misled? Only by studying the lesson with children; only by having before every reading-lesson a languagelesson upon the subject-matter of the reading; only by compelling the children, by means of questions, to think, to reason, and to express to express the thoughts of the lesson, first in their own words, and then in the words of the book; and, whenever the subject-matter may be, from any cause whatsoever, vague to the children's minds, by illustrating it with objects, with pictures,printed pictures, and outline pictures drawn upon the black-board, and with what the English training-schools call "picturing out words."

PHONICS

Till recently this important subject had received but little attention in the public schools of the country. Why it was so long neglected, when it is such an important element of expression, is a curious problem.

The object of teaching this subject should be:

First.—To train the organs of hearing so that the children may readily distinguish the sounds heard in speaking and reading.

Second. To train the organs of hearing so that the pupils may learn to produce the sounds correctly in using language.

To acquire an articulation which shall be at once accurate and tasteful, it is necessary :—

1. To obtain an exact knowledge of the elementary sounds of the language.

2. To learn the appropriate place of these sounds.

3. To apply this knowledge constantly in conversing, reading and speaking, with a view to correct every deviation from propriety.

A good articulation is not to be acquired in a day, nor from a few lessons. Practice should begin with the primer, and continue through the whole course of education; and even then there will remain room for improvement.

Great care should be taken in giving these lessons that the class repeat each exercise until all the pupils can make every sound and combination that it contains, readily and perfectly.

The teacher should make the sound, and then require the pupils to imitate them. The pupils should stand or sit erect, and use the natural tones of the voice. Only one or two sounds should be taken for a lesson.

The exercise should not continue more than five minutes; it may be introduced in the reading or spelling exercise, or the whole school may join in it.

Tell the children "to open the mouth and move the lips", to speak distinctly and to enunciate every sound perfectly. Time should not be wasted in the endeavor to teach children definitions or descriptions of the various sounds of the letters. The chief aim should be to train the organs of hearing to acuteness, and the organs. of speech to flexibility and accuracy.

The pupils should be taught the correct sounds and the signification of the different marks. All the vowels and many of the consonants have marks to distinguish their sounds.

Notation marks or diacritical signs.

After a sound is learned the teacher should write the letter on the board with its proper mark. The pupils should be required to copy and reproduce every exercise. Let the drill be thorough.

Tell the pupils that when a short horizontal linecalled the macron-is placed above the vowels it indicates the long sound, as ā; that a short curved line with the curve downward-called a breve-placed above the vowels indicates the short sound, as ǎ; that two dots placed above the vowels indicate the Italian sound, as ä, etc.

We find few teachers who are able to give the sounds of the English language correctly, and many are unable to tell the kind of a mark or sign that indicate a certain sound.

Suggestions.

This subject requires study and practice. We need not expect distinct speaking so long as we neglect the following suggestions :— 1. Train the organs of hearing to distinguish readily and accurately the different sounds of language.

2. Train the organs of speech to produce these sounds with ease and accuracy.

3. Train the pupils to the correction of faults of enunciation and pronunciation in reading and speaking. 4. Train pupils in every lesson upon the elements. 5. Master the analysis before you attempt to teach it. 6. Let the drill be accurate.

For full directions in teaching this important subject, the author refers to his book called "PRACTICAL PHONICS: A comprehensive study of Pronunciation, forming a complete guide to the study of the Elementary Sounds of the English Language, and containing 3000 words of difficult pronunciation, with diacritical marks according to Webster's Dictionary". Price 75 cts.

SPELLING

It cannot be denied that the orthography of the English language is difficult. In a general way there are no principles governing it; but few rules can be called to mind, and these have so many exceptions that they are of little use.

There are only three rules that I have found of practical value:—

1. Monosyllables and words accented on the last syllable, ending in a single consonant, preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant before an addition beginning with a vowel.

2. The diphthong ie is generally used after other consonants than c, which is followed by ei.

3. Words ending in final y, preceded by a vowel, form their plurals by adding s.

It will be seen at once that English spelling must be learned to a great extent arbitrarily; but industry and attention will enable any student to master it.

Everybody knows how imperfectly the teaching of spelling accomplishes its purpose; yet there Results unis no reason why any student should habitu-satisfactory. ally spell words badly. Any person may learn to spell, if in writing, whenever he shall come to a word which he does not certainly know how to spell, he will look for it in his dictionary and study its spelling and meaning.