But when the object is not merely to detract from its just merits, but to contrast it with one more useful, though little known, it may, perhaps, be pardoned, even by those most disposed to censure the step as needless and uncalled for.

Previous to my having seen "Town's Spelling Book" I had formed a favorable impression respecting it, from the recommendations I had seen, and procured it for one of my children. For the elder I had been using the Pestalozzian Primer by Dr John M. Keagy, but not having been able to procure another copy, I bought one of Town's for my younger son, and was so much disappointed in it, from its being so unfit for an elementary spelling book, that I was forced to lay it aside.

The Pestalozzian Primer is so far superior in carrying out the professed design of Town's, viz: "that of making the knowledge of words and the ideas they represent simultaneous," that I was impressed with the desire to make an effort to introduce this invaluable little work of Dr Keagy's to public notice.

In contrasting the two books, the first thing that arrests the attention is the striking difference in their title pages. Town's is verbose, pretending, and deficient in that condensation and simplicity which should govern the title of every work. Dr Keagy's is as follows.-"The Pestalozzian Primer: the First Step in teaching children the art of Reading and Thinking." The mottos are the following: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."-Solomon.

"Teach a child to think, give him words by which he may retain and communicate his thoughts, and you will have more than half completed his intellectual education."

The above title with the mottoes is in itself a condensed exemplification of the whole philosophy of mental education, and it has all the brevity and simplicity of a philosophical mind. The highest eulogium that can be passed upon the Pestalozzian Primer is, that it is truly what it professes to be the first step in teaching children the art of reading and thinking. Now, to proceed to the contents of these works. Upon an examination of Town's, the first objection that strikes us, is, that there are not enough of simple words, and that instead of limiting these most important, because most frequently used monosyllables to three pages,

they should have occupied one half or at least one third of the book. The next is in the early use of words not sufficiently familiar, such as pica, dotal, adit, umbo, oxter, mersion, &c. in pages 17, 18 and 20, some objectionable as being used before the minds of beginners are capable of understanding them, and others too little employed in general reading or conversation to be of any advantage for a child to learn.

On page 23 the author says in a N. B., "It has been thought advisable to omit, most of those words which are of rare occurrence, as well as those which are gradually going out of use." But surely this is not the case, for scarcely a column of spelling can be selected which does not contain words liable to one or other of these objections; for instance,

There are also many vulgarisms or pronunciations, which ought always to be omitted in a work intending to instruct children. Purity and correctness of language are indispensable, but here we find crock used as a synonym of soot, 24,

In some of the reading lessons, the want of punctuation is certainly a defect, viz:

he is to go on he is to go is he to go by me he is to go by me he is to go by These phrases are printed in one line without points, capital letters, or even a sufficient division by space. The following also is a bad arrangement in dividing one sentence Poor mouse, puss will

Kill and eat you soon.

These may

Here, a capital letter is erroneously used. seem trifling objections, but nothing should be thought trifling where the proper education of children is concerned, for here trifles make up an important total.

Mr Town's Spelling Book may be advantageously used as a book of reference for higher classes in the place of a dictionary, for which purpose it is preferable on account of its grouping and classification of words, but not as convenient, there being no guide to find any particular word by alphabetical arrangement; but these two advantages could not, in all possibility, be united. For a thorough knowledge of the true meaning of words, there is no plan more advantageous than that pursued by Mr Town, in showing their derivation and the meaning of their prefixes and suffixes. But this exercise may do for the higher classes, but is unsuited for the ages in which spelling books are used by children. In these columns there are many words which could be of no possible use to any scholar until he enters upon the study of the sciences where they are used; such as

No word can be fully understood or remembered until the scholar feels the want of its use, or is made familiar with the object that it represents or the state that it describes. The knowledge of words should ever be kept progressive with the knowledge of the things signified by them, and this the author has not sufficiently considered. The same objection applies to the following words: "Photology, psychology, sarcology, herpetology, hagiography," &c. What child will remember these words or their meanings until he has some idea of the sciences of which they treat?

The professed object of this book is to impart a distinct idea of the meaning of every word that the child learns, but in this there seems to be a great failure from this fact being overlooked, that all our ideas of words throughout our lives from infancy to manhood, are more generally formed from their use than their definition. An intelligent foreigner once

said to me, "When I first came to this country, I attempted to learn your language by studying the English grammar and dictionary. I applied myself assiduously, but made no progress. I then threw by my books and went into society, where I soon understood what was said, and quickly learned to converse intelligibly."

The system pursued by Mr Town with regard to the meaning of words, is no better, and in fact does not at all differ from that of our dictionaries in common use, where one word is defined by another, both often equally obscure to the learner. This work has undoubtedly been one of great labor, and may be found useful in its place; but it shows an ignorance of the philosophy of the infant mind and for the younger classes should be substituted one which is better adapted to the gradual progress of the dawning intellect. The application of words either oral or written, is the surest means of rendering them intelligible; the philosophy of a language, its grammar and its dictionary, must be an afterwork, a later study.

In attempting to impart the first rudiments of learning to the infant mind, I soon felt a deficiency in most of the books used for elementary instruction. Primer after primer and spelling book after spelling book were examined, but none were found that could be placed in the hands of children without continuous oral instruction, until I made use of the Pestalozzian Primer. This supplied in a great degree, the desideratum for which I had often wished. Previous to this, I had been in the habit of explaining the words printed on the Infant School cards, and then applying them myself in a simple sentence, or requiring my child to do so, where the subject came within the sphere of his knowledge of the thing mentioned. This was to him a pleasant exercise, and one well adapted to discover whether he understood the word, and also to impress it on his memory. In Dr Keagy's work I found this process so philosophically and systematically arranged, that I had no farther trouble, and my little pupil acquired the knowledge of words and their meanings with ease and rapidity. By way of experiment, I gave him a few lessons in Town's Spelling Book, but he said that he could not understand it. He asked me which I liked best, his spelling book or his brother's, referring to Town's. I told him I liked his the best. "I know the reason, mama,"

he said, "brother's book has no reading to tell you what the words mean." This simple remark from a child not quite six years old, revealed the whole secret of the superiority of Dr Keagy's primer over that of Mr Town's. This was the result of the child's own impression, for no remark respecting either had been made in his presence. This incident may seem too trivial to be related, but nothing should be disregarded which gives us an insight into the mind of childhood. A child's own evidence is the best that can be procured, respecting what is capable of being understood by a child. The mind of infancy and childhood is still a mystery, and had it been made a subject of closer observation and study, elementary books of instruction would have been far different from what they are now, and the gross empiricism which has for so long a period been practised in education, would have given place to a mode of treatment more enlightened by science and more conformable to the philosophy of the mental faculties.

The Pestalozzian Primer by Dr Keagy is written with much preparatory knowledge of the science of mind and is conformed to his theory of mental philosophy, as far as he thought that existing prejudices could admit, though not as closely as he considered to be the best method. It is impossible in this limited space to give a full idea of the merits of his little work and of the plan of teaching recommended by its author. All that I can hope is to give but a very faint idea of its excellence. To be appreciated, it must be seen and studied thoroughly. Simple as its lessons are to the learner, it contains a depth of knowledge in its plans and progressive arrangements that every teacher might study with benefit, and if children were taught out of this primer, and its designs and directions to instructors were fully carried out, a child would not only acquire the art of reading, "with the understanding," but he would form habits of mind invaluable to him in his future self-education and a "solid foundation would be laid for his subsequent acquirements in the higher departments of knowledge. In endeavoring to present this work to notice, I feel my incapacity to do full justice to its merits, I will therefore only attempt to give a few specimens of its superior advantages in enabling children to connect ideas with words and to exhibit it merely as a spelling book. The benefits of his plan of ele