
 of memorizing. So far as the actual training of the mind 
 that formal Grammar gives, that is very little; it cannot 
 
180 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 compare with certain other studies in which one can secure 
 not only whatever training Grammar affords, but also 
 both useful information and general culture. What lit- 
 tle observation and reason the study of Grammar demands 
 is of a low order; while as for the noblest faculty of the 
 mind, imagination, that which Sir Joshua Reynolds calls 
 "the residence of Truth" — that is hardly called into play 
 at all. Cowper speaks of schools wherein the child finds 
 
 No nourishment to feed his growing mind, 
 But conjugated verbs and nouns declined. 
 
 And of teachers. 
 
 Who feed a pupil's intellect with store 
 Of syntax, truly, but with little more. 
 
 Too often our country schools have attempted to satisfy 
 the children's desire for knowledge by feeding them upon 
 the bare bones of formal Grammar and of no less for- 
 mal Spelling. 
 
 3. Formal Grammar should be taught in the country 
 school, many teachers contend, because some of the pupils 
 will one day be teachers themselves and will need to know 
 the subject. Surely a teacher should be acquainted w^th 
 grammar. One who professes to be able to teach should 
 be master of much more than what he has actually to 
 impart, just as a fountain needs a reservoir back of it, or, 
 to change the figure, just as a growing plant needs not 
 only the soil from which it directly draws its sustenance. 
 
GRAMMAR 181 
 
 but also a sub-soil. The country teacher needs to know 
 something about Grammar; but that we should teach 
 grammar in the country schools for the sake of the few — 
 even if we could teach it to pupils of common school age 
 and attainments— that I deny. Most of the boys and 
 girls in the rural schools are going to be, we hope, farm- 
 ers and farmers' wives; and our curriculum should con- 
 sist of subjects designed to make their lives richer. 
 Country schools are not intended to prepare teachers; 
 those who wish such preparation must look elsewhere: 
 private study under the guidance of the teacher, outside 
 of school hours; or to the secondary and normal schools. 
 Having thus examined the three strongest arguments 
 for the teaching of formal Grammar, let me now present 
 some charges against the traditional method of teaching 
 the subject. 
 
 Arguments Against Our Methods of Teaching 
 
 I. It is taught as a science. A science is a body of 
 classified knowledge. In order to master a science one 
 must be able to examine and test, to correlate and adjust 
 the numerous. details of a vast subject, and to build these 
 details up into a comprehensive system. Such power 
 comes only when the mind is stored with observed facts 
 related to the science, and when the brain is matured by 
 growth and by study; a child does not possess such pow- 
 ers. Of course, this is not equivalent to saying that a 
 
182 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 child cannot learn many of the facts of a science; the con- 
 tention is that he cannot learn a science as a science — and 
 that is the way we expect him to learn formal Grammar. 
 Historically, arts came into existence before their kin- 
 dred sciences. Primitive man counted and figured for 
 centuries before the science of arithmetic was compiled. 
 Men practiced the art of healing the sick long before the 
 science of medicine existed. Men have plowed and sowed 
 from the days of Cain, but only in the last few years has 
 the science of agriculture come into being. And man had 
 been talking and even writing many, many years when 
 the first grammar was written. Art is the father of 
 science. A science cannot be formulated until the art — 
 that is, the practice — has gathered the material, tested it, 
 accepted it or rejected it. Now, this law is as applicable 
 to the child as to the race. The child must observe 
 phenomena, discern relationships, he must have collected 
 a mass of material and have partially organized it, before 
 he is ready to master a science in its entirety. He must 
 learn language before he is taught grammar. 
 
 2. It violates the Inductive method. The Inductive 
 method is that which attempts to build up knowledge by 
 starting with what the child already knows, connecting a 
 bit of new knowledge to that, still another to that, and 
 so on, until the whole idea is comprehended. From the 
 old to the related new, from the known to the related 
 
GRAMMAR 183 
 
 unknown, is the process. It maintains that a general law, 
 a principle, or a broad abstract idea can be understood 
 only after the details, the subordinate facts, the phe- 
 nomena are observed and partially classified. Now the 
 usual way of teaching grammar constantly violates this 
 method. Instead of leading the child to see for himself 
 by using his own knowledge that "horse" is the name of 
 something and that "jump" expresses action, we begin 
 by having him learn that a noun is a name, that there 
 are two general kinds, common and proper, and that 
 "horse" is a common noun; that a verb is a word that 
 expresses action, being or state, that there are certain 
 kinds, and that "jump" is a regular, intransitive verb, 
 present tense, etc. We should begin with what the pupil 
 already knows, ask questions that require him to marshal 
 his knowledge on the subject and gain new knowledge, 
 lead him to infer more general truths; we should not 
 begin with a general truth or a definition or a classifica- 
 tion and work back to what the pupil knows. There is no 
 short cut to the City of Knowledge. One may shorten 
 the distance by memorizing and may clamber over the 
 city walls; but when he converses with a true citizen he 
 is immediately detected as a foreigner and an impostor. 
 
 3. It has little connection with life. Formal Gram- 
 mar is a book study; it has little relation to the occupa- 
 tions or experiences or habits of life. This and other 
 
184 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 subjects are largely responsible for the wide giilt between 
 life in the schoolroom and life in the home, on the farm. 
 in the office and store. If formal Grammar were a 
 material aid in learning our mother tongue, that would 
 justify its inclusion in our course; but it does not do 
 even that. The parsing of a noun or a verb does not lead 
 to understanding or appropriating the word ; the gram- 
 matical analysis of a sentence does not imply a rational 
 understanding of the meaning. The child glibly reels 
 off, *T am not. you are not. he is not." and then on the 
 playgroimd says "1 ain't, you ain't, he ain't." Of course, 
 that is habit; but it shows the uselessness of trying to 
 teach language by the study of grammar. 
 
 4. It is taught as if our language were highly inflected. 
 Every student of Latin or German realizes that the syn- 
 tax of English is comparatively simple. Our personal 
 pronouns and verbs are the only parts of speech subject 
 to great change in constniction, and the order of words 
 in our sentences is flexible. \\'e have no need, then, of 
 the elaborate classifications, the close distinctions, the 
 complicated machinery of parsing and analysis. The 
 popular formal grammars are arranged on the model of 
 the Latin granmiar — which explains the statement a 
 Latin teacher once made that a certain formal Grammar 
 was the best possible text for public schools. His point 
 of view doubtless was. that the study of the English gram- 
 
GRAMMAR 185 
 
 mar would prepare boys and girls for the study of the 
 first year Latin book. The mere statement carries with 
 it its own refutation, for what we should study in the 
 country school is something that will, prepare boys and 
 girls for life on a farm. 
 
 5. It is taught as if English were a dead language. 
 As a matter of fact it is constantly changing. It is not 
 an edifice, it is a tree; it is not a pool, it is a river. Its 
 structure is being forever modified, its laws forever 
 amended. Of course, few of us are permitted to go back 
 to the fountain head of modern English, the Anglo-Saxon, 
 and follow the language down to its present form, observ- 
 ing the main stream and cross currents; but all of us can 
 discern some of the changes that at this present moment 
 are taking place, and can partially account for the 
 changes. If we examine a grammar of a generation ago, 
 we find that even in that brief period our language has 
 undergone a noticeable change, grammatically and rhetori- 
 cally; and this because of speaking and writing. Let us, 
 then, consider grammar as a summary of language laws 
 and amendments, as something alive and therefore eter- 
 nally changing. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 These are the indictments which educators have pre- 
 ferred against formal Grammar. Progressive educators 
 generally recommend that formal Grammar be eliminated 
 
186 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 below the high school, or that only the simple essentials 
 be taught during the last year, or at most, two years. 
 Country teachers should be the first to welcome the more 
 practical methods of language, for it is they who, 
 troubled always with the eternal problem of time, will 
 benefit most. Grammar, as a separate study, should have 
 a minor place in the curriculum of the rural school. 
 What little Grammar is needed — and it is astonishing 
 how little really is needed — can be taught in a few les- 
 sons if deferred until pupils are mentally prepared for 
 that kind of study, and the parts of grammar most worth 
 while can be applied and fixed in the study of language 
 and composition. 
 
 The Query Box 
 I. Would yon have A'O Grammar in the Country School f 
 
 I believe that the study of Grammar in the country school 
 should be completely subordinated to the language and com- 
 position work. As a separate study, it should occupy very 
 little time. Most of the Grammar country children need 
 can, I believe, be obtained in connection with the study of 
 Language, and from the Literature and Composition work. 
 Of course, every child needs to know some grammar, but 
 he should know it as a phase of language work. Sometimes 
 a passage in literature cannot be definitely understood with- 
 out some knowledge of syntax ; sometimes a sentence in 
 a composition is incorrect from some grammatical stand- 
 point ; very often the Language book develops some phase 
 of Grammar. When such occasions arise, then I should 
 teach Grammar. I should want also a half -hour at regular 
 
GRAMMAR 187 
 
 intervals in which to gather scattered impressions and to 
 assist the pupils in generalizing and in formulating rules and 
 principles. 
 
 It is but honest to confess that the views expressed in 
 this chapter are more or less personal. A good many writers 
 on Grammar believe that the subject should have a separate 
 place in the elementary school. I cite the reader to a book 
 or two that takes this side of the controversy (see page 276). 
 But it is my unshaken conviction that the country school has 
 little time for Grammar as a separate branch. 
 
CHAPTER SEVEN 
 
 LANGUAGE 
 
 What is especially to be emphasized in this chapter is 
 how to teach the boys and girls in country schools to talk 
 well. From either the practical or cultural side, this is 
 one of the most important functions of the rural school, 
 and we need not apologize for devoting some attention to 
 it. Let me suggest five different means of teaching 
 language. 
 
 Five Suggestions for Teaching Language 
 
 I. The teacher himself must speak well — correctly and 
 expressively. Many of us do not. Many teachers use 
 the wrong forms of verbs or pronouns, make mistakes in 
 forming plurals, fail to secure the proper agreement 
 between subject and verb or between a pronoun and its 
 antecedents — in short, use "bad English." Moreover, 
 many a teacher has too small a vocabulary or talks "book- 
 talk," or uses English so thin-bloodedj so extremely pre- 
 cise that his language is forceless. Now, it is evident 
 that an infant learns to talk by imitating the speech of 
 his elders; and it is also true, if not so evident, that an 
 older child learns to talk in the same manner. Lnitation 
 
 188 
 
LANGUAGE 189 
 
 is the largest factor in the process of learning to use the 
 mother tongue. The order is : conscious imitation, uncon- 
 scious imitation, habit. Good speech is a habit, poor 
 speech is a habit. Of course, the child's horne folks are 
 largely responsible for his language. The teacher may 
 use the choicest of English and so present excellent models 
 for imitation; but if the child has already established 
 incorrect language habits and if he daily hears incorrect 
 language at home, he will ignore, more or less, the model 
 of the teacher. Like Penelope, the child unravels at night 
 the web so carefully woven by day. But the teacher's 
 duty is plain : he must use good English. It has tremen- 
 dous influence in itself, and it is invaluable in connec- 
 tion with other attempts to teach the language. 
 
 2. The teacher must insist upon good English in every 
 study and in every phase of school life. Incorrect, care- 
 less speech is equally to be condemned, whether in arith- 
 metic or in the language lesson. Do not allow your boys 
 and girls to say : "That ain't so;" "I never did nothing:" 
 "I seen the book" — anywhere, at any time. This is the 
 true way to teach practical Grammar. Of course, you 
 must be deft and diplomatic in this. Do not halt a child in 
 the full career of a recitation or on the playground, in 
 order to point out a slip in English; but when you have 
 an opportunity, refer to the blunder. And do not be 
 satisfied with pointing it out; have the child repeat the 
 
190 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 correct form. Get your pupils in the habit of observing 
 mistakes in the language of others; that inevitably leads 
 to the habit of observing their own speech. Do not weary 
 in this; keep at it. You may not see results for a while, 
 for it takes time and patience to break up one habit and 
 establish another. But many a country school has been 
 made almost a model in language because the teacher talks 
 correctly and insists upon his pupils talking correctly. 
 
 3. Require a reasonable amount of composition work. 
 In the next chapter this phase of English work will be 
 discussed ; here attention is called to the fact that much 
 which a pupil learns in writing extends over into his 
 speaking. It must be remembered, however, that the lan- 
 guage of speech is different from the language of writ- 
 ing. }vluch is permitted, much is even desirable, in talk, 
 that is very undesirable in writing. Do not make your 
 children use "book English." But let them carry over 
 from their composition work to their speech as much as 
 they can: new words; ideas of proper sentence length, 
 proper emphasis; ideals of exactness in use of words, 
 order and preparation of thoughts. We talk a good deal 
 in these days about oral composition; have much of this 
 in connection with your school work. Re-tellmg of 
 stories in reading and history; descriptions of persons 
 and places in history and geography; discussions of sub- 
 jects in civil government and agriculture — any theme 
 
LANGUAGE 191 
 
 Upon which your pupils should have ideas is good material 
 for oral composition. In this try to show your children 
 how to collect their thoughts and how to express them in 
 correct, forcible words. 
 
 4. Make close correlation between reading and litera- 
 ture and your pupils" language. Encourage them to 
 observe and appropriate new words and striking expres- 
 sions. Show them how great writers order their ideas; 
 show them that a single word, if picturesque, is more 
 effective than a whole paragraph of cold-blooded vocables. 
 Of course, you cannot turn out great authors from your 
 country school; but you can give your pupils power to 
 admire the best literature and to set up ideals of language 
 toward which to work. In general, a person who reads 
 much talks well. Encourage, then, intelligent reading; a 
 good story will often be a more effective teacher of lan- 
 guage than you are. 
 
 The importance of the school library and the formation 
 of the reading habit has been already discussed. A child 
 should rarely be asked to analyze the style of an author; 
 but we may be very sure that he will absorb a good deal 
 that will appear when he talks. Moreover, reading gives 
 the child something to talk about. Students of country 
 life say that country people do not talk enough; that they 
 are inclined to be taciturn. The reason is not far to 
 seek. When people live solitary lives, they never form 
 
192 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 the habit of conversing much. But there is another rea- 
 son : they do not have topics of conversation. Now one 
 of the best topics for talk, excepting people and their 
 activity, is books. If you encourage a child to read 
 books, you not only present to him excellent models of 
 language, but you give him some motive for talking. 
 And if the children get the habit of talking, they will be 
 much more likely to enjoy conversation when they are 
 men and women. 
 
 5. If your state, or your district, has adopted a lan- 
 guage book or a series of books, make good use of it. 
 We should teach language at all times ; but we should con- 
 centrate on the subject during the time specifically set 
 apart for the language period. Much of the material in 
 the language books applies both to written and oral 
 speech ; see to it that your children do not get the mis- 
 taken idea that the language lessons are only for writing. 
 The language books should be guides and standards for 
 speech, and the recitation period is the time for discuss- 
 ing those general principles of language that underlie all 
 talk and writing. If your school is still using the old- 
 fashioned formal Grammar as a text, see if you cannot 
 obtain permission to use a language book as supplemen- 
 tary. You can teach language without a book, but the 
 book will make your work easier and more systematic. 
 Assuming that you have a good language book or a 
 
J^ANGUAGE 193 
 
 series, let me make some rather miscellaneous sugges- 
 tions concerning their use. 
 
 How to Use the Language Books 
 
 1. These books should be thought-developers. Almost 
 every section calls for some mental operations : observa- 
 tion, comparison, judgment, imagination, memory. See 
 to it that your teaching calls forth thought, that it 
 requires more than mere memorizing of words. *'The 
 better the thinking, the better the speaking," is a prov- 
 erb essentially sound. 
 
 2. Do not omit any sections of the book, unless you 
 are very sure that your children do not need the work 
 comprised therein. Sometimes we teachers take it for 
 granted that the child is too far advanced. We need to 
 remember that the child is ignorant of many facts which 
 have been in our possession so long that we take it for 
 granted that almost every one knows them. We need to 
 remember, also, that the child's mental processes are 
 immature, that he is not able to think as connectedly as 
 we do. Every teacher needs to follow the practice of 
 Thomas Fuller's teacher : to hang "clogs on the nimble- 
 ness of his own soul, so that his scholars may go along 
 with him." If you are tempted to omit a page or a sec- 
 tion as childish, just remember that the child is childish. 
 
 3. Do not forget that the learning of the mother 
 tongue is a complicated process. The subject matter may 
 
194 ENGLISH IX THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 seem unrelated to language lessons, but you must keep in 
 mind that the books are carefully planned and that each 
 part has an organic connection with the general scheme 
 of the authors. Teach the selections for memorizing, 
 the picture work : all is grist that comes to the language 
 mill. 
 
 4. Drill unceasingly on the practical language work. 
 Even when a certain fact or principle is understood, keep 
 drilling away until the ideas become fixed in habits. 
 
 5 . When your pupils have learned a fact ( for example, 
 that a direct quotation should be enclosed in quotation 
 marks), and you have passed on to another section, keep 
 referring to that fact. All the forms of spoken and 
 written language need constant repetition. 
 
 6. In teaching the facts of grammar, lead up to them 
 and make them intelligible. Do not allow grammar to 
 become a book study. The language books show you how 
 to proceed; follow directions implicitly, and insert any 
 ideas of your own that will make the learning process 
 easier. 
 
 7. Constantly correlate the language books with the 
 spoken language of your pupils. 
 
 8. Never let your language lesson be crowded out of 
 the daily program. 
 
 9. Supplement the subject matter of the books with 
 
LANGUAGE 195 
 
 any work which you feel your pupils need. Let this sup- 
 plementary work be drawn from country life and 
 conditions. 
 
 10. Follow' your state manual containing the graded 
 course of study in planning the work to be covered each 
 year and month. If your class can do more than the 
 required amount, assign supplementary work. Do not 
 push ahead, and do not drop the language work from 
 the daily program. 
 
 11. When the Language Book refers to any poem or 
 story, look that up, or have your children look it up, and 
 make use of it as suggested in the book. If the selec- 
 tion is not in your library, make a note of it; and when 
 you have money for new books, see that the selection 
 wanted is in one of the books purchased. Thus, in a few 
 years all the books needed will be in the school library. 
 
 Some General Suggestions 
 
 So much for the five principal means of teaching lan- 
 guage in country schools. Let me now add some miscel- 
 laneous suggestions. 
 
 1. Organize a literary society for your oldest pupils. 
 The teacher may serve as critic or president and point 
 out mistakes and suggest means of improving the lan- 
 guage used. 
 
 2. Tell stories and have your children retell and drama- 
 
196 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 tize them. This sort of work is very valuable for the 
 teaching of language. 
 
 3. Frequent the play-ground and observe the speech 
 used there. Insist that the language be correct. 
 
 4. Endeavor in all ways to encourage the wish to speak 
 well and to arouse a pride in the English language. 
 From the moment a child feels a strong desire to keep his 
 language free from errors and to make it effective, from 
 that moment he will do far more for himself than any 
 teacher can do for him. Did your father ever give you 
 a patch of ground for your own and tell you that you 
 could have all you made out of it? And do you not 
 remember how hard you worked, of your own accord, 
 to keep it free from weeds and well plowed and hoed? 
 That was because you felt the sense of possession. If you 
 can cause your pupils to feel a personal pride in their 
 language, they will cultivate their speech and will keep 
 it free from weeds. " 
 
 5. Take advantage of the conditions peculiar to coun- 
 try schools. You have all grades; encourage the older 
 children to help the younger ones in their speech. You 
 have a much closer community life in the country school 
 than is possible in a town school, and from this compact 
 organization you should derive some assistance in teach- 
 ing language. Your children are not so likely to picl-c up 
 meaningless slang or silly superlatives as city children 
 
LANGUAGE 197 
 
 are; they are not exposed to so many influences inimical 
 to good speech. Make use of your opportunities as a 
 country school teacher. 
 
 6. Do not encourage the children to correct the lan- 
 guage of their parents. Be diplomatic in this regard. If 
 a child defends an incorrect expression by stating that his 
 father uses it, do not attack or ridicule the father ; merely 
 insist that the correct expression is the better one, and 
 show why. If need arise, speak to the parents and win 
 them over ; you can do it and it is well worth while. 
 
 7. Purchase a large, modern dictionary for the school 
 room, and show the children how to use it. 
 
 8. Build up your school library. Add the best books 
 for children and encourage reading. Then see to it that 
 the pupils .=how the influence of their reading in their 
 speaking. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Many of these suggestions apply quite as well to a 
 city teacher as to a country teacher. That is natural, 
 for the general method is the same. But country teach- 
 ers have one problem that city teachers do not have : the 
 problem of getting the children to talk. Country chil- 
 dren are undoubtedly more reserved than city children; 
 they do not express themselves so freely. Their experi- 
 ence does not bring them sufficiently into contact with 
 other people to rub off their self-consciousness and to call 
 
198 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 forth a desire to interchange ideas. Many country folk 
 could say of themselves what one of Shakespeare's char- 
 acters says of himself: 
 
 My tongue's use is to me no more 
 Than an unstringed viol or a harp, 
 Or like a cunning instrument cased up, 
 Or, being open, put into his hands 
 That knows no touch to tune the harmony. 
 
 It is, therefore, one of the primary duties of the rural 
 teacher to awaken the desire of expression in his pupils, 
 to string the vocal harp and teach the children to "tune 
 the harmony." To this end, the teacher should be chary 
 of adverse criticism; he should allow and encourage his 
 pupils to talk freely and without reserve. Correctness is 
 desirable, but force, vigor, picturesqueness, ease are 
 more desirable. Let us first awaken in our children the 
 desire to talk and encourage them to talk fluently and 
 spontaneously, then we can correct and refine. Let us 
 first loose the bounden tongue, then train the tongue to 
 move aright. 
 
 The Query Box 
 Should a country teacher permit his pupils to use slang? 
 
 It has been my experience and observation, as well as the 
 opinion of country teachers I have talked with, that country 
 children do not use much slang. It is not as serious a prob- 
 lem with country folk as it is with city folk. Slang is usually 
 urban. It does stray into rural districts, however, and the 
 rural teacher must adopt some policy in regard to its use. 
 
LANGUAGE 199 
 
 In the first place, it must be remembered that there is good 
 slang and worthless slang. Some slang words and phrases 
 are virile and picturesque, and their use in ordinary, familiar 
 conversation gives real brightness and force to language. 
 "To make good," for example, is much more suggestive 
 than "to succeed ;" "to cram for examination" is more accu- 
 rately and picturesquely descriptive of the idea to be ex- 
 pressed than is any elegant English one may employ. These 
 words and phrases are often more humorous than is sedate, 
 formal, "literary" language. On the other hand, much slang 
 is tame and meaningless. To apply "That's great" or "Isn't 
 that the limit ?" to everything that is unusual in any respect 
 is to impoverish the language. Good slang may be used in 
 free-and-easy conversation, worthless slang should be elimi- 
 nated from all talk. When one uses slang, he should be 
 conscious of the fact that he is using it, and should indicate 
 this by stressing the word or pronouncing it in such a way 
 that his hearers will understand that the speaker realizes he 
 is employing slang. 
 
 As a general rule, country children should be taught that 
 a good deal of the slang they use is inferior to the correct 
 language it attempts to displace. In the reaction against the 
 bookish, stilted language, which was so fashionable years 
 ago, we are somewhat inclined to go to the other extreme 
 and encourage talk that is too free and loose. It is not neces- 
 sary to go to either extreme. Country children should be 
 trained to use idiomatic, conversational, natural language ; 
 but they should be taught to eschew most of the slang 
 phrases that, originating in the city, are nevertheless often 
 forgotten there before they have reached rural districts. 
 
CHAPTER EIGHT 
 
 ' COMPOSITION WORK 
 
 A generation ago, 3'ea, a decade ago, there were thou- 
 sands of rural schools in the United States wherein not 
 a- single composition was written the whole winter long. 
 Happily, our country schools are improving in this 
 respect, as in others. Yet it is a common complaint among 
 city teachers that the pupils that enter the city school 
 from the country are woefully lacking in even the rudi- 
 mentary knowledge and training in writing. High 
 School teachers of English testify that many students 
 from country districts state, in order to account for their 
 being so far behind in writing, that they have never writ- 
 ten a composition. Not seldom do teachers of English 
 in Normal Schools find in their classes young men and 
 women utterly untrained in the simplest details of writ- 
 ing a letter or a composition. Evidently, many country 
 teachers do not discern tlie importance or the possibilities 
 of this work as a factor in the education of boys and 
 girls. Let me, then, devote the first part of this chapter 
 to a discussion of the educative values of composition 
 writing. 
 
 200 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 201 
 
 Education ]\ihics of Composition JVork — Training in 
 
 Thinking 
 
 The word "composition" is derived from two Latin 
 words that mean "bring together." A house is, in this 
 sense, a composition, in that the stone, brick, wood and 
 other material are brought together in a certain order. 
 A urittcn composition implies a plan, in accordance with 
 which certain ideas must be selected and arranged ; and it 
 necessitates thought. For example : We are asked to 
 describe a house. We must first lay out a plan. We 
 decide perhaps to describe the exterior, then take up the 
 interior — downstairs, then upstairs, passing from room to 
 room in a definite order. That is planning, outlining. 
 But we cannot mention everything in the house; we must 
 omit some details. That is selecting. Moreover, of the 
 details to be mentioned some are less important, so will 
 be brought in incidentally. That is subordinating. Again, 
 all the details must be arranged to bring out one central 
 idea. That is emphasizing and unifying. And all these 
 different parts of our description must be mortised to- 
 gether, so that all the materials of our composition com- 
 bine to form one "edifice," so to speak, and not a num- 
 ber of small buildings. That is soldering, connecting. 
 All this is merely organized, consecutive thinking. The 
 first and greatest educative value in composition work, 
 then, is that it makes the writer think. 
 
202 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Now, ihiiikiiii;' is hard work — so hard lUai \ cry tew 
 of us o\cr itululi^o in il. \\u{ one ol ilio cardinal functions 
 of iho iniblic schools is to train minds so ihai tho)- can 
 think. And of those subjects adajiied to produce think- 
 ing, composition work is. in many respects, the most im- 
 portant. Arithmetic trains a certain part of the brain, a 
 certain intellectual faculty ; its work, however, is limited 
 — the trainiui^- does not make the mind capable of think- 
 ing;" oi\ other subjects. Init com]iosiiion work draws its 
 material from all tields of knowledge and sets moxing all 
 the wheels of the menial tnachinery. Children are com- 
 posing when they tell how corn grows or how the heart 
 acts, when they describe Greenland or narrate Paul Re- 
 vere's Ride — providing they are not just reeling it otl" 
 from memory. What writien composition work does is 
 to enable the child to organi;-e and connect the material 
 according to a pl;tn: it trains him to think more thor- 
 oughly than almost any other kind of school activity. 
 And we are failing to make use of an important and 
 convenient means of inspiring and training in the ditVicnlt 
 art of thinking w hen we do not require our boys and girls 
 to do composition work. 
 
 Drcpoiiiuj of Imf'rrssiLVis 
 
 \\riting compositions aids the yoimg student in another 
 way. It has been said that expression ileepens the im- 
 pression — which means that when a thought or feeling 
 
COMPOSITION WOKK 203 
 
 works its way oiil into action of some kind, llic orii^inal 
 lluuiL^lit or Iccliiii;' is intcnsilicik If a kov constructs a 
 sk'ik for instance, ke lias a lictlcr conception of \\ kat a 
 sled is Ikan if ke kad merely read of one or seen one, or 
 even coasted on one. Mr. Squeers, in "Nickolas Nickle- 
 k.y," nnilerstood lliis principle; you rememker ikat Ike 
 manner in wkick ke laui^kt tke word "korse" was to 
 rcMjuire ike pupil to spell and define tke word, tken j;o 
 curry tke animal — tkoui^k perkaps a modern teacker would 
 kave tke pupil curry tke korse llrst. Now, tkis i)syclio- 
 logical principle of impression and expression finds an 
 excellent illustration in composition work. Tke moment 
 a ckild expresses kimself clearly in written words, on any 
 subject, tkat sukject is imprinted more deeply in kis mind. 
 Of course, tke best expression is action; kut, as Emer- 
 son says, "Words are also actions, and actions are a kind 
 of words." Tke second educative value, tken, of compo- 
 sition work is tkat it writes tkougkts and feelings more 
 indelibly on the brain. 
 
 Training in Writing 
 
 If composition work did no more tkan to train in 
 thinking and to implant ideas more irradicably, tkat would 
 be suiTicient to justify our giving it an important place 
 in tke country school. But it has other values. For one 
 thing, it trains the country boy and girl so that, when 
 they are country man and woman, they can write well. 
 
204 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Many teachers think that this is the chief benefit from 
 composition writing. It is not, I believe ; for the average 
 man and woman, in country or town, do not need to write 
 very much. But there is correspondence with one's friends 
 and relatives; almost everyone needs to know how to 
 write a satisfactory friendly letter. Then there is busi- 
 ness correspondence; the up-to-date farmer writes a good 
 many business letters in the course of a year, especially 
 if he handles cattle or takes up any side-line. And, 
 needless to say, anyone will write a better letter, whether 
 to a friend or to a business house, if he has had some 
 training in letter-writing. Besides, in every community 
 someone should send a weekly budget of news to the 
 country newspaper; training is needed for that. And 
 then there is the occasional paper to prepare for the 
 farmers' institute or Grange meeting. All this I shall 
 discuss later in this chapter. Let me here but call atten- 
 tion to the fact that, if the country school is to be a 
 preparation for country life, it should train its boys and 
 girls to do efficiently the writing that will fall to their 
 lot when they are men and women. 
 
 Training in Talking 
 
 But composition work does more than this. As was 
 pointed out in the last chapter, much of the training- 
 received in writing can be carried over into talking. 
 When a child learns to write accurate, suggestive words, 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 205 
 
 and to mold his thoughts into well-proportioned, unified 
 sentences and paragraphs, he is pretty sure to improve 
 his spoken language in these same respects. Pretty sure ; 
 though we remember the poet Goldsmith, who, accord- 
 ing to one of his friends, 
 
 " Wrote like an angel and talked like Poor Poll " ; 
 
 and we remember what an unsatisfactory talker was 
 Addison — "a silent parson in a tie-wig," someone called 
 him. But in general, he who writes well can talk well, 
 whether he wishes to or not. Of course, the language of 
 talk is not the language of writing; but they are closely 
 enough related to possess many kindred qualities. Com- 
 position work has this educative value, then: it helps 
 train pupils to talk. Most assuredly we need training 
 in this, for very few of us converse well. Many of us 
 do not have sufficient courage to enter the stream of 
 talk ; and many of us when once in the stream are content 
 to float idly about on the surface, or if we dive, we imme- 
 diately grapple with an adversary in argument. We must 
 be trained to talk well ; and country folk especially must 
 be trained because they have fewer opportunities to learn 
 the art from hearing others. Is it worth while to talk 
 well ? Ik Walton declares that "good company and good 
 converse are the very sinews of virtue." Certainly, talk- 
 ing with a good friend is one of the rare pleasures of life; 
 it stimulates us, puts us on our mettle, inspires us to 
 
206 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 think rapidly and talk tiuently, reveals ourselves to our- 
 selves. 
 
 Training in Spelling and PcninansJiip 
 
 Composition work has other educative values. It is an 
 excellent means of teaching spelling and penmanship — 
 excellent because the "formal" is connected with the "con- 
 tent,'' Let me devote a paragraph to an explanation of 
 what is meant by those words "formal'' and "content." 
 
 "'Formal" and "Content" Studies 
 
 ■ Certain studies are called "formal" because they deal 
 with forms and symbols. Thus the figure "i'' is a symbol 
 to represent one unit; the figure "2" is a symbol to repre- 
 sent one unit added to one unit. Now, the figures "i" 
 and "2" might be transposed so that the symbol "2" might 
 represent one unit and the symbol "i" two units, for 
 there is little in the shape or intrinsic meaning of the 
 figures to indicate just what the}^ stand for. In other 
 words, when we say that "i" represents one unit, we are 
 setting up an artificial symbol, not a natural idea ; it has 
 meaning only because we have all agreed to let it repre- 
 sent an idea. \Mien we teach the letters "a,'' "b," "c," 
 we are teaching artificial, conventionalized symbols. 
 There are houses and trees and dogs and water in Na- 
 ture, but no one ever saw an "a" until it was created by 
 man to stand for an idea or a sound. Moreover, the 
 capital letters are difl:erent from the small letters, and 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 207 
 
 the written symbols are different from the printed sym- 
 bols : "e" in script is not the same as "e" in print. Words, 
 too. are symbols. "Dog" is a symbol for the animal we 
 call the "canine"; but it might just as well, originally, 
 have been employed to represent the name of the animal 
 we call "cat." Obviously, a good deal of the child's 
 time must be devoted to learning the symbols in his vari- 
 ous studies. But these symbols are not interesting in 
 themselves. Any boy is interested in a pony; but would 
 feel no interest at all in the letters "p-o-n-y," or in the 
 word "pony," unless he could discern the connection be- 
 tween the symbols and the ideas that are embodied, so to 
 speak, in the symbols. Writing and spelling are "formal" 
 studies, then. "Content" studies are those that contain 
 materials and things and ideas rather than forms and 
 figures. Nature study, much of geography, agriculture, 
 history and hygiene (if properly taught) — these are "con- 
 tent" studies. These subjects are most important as far 
 as real knowledge is concerned, and they are therefore 
 the most interesting to children. The formal studies must 
 be taught, of course; for the child needs to know forms 
 and symbols so that he can grasp the ideas expressed in 
 books by these manufactured signs. But since the formal 
 studies are devoid of intrinsic interest, they must, as com- 
 pletely and as rapidly as possible, be connected with the 
 content studies. 
 
 Now for our main theme, after this explanatory di- 
 
208 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 gression. Composition writing is an excellent way to 
 gain facility in penmanship and orthography, because the 
 child will learn the formal in connection with the content. 
 When the pupil writes : "John stayed in the city the 
 whole day," he learns, incidentally, to spell "stayed" and 
 "city" and "whole"; and at the same time he is getting 
 training in penmanship. 
 
 Other Values of Composition JVork 
 
 .And composition work has other -educative values be- 
 sides the ones just discussed. It furnishes excellent seat- 
 work, for one thing. ]\Ioreover, the country teacher, who 
 is always hard pressed for time, can occasionally dispense 
 with a class recitation and assign written work on some 
 important phase of the lesson, while he can devote that 
 time to other recitations. Suppose, for example, that 
 your United States history recitation is from 9 to 9 :20, 
 and that the lesson for this particular day is the "Winter 
 in Valley Forge." Now, if your B geography class needs 
 some extra attention on this day, you may assign your 
 history class some written work — say, an imaginative 
 description of the camp in Valley Forge, — while you 
 spend that twenty minutes with your geography class. 
 Then that evening you can look over the compositions 
 handed in by your history class, make corrections and 
 suggestions, and return the papers to the pupils. 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 209 
 
 Summary of Values 
 
 Surely a strong case has been made out for the in- 
 clusion of composition work in the daily program of the 
 country school. It deepens impressions and furnishes a 
 convenient mode of expression ; it trains in practical writ- 
 ing, trains in talking, assists in the learning of necessary 
 but uninteresting symbols, and aids the teacher in keep- 
 ing his pupils profitably busy and in saving time. And 
 to crown all, it is interesting to the children, if the teacher 
 knows how to adapt the work to their capabilities and 
 interests. A reasonable amount of composition work 
 should be required in every country school (I shall later 
 discuss what I mean by a "reasonable" amount) ; and 
 any teacher who does not have this work done in his 
 school is recreant to his trust, in that he is not doing the 
 very best he can for the children under his tuition. 
 
 The "I Can't" Objection 
 
 "But we don't know how to teach composition writ- 
 ing," is the objection country teachers often urge to re- 
 marks like the above. And doubtless some of you who 
 have read the foregoing have shrugged your shoulders 
 and shrugged the whole matter off your consciences with 
 the bald statement that you cannot do the work. "All 
 that you say may be true," you concede ; "but we simply 
 can't teach composition work." I wonder if some of you 
 aren't accusing yourselves in order to excuse yourselves. 
 
210 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Of course, you cannot teach composition work as well as 
 one who has had two or three years of training in a 
 Normal School; but any of you can do a great deal more 
 than you have been doing — if you haven't been doing 
 anything at all. In the concluding chapter of this book 
 is a discussion of the various ways in which a country 
 • teacher may improve, in teaching his mother tongue ; here 
 I wish simply to emphasize the fact that you, without 
 any special training, can start composition work this 
 very week, and do pretty well with it, too. 
 
 What Is a Composition? 
 
 How? Well, first, by freeing yourselves from the 
 false conception that a "composition" is a long, dry essay 
 on Truth, or Friendship, or Education, or other abstract 
 themes. Do you remember reading in one of McGuffy's 
 Readers a selection entitled, I believe, "Susy's Composi- 
 tion"?* 
 
 Susy's Composition 
 
 The teacher has told Susy that she must hand in a 
 composition on the following day. The little girl is in 
 the depths of despair, for she has never written a com- 
 position and does not know what to write about or how 
 to begin. She begins to jot down copy-book generalities 
 
 * If you are not acquainted with this story, turn to page 220 
 of Dr. L. H. Bailey's "The Nature Study Idea," Revised edition 
 — Macmillan Company — and there read Dr. Bailey's struggle 
 with his first composition. 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 211 
 
 on Duty, or some topic as far above her powers as that; 
 but naturally she cannot make any headway. Presently 
 her mother sets her right by suggesting that she sit at the 
 window and describe what she sees from there. This 
 Susy does. And her description of the scene is, the next 
 day, pronounced by her teacher a "very good composi- 
 tion." Now, that teacher may have known enough to 
 recognize a good composition when he saw one; but he 
 did not know how to set his pupils at work to produce a 
 good composition. He made three egregious blunders : 
 
 Mistakes of Susy's Teacher 
 
 I. He required his pupils to write a composition with- 
 out assigning them a subject. Do not make that mistake. 
 Always assign the subject, or, at least, the theme. (See 
 page 227.) And you should make the assignment exact 
 and definite. You will save time and prevent worry and 
 discouragement if you spend some time in explaining very 
 definitely just what you want your pupils to do. You 
 need not mention the word "composition." Most chil- 
 dren, like Susy, are frightened by the word, especially if 
 it does not signify something familiar. And most chil- 
 dren, like Susy, will write very well, on interesting sub- 
 jects, will write for a long time without knowing that 
 they are writing "compositions" — as Monsieur Jourdain 
 in Moliere's comedy is much astonished to learn that all 
 his life he has, unknowingly, been speaking prose. 
 
212 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 J. Susy's teacher should not only have assigned a sub- 
 ject tor the composition, but he shotild also have chosen a 
 subject from the experience and within the observation 
 of his pupils, A Bacon may write on "Truth," an Emer- 
 son on "Friendship" ; but your children can write only on 
 narrow, concrete subjects. It was this same Emerson who 
 said that every generalization is a step toward the intinite ; 
 and your pupils must always deal with the iinite. the 
 detinite — which means the limited, the bounded. Select 
 subjects within their scope: incidents from the daily life 
 on the fanii, picnics, trips to the circus, to the cotinty 
 fair; descriptions of pet animals, of their home, the 
 schoolhouse. of views from a neighboring hill ; short 
 essays on some phase of fanning or of housekeeping. 
 You should also assign subjects based on the pupils' 
 studies, certain topics from geography, histon,- and 
 hygiene. Occasionally you may have the pupils repro- 
 duce a story you have read or told them, or have them 
 write short original stories on a certain assigned theme. 
 Do not fancy that the children are losing time when they 
 express their thoughts on tliese rather childish subjects: 
 they lose time only when we force them to write upon 
 themes too deep for them. And do not fancy that you 
 cannot find subjects sufficient: every child in your school 
 has had experience enough for a folio volume of compo- 
 sitions. All vou have to do is to studv. closelv and svm- 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 213 
 
 pathetically, their lives, and to glance back into your own 
 childish interests and thoughts. 
 
 3. Susy's teacher should not have made it possible 
 for his pupils to say that they had never written a com- 
 position. Some of us cannot remember when we learned 
 to read and to write ; neither should we be able to remem- 
 ber our first composition. Children should be composing 
 from the first grade on. At first the work should be oral ; 
 but composing, either oral or written, should be a part 
 of the daily program. Of course, the teacher should be 
 careful not to require composition work in advance of 
 the grade and of the pupil's powers; but written com- 
 posing should begin as soon as the child has facility in 
 writing. For the first few years this written work should 
 be very brief and on the simplest subjects: just a few 
 sentences on "My Lunch Basket," "My Dog," "Going 
 After the Cows," or some childish theme; or a reproduc- 
 tion of some story read by the teacher — anything that 
 will give the child an opportunity to express his own 
 thoughts. As he climbs higher up in the grades and ob- 
 tains a more extended view of life, both by experience 
 and by reading and study, he should, of course, be able 
 to write longer compositions, on more complex themes; 
 he should be able to arrange his material more logically 
 and express his thoughts more accurately and forcibly — 
 though, as I have said, the subjects assigned should never 
 
214 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 be beyond his horizon. Here is a sound maxim : Never 
 assign a subject to teach your pupils anything new, but 
 only to cause them to collect and express their thoughts 
 on something familiar. Naturally, in gathering and ex- 
 pressing the familiar, the old, the child will discover much 
 that is new; hut the process should always be the induc- 
 tive one : frouT the known to the related unknown. 
 
 Qualities of Good Language 
 
 Having discussed the chief educative values in com- 
 position work and pointed out three fundamental errors 
 of an untrained teacher, let me now proceed to a study 
 of the qualities of good language. Teachers must, of 
 course, have definite, clear-cut ideas of what good Eng- 
 lish is, so that they can direct their pupils intelligently 
 in their efforts to attain command of good English. 
 
 The three most important qualities in good written 
 English are unity, coherence and emphasis. These will 
 be considered in order. 
 
 Unity 
 
 Unity is one-ness. A unit, as we learned in arithmetic, 
 is one; unity is the quality of one-ness. A sentence has 
 unity when it expresses just one main thought. A short 
 time ago there appeared in a country newspaper this 
 statement, in an account of a wedding: "The groom is a 
 popular young business man of this place and the happy 
 couple will take a trip to Florida." Nozv, that sentence 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 215 
 
 lacks unity, because it contains two thoughts only re- 
 motely connected: the groom is a popular young man, 
 and the couple will take a trip to Florida. The connec- 
 tion between the two ideas is not close enough to justify 
 their being placed in one sentence. Here is another sen- 
 tence that lacks unity: "We passed the farm of Robert 
 Jemison, who was forty years a member of the Legisla- 
 ture." The violation of unity is not so apparent, since 
 til is is a complex sentence, while the one above is com- 
 pound; but each sentence contains two ideas instead of 
 one. So much for unity in the sentence. Unity in the 
 paragraph demands that only one main thought shall be 
 developed in each paragraph. For instance, the para- 
 graph I am now writing will fail in unity if I discuss 
 anything except the subject of unity. I must not depart 
 from that general idea; I must not take up the subject of 
 coherence or emphasis — else my paragraph will lack unity. 
 A good many writers are careful to put, near the begin- 
 ning of each paragraph, a sentence that states the gist of 
 the whole paragraph — a sort of guide to the reader, so 
 that, as he reads, he may be able to see the bearing of 
 each succeeding sentence on the theme of the paragraph. 
 Snch a sentence is called a "topic sentence," because it 
 states the main idea, or topic, of the paragraph. But 
 whether the paragraph has a topic sentence or not, it 
 should have unity. Likezvise, a whole composition must 
 have unity. In this chapter, for example, I can take up 
 
216 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 notliing- but composition work. If I treat reading or 
 spelling-. T violate the unity, the one-ness of the chapter — 
 unless, of course. I connect fliost" subjects with composi- 
 tion work. 
 
 Coherence 
 
 Coherence is that quality of language by virtue of 
 which ditTerent ideas are joined to each other. In the 
 last paragraph, for instance, it is not enough that all the 
 sentences be concerned with the subject of unity: they 
 must also be joined to each other. Certain words and 
 phrases are used for this purpose ; the most important 
 of then the printer has italicized. These words and 
 phrases form a sort of bridge from one idea to the next, 
 so that the reader can cross more easily. The paragraphs 
 should be coupled in the same manner. This paragraph 
 should have been cohered more closely with the preced- 
 ing one. Of course. I began by stating that I was going 
 to discuss unity, coherence and emphasis, so that you 
 probably knew that when I had tinished the tirst I would 
 begin the second; but I should have put up some kind of 
 a sign-board to prevent your getting off the road. I will 
 connect this paragraph with the next by saying: "So 
 much for coherence; let us now turn to the quality of 
 
 emphasis." 
 
 E)fiphasis 
 
 Emphasis is that quality of language by virtue of 
 which the important ideas are placed in the conspicuous 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 217 
 
 places. Now, the most conspicuous places in the sentence 
 and paragraph are the beginning and the end. That is 
 the reason we do not usually allow a preposition, a weak 
 adverb, or a forceless phrase to come at the close of a 
 sentence, or an insignificant sentence at the close of a 
 paragraph. Moreover, the law of emphasis demands that 
 the different ideas in a sentence be so arranged that they 
 emphasize the one important idea. For example, in the 
 sentence, "I went to town and bought some sugar," the 
 two clauses, *'I went to town" and "I bought some sugar," 
 have precisely the same importance, grammatically and 
 logically. But perhaps you wish to emphasize the latter ; 
 then you remodel the sentence thus : "I bought some 
 sugar, while I was in town." If you wish to lay stress 
 on the other idea, you write : "I went to town to buy some 
 sugar." This does not express quite the same idea as 
 the other; but it illustrates this fundamental rule of em- 
 phasis : Place the important idea in the principal clause, 
 and the less important idea in the dependent clause or 
 phrase. A complex sentence is usually preferable to a 
 compound, from the standpoint both of unity and em- 
 phasis. 
 
 These three qualities, unity, coherence and emphasis, 
 characterize all good language, written or spoken — 
 though, of course, conversation is allowed to wander 
 more than written speech. If you will turn to Washing- 
 ton Irving's "Sketch Book," you will find that these 
 
218 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 qualities are noticeable features of his style; that is one 
 reason he is so easy and pleasant to read. Addison and 
 Macaulay excel in the same respects. 
 
 Qualities of Good Words 
 
 But these are qualities of sentences, paragraphs, whole 
 compositions. Let us now examine the qualities of words. 
 These are precision, naturalness, and suggestiveness. 
 
 Precision 
 
 Precision is exactness; it is hitting the nail square on 
 the head. The antonym is looseness, carelessness; it is 
 striking the nail a glancing blow. The one who uses 
 precise English does not say "evening" when he means 
 "afternoon," or "reckon" when he means "think," or 
 "awful" when he means "very," or "girl" when he means 
 "sweetheart," or "Professor" when he means — or should 
 mean — "J^Iister." Of course, we should not be finical 
 about words, but neither should we allow ourselves to 
 use slip-shod language, either in writing or in talking. 
 The dictionary is usually a safe guide in matters of pre- 
 cision, though it is not so safe as a wide reading in choice 
 literature. 
 
 Naturalness 
 
 Naturalness in language means freedom from bookish, 
 pedantic, stilted words and expressions. The one who 
 uses natural English does not say "quantities of persons" 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 219 
 
 instead of "lots of people," or "to whom are you talk- 
 ing" ? instead of "who (or "whom) are you talking to"? 
 or "intermission" instead of "recess," or "adieu" instead 
 of "good-by," or "exceedingly" instead of "pretty" (as 
 an adverb). The principle of naturalness is sometimes 
 opposed to the principle of accuracy, but not often; usu- 
 ally one can be both accurate and natural. Of course, 
 the question of naturalness depends upon the subject and 
 the audience or the readers ; but so far as country children 
 are concerned, they should be encouraged to speak with 
 as much freedom and spontaneity as the rules of taste 
 and accuracy will permit. Certainly of all habits of 
 speech and writing the use of stiff, awkward, half-erudite 
 pretentious, elegant English is the most contemptible. 
 Mistress Anne Bradstreet, a long- forgotten poet of early 
 New England, wrote one line that teachers of children 
 may well adopt as a motto in directing composition work : 
 
 "From schoolboys' tongues no rhetoric we expect." 
 
 Siiggestivencss 
 
 Suggestiveness in language means picturesqueness ; it 
 relates to the ability of language to flash illuminating 
 pictures into the mind's eye. "Sprawl," for example, is, 
 a more suggestive word than "lie"; "cur" is more ex- 
 pressive than "dog"; because "sprawl" and "cur" are 
 better picture-words. "The men went at it hammer and 
 
220 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 tongs" is a better sentence than "The men began to fight 
 very fiercely,'' because the first sentence conveys a Hve- 
 lier image. One must use discretion in this — that goes 
 without saying; for it is easy to shp into habits of slang 
 and coarseness. But words are much like men : it is the 
 strenuous, warm-blooded, virile, masterful man that 
 makes the deepest impressions upon his world; and it is 
 the strong, highly-colored, suggestive word that stirs the 
 mind of the reader or hearer into the greatest activity. 
 
 Other Qualities of Good Language 
 
 There are other qualities of good language besides the 
 six just discussed. There is correctness, which demands 
 that one say or write "He doesn't" instead of "He 
 don't"; "I did" instead of "I done"; "The cow lay 
 down" instead of "The cow laid down" ; "The river is 
 rising" instead of "The river is raising," etc. There is 
 proportion, a phase of emphasis, which requires us to 
 develop essential ideas and subordinate non-essentials. 
 There is propriety, which directs us to fit our language 
 to our audience and our subject — for example, to use 
 simple, concrete words when speaking to children or writ- 
 ing on simple subjects. 
 
 Hoii' to Teach Composition Work 
 
 As succinctly as the necessity for clearness would per- 
 mit, I have discussed the fundamental qualities of good 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 221 
 
 language. That was a comparatively easy row to hoe, 
 for it has been worked several times. But the next row 
 is a good deal more difficult; it is, through neglect, over- 
 grown with weeds and strewn with hard clods. I must 
 now, in short, consider the question of how country teach- 
 ers, many of them untrained in English, can so teach com- 
 position work that the written and spoken language of 
 their pupils will possess those basic qualities of good lan- 
 guage. 
 
 This difficult subject I shall try to make plain by an 
 examination of the child's written language in the hope 
 of discovering how the child's writing compares in qual- 
 ity with what we call "good" language, and then I shall 
 suggest some methods of improving the child's work in 
 regard to these qualities. That is, we will see what is the 
 nature of a young child's composition work, and then 
 discuss means of improving it — just as a farmer, desiring 
 to improve a certain field, first finds how much it is pro- 
 ducing, and then proceeds, by cultivation an.d fertiliza- 
 tion, to increase and improve the yield. 
 
 A Child's Composition 
 
 In examining and discussing the compositions that 
 young children write, let us bear this fact in mind : com- 
 posing is thinking, and thinking has to be learned. 
 We shall expect children to fall far short of our ideal 
 in writing, because, being immature, they are not able 
 
222 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 to think well. Keeping this in mind, let us examine 
 closely and sympathetically the composition given below 
 as a representative specimen. This is a "really-for-sure" 
 composition, written by a third grade boy. I have cor- 
 rected the spelling and punctuation, so that we can put 
 our minds on the other characteristics of the work. 
 
 MY DOG 
 
 My dog's name is Jack. He is big and black and goes 
 with me every place I go. I got Jack off of Bud Sim- 
 mons. Bud had two dogs and he gave me one. I would 
 sooner have my Jack than Bud's. My dog can lick Bud's 
 dog. My dog has a white place on his side. My dog 
 goes with me after the cows. One time he went after 
 the cows. I was sick. I got a terrible cold going swim- 
 ming too early in the spring. But it was a warm day. 
 He went after the cows by himself. He is four years old 
 and he can do lots of tricks. Jack can bring pieces of 
 wood out of the water. But Jack shakes oft' on me, but I 
 try to fight him away from me. He is as big as a little 
 calf, about two months old, I guess. Sometimes Jack 
 carries my dinner-bucket to school in his mouth. I like 
 Jack. I do not like cats. 
 
 Exain'uiation for Unity 
 
 Now for our examination. Does this composition pos- 
 sess unity? No; that is evident. The sentences have 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 223 
 
 unity, but that is because they are short ; when the writer 
 tries his hand at a compound one, he is Hkely to go astray 
 — as he does in the second sentence. And as for unity 
 in the whole composition, that is violated two or three 
 times; once when the writer compares his dog with Bud's, 
 once in telling of his sickness, again in the last sentence. 
 All these offenses against the principle of unity are nat- 
 ural. For example, when the young writer tells where 
 he got his dog, his mind jumps to the reason Bud was 
 willing to give him up, and then, naturally again, to a 
 comparison of the two dogs. The second violation of 
 unity is as easy to follow. The thought in the mind of 
 the writer is that Jack goes with him everywhere, even 
 after the cows. That reminds him that once Jack went 
 by himself. This leads the boy to explain why he did 
 not go himself. And then, perhaps with a remembrance 
 of his defense to his parents, he mentions why he went 
 swimming so early in the season. It is natural for an 
 untrained mind to wander off the subject. One idea sug- 
 gests another. The trained thinker scrutinizes the new 
 ideas as they run into the consciousness; and if they do 
 not bear directly on the main theme, he hustles them 
 out and proceeds with his subject. But the child, or any 
 individual untrained in thinking, does not possess this 
 ability. Almost invariably he writes down whatever the 
 laws of association drag into his mind, whether it injures 
 the unity or not. 
 
224 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Examination for Coherence 
 
 Does this composition have coherence? No, again. In 
 the first place, the youthful author has jumbled his ideas; 
 he has not arranged them in the logical order. For ex- 
 ample, in the second sentence he informs us that Jack 
 is big and black. Further on he says he has one white 
 spot. Later he states that he is four years old; and still 
 later that he is as big as a little calf. These details belong 
 together, since they are all concerned with Jack's appear- 
 ance ; but they are distributed throughout the story. This 
 is true of other ideas in the composition. In the second 
 place, the writer has employed no cohering words except 
 "and" and "but" and the pronoun "he" — which latter 
 may be styled a cohering word because it implies an ante- 
 cedent in a preceding sentence. In general, the language 
 of children and of uneducated persons lacks coherence, 
 because they have not been trained to arrange the mate- 
 rial that is brought into their minds. 
 
 Examination for Emphasis 
 
 In emphasis, also, the composition fails. The writer 
 has not made any one idea stand out prominently, either 
 the appearance of the dog, or his tricks and habits, or 
 his devotion to his master. Some one fact should have 
 been selected and "played up," as newspaper writers say ; 
 while all other facts should have been subordinated or 
 eliminated. Moreover, some of the sentences fail to 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 225 
 
 bring out one main thought. The writer says : "Bud had 
 two dogs and he gave me one," whereas he should have 
 written, "Since Bud had two dogs, he gave me one," or 
 "Bud had two dogs, so he gave me one," The word 
 "and" is a poor word to show relationship between the 
 phrases or clauses it connects, because it makes them of 
 equal importance. Now, these violations of the laws of 
 emphasis result from the writer's lack of power to think 
 well. His mind has not been able to distinguish, among 
 the details, the one important and significant fact. That 
 is a simple case of inability to think clearly, an inability 
 that characterizes all children. 
 
 Examination for Qualities of Words 
 
 As to the qualities of words, the composition ranks 
 higher. The words are fairly accurate, quite natural, and 
 tolerably suggestive. The child has not a large enough 
 vocabulary, consequently overworks some words; and his 
 expressions are occasionally rather awkward. But this is 
 precisely what we should expect. The young author has 
 fewer words because he has fewer ideas, and he is awk- 
 ward in expressing himself because he has not had enough 
 practice in written composition to give him ease. 
 
 Suggestions for Teaching Written Composition 
 
 Let me now, after this brief analysis of a child's typical 
 composition, present some definite suggestion for leading 
 
236 KXGl-lSll IX nil- COIN TRY SCilOOl. 
 
 the chiUl to oxpross hinisolt" in laiipiac'o that better con- 
 forms to ihe chief principles of i^wxl wriiinj;-. 
 
 T. \\'e noticed that the fauUs observed in the compo- 
 sition above are natnral faults. That is. a child, from his 
 very natnrt^ — his inexperience, his iniinatnrity. his weak- 
 ness in thinkinii". in arrani^inj^". in \">lant\ing" — is prone to 
 conunit many grie\ons blnnders. Hnt since these fanlts 
 are the natnral faults of inunatnrity, the child is not in 
 any sense to hlame for them. The tu-st sui^gestion. then, 
 is to proceed slowly, patiently, enconrai^ingly. sympa- 
 thetically, diplotnatically. '" There mnst be no hnrry. but 
 there mnst be no halt." as someone has pithily said. The 
 teacher who becontes fretful and impatient to see speedy 
 improvement, the teacher who expects children to think 
 and write like adults, the teacher who scolds and nags — 
 that teacher is sure to tnake the writing- of compositions 
 a bugbear to the children. Po not compare the children 
 with sonte great author, or even with yourself: rather 
 contpare the ch.ildren today with what they were last 
 month, and if you see they are progressing, be content. 
 Remember that thinking is perhaps the most dit^cnlt 
 process man is called upon to perform, and mnst needs 
 be learned slowly, very slowly. 
 
 J. Tut heavier emphasis on the thought processes than 
 on expression processes. In proportion as children learn 
 to think connectedly, forcibly, and thoroughly i^ which 
 
COMI'OSITION WORK 227 
 
 means "throiigliAy'^) they will express themselves eo- 
 herently, cogently, and accurately ; and their writing;- will 
 he vitalized hy those ((ualities which, we have seen, are 
 fundamental in elTective language. 
 
 3. Therefore he sure that a suhject has made a deep 
 impression on the child hefore you ask him to express 
 himself. Choose suhjects that will lie well within the 
 interests and experiences of the child, suhjects that chal- 
 lenge his genuine thought. Allow the older children to 
 choose their own suhjects and suhmit them to y(ju. Any 
 person writes better on a theme he has selected — provided, 
 of course, it lies within his scope. The best way, per- 
 haps, is for the teacher to select the general theme and 
 for the older pupils to select the more definite suhject. 
 IM1US, the teacher ;isks the children to write on the con- 
 struction of some ])l[iy thing or some article. One boy 
 will write on how to make a sled, another on how to 
 mount a grindstone that it can be turned hy pedaling, 
 another on how to construct a martin-box, while the girls 
 will choose themes from their own interests and activi- 
 ties. Ciivc the children all the liberty possible, but limit 
 them to subjects within their powers. If left entirely to 
 themselves, they will often select themes that far transcend 
 their abilities. 
 
 4. It is evident that you, teacher, must train the child 
 to arrange his material, to connect the details with each 
 
228 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Other, and to emphasize the fundamental ideas. This 
 you should do before the children begin to write. For 
 example, you say to a class : "Now, we are going to 
 write something about your pets at home. Each of vou 
 write down all the things he can think of about his dog 
 or cat." The children will jot down detached, unrelated 
 sentences, with the facts mixed even worse than in the 
 composition printed above. Then you must help each 
 child organize this material. The pupil must see that 
 all the sentences stating anything about the dog's or cat's 
 appearance must be collected, that the sentences telling 
 what the animal can ilo must be herded together, etc. 
 Then you must assist the child in selecting one idea to 
 make prominent, in scratching out ideas that he does not 
 need or that are aside from the subject, in connecting his 
 sentences by words and phrases. This is slow work and 
 consumes much of the country teacher's precious time. 
 But after some training of this sort, the child acquires 
 power to think out a subject for himself. Children in the 
 upper grades can be taught, and should be taught, to 
 make simple outlines of their subject before they start to 
 write. This keeps them from wandering, from iiying 
 the track. 
 
 Sometimes you can economize time by assigiiing 
 one subject to the whole class. Let th.etn then make 
 suggestions about the subject assigned, have these writ- 
 ten on the board, and theti vou and tlie class arrange the 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 229 
 
 material. I'lit c\on if you do the very liest you cau, you 
 will discover tlial composition work takes a very _i;reat 
 deal of time — that is certain. However, it is lime s[)ent 
 in training your children to think, so it is time spent to 
 the best possible atlvautage — and it brings the greatest 
 possible results. 
 
 5. ]t is obvious that the smaller the subject, the less 
 will the child wander, ^'ou should, therefore, fence in 
 the theme assigned — and a fence should be, I ha\'e heard, 
 "horse-high, pig-low, and bull-strong." That is, ctniail 
 the child's naturid desire to stray from the subject by 
 closely limiting the theme. When he errs, bring him 
 
 « back patiently and kindly, show him how he has failed, 
 and start him again. Of course, you will keep expanding 
 the scope of the subjects, as the child attains more thouglit 
 power. 
 
 6. Enlarge the child's vocabulary. You noticed in 
 the comi)osition we examined how many times a few 
 words are used. Sometimes emphasis or clearness is 
 gained by repeating a word ; but usually, in the writing 
 of children, nothing is gained and accuracy and variety 
 are lost. In general, the more words a person has at his 
 disposal, the more thoughts he has, for a word is the 
 symbol of a thought. Show your pu])ils how to carry 
 words over from their talk .and reading, especially the 
 latter. Most persons know (that is, can recognize) three 
 
230 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 or four times as many words as they use in talking or 
 writing; encourage your children to employ the desirable 
 words they find in books — ^being careful, needless to say, 
 not to permit them to make their writing too pretentious. 
 
 7. You. observed that in our specimen composition the 
 sentences are very short and grammatically simple. This 
 is natural, for the child, being able to think only a simple 
 thought at a time, uses short, jerky sentences. But as he 
 grows older you should teach him to express his thoughts 
 in longer, more complex sentences. Do this diplomatically 
 — rather encourage vigorously than drive rigorously; but 
 make sure that your pupils are able to see the superiority 
 of a complex sentence to a simple one or a compound, in 
 expressing most thoughts. 
 
 Talking vs. Writing 
 
 These are some of the most suggestive and fruitful 
 rules that are derivable from an examination of the com- 
 position, "My Dog." Now let us see if we cannot glean 
 some hints from an examination of the way children talk. 
 Mingle with your pupils on the playground and observe 
 the nature of their talk. It is virile, suggestive, spon- 
 taneous, natural. Bring those same boys and girls into 
 the schoolroom and set them to work on a composition — 
 what a difference ! Their writing is often restrained, life- 
 less, awkward, self-conscious. Why the difference? For 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 231 
 
 one thing, speech is a habit, writing is not. Speech there- 
 fore is felt to be more natural — in truth, so natural that 
 the children hardly think of what they say. Writing, on 
 the other hand, is felt to be both more artificial and more 
 difficult. There are more rules to be learned; they must 
 write, spell, punctuate, paragraph, and think, all at the 
 same time. Now, as a matter of fact, it is doubtful if 
 writing is much more difficult than talking ; some students 
 of the subject say the mechanical difficulties of speaking 
 are greater than those of writing — in other words, it is 
 harder to learn to use the tongue than to use the pen. 
 Observe an infant learning to talk; see how he has to 
 struggle to master the use of his tongue and how slowly 
 he acquires command of his vocal organs. He does ac- 
 quire the power, however. He does it for several rea- 
 sons : because his parents train him consistently and per- 
 sistently and patiently, because they furnish him models 
 for imitation in their own speech, because his growing 
 intellect demands a method of communicating his wants 
 and emotions better than inarticulate cries and gestures, 
 and because he keeps talking until he has formed the 
 habit. With these obvious considerations in mind, let us 
 formulate three more rules for teaching composition : 
 
 Three More Suggestions 
 
 8. Make writing a habit. Some people can think bet- 
 ter when they have a pen in their hand; that is because 
 
232 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 they have acquired the habit of writing out their thoughts. 
 Some people can think better when they are standing be- 
 fore an audience; that is because they have acquired the 
 habit of expressing their thoughts in that way. Of course, 
 we may never succeed in getting all our pupils so accus- 
 tomed to handling a pen that it will seem the natural way 
 of expressing thought; perhaps we should not wish them 
 to acquire such a fixed habit. But certainly children will 
 write better — better in every respect — if they are so accus- 
 tomed to writing that they will feel more or less at their 
 ease. 
 
 9. Following the hint given above, supply or inspire 
 motives for writing, whenever possible. Further on in 
 this chapter that point is developed. 
 
 10. Try to retain all the naturalness and expressiveness 
 of children's talk. It is a very difficult bit of teaching to 
 try to preserve the excellent qualities while correcting and 
 suggesting means for improvement. The teacher is ''be- 
 tween the hawk and the buzzard" : if he corrects too much, 
 he makes his pupils artificial and backward; if he fails 
 to correct and suggest, he fails in his task of improving 
 their language. It is a problem worthy any teacher's 
 intellect, energy, and consecration. 
 
 Let us now consider the more formal phases of compo- 
 sition work. 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 233 
 
 Four Kinds of Writing 
 
 The four kinds of writing — or of talking — are Narra- 
 tion, Description, Explanation or Exposition, and Argu- 
 ment. These words are self-explanatory, so I need not 
 discuss them further than to say that hardly any speci- 
 men of writing is exclusively one kind. One rarely finds 
 Narration unmixed with Description, or Argument free 
 from Explanation; and one almost never reads s^mon- 
 pure Description as a separate literary form. Instead, 
 therefore, of entering into a useless discussion of the 
 four forms of writing, I shall offer some general sug- 
 gestions about the teaching of these forms in the country 
 school. 
 
 Narration 
 
 Narration comes first — first in importance, first in re- 
 gard to the amount of time to be devoted to it, and first 
 in the order of time. For the lower grades Narration 
 should be given more time and emphasis than all the 
 other forms of writing combined, and throughout the 
 grades it is the favorite type. It is best adapted to chil- 
 dren, because its essence is action; children like action in 
 what they read and what they write. 
 
 Description 
 
 Description should be mingled with Narration. They 
 combine of their own accord, each being complementary 
 
234 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 to the o-ther. \Mien a pupil writes a story of his rahbit 
 hunt on Thanksgiving day he naturally introduces bits of 
 description — the kind of day, the weather, how he was 
 dressed, the brier-tield he beat through, etc. Only occa- 
 sionally should vou ask the child to produce pure Descrip- 
 tion, but there should be a good deal of it in connection 
 with other forms of writing. 
 
 ExpJaJiafioji 
 
 Simple Explanation should be begun in the lower 
 grades. "How the Blackbird Builds Its Nest." "How to 
 Make Butter." "How to Make a Pawpaw Whistle." are 
 subjects hard enc>ugh for the youngsters to cut their teeth 
 on. As they grow older, assign subjects which fit in with 
 their wider experience and with their lessons in Geogra- 
 phy, History. Agriculture, etc. An occasional examina- 
 tion furnishes opportunity for Explanation or Exposi- 
 tion. In general, this form of writing is excellent for 
 dcNeloping and training power to think. 
 
 ArgiDiioit 
 
 Argument should be reserved for the last two or three 
 grades. It can. perhaps, be carried on best orally, if you 
 will organize a literary society. Civil Government sup- 
 plies capital themes for argument or debate, but these 
 are often too dit^cult. You had best choose simple 
 subjects like: ''Should the Country School Have a Two 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 235 
 
 Months' Summer Session?" "Does It Pay to Keep 
 Sheep?" "Is Life on a Farm Preferable to Life in 
 Town?" etc. 
 
 "But," it may be said, ''what is the use of all this 
 writing? We are preparing these boys and girls for life 
 on a farm, and there they assuredly will not need to write 
 much." That is very true. But, as was shown in the 
 first part of this chapter, the WTiting of compositions 
 trains in thinking and talking, and furnishes a natural 
 outlet for the expressive instinct ; the children must have 
 plenty of writing for these reasons. However, let us turn 
 to a kind of writing that your children will — or should — 
 have something to do with in after life: letter writing. 
 
 Letters 
 
 There are two kinds of letters : Business letters, and 
 social or friendly letters; and the country child should 
 be trained in both. The business letter should be neat 
 and legible, brief and direct, precise and accurate in every 
 detail from the address to the signature. You should 
 know what are the correct forms in business letters : where 
 to put the date and address, how to address a business 
 firm, how and where to write the closing and the signa- 
 ture, how to address the envelope; and you must train 
 your pupils thoroughly in all this. The social letter should 
 be longer and quite informal and familiar. It should 
 
236 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 resemble easy, chatty conversation, and should contain 
 the personal and neighborhood news and gossip that the 
 correspondent is likely to be interested in. We do not 
 write enough letters to our friends and relatives; we do 
 not keep in touch with them. Maybe a brother has moved 
 west, and we have not heard from him in months or even 
 years, merely because we are lazy or careless about writ- 
 ing letters. That certainly is all wrong. Friends and 
 kinfolk are possessions too precious to be given up so 
 easily, especially when one lives on a lonely farm and is 
 far away from those he cares for. If the country boy 
 and girl were trained to write letters, they would not, 
 when grown, be so reluctant to correspond with friends 
 and family. Hands roughened and stiffened by hard, 
 out-of-door work cannot wield a pen as well as a hoe; 
 but if one kept in practice, his hands would be more 
 flexible. Or, why not install a typewriter in the country 
 home ? Social letters should usually be written with pen ; 
 but, after all, it is the letter that counts, not the instru- 
 ment by which it is written. The country school teacher 
 should devote a great deal of time and attention to letter 
 writing, and farmers and farmers' wives should join what 
 Professor G. Walter Fiske prettily calls "The League of 
 the Golden Pen." In these days of rural free delivery 
 there is little reason for country folks being so chary of 
 their letters. 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 237 
 
 Motivation 
 
 Now, of course, you must "motivate." That is an- 
 other of the new-fashioned words in modern pedagogy. 
 To motivate is to supply or inspire motives. As we all 
 know, children will work with more vim and interest 
 when they have some motive for work. The best way 
 to motivate letter writing is to guide your children in a 
 real correspondence. Have them write real letters to 
 "sure-enough" children— their cousins or friends that 
 have moved away. Help them write the letters and then 
 read the answers with them. I knew of a country school 
 where the teacher worked up a correspondence between 
 her older pupils and some school children in a certain 
 large city; that teacher had no trouble in training her 
 little folks in letter writing. Why not try that? It is a 
 good deal like cross-fertilization in its results. Some of 
 these days each rural school will have its own stationery, 
 with the postoffice and name of the school printed on the 
 sheets; that will encourage letter writing. 
 
 Another way in which you can motivate composition 
 writing is by starting a literary society and putting your 
 pupils on the program to read their best compositions. 
 Perhaps you can make arrangements with one of your 
 county newspapers to print a composition each week or 
 each month. Some county papers do this, and perhaps 
 others would if teachers asked them. And certainly 
 
238 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 almost every paper would be glad to have a weekly budget 
 of news from your neighborhood; why not do this in 
 your school? Your pupils can bring in the items and 
 write them out; then you can all correct and arrange the 
 material. Try this; you will find that the children will 
 take great pride in writing, when they have something 
 like this to inspire them. 
 
 Perhaps y.ou can attract some few pupils by furnish- 
 ing them., or pointing out to them, yet another motive — 
 that of self -improvement. A good many teachers seldom 
 try any other motive. Experience has shown, however, 
 that most children are influenced very little b}^ any desire 
 for improvement. They may deceive themselves into 
 believing so and may take great credit to themselves for 
 such a laudable mctive; but a child usually studies for 
 one or more of three reasons: he is interested in th-^ 
 work, he likes the teacher, or he fears the teacher. It is 
 almost futile to try to inspire a child to work in order 
 that he may be a great man some day. It is quite futile 
 to try to inspire the ordinary child to write in order that 
 he may be a great writer. The average young child 
 rarely sees farther ahead than a few days ; he is not much 
 interested, except in a vague way, in what he will become 
 in twenty years. But occasionally a teacher can urge a 
 particular child to practice writing by showing him how 
 his work is improving and how practice in writing will 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 239 
 
 be of assistance to him in after years. This will inspire 
 the more serious children, perhaps, and it should be used 
 to the limit of its influence. The wise teacher, the teacher 
 who is acquainted with child nature, relies, however, upon 
 more immediate motives — interest, first, always. 
 
 Tlie Fornial Elements 
 
 Let us now pass to another problem connected with 
 composition work in the country school : the teaching" of 
 w4iat are called the "formal elements." Most of the 
 work involved in writing compositions is "content," not 
 "formal" (you remember I discussed those terms a few 
 pages back) ; most of it induces thinking about real things, 
 ■not symbols. But in order to write, everyone must learn 
 certain "forms." The principal ones are spelling, capi- 
 talization, punctuating and paragraphing. Needless to 
 say, these must be taught. Now, the only way forms 
 can be taught is by drilling. You can teach a thing by 
 bringing it to the attention of the pupil in the right way ; 
 if it is something real, especially something he wants, he 
 reaches out and gets it. But all forms, all symbols, con- 
 ventions, must be taught by incessant drill until habits 
 are formed. When a child misspells a word in his com- 
 position, correct it; if he misspells it again, correct it 
 again. You may require him to keep a list of words 
 misspelled or may resort to any device to improve his 
 
240 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Spelling; but you must just keep hammering away until 
 he learns to spell. So of capitalization. Punctuating 
 and paragraphing require more thinking; but here, also, 
 the only way to train proper habits is to drill, drill, drill. 
 It is easy enough, for example, to learn the rule : "A 
 period must follow every declarative and imperative sen- 
 tence" ; but the only way in which a child can be taught 
 to recognize declarative and imperative sentences is to 
 practice writing sentences under the direction of the 
 teacher. It is easy enough to commit the rule : "Every 
 paragraph must contain only one main thought" ; but the 
 only satisfactory way in which the child can be taught 
 what is "one main thought" is to practice writing under 
 the direction of the teacher. The learning or the prac- 
 tice of these forms is not usually thought-provoking; but 
 they must be learned before the child can write anything 
 — a letter or an examination. 
 
 These formal elements must be mastered early, because 
 they are elements; but they should be mastered in con- 
 nection with the content, the thinking phases of the work. 
 The chief emphasis should be laid on the thought-getting 
 and the thought-expressing and the forms should be 
 taught incidentally. Many a teacher fails to make com- 
 position writing either interesting or profitable, because 
 he over-emphasizes such formal details as spelling, punc- 
 tuating, and the like. In composition work, as in religion, 
 "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 241 
 
 Sonic Definite Suggestions 
 
 Now let me make some definite suggestions about the 
 methods and devices for conducting composition work : 
 first, in the lower grades, then in the upper, finally for the 
 whole school. In doing this it will be necessary to repeat 
 what has already been said, either directly or by implica- 
 tion ; but I shall also be able to summarize the ideas scat- 
 tered through this chapter, thus making the directions 
 more compact and usable. 
 
 For the Lower Grades 
 
 1. The first compositions should consist of class exer- 
 cises. You must not tell your children to write about 
 something: you should take up some subject in class, 
 get the pupils to talking about it, and then ask them to 
 write. This "collective" work makes the writing seem 
 more like a game, it makes the children feel that assur- 
 ance which always accompanies "team work," it gives 
 them a livelier idea of the close connection between talk- 
 ing and writing, and it assists them in clarifying and 
 unifying their thoughts. Of course, this method con- 
 sumes time, but no other will properly initiate young- 
 children into the mysteries of composition writing. 
 
 2. Have the first composition written on the black- 
 board. The first writing of young children should be 
 large and it should be performed with the whole arm 
 
242 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 movement. Soft crayon on slate boards are the best 
 media; and you should pursue your trustees or board of 
 education till you have obtained what you need in these 
 respects. You may expect the penmanship of your little 
 tots to be irregular, unfixed, and straggling, and you must 
 not insist upon as much correctness and consistency and 
 regularity in the compositions as you may require in the 
 regular exercises in vi^riting. Young children can think 
 of only one thing at a time; if you force them to pay 
 too much attention to their chirography, they will give 
 less to the thought they are expressing. Moreover, it has 
 been demonstrated by experiment and experience that 
 children become more skillful penmen if they are not 
 compelled, while young, to conform too slavishly to a 
 model. Do not attempt, then to proceed very rapidly in 
 this respect; as soon as the children have gained power 
 over their muscles, they can be required to adhere more 
 closely to a copy-book example. 
 
 3. The time spent in these grades is pre-eminently the 
 period for oral composition. Since children have already 
 learned to express themselves in talk, they use speech 
 freely and naturally; but the new and difficult art of 
 writing must needs be patiently and laboriously learned. 
 Here again we can apply that significant pedagogic princi- 
 ple : From the known to the related unknown. Lead 
 your children from talking to writing. Base all the writ- 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 243 
 
 ten compositions in the early grades on talk. Prepare by 
 oral class work both the subject-matter and the expres- 
 sion. 
 
 4. A good deal of the work in the primary grades 
 should be some form of reproduction, retelling — either 
 paraphrasing (couching the ideas read or spoken by the 
 teacher in other words), expanding (enlarging on the 
 th(3ught), or condensing (abridging or shortening the 
 original). This is excellent work for little folks, because 
 since they are given the thought and, to some extent, the 
 expression, they can concentrate on the mere retelling 
 and on the formal details of writing. 
 
 This fact makes it almost obligatory on the teacher to 
 tell stories. And here is a grave weakness in the teaching 
 of the mother tongue by country teachers : they do not tell 
 stories. Two excuses are offered : inability, and lack of 
 time. As to the first, we may as well concede that story- 
 telling is not an easy art — there is no use in blinking the 
 fact. But any country teacher can learn to tell stories if 
 he goes at it hard and practices patiently and systemat- 
 ically, conquering that self -consciousness which is the 
 bane of so many teachers — country teachers, especially — 
 and observing the results of his own work by its effect 
 upon the pupils. As to the second excuse, lack of time : 
 I am willing to grant that the rural teacher has to be very 
 economical of the minutes. But, as we all know, we 
 
244 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 sometimes save time in the long run by using a little 
 more time at the right time. It takes longer to plow a 
 field well and plant corn carefully, but we do not need to 
 do so much hoeing, we cut a more abundant harvest, and 
 we leave the field in better condition for the next season. 
 And that comparison is apt, for story-telling in the lower 
 grades is analogous to plowing a field and planting the 
 grain — and surely you must make time for that. Per- 
 haps you have some older boys and girls in your school 
 who can be induced to take up this work, especially if 
 they are preparing themselves to teach; that will help 
 you. But at least you can read simple stories ; and 
 after you have done this for some time, probably you 
 will feel enough confidence in yourself to cut loose en- 
 tirely from the book. 
 
 5. In general, all the written compositions in these 
 grades should be quite short — not more than a few sen- 
 tences in the latter part of the first grade and not more 
 than one or two brief paragraphs in the second and third. 
 The ideal is : a little writing almost every day, and not 
 very much any day. 
 
 6. Begin early to train your children in these phases 
 of composition work that relate to thinking. Of course, 
 the mechanics of writing — punctuation, capitalization, 
 and the like — must be learned; but they should be at- 
 tached to the thought process — should cling to it, so to 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 245 
 
 Speak, as a wild grape vine twines around an oak. Begin 
 early to train your pupils to organize their material, to 
 reject ideas which they do not need, to choose accurate, 
 suggestive words; and train incidentally (though con- 
 sistently and conscientiously) in the formal elements. 
 
 7. Have the writing in these grades done at the school- 
 house — usually, at least. Then you can encourage and 
 suggest while the child is in the throes of composition 
 writing — which assuredly is much wiser than waiting un- 
 til the child has finished the work and then correcting it. 
 In composition teaching, as in mending, "A stitch in time 
 saves nine." 
 
 In the Upper Grades 
 
 I. Compositions should now be written first with 
 pencil, then revised and copied with pen and ink. Train 
 your elder pupils to be neat : to make no blots on their 
 paper, to leave a generous margin at the left of the page, 
 to write plainly, legibly and rapidly — eschewing the flour- 
 ishes and curlicues that so often disfigure the handwrit- 
 ing of country boys and girls, and the "Business College" 
 graduate. 
 
 2. Require longer, more complex compositions. Have 
 at least one long composition a week — by "long" I mean 
 extending over a page or two of the larger size tablet. 
 You should also require outlines. For example : On 
 Tuesday assign the subject and talk it over with your 
 
246 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 class. On Wednesday have the pupils hand in their out- 
 lines. That evening at your home look these over and 
 make corrections and suggestions. Then on Thursday 
 give them back, and have them write their compositions, 
 either at school or at home, for Friday, using the amended 
 outlines. Just a word of caution : while these outlines, 
 or plans, should be definite, they should not be too com- 
 plex. If, for instance, your children are narrating a 
 rabbit hunt, they should prepare an outline something 
 like this : 
 
 .1. Preparation and Start. 
 
 a. Time of starting. 
 
 b. The weather. 
 
 c. Guns, dogs, etc. 
 
 2. The Hunt. 
 
 a. ^^l^ere we hunted. 
 
 b. How we hunted. 
 
 c. \Miat we bagged. 
 
 3. Special Incident. (This should be stated definitely.) 
 
 4. Return Home. 
 
 In this outline the main headings represent the separate 
 paragraphs. As you can see, this making of outlines is 
 conducive to straight, connected thinking and is almost 
 indispensable to unity of thought. 
 
 3. It is a good plan to have the compositions written, 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 247 
 
 after revision, in a permanent composition book. This 
 will enable you and your children to keep close watch on 
 the work and will serA'e as an excellent record for your 
 suggestions and corrections. 
 
 4. In addition to the weekly "set" compositions, your 
 pupils should do a little original composing almost 
 every day, in connection with the regular work of the 
 school. These compositions should not be so carefully 
 done or so elaborate as the regular ones, and they need 
 not be looked over by you so closely — though they should 
 not be overlooked. In general, your aim should be to 
 give your pupils sufficient writing to make writing a 
 habit, without assigning so much that the work becomes 
 burdensome. 
 
 5. Occasionally have your pupils correct and criticise 
 each other's compositions. This will save you work and 
 train the children in critical habits. When you have 
 trained a child so that he can correct his own work, you 
 have set his feet on the path to progressive achievement, 
 either in writing or in farming ; and the best way to teach 
 him to criticise himself is to set him to work criticising 
 others. Of course, you must be discreet, adroit, tactful, 
 and insist that this work be done in the right spirit — the 
 spirit of fairness and mutual helpfulness. Your older 
 pupils can also be led to help the younger ones — thus per- 
 forming a triple service ; to you, to themselves, and to the 
 
248 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 little folks. Besides, criticism from a fellow pupil often 
 sinks deeper into the mind of a child than correction from 
 the teacher does. Many teachers of English have dis- 
 covered that they can arouse more interest and a livelier 
 discussion by letting their students criticise each other's 
 themes than by criticising them themselves. A pupil will 
 usually accept the teacher's remarks without much thought 
 or any kind of mental reaction. But let a fellow-pupil 
 make a correction that does not appeal to the writer as 
 sound, and inevitably a discussion is started, which leaves 
 both pupils better informed on that particular point. Once 
 you inspire your children with this spirit of co-operation 
 in learning to write, you have gone far toward a solution 
 of one of the baffling problems in rural pedagogy. 
 
 6. Put before your boys and girls good models of 
 writing. In the reading and literature and language les- 
 sons, call attention to those qualities of thinking and 
 expression that are admirable, and persuade your children 
 to imitate — not slavishly, but intelligently, and always 
 on subjects upon which they have something of their own 
 to say. But remember that the language of the average 
 school composition should more closely resemble good 
 spoken language than it should great literature. 
 
 In Both Lower and Upper Grades 
 
 1. Motivate as much as possible. 
 
 2. Assign definite, interesting subjects. 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 249 
 
 3. Criticise sympathetically and constructively. 
 
 4. Correlate composition work with all the activities 
 and studies of the school. 
 
 5. Keep attention focused on the thinking processes. 
 
 6. Emphasize letter-writing and other practical va- 
 rieties of composing. 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Country teachers labor under many disadvantages in 
 teaching children to write — disadvantages so evident that 
 they need not be here enumerated. But the same circum- 
 stances that limit the country teacher furnish him oppor- 
 tunities that do not come to the city teacher. The chil- 
 dren in the rural school spend more time at their seats 
 and less in the recitation than the children in city schools ; 
 improve this time by giving plenty of educative seat-work 
 — especially composition writing. Use the time gained in 
 having the children during the noon recess. Take advan- 
 tage of the fact that you have large children to help the 
 small and that you have the close community life so 
 favorable to co-operative effort and improvement. 
 
 The Query Box 
 
 I. Is the composition, "My Dog," as good zvork as zve 
 can expect from country children in the third grade? 
 
 It is, I believe, superior to most compositions of third 
 grade children. I have quite a large collection of children's 
 compositions, and I regard this as the best of rhe lot, for this 
 
250 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 grade — that is, the best of original compositions. Some 
 children will do better work than this from dictation or in 
 retelling a story ; but few will do as well when they furnish 
 both the material, the arrangement, and the language. (If 
 you will send to the Board of Education of the Indianapolis 
 Public Schools for their pamphlet entitled "Illustrative Com- 
 positions and Letters," you will receive an excellent list of 
 pupils' compositions, through all the grades. Examination 
 of these will confirm my statement that the composition on 
 "My Dog" is entitled to a high mark.) If your pupils in 
 the third, or even the fourth, grade write as well as this boy, 
 you may be sure they are writing as well as they can be 
 expected to. 
 
 ■ 2. Would you encourQge country children to wtite poetry? 
 
 Yes, if the children themselves show some interest in the 
 matter. But never force a child to write poetry ; do not take 
 up the valuable time of the school in verse-making. 
 
 3. How do yon organbe and conduct a literary society? 
 
 Send out word through your pupils and carry the word as 
 you pay your visits to the patrons, that you will have a 
 meeting at the schoolhouse on a certain evening. Talk the 
 matter over in school and get the children interested. Then, 
 on the evening appointed, give a brief talk, setting forth the 
 purposes of the contemplated organization, have the officers 
 elected (perhaps you had best serve as president for the first 
 few weeks), and a program committee appointed. Then 
 have this committee make out a program for the next meet- 
 ing. You need no constitution or by-laws, no elaborate 
 machinery, though you should be acquainted with the con- 
 ventional procedure and should teach the customary regu- 
 lations, as occasion arises. Try to have all the up-to-date 
 young men and women in the community present at the first 
 
COMPOSITION WORK 251 
 
 meeting and elect some of them as officers. If your com- 
 munity is small, perhaps your school can combine with the 
 nearest one, and hold the meetings alternately, first at your 
 schoolhouse, then at the other. Interest the school officers, 
 by all means, and persuade them to attend the meetings. 
 Hold the meetings every week or every two weeks, perhaps 
 on Friday night. 
 
 The program should consist of singing and some instru- 
 mental music, if possible; of some recitations, usually of 
 selections studied in class; of a debate, on some subject 
 closely connected with country life; of compositions written 
 in school — stories, descriptions, expositions ; of dramatiza- 
 tions of stories that have been worked out previously ; and 
 of anything else of a literary flavor. Try to have something 
 that is interesting to all your pupils and entertaining to all 
 the visitors. ]\Iake everything as informal as possible and 
 have as much fun as is consistent with good, solid work. 
 During the regular work of the week, keep alluding to the 
 society, and fit in your English as closely with the societv 
 work as seems advisable. Keep yourself as much in the 
 background as you can, but see to it that everything moves 
 smoothly along. 
 
 4. What is an oral composition F 
 
 In one sense of the word, an oral composition is any oral 
 recitation. When you call upon a pupil to recite in history, 
 you are asking him to do oral composing. But this is often 
 no more than reproducing ideas the pupil has obtained 
 directly from the text. The term "Oral Composition" is 
 applied more accurately to an oral report on some sub- 
 ject especially assigned to be thought over, outlined, and 
 composed, more or less definitely. It is a composition, dif- 
 fering from a written composition in being speech instead 
 of writing. It should be carefully prepared for presentation, 
 
252 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 and should be judged and criticized by the teacher and pupils 
 very much as a written composition is — though, of course, 
 it should be remembered that when one is speaking he cannot 
 be always deliberate, so is likely to make more mistakes than 
 when he writes. Oral composing is growing more and more 
 into favor. It has several advantages over written com- 
 posing : it does not require so much work on the part of the 
 pupils and the teacher, it trains more definitely in speaking, 
 it is often more interesting as a class exercise. It is espe- 
 cially valuable in the lower grades, since here the difficulties 
 of writing interfere with the child's thinking and expressive 
 activities. 
 
 Of course, the country teacher will not be able to have his 
 pupils do as much oral composing as the city teacher can, 
 because he cannot spare as much time for this work. He 
 should, however, have a good deal of this form of composing 
 done in the primary grades and as much in the upper grades 
 as proper apportionment of time will sanction. 
 
CHAPTER NINE 
 
 MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 
 
 The successful country teacher must be a hard student. 
 Under present conditions comparatively few country 
 teachers are able to obtain much secondary education or 
 Normal training. The salary is so low that when a coun- 
 try teacher, by diligence, ambition and sacrifice, secures 
 a higher education, he either leaves the profession or 
 accepts a more lucrative position in a city system. The 
 time is coming when we will do better by rural teachers 
 in the way of salary, thereby preserving in rural educa- 
 tional work the very best of country teachers. Until 
 that time comes, the country teacher must be a hard 
 student. He must compensate for his lack of education 
 by self-education. What he cannot obtain directly from 
 a teacher in a Normal school or college, he must glean 
 from books; what he lacks in training he must balance 
 by the closest observation of his own work. Of course, 
 no professional man or woman can succeed without dili- 
 gent study; but the country teacher must be the most 
 diligent of the diligent. 
 
 Self-education is a difficult process. "The highest of 
 all possessions," says Carlyle, "is that of self-help." To 
 
 253 
 
254 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 be sure, one can go far by self -propulsion, in the direc- 
 tion to which his nature and interests inspire. _ If one is 
 talented in mathematics, he can plod on through a heavy, 
 rough road; if one is interested in history, he can read 
 and study out his own education — though, of course, not 
 so well or so rapidly as if he has a teacher to guide him. 
 But self-education in English is unusually difficult. It is 
 such a broad subject, with so many phases and problems; 
 it depends so much upon personal contact with a teacher; 
 it involves so much training, which, by the way, almost 
 demands an instructor, it is so difficult to learn and so 
 difficult to teach — that self -education in English requires 
 a rare patience, an indomitable perseverance, an unquench- 
 able ambition. 
 
 That teacher, then, who shirks difficulties, whose low, 
 ambitionless spirit takes instinctively the path of least 
 resistance, will never succeed in molding himself into the 
 full stature of a teacher. He who wishes an easy task 
 must seek some other profession than that of teaching in 
 a country school. Days and nights, weeks and months 
 and years, of earnest, unremitting labor — that is the price 
 the country teacher must pay for self-education. But, 
 as it is a difficult work, it is a noble work — a work that 
 will bring out all one's intellectual and moral qualities 
 and strengthen all one's personality. For weaklings it 
 is an impossible task; for strong men and women it is 
 a glorious struggle. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 255 
 
 Suggestions for Self-Education 
 
 The country teacher can educate himself. To present 
 some definite suggestions and to mention some valuable 
 aids in the way of books is the purpose of this chapter. 
 What can that country teacher do who has no chance to 
 secure an education, yet wishes to continue in the profes- 
 sion and to improve from year to year — not only in the 
 English branches, but in all departments of his work? 
 
 I. He can obtain the utmost possible benefit from 
 the county and district teachers' institutes. In many 
 States the teacher is compelled to attend the county insti- 
 tutes and is paid for his attendance. But the law compels 
 no more than physical attendance; it cannot enforce 
 intellectual attendance. To many teachers the institute 
 brings no permanent benefit. They are indifferent, idle, 
 listless : having eyes, they see not ; having ears, they hear 
 not. The earnest teacher, the conscientious teacher, the 
 teacher who is ambitious to improve, finds the institute a 
 store-house of intellectual and professional food — yet 
 hardly bread prepared for the eating; rather the place 
 where seeds may be obtained, to be afterwards tested, 
 planted, and cultivated, to the end that they may bring 
 forth more abundant food. The institute is a serviceable 
 institution, if only teachers would avail themselves of its 
 services. To attend every session and attend to every- 
 thing that is said and done, to take a modest part in dis- 
 
256 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 cussions, to keep a note-book of hints, suggestions, ad- 
 dresses, methods, to be wide-awake, intellectually curious 
 — that should be the animating desire of every teacher. 
 And the good teacher attends the district institute, 
 whether required to do so or not; he is present at the 
 round-tables and teachers' conventions in his community 
 — from each of which he carries away inspiration and 
 helpful ideas. The country teacher, therefore, engaged 
 upon the arduous and honorable task of educating him- 
 self must avail himself of the opportunities afforded by 
 institutes and professional meetings. 
 
 2. He can make the best possible use of the county 
 superintendent, and the district superintendent, if there 
 be one. He can correspond with them about his prob- 
 lems; he can advise with them concerning methods. He 
 can save up certain problems against the superintendent's 
 coming and can make out of his visits an "institute of 
 two." He can write to him about ways and means of 
 getting money for a library and can secure a list of good 
 books to purchase with the money obtained. He can 
 have him talk to obdurate school officers and inspire lag- 
 ging pupils. The county and district superintendents are 
 not perfect individuals, of course; but the country teacher 
 can make much better use of them than he often does. 
 
 3. He can take and read some good educational peri- 
 odicals. These should include the State teachers' jour- 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 257 
 
 nals, and some good rural teachers' paper. Of. course, 
 this takes some money ; but even the country teacher, with 
 his meager salary, should be willing to expend a few dol- 
 lars a year for the purpose of keeping abreast of the 
 times and of securing valuable hints and suggestions for 
 teaching. 
 
 4. He can keep a close watch over his own teaching 
 for the purpose of discovering his mistakes and improv- 
 ing his methods. Some very successful teachers keep a 
 diary note-book, in which, at the end of the day, they jot 
 down everything of significance: how the children liked 
 a certain poem, what interested them most in a history 
 lesson, how the presentation of a subject in Agriculture 
 could have been improved, why the children were restless 
 at a certain time in the day, how a certain boy was dealt 
 with for a particular misdemeanor and the results of his 
 punishment, etc. Scarcely any practice is so valuable as 
 that of observing closely the effects of one's own work; 
 and the practice of recording these observations in a note- 
 book increases the value of the observations — in that it 
 tends to harden the useful custom into a habit, makes 
 the observations and conclusions more definite by expres- 
 sion, and, in the process of time, compiles a valuable 
 permanent reference book. In addition to this diary, some 
 teachers keep a scrap-book, composed of clippings from 
 school journals and of stray sentences and anecdotes 
 
258 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 found in reading. Tliis scrap-book, if the clippings and 
 notes are classified and inserted according to subject- 
 matter — Literature in one part of the book, Composition 
 work in another, anecdotes about children in another, and 
 so on — becomes a useful book. If you have never tried 
 keeping a book of this sort, you will be surprised at the 
 pleasure you get out of the practice and at the mass of 
 useful inforraation you will accumulate. 
 
 5. He can obtain the utmost benefit possible from 
 his State manual. Nearly every State, certainly every 
 progressive State, has compiled a manual of instructions 
 for the guidance of the country teachers. A copy of this 
 book should be on every teacher's desk and the principles 
 and directions should be in every teacher's mind. Usually 
 this manual gives explicit directions about the teaching of 
 all the subjects in the curriculum, about the amount of 
 work to be completed in one month and in one term, 
 about the grading of pupils, and about the dozens of 
 other important details connected with the work of con- 
 ducting a country school. No rural teacher can afford to 
 ignore his State manual. A careful study of it and an 
 intelligent obedience to its directions is one way in which 
 the teacher can acquire self-education. 
 
 6. These are but a few of the ways in which the coun- 
 try teacher who is really anxious to improve his teaching 
 can improve. But the most helpful way is yet to be men- 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 259 
 
 tioned : I refer to the practice of reading. Of course, the 
 teacher should affiUate with a reading circle; if one does 
 not exist in his neighborhood, he should organize one. 
 Get six or eight of the progressive young teachers and 
 older pupils who expect to be teachers to join with you, 
 select some good book on the teaching of English or some 
 important and difficult subject, and meet once a week 
 for discussion of the chapters. The interchange of ideas 
 is helpful and the social intercourse is both helpful and 
 pleasant. But, when all is said in behalf of the reading 
 circle, it is less beneficial than the practice of reading 
 alone; that, to my mind, is the very best way in which 
 the country teacher can educate himself. 
 
 What the Teacher Should Read 
 
 What should he read? As I have already pointed out 
 in a previous chapter (See pages 156-7), he should read 
 the children's classics in the school library; he needs to 
 know them for his own sake and for the purpose of inspir- 
 ing his pupils to read them. But, of course, most of his 
 reading should be in the "gfown-up" literature: fiction, 
 essays, drama, poetry. This should be read for the delight 
 in the reading ; but the teacher, being a mature person and, 
 presumably, eager to attain culture and wisdom, should 
 voluntarily subject himself to a course of reading that re- 
 quires concentration and will-power. That is, the teacher 
 should realize that in order to develop to his greatest 
 
260 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 capacity, he must put himself under the tuition of the 
 greatest Hterature. If it is not entirely a matter of pleas- 
 ure for the time being, he must persevere, in the knowl- 
 edge that in the end he will find more genuine enjoy- 
 ment than if he follows the path of least resistance in his 
 reading. I have known good country teachers who were 
 not steady readers; but I have never known one who 
 would not have enhanced his abilities by undertaking and 
 pursuing a course in choice literature. In these days of 
 inexpensive books, there is not a shadow of excuse for the 
 teacher who is ignorant of English and American litera- 
 ture. If you, teacher, are not acquainted with the inspir- 
 ing works of the great masters of poetry and prose, you 
 have not availed yourself of the best of all opportunities 
 of educating yourself. He who knows and loves a half 
 dozen supreme authors has more true education than 
 many a college graduate. 
 
 Now, as I have constantly and consistently maintained, 
 the most perfect joys of reading come to him who reads 
 for pleasure. This does not mean, however, as I showed 
 in the last paragraph, that a teacher should not read what 
 may be difficult for the moment for the sake of the greater 
 pleasure to follow. Nor does it mean that a teacher 
 should not select his reading from that literature which 
 will best fit in with his profession. We should read for 
 pleasure; but in the process of obtaining pleasure, we 
 may, incidentally, pick up many a hint that will be immed- 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 261 
 
 lately serviceable to us in our teaching. For example, 
 since Nature Study is so important in the country school 
 and since Nature herself should be a passion with coun- 
 try people, it is well for the country teacher to read the 
 great nature poets — Wordsworth, Cowper, Burns, Bryant. 
 And since every teacher needs to know children thor- 
 oughly, he may well familiarize himself with that litera- 
 ture that deals with children — not literature for children, 
 but about children; and he should be a willing reader of 
 all that literatiire which is based on school life. A 
 rural teacher once said that Dickens' "Oliver Twist" 
 had given him more inspiration to be a good teacher than 
 had all the books of Pedagogy he had ever read. 
 "Inspired" is the word he used ; and it is the exact word. 
 Most of the books on professional subjects do not inspire, 
 do not breathe into us the breath of life, the spirit; any 
 literature worthy the name does inspire. Personally, I 
 have attained to a more thorough understanding of child 
 nature from two or three novels than from the many 
 volumes on Child Study through which I have toiled. Do 
 you want to know children? Study them in real life, 
 study them in the text-books, but above all, study them 
 in the literature in which they are found. A great author 
 has often a thousandfold more understanding of the 
 heart of a child than we have, or than scientists have. 
 Read "The Mill on the Floss," read Meredith's "The 
 Ordeal of Richard Feverel," read Barrie's "Sentimental 
 
262 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Tommy," Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer," and books of 
 this sort ; and you will imderstand children as you never 
 have before. 
 
 A teacher should read much more literature than he 
 does pedag'ogy. But he should read many books on peda- 
 g-ogy, too. I am not here concerned with the general 
 subject of professional reading; my only concern is 
 English in the Country School. What books should the 
 country teacher read on English? 
 
 Before I give a list of books on the teaching of Eng- 
 lish, let me recommend a brief list on country life in 
 general and the country school in particular. ]\Iany coun- 
 try teachers need to be better informed on the social, 
 economic, and educational possibilities of the rural school ; 
 manv do not have their eyes open to the splendid vision 
 of their possible service to the community. No one can 
 be a sfood teacher of Eno-lish in the country school who 
 is not inspired by an ideal of a highly efficient nu-al 
 school, who does not comprehend the work he is called 
 upon to perform, in all the branches in the curriculum, 
 in all the activities of the school. Here, then, is a list of 
 excellent books for the country teacher. I have marked 
 with a star those volumes that are most valuable. Get 
 some of them, and see Jiow your ideas expand. 
 
 Books axd Pamphlets on Country Life 
 
 *L. H. Bailey, Country Life Movement, jMacmillan Co., 
 New York, $1.25. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 263 
 
 *L. H. Bailey, Training of Farmers, Century Co., New 
 York, $1.25. 
 K. L. Butterfield, Chapters in Rural Progress, University 
 
 of Chicago Press, $1. 
 *G. Walter Fiske, Challenge of the Country, Association 
 Press, New York. $0.50. 
 Geo. E. Johnson, The Country Boy, Massachusetts Civic 
 League, 3 Joy St., Boston, $0.03. 
 *Horace Plunkett, Rural Life Problems in the United 
 
 States, Macmillan Co., New York, $1.25. 
 *W. A. IMcKeever, Farm Boys and Girls, Macmillan Co., 
 
 New York, $1.50. 
 *Free Bulletins, United States Bureau of Education, 
 Washington, D. C. : 
 No. 469 — Course of Study for Preparation of Rural 
 
 School Teachers. 
 No. 480 — Country School for City Boys. 
 No. 493 — Comparison of Urban and Rural Common 
 School Statistics. 
 *Report of the Commission on Country Life, Government 
 Printing Office, Washington, D. C, $0.10. 
 Books on the Country School 
 *Mabel Carney, Country Life and the Country School, 
 Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago, 111., $1.25. 
 Harold W. Foght. American Rural School, Macmillan 
 
 Co., New York, $1.25. 
 O. J. Kern, Among Country Schools, Ginn & Co., New 
 York, $1.25. 
 *Angelina Wray, Jean Mitchell's School, Public School 
 Pub. Co., Bloomington, III, $1. 
 
 Now for the books on the Teaching of English. You 
 will understand that none of the volumes listed here were 
 written especially for country schools or country teachers. 
 
264 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 But inasmuch as so many of the problems in the city 
 schools and in the rural schools are identical, and inasmuch 
 as all the details of English teaching are so difficult and 
 important, every progressive rural teacher should possess 
 and study some of these books on English. I have sepa- 
 rated them into the various branches and have marked the 
 most helpful with a star. The first three deal with 
 
 English — In General 
 
 *Carpenter, Baker & Scott, Teaching of English, Long- 
 mans, Green & Co., New York, $1.50. 
 Percival Chubb, Teaching of English (Elementary School 
 Course), Macmillan Co., New York, $0.75. 
 * James F. Hosic, Elementary Course in English, University 
 - of Chicago Press, Chicago, 111., $0.75. 
 These are excellent books, dealing with all phases of 
 English teaching. 
 
 As the subject of Reading, especially primary Reading, 
 is so very difficult, I have made out a list of several books 
 that deal with various phases of the work. Some of these 
 presuppose a considerable amount of information on the 
 part of the teacher ; but all can be understood with close 
 study. None of the books here mentioned treat the Alpha- 
 bet method — in fact, all students of the subject agree that 
 it is far inferior to the modern methods. The country 
 teacher needs several good books on Reading. Select one 
 or two of those listed below and purchase them now ; then 
 get one or two more next year. 
 
 Books on Reading 
 
 *Arnold, Reading and How to Teach It, Silver, Burdett & 
 
 Co., New York, $1.00. 
 *Briggs and Coffman, Reading in the Public Schools, Row, 
 
 Peterson & Co., Chicago, 111., $1.25. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 265 
 
 *Farnham, Sentence ^Method of Reading, C. W. Bardeen, 
 
 Syracuse, N. Y., $0.50. 
 Huey, The Psycholog}- and Pedagogy of Reading, Alac- 
 
 millan Co., New York. $1.40. 
 Hughes, Teaching to Read, A. S. Barnes Co., New York, 
 
 $0.50. 
 Laing. Reading, A Manual for Teachers, D. C. Heath, 
 
 Boston. 
 *McMurry. Special Method in Primary Reading, D. C. 
 Heath, Boston, $0.75. 
 
 Most of the books mentioned above discuss Literature 
 as well as Reading. ]\Iost of them discuss both oral and 
 silent reading. From the adult point of view, I especially 
 recommend for 
 
 Oral Re.\ding 
 
 *Clark, How to Teach Reading in the Public School, Scott, 
 Foresman & Co., New York, $1. 
 But, as I have explained in this book (See pages 44-8), the 
 teaching of Literature and of Reading are not identical. 
 The teacher needs some books to guide him in teaching 
 literature — in some respects the most important of all the 
 subjects in the country school curriculum. I give, there- 
 fore, a list of volumes that deal especially with this subject, 
 marking with a star the best ones for the rural teacher. 
 
 Books on Literature 
 
 *Cax, Literature in the Common Schools, Little, Brown & 
 
 Co., Boston, $0.90. 
 *MacClintock, Literature in the Elementary Schools, Uni- 
 
 v^ersity of Chicago Press, Chicago, $1. 
 McMurry. Special Method in Reading of English Classics, 
 
 jMacmillan Co., New York, $0.75. 
 
266 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 The books just mentioned discuss the general process of 
 teaching Literature. Some other books that shouki be in 
 the country teacher's hbrary are those that present definite 
 models of teaching — books that show how to teach specific 
 selections. Some of the following volumes contain many 
 of the selections that are sure to be in the adopted school 
 readers; if the teacher, therefore, has these books, he will 
 be greatly aided in presenting these selections. In case a 
 poem or a prose masterpiece is not found in the school 
 readers, the teacher can often put the selection on the board 
 or have the children buy it in a cheap edition. Even if the 
 teacher makes no direct use of the selection, he obtains 
 valuable suggestions that will assist him in interpreting 
 literature and in teaching the subject. Five of the best 
 books that contain nothing but good selections, together 
 with directions for teaching and explanations. I mention 
 below. The last two could well be put into the hands of 
 the pupils as supplementary readers. 
 
 Books Containing Selections and Suggestions for 
 Teaching 
 
 *Barbe, Famous Poems Explained, Hinds, Noble and Eld- 
 redge. New York, $i. 
 
 *Haliburton and Smith. Teaching Poetry in the Grades, 
 Houghton, IMifflin Co., Boston, $0.60. 
 
 *Searson and Martin, Studies in Reading, University Pub- 
 lishing Co., Chicago. $0.80. 
 
 *Searson and Martin. Studies in Reading (Fourth Reader), 
 University Publishing Co.. $0.65. 
 
 *Searson and Martin. Studies in Reading (Fifth Reader), 
 University Publishing Co., $0.75. 
 
 Perhaps you think I have already given a long enough list 
 of books on Literature. But there is yet another class of 
 books that the countrv teacher needs : books that deal with 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 267 
 
 the proper selection of juvenile books and with the develop- 
 ment of the reading habit. Most of the general books on 
 English, the books on Reading, and those on Literature 
 discuss this subject. I think it is evident, though, that, 
 since the development of correct reading habits is so impor- 
 tant to country children, the country teacher should study a 
 book or two dealing with the specific problems in the forma- 
 tion of such habits. I shall mention only three books ; if 
 the teacher knows these, he can be reasonably sure of 
 keeping on the right track. 
 
 Books on Selection of Books and the Development 
 OF the Reading Habit 
 
 Colby, Literature and Life in the School, Houghton. Mif- 
 flin Co., $1.25. 
 
 Field, Finger Posts to Children's Reading, A. C. McClurg, 
 Chicago, $1. 
 
 Welsh. Right Reading for Children. D. C. Heath & Co., 
 Boston, Free. 
 
 These three books will give you a pretty good idea of 
 the class of books to select for the school library. But 
 they do not give lists of the books themselves. As I have 
 said (See page 144), if you do not feel qualified to select 
 the volumes for the children's library, it is a good plan 
 to consult your district or county superintendent, or to 
 write to the state superintendent. But it is well for the 
 teacher to have on hand a number of bibliographies of 
 .<:hildren's books, especially as some of the very best cost 
 nothing but the postal card that you use to ask for them. 
 Some of these bibliographies print short descriptions of 
 the books they mention ; these are especially helpful. Of 
 course, most of these lists were not compiled for country 
 school libraries, but they are useful nevertheless. They 
 
26S ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 usually give publishers, prices, the grade that each book is 
 suited for, and other useful information. 
 
 Bibliographies of Children's Books 
 Write to any of the following: 
 
 Public Libraries of the following cities for all their free 
 leaflets and lists : New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, 
 Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago. 
 
 ]\Iiss Nan JNIildren. care Ladies' Home Journal. Philadel- 
 phia, for her lists of books, especially the list for country 
 children. (Enclose self-addressed stamped envelope.) 
 
 Department of Public Instruction, Lansing. ^lich., for the 
 List of ChUdroi's Books for the ScJiool Libraries of 
 Michigan. 
 
 Department of Public Instruction. Springfield. 111., for The 
 Use of the School Library in tJic Homes a)id ScJiooIs of 
 Illi)iois. 
 
 Department of Public Instruction. Des ^loines, Iowa, for 
 the Catalog of Library Books for the ScJiool Districts of 
 lozi'a. (The best list for country teachers that I know.) 
 
 Department of Schools. Charleston. W. Va., for Library 
 Day — Program and Suggestions, for 1911. 
 
 American Library Association Publishing Board, Chicago, 
 111., for 550 Chihiren's Books. 
 
 Penn Publishing Co.. Philadelphia, for their pamphlet, 
 .htz'fViile Readers as a)i Asset. 
 
 jMassachusetts Civic League. 3 Joy Street, Boston. Mass.. 
 for their pamphlet. A Ullage Library. It shows what 
 can be done in a country community with a good library. 
 (Price 5 cents.) 
 
 Democrat Publishing Co.. ^Madison, Wis., Suggestive List 
 of Children's Books for a Small Library. (Price 25 
 cents.) 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION . 269 
 
 Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, for 
 their Bibliography of Children's Reading, originally 
 issued as numbers of the Teachers. College Record. 
 (Price 60 cents.) 
 
 A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 0)w Thousand Books for 
 Children, by Coussens. (Price $1.00.) 
 
 A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, A Mother's List of Books 
 for Children, by Arnold. (Price $1.00.) 
 
 In case you want the children to get some cheap supple- 
 mentary reading, you will find good material in the publi- 
 cations of the firms listed below. Perhaps you want to 
 teach Hawthorne's "The Great Stone Face," or Whittier's 
 "The Barefoot Boy," or some other classic that is not in 
 your school readers. You can find such selections as these 
 among the publications of these firms. Hardly any parent 
 will refuse to contribute a few cents for his child's reading, 
 though he might object to purchasing an entire supple- 
 mentary reader, costing, perhaps, 50 cents. Send at once 
 for the catalogs of the following 
 
 Publishers of Inexpensive Classics 
 
 Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass., Riverside Literature 
 
 Series. 
 Educational Publishing Co., New York, 5 and 10 cent 
 
 Classics. 
 D. H. Knowlton & Co., Farmington, ]\Ie., 3 and 5 cent 
 
 Classics. 
 Orville Brewer Publishing Co., Chicago, Brewer's Classics. 
 C. M. Parker, Taylorville, 111., Parker's Penny Classics. 
 
 The principal objection to buying these inexpensive 
 classics is that, being bound in paper, they are easily de- 
 stroved. and that thev usuallv contain but a small amount 
 
270 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 of literature — often only one or two selections. If you 
 can persuade the parents to spend the money, you .should 
 get some supplementar}' readers for your pupils, instead of, 
 or in addition to, the cheap classics. If the parents are unwill- 
 ing to buy these supplementary books, or if your school offi- 
 cers Avill not furnish you the money, perhaps you can use 
 some of the money designed for library books. Whatever plan 
 you adopt, he sure to have some supplementary readers. 
 It is a burning shame to compel the children to read over 
 and over selections from which they already have abstracted 
 all the interest and emotion. You need supplementary 
 readers in order to teach reading and in order to teach 
 literature. By some means or other, supply your pupils 
 with at least one reader in addition to the regular text. 
 And when you do get this additional book, select one that 
 is composed entirely of Literature. Here are some of the 
 best series of books for supplementary work : 
 
 Supplementary Literature Series 
 
 The Heart of Oak Books, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston. 
 
 Seven books, costing, respectively, 25c. 35c, 45c. 50c, 
 
 55c. 60c. 65c. 
 Reading-Literature, Row. Peterson & Co., Chicago. Primer 
 
 and First. Second. Third and Fourth Readers, costing. 
 
 respectively. 32c. 36c. 40c. 45c, and 50c. 
 Elson's Grammar School Literature, Scott, Foresman & Co., 
 
 New York. Four books for upper grades, costing, 
 
 respectively, 50c. 50c. 60c. 60c. 
 \Villiams' Choice Literature, American Book Co., Cincin- 
 nati, O. Six books, costing, respectively, 22c, 25c, 28c, 
 
 35c, 40c, 45c. 
 An excellent collection of selections from American 
 orations is the following: 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 271 
 
 Brittain and Harris, Historical Reader for Schools, Amer- 
 ican Book Co., Cincinnati, O.. 75c. 
 
 This book is almost invaluable for correlating History and 
 
 Literature. 
 
 A good collection of memory gems is : 
 
 Hix's Approved Selections for Reading and Memorizing, 
 Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, New York. Eight books, 25c 
 each. 
 
 The fact that the selections in these books are for memo- 
 rizing should not, of course, influence the teacher to assign 
 selections for memorizing until they have been studied and 
 appreciated in class. These books are similar to other books 
 containing literary material, except that the selections are 
 particularly good for storing away in the memory. 
 
 On page 126 I spoke of the value of good pictures, both 
 as agents for training the esthetic sense and as aids in 
 teaching literature. Below I give a list of pictures which 
 are excellent from both standpoints. The list was com- 
 piled by experiments through three years in the County 
 Training School of the Western Illinois State Normal 
 School. Nearly all of these pictures can be obtained very 
 cheaply from either The Perry Picture Co., Maiden, Mass., 
 or from G. P. Brown & Co., Beverley, Mass. 
 
 Breton — The Song of the Lark. 
 
 Millet — The Gleaners, The Sower, Angelus, Feeding her 
 
 Birds, The Rainbow. 
 Landseer — Saved, Dignity and Impudence, Shoeing the Bay 
 
 Mare, Kmg of the Forest. 
 Corot — Spring, Landscape with Cottages, The Lake. 
 Troyon — Return to the Farm, Evening in May. 
 Bonheur — A Norman Sire, A Humble Servant. 
 Dupre — The Balloon. 
 
ZU ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Herring — Three Members of a Temperance Society. 
 
 Le Rolle — By the River, The Shepherdess. 
 
 Ruysdael — Landscape with Windmill. 
 
 Inness — Autumn Gold. 
 
 Gorter — Fading Light of Day. 
 
 Hobbema — Avenue of Trees. 
 
 Constable — The Cornfield. 
 
 Rieke — Sunset Glow. 
 
 Zuber — September. 
 
 Hunt — Deer by Moonlight. 
 
 Hart — The Brookside. 
 
 Davis — Close of Day. 
 
 Douglas — Young England. 
 
 Hovenden — Breaking Home Ties. 
 
 Grueze — The Broken Pitcher. 
 
 The above is only a partial list. The complete list can 
 be found in Miss Mabel Carney's "Country Life and the 
 Country School," pages 364-5. 
 
 I have spoken (See page 38) of the desirability of the 
 country teacher's dramatizing literature for the children to 
 act. It is best, perhaps, for the teacher to make his own 
 dramatizations ; but, since country teachers usually have 
 had no experience in this sort of work, I mention two or 
 three books that contain literary selections or well-known 
 stories already dramatized. The country teacher should 
 buy one or two of these volumes and have his pupils play 
 the selections just as they are arranged ; then, after he and 
 the pupils have had the benefit of this training, they can 
 adapt some of the selections in their readers. Country chil- 
 dren need this kind of work, both for the enjoyment it gives 
 and for the assistance it renders in interpreting and appre- 
 ciating literature. Some of the best volumes for the un- 
 trained country teacher are the following: 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 273 
 
 Dramatized Literature 
 
 Cyr, Dramatic First Reader, Ginn & Co., New York, 30c. 
 Johnson and Barnum, Book of Plays for Little- Actors, 
 
 American Book Co., Cincinnati, 30c. 
 Noyes and Ray, Little Plays for Little People, Ginn & Co., 
 
 .35c. 
 Stevenson, Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, Houghton, 
 
 Mifflin Co., Boston, 50c. 
 Gardner, Land of Make-Believe, Educational Publishing 
 
 Co., New York, 40c. 
 
 Little plays of the typ£ contained in these books are excel- 
 lent to present at your literary society. In case, however, 
 you wish to work up something more elaborate, either for 
 literary society or for a school entertainment, you need to 
 look elsewhere. Do not get some cheap book of shallow, 
 silly dialogs : most of the so-called "Dialog Books" contain 
 precisely that sort of stuff. Two volumes of the best kind 
 of dialogs and plays I mention here. 
 
 Literary Plays and Dialogs 
 
 Gunnison, New Dialogues and Plays, Hinds, Noble & Eld- 
 
 redge. New York. 
 St. Nicholas Plays and Operettas, Century Co., New York. 
 
 $1.00. 
 
 In case you desire to give something yet more pretentious 
 and ambitious, you will find the following plays excellent in 
 every respect, and not too difficult : 
 
 Alcott-Gould, Little Men Play, and Little Women Play, 
 Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass., each, 50c. 
 
 In case you have money enough to subscribe for some 
 magazines, or in case you can persuade some generous citi- 
 
274 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 zen to contribute enough for this, by all means get some 
 of those periodicals that will appeal to children — country 
 children. If you have sufficient funds, get some of the 
 news-magazines, like the "Outlook" or the "Independent" ; 
 but do not spend the children's money on such periodicals 
 (worthy though they be), until you have subscribed to the 
 best childrein's magazines. So far as I know, there is no 
 magazines designed for little country boys and girls ; but, 
 since they are not designed for city boys and girls either, 
 they are as suitable for the one as for the other. Here is a 
 brief list, the best being starred : 
 
 Periodicals for Country School Libraries 
 
 *American Boy, Sprague Publishing Co., Detroit, Mich. 
 $1 a year. 
 
 *The Little Folks' Magazine, S. E. Cassino Co., Salem, 
 Mass. $1 a year. 
 
 *Rural Manhood, Y. M. C. A. International Committee, 
 New York. $i a year. (This is for the older children. 
 It is such an excellent magazine for country teachers 
 that the teacher should subscribe for it, then lend the 
 copy to the school.) 
 
 *The Saint Nicholas, Century Co., New York. $3 a year. 
 (This is an expensive magazine, but it is undoubtedly 
 the very best children's magazine published. If you can 
 afford it, subscribe, by all means.) 
 
 Youth's Companion, Perry Mason Co., Boston. $2 a year. 
 (A splendid weekly magazine, enjoyed both by children 
 and adults. Perhaps some patron of your school is 
 already a subscriber, and will lend his copy.) 
 
 The country teacher must be a Story-teller. (See page 
 243.) If you have had no experience in this art, so essential 
 to good teaching, especially good primary teaching, you had 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 275 
 
 best buy the two books listed below and study them care- 
 fully ; then begin to train yourself. 
 
 Books on vStory-Telling 
 
 Bryant. How to Tell Stories to Children, Houghton, Mifflin 
 
 Co., Boston. $1. 
 Lyman, Story-Telling, A. C. McClurg, Chicago. 75c. 
 
 In regard to the teaching of Spelling, I wish to recom- 
 mend only one book : 
 
 Suzzalo, The Teaching of Spelling. Teachers College. 
 Columbia University, New York. Price 30c. 
 
 With this inexpensive book and the suggestions I have 
 already given in the chapter on Spelling, you can easily 
 solve all the difficulties in this subject. 
 
 Dictionaries 
 
 The New International Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Co., 
 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 The Academic Dictionary, American Book Co., Cincinnati. 
 
 $1.80. 
 
 I list below three interesting books on Word Study. (See 
 page 175.) For a satisfactory history of the English lan- 
 guage and for other valuable information on various phases 
 of our mother tongue, consult the introduction to the Inter- 
 national Dictionary mentioned above. 
 
 Books on Word Study 
 
 Anderson. A Study of English Words, American Book Co., 
 
 Cincinnati. 40c. 
 Johnson, English Words, American Book Co., Cincinnati, 
 
 84c. 
 
276 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Greenough and Kittredge, Words and their Ways in English 
 Speech, Macmillan Co., New York, $i.io. 
 
 On page i8o I have recorded my conviction that the 
 country teacher should know Grammar, even though he 
 should not attempt to teach it as a separate study. A very 
 readable and instructive book on Grammar is: 
 
 Leonard, Grammar and Its Reasons, A. S. Barnes Co., 
 New York, $1.50. 
 
 And if you wish to delve into a more difficult treatment of 
 the same subject, you will find this book worth while: 
 Sheffield; Grammar and Thinking, G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 Self -Education in Writing 
 
 Perhaps self-education in Composition writing is the 
 most difficult for a country teacher to acquire. It is almost 
 essential that the teacher not only know how to teach the 
 subject but that he be able to write good English. Nothing 
 but training in writing will thoroughly equip a teacher to 
 give instruction in writing; and self-training is the most 
 difficult part in self -education. It can be done, however, 
 as the experience of many authors proves. Read Frank- 
 lin's Autobiography and observe how he acquired his 
 style. A sentence or two from Robert Louis Stevenson's 
 essay, "A College Magazine," will show how Stevenson 
 worked — and Stevenson, it should be said, succeeded in 
 acquiring a masterly style: "Whenever I read a book or a 
 passage that particularly pleased me, in which a thing was 
 said or an effect rendered with propriety, in which there 
 was either some conspicuous force or some happy dis- 
 tinction in the style, I must sit down at once and set myself 
 to ape that quality. I was unsuccessful, and I knew it; 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 277 
 
 and tried again, and was again unsuccessful and always 
 unsuccessful; but at least in these vain bouts I got some 
 practice in rhythm, in harmony, in construction and the 
 co-ordination of parts." Almost all authors have had to 
 practice in somewhat this way; almost all, from Shakes- 
 peare to Hawthorne, have had to serve an apprenticeship 
 to the master workmen of their craft. Of course, we 
 teachers cannot hope to become great authors ; but there 
 is no valid reason we cannot learn to write good English 
 by following in the footsteps of those who have become 
 great authors. 
 
 The country teacher should practice writing. Perhaps 
 you can form a partnership with a near-by teacher ; I have 
 heard of teachers pairing off in this way, each writing one 
 composition a week, then meeting on a certain evening and 
 criticizing each other's production. Write an occasional 
 article for the county paper or to some state educational 
 journal; prepare papers for the district institute or the 
 reading circle. Conduct a correspondence with some friend. 
 Read much choice literature and try to imitate the fine 
 passages. Consult the dictionary often. When you assign 
 your children a subject for a composition, write a compo- 
 sition yourself on the same subject. Get some supple- 
 mentary language books and perform all the exercises called 
 for there. Go to school to yourself — and don't play hookey. 
 As you keep on writing and criticizing your work, you will 
 improve in power to guide your pupils in their efforts, to 
 say nothing of developing yourself in an art that will always 
 be useful to you, in school or out. 
 
 As you practice writing, study some good books on Com- 
 position teaching. I suggest below three books the study 
 of which will illuminate the whole subject of guidance and 
 instruction in this important school activity. 
 
278 ^ ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 Books on Composition Telvching 
 
 Clapp and Huston, Conduct of Composition Work in Gram- 
 mar Schools, D. C. Heath & Co., Boston. 25c. (This is 
 particularly valuable for upper grade work.) 
 
 Spalding, Problem of Elementary Composition, D. C. 
 Heath & Co., Boston, 40c. 
 
 Taylor, Composition in the Elementary School, A. S. Barnes 
 & Co., New York, 90c. 
 A very useful pamphlet is 
 
 Bulletin No, 490 of the United States Bureau of Education, 
 Washington, D. C. : Teaching Language Through Agri- 
 culture and Domestic Science. (This costs nothing and 
 is worth a great deal to country teachers.) 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 These, then, are the best means by which the country 
 teacher can educate himself : He can get the utmost possible 
 benefit from institutes and teachers' gatherings, and from 
 the district, county, and state superintendents ; he can 
 study educational magazines ; he can keep a careful watch 
 over his own teaching; he can use to advantage the state 
 manual ; he can read good books — both literary and infor- 
 mational. Some teachers enroll in correspondence schools 
 and obtain excellent results, though English is the most 
 difficult of all subjects to study by correspondence.* Other 
 teachers attend summer terms at a Normal School or Col- 
 lege — a most excellent plan, if the money can be spared. 
 
 Adopt some of these means, or all of them ; but educate 
 yourself. Any of them costs money, needless to say ; and, 
 as I have already said, the countr}^ teacher cannot be 
 
 * If any teacher is interested in Correspondence Schools, he 
 should write to the State Superintendent or to the Bureau of Edu- 
 cation at Washington, and learn what are the best schools of this 
 kind in his territory. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 279 
 
 expected, on his present salary in most states, to pay out 
 much for his education. But however small his salary, he 
 owes it to himself and to the boys and girls he teaches to 
 set aside some money for self-education. Use ten dollars 
 a year to buy books — surely you can afford to do that; in 
 a few years you will have a splendid library. You can 
 depend upon this : every dollar you spend in self-education, 
 genuine education, will pay for itself many times over, not 
 only in dollars and cents but in the satisfaction that comes 
 from greater efficiency and power. Educate yourself. 
 
 A Hundred Books for a Rural School Library 
 
 The list given on these pages makes no pretense of being 
 complete — it is merely a hundred books that are especially 
 suitable for a country school library. It does not include 
 many vohimes that should be in the country school library : 
 books on the various phases of Agriculture, etc.; and of 
 course it does not exclude many books that are as valuable 
 for city children as for their country cousins. It is not to 
 be considered as a guide for selecting books except in this 
 one particular : every book in the list is excellent for country 
 children. 
 
 I have given the publisher and price of almost every 
 volume, that the list may be as convenient as possible. In 
 those instances in which the publisher and price is not 
 given, the book can be obtained from any one of several 
 firms. 
 
 Any attempt to classify children's books accurately is 
 frustrated by the fact that some books do not belong exclu- 
 sively to any one type. The classification I have attempted 
 aims merely at reasonable accuracy; I have not been, nor 
 should the teacher be, disturbed by the bugbear of scientific 
 nomenclature. If a book makes its appeal as a fairy story, 
 it makes little difference whether it be a nursery tale, a 
 
280 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 folk-story, or a wonder book. In general, however, I have 
 tried to carry out the classification made in Chapters Two 
 and Three, though that classification is intended to apply only 
 to selections studied in class. The figures placed before the 
 titles show for what grades the books are most suitable. 
 
 Primers and Readers 
 
 I Blaisdell, Boy Blue and His Friends, Little, Brown & 
 Co., Boston, 6oc. 
 I — 2 Free and Treadwell, Reading — Literature, Primer, 
 First and Second Readers, Row, Peterson & Co., 
 Chicago, 32c, 36c, 40c. 
 I Grover, Outdoor Primer, Rand, IMclSTally & Co., 
 New York, 25c. 
 • I Grover, Sunbonnet Babies Primer, Rand, ]\IcNally & 
 Co., New York, 40c. 
 I — 2 Lucia, Peter and Polly, American Book Co., Cin- 
 cinnati, 35c. 
 
 Fables 
 
 2 — 4 -F^sop's Fables. Ginn & Co., New York, 35c. 
 
 Letters 
 
 5 — 7 Tappan, Letters from Colonial Children, Houghton 
 j\Iifflin Co., Boston, $1.50. 
 
 Fairy Stories and Wonder Tales 
 
 5 — 6 Arabian Nights, Ginn & Co., New York, 45c. 
 
 3 — 5 Anderson — Fairy Tales. 
 
 4 — 6 Carroll — "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and 
 
 "Through the Looking Glass," IMacmillan Co., 
 
 New York, $1.25. 
 4 — 5 Collodi — Adventures of Pinocchio, Ginn & Co., New 
 
 York, 40c. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 281 
 
 3 — 5 Craik — Adventures of a Brownie, Educational Pub- 
 lishing Co.. New York, 40c. 
 
 2 — 4 Thomsen — East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, 
 Row, Peterson & Co., Chicago, 60c. 
 
 3 — 5 Grimm — Fairy Tales. 
 
 2 — 4 Ingelow — Three Fairy Tales, D. C. Heath, Boston, 
 20c. 
 
 4 — 6 Jacobs — English Fairy Tales, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 
 New York, $1.25. 
 
 4 — 5 Kingsley — Water Babies, Ginn & Co., New York, 
 35c. 
 
 5 — 6 Kipling — Just So Stories, Doubleday, Page & Co., 
 New York, $1.20. 
 
 4 — 5 Lang — Green Fairy Book, A. L. Burt, Chicago, $1.00. 
 
 6 — 8 MacDonald — Princess and the Goblin, J. B, Lippin- 
 cott, Philadelphia, $1.00. 
 
 2 — 3 Perrault — Tales of Mother Goose, D. C. Heath & 
 Co., Boston, 20c. 
 
 5 — 6 Ruskin — King of the Golden River, D. C. Heath & 
 Co., Boston, 20c. 
 
 5 — 8 Swift — Gulliver's Travels, D. C. Heath & Co., Bos- 
 ton, 30c. 
 
 6 — 8 Thackeray — Rose and the Ring, D. C. Heath & Co., 
 Boston, 25c. 
 
 4 — 5 Raspe — Travels of Munchausen, D. C. Heath & Co., 
 Boston, 20c. 
 
 Animal and Nature Stories 
 
 4 — 6 Andrews — Stories Mother Nature Told, Ginn & Co., 
 
 New York, 50c. 
 4 — 6 Ariel — Those Dreadful Mouse Boys, Ginn & Co., 
 
 New York, 80c. 
 
282 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 6 — 7 Brown — Rab and His Friends. 
 
 3-^5 Fox — Farmer Brown and the Birds, L. C. Page & 
 
 Co., New York, 50c. 
 5 — 8 Harris — Nights with Uncle Remus, Houghton Mif- 
 flin, Boston, $1.50. 
 5 — 7 Jefferies — Sir Bevis, Ginn & Co., New York, 30c. 
 2 — 3 Johonnot — Book of Cats and Dogs, American Book 
 
 Co., Cincinnati, 20c. 
 7 — 8 Keffer — Nature Studies on the Farm, American 
 
 Book Co., Cincinnati, 40c. 
 5 — 6 Kipling — Jungle Book, Century Co., New York, 
 
 $1.50. 
 6 — 8 Long — Wood Folk at School, Ginn & Co., New York, 
 
 50c. 
 6 — 8 Long — Little Brother to the Bear, Ginn & Co., New 
 
 York, 50c. 
 2 — 4 Pitre — The Swallow Book, American Book Co., 
 
 Cincinnati. 
 I — 2 Potter — Tale of Peter Rabbit, Frederick Warne & 
 
 Co., New York, 50c. 
 3 — 5 Pyle — Stories of Humble Friends, American Book 
 
 Co., Cincinnati, 50c. 
 2 — 3 de Segur — Story of a Donkey, D. C. Heath & Co., 
 
 Boston, 20c. 
 6 — 8 Seton — Lives of the Hunted, Charles Scribner's 
 
 Sons, New York, $1.75. 
 5 — 7 Seton — Wild Animals I Have Known, Charles Scrib- 
 ner's Sons, New York, $2.00. 
 4 — 6 Sewell — Black Beauty. 
 2 — 3 Trimmer — History of the Robins, D. C. Heath & 
 
 Co., Boston, 20c. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 283 
 
 Myths and Legends 
 
 7 — 8 Hawthorne — "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood 
 
 Tales." 
 7 — 8 Kingsley — Greek Heroes. 
 7 — 8 Lamb — Adventures of Ulysses, D. C. Heath & Co., 
 
 Boston, 25c. 
 5 — 8 Pyle — Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, 
 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 50c. 
 7 — 8 Pyle — Stories of King Arthur and His Knights, 
 
 Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, $2.50. 
 
 Stories (Unclassified) 
 
 6—S Alcott — Little Women, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 
 
 $1.50. 
 7—8 Alcott— Old Fashioned Girl, Little Brown & Co., 
 
 Boston, $1.50. 
 3 — 6 Baldwin — Don Quixote for Young People, American 
 
 Book Co., Cincinnati, 50c. 
 5 — 7 Bunyan — The Pilgrim's Progress. 
 7 — 8 Cooper — Last of the Mohicans. 
 7 — 8 Crockett — Red Cap Tales, Macmillan Co., New 
 
 York, 50c. 
 5 — 7 Defoe — Robinson Crusoe. 
 4 — 7 Eggleston — Hoosier School Boy, Charles Scribner's 
 
 Sons, New York, 50c. 
 7 — 8 Hale — Man without a Country. 
 4 — 6 Hawthorne — Little Daffydowndilly, etc., Houghton 
 
 Mifflin Co., Boston, 40c. 
 3 — 4 Hopkins — The Sandman : His Farm Stories, L. C. 
 
 Page & Co., New York, $1.50. 
 7 — 8 Lamb — Tales from Shakespeare. 
 4 — 6 Pyrnell — Diddie, Dumps, and Tot, Harper & Bro., 
 
 New York, 60c. 
 
284 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 3 — 4 Richards — Five-Minute Stories, Dana Estes & Co., 
 Boston, $1.25. 
 
 7 — 8 Stevenson — Treasure Island. 
 
 7 — 8 Stevenson — Kidnapped. 
 
 7 — 8 Twain — Huckleberry Finn, Harper & Bros., New 
 York, $1.75. 
 
 6 — 8 Twain — Prince and the Pauper, Harper & Bros., 
 New York, $1.75. 
 
 6—8 Smith — Jolly Good Times, Little, Brown & Co., 
 Boston, $1.25. 
 
 6 — 8 Smith — Four on a Farm, Little, Brown & Co., Bos- 
 ton, $1.50. 
 
 Biography 
 
 7—8 Abbott— Daniel Boone, Dodd, Mead & Co., New 
 York, $1.25. 
 8 Franklin — Autobiography. 
 
 Stories and Sketches of Country and Village Life 
 
 3 — 4 Abbott — The Boy on a Farm, American Book Co., 
 
 Cincinnati, 45c. 
 7 — 8 Aldrich — Story of a Bad Boy, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 
 
 Boston, 70c. 
 3 — 4 Bradish — Stories of Country Life, American Book 
 Co., Cincinnati, 40c. 
 8 Howell — A Boy's Town, Harper & Bros., New York, 
 
 $1.25. 
 8 Illinois Girl — A Prairie Winter, Macmillan Co., New 
 
 York, 50c. 
 8 Rogers — Journal of a Country Womafi, Eaton & 
 Mains, New York, $1.25. 
 
MEANS OF SELF-EDUCATION 285 
 
 6 — 8 Twain — Tom Sawyer, Harper & Bros., New York, 
 
 6 — 8 Wallace — Uncle Henry's Letters to the Farm Bov, 
 
 jNIacmillan Co., New York, 50c. 
 7 — 8 A\'arner — Being a Boy. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 
 
 60c. 
 
 Poetry 
 
 7 — 8 Bates — Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims, Rand, ]\Ic- 
 
 Nally & Co., New York, 40c. 
 3 — 8 Chisholm — The Golden Staircase, G. P. Putnaiu's 
 
 Sons. New York, $1.00. 
 I — 4 Hazard — Three Years with the Poets, Houghton 
 
 INIifflin Co., Boston, 50c. 
 7 — 8 Henley — Lyra Heroica, Charles Scribner's Sons, New* 
 
 York, $1.25. 
 5 — 7 Longfellow — Hiawatha, Houghton IMifflin Co., Bos- 
 ton, 40c. 
 3 — 6 Lovejoy — Nature in ^"erse, Silver, Burdett & Co., 
 
 New York, 60c. 
 5 — 7 Lucas — Book of ^"erses for Children, Henry Llolt & 
 
 Co., New York, $1.00. 
 7 — 8 Macaiday — Lays of Ancient Rome. 
 6 — 8 Montgomery — Heroic Ballads, Ginn & Co., New 
 
 York, 50c. 
 7 — 8 Repplier — Book of Famous Verse, Houghton, j\Iif- 
 
 f\'m Co., Boston, 75c. 
 4 — 6 Riley — Book of Joyous Children, Chai^les Scribner's 
 
 Sons, New York, $1.20. 
 2 — 5 Rossetti — Sing-Song, Educational Publishing Co., 
 
 New York, 40c. 
 7 — 8 Scott — Lady of the Lake. 
 
286 ENGLISH IN THE COUNTRY SCHOOL 
 
 2 — 5 Sherman — Little Folk Lyrics, Houghton Mifflin Co., 
 
 Boston, 6oc. 
 2 — 5 Stevenson — Child's Garden of Verses. 
 3 — 6 Taylor Sisters' Poems, Frederick Stokes & Co., New 
 
 York, $1.50. 
 6 — 8 Thatcher — The Listening Child, Macmillan Co., New 
 
 York, 50c. 
 
 Nonsense Poetry 
 
 6 — 8 Carroll — Hunting of the Snark, Harper & Bros., New 
 
 York, 60c. 
 I — 2 Greenaway — Mother Goose, Frederick Warne & Co., 
 
 New York, 60c. 
 5 — 7 Lear — Nonsense Book, Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 
 
 $2.00. 
 3 — 5 Wells — The Jingle Book, Macmillan Co., New York, 
 
 50c. 
 
With the 
 
 Reading-Literature Series 
 
 (FREE AND TREADWELL) 
 
 Little Children Learn to Read 
 With Ease and Delight 
 
 The Primer is still the only all literature basal beginning 
 reader published. It contains 9 favorite folk tales, in real 
 literature, yet so simple that the children read a genuine 
 story the first week. 
 
 There are 96 exquisite three-color illustrations. 
 
 The First Reader continues these delightful folk stories 
 and includes also 33 rhymes and short poems with 56 three- 
 color illustrations. 
 
 The Second Reader might be called the "Fairy Story 
 Reader," there being 16 good long folk-fairy stories ; but 
 there are also 12 fables and 34 poems. 58 colored pictures. 
 
 The Third Reader is the "Wonder Story Book"; e. g., 
 Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, The Snow Image, 
 Water Babies. There are also several good animal stories, 
 and delightful poems from Stevenson, Field, Lucy Larcom, 
 Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and others. 48 three-color 
 pictures. 
 
 The first three books are on the West Virginia State list 
 at special prices. Don't think your school can't afford them ; 
 it can't afford to do without them. 
 
 Row, Peterson & Co. 
 
 Chicago NewYork 
 
Price List of Publications 
 
 Essential Studies in English, Sodhins and liotc. 
 
 Book I, Language, 29-± pp $0.45 
 
 Book II, Grammar and Composition, 336 pp. .60 
 
 Practical English, A. C. Scoit, 208 pp 
 
 .45 
 
 Manual of the Principles of English 
 
 Form and Diction, Fansler 
 
 .10 
 
 Exercises in English Form and Diction, for 
 Study and Practice, Fansler and Fansler. . . 
 
 .60 
 
 The National Speller, C. B. Frazier 
 
 .20 
 .50 
 
 Phonology and Orthoepy, Salisbury 
 
 Elementary Agriculture with Practical 
 
 Arithmetic, Hatch and Hasehcood 
 
 .60 
 
 The Educational Meaning of Manual Arts and 
 Industries, E. K. Bow, 250 pp 
 
 1.25 
 
 Methods of Teaching, Charters 
 
 1.25 
 
 Principles of Teaching, N. A. Harvey, 450 pp. . 
 
 1.25 
 
 The Theory of Teaching and Elementary 
 
 Psychology, Salisbury 
 
 1.25 
 
 Beading in Public Schools, Briggs 4' Coffman. . . . 
 
 1.25 
 
 Country Life and the Country School, Carney. . . . 
 
 1.25 
 
 English in the Country School, Barnes 
 
 1.25 
 
 The Personality of the Teacher, McKenny 
 
 1.00 
 
 School Management, Salisbury 
 
 1.00 
 
 Index to Short Stories, Salisbury and- Beclcwith . . 
 
 .50 
 
 Balonglong, the Igorot Boy, Jenks 
 
 .45 
 
 East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, Thomsen 
 
 .60 
 
 The Eeading Literature Primer. Free and Tread- 
 well 
 
 .32 
 .36 
 
 Eeading-Literature, First Eeader 
 
 Eeading-Literature, Second Eeader 
 
 .40 
 .45 
 .50 
 
 Eeading-Literature, Third Eeader 
 
 Eeading-Literature, Fourth Eeader 
 
 Row, Peterson & Company 
 
 Chicago New York 1 
 
JUL 23 1918