opinions about matters of fact, the object of actions mentioned, and the thing settled by any chain of reasoning.

It is not to be expected, that all the teachers, into whose hands this book may fall, will believe in the practicability of this mode of teaching reading; and some may probably carry their incredulity so far, as not even to be willing to give it a trial. These last, however, it is believed, may find useful suggestions, even after discarding, entirely, the new mode of teaching; and it is to be hoped, that prejudice will not induce them to reject all, because a part does not accord with their views. To those who are willing to give it a trial, we would say, let it be a fair trial; be sure that it is perfectly understood, and that the course pointed out be followed exactly, and we have no fears for the result; for the experiment has repeatedly succeeded, even under circumstances by no means favorable. And let it never be forgotten, that, although the progress of the child is much more rapid than by the old method, this is a matter of but secondary importance. It is in the avoidance of the bad habits, engendered by the synthetic course, that its chief merit consists. It is because the child sees the value and use of his daily acquisitions immediately; because he unites sense with sound from the very first, that a trial is so urgently pressed upon the teacher. Let a fair trial be given, then, and, above all, let there be a hope, a desire, of success.

The spelling lessons should be regularly continued after the reading, the teacher selecting suitable words out of the chapter read, until the pupils can write compositions of some length, when they may be discontinued altogether, as writing is by far the surest mode of acquiring a knowledge of orthography.

There are so many anomalies in the English language, that rules for pronunciation are not generally of much service to young students. There are two, however, of such extensive application, that it will be well for the teacher, occasionally, to exemplify them on the blackboard, as an exercise for his pupils.

1. The vowels at the end of a syllable have the sound from which they are named; namely,

Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu.

But, when the vowels are followed by a consonant, their sound is changed, and becomes short; as,

Bat, Bet, Bit, Bot, But.

The original sound is restored, by placing an e after the consonant; as,

Bate, Bete, Bite, Bote, Bute.

Y, when a vowel, has precisely the sound of i, under similar circumstances; as,

By, Byt, Byte.

2. C and G have two sounds, the one hard, the other soft. They are soft before e, and i, and y; in every other situation, they are hard; as,

Car, Cent, Cit, Cot, Cut, Cynthia, Music. Gas, Gentle, Gin, Gone, Gun, Gymnastics, Hog. There are numerous exceptions to the second rule; but, as these occur only in familiar words, the pupil is not likely to go astray.

Teacher. What is the use of the two e's in George? and the u, in guest and guilt? Pronounce the following words,―gybe, gypsum, nys.

Writing.

There are various modes of teaching writing, between which there is probably little matter for choice. We shall present one, for the convenience of the teacher, without insisting that it is the best; though we know it will make good writers, if properly taught, at the proper time.

Every child should be shown how to hold and move his pencil, and how to sit at his desk, while writing, as soon as he enters school. The body should have a regular slope, from the seat to the crown of the head; no bend. The seat should be so far back, as to allow of this position. The left arm should rest on the desk. The right should also rest on a point a little below the elbow, the little finger slightly touching the desk, but not

pressing on it. The pen and pencil should lie on the second finger, and be held, not too firmly, by that finger and the thumb. The forefinger should rest on the pen or pencil, to keep it steady. The two fingers should be extended their full length; the thumb a little bent. The fingers and thumb should be kept steadily in that position, the motions being all made with the forearm. The downward motions should all be parallel. One of the greatest faults in writing is the carrying the downward motions in different directions. The ends of the r, o, v, and w, should not descend, lest they degenerate, as they are very apt to do, with rapid writers, into n, a, and u. For the first week or two, the teacher, standing or sitting where he can see all the writers, should keep a constant eye upon them, to see that all the positions and movements are steadily kept. If this is done, those of the class, who have acquired no bad habits from previous use of the pen or pencil, will soon write well.

For

The first beauty in writing is legibility. Every thing should give way to this. Flourishes may be useful, in giving freedom of hand, but they should be practised by themselves, and never introduced into writing, least of all when writing a signature. The plainer the writing, the more difficult to counterfeit it. Besides, if the name be illegible, we have no clue wherewith to decipher it. other words, we have the context. In proper names, we have nothing. A merchant in Boston lately returned to the post-office a letter, containing an order for goods. The signature was so elegantly written, as to be quite illegible. The same remark applies to figures. If each character is not plain, we have no means of ascertaining the amount. Hence, it should be considered a rule, from which not the slightest deviation should be allowed, that figures and proper names MUST be written plain.

The second beauty, in writing, is the getting as much within a small compass, as comports with legibility. No one can read with ease, unless his eye can comprehend the longest word, or several short ones, at a glance. Therefore, although it may be permissible to write loosely until the pupil can write fluently, he should begin to draw together his letters as soon as possible.

The pupil should not be made to write too slow. It is easier to write moderately fast; and it is desirable to write a rapid hand as soon as possible. Care should be taken, however, not to run into extremes in this point. Indeed, if the pupil is never allowed to contract bad habits as to sitting, and as to holding and moving the pen, there is no fear but what he will soon be a rapid writer. But almost every thing depends on commencing right.

Drawing.

Drawing should be taught simultaneously with writing; that is, as soon as the pupil can hold a pencil. It should be practised, at first, on the slate, on which the very youngest child may be usefully employed, in forming vertical, horizontal, and oblique lines, triangles, squares, rectangles, &c. Then might follow the division of these lines, by the eye, into two, three, four, five, six, &c., parts. The pencil should be held in the same manner as the pen. While the pupils use slate-pencils, they should have quills or tin tubes, as holders, and their pencils should be sharp enough to make fine lines.

As soon as the child can draw straight lines, join them neatly together, and divide them, by the eye, into any given number of equal parts, he should commence drawing natural objects from some book. In 'Parley's Magazine,' vols. vi. and vii., will be found excellent directions, and a great variety of suitable objects. By the use of these, the teacher may instruct the young pupils, though she herself have no practical knowledge of the subject. But, as it is very desirable she should possess the practical, as well as theoretical, knowledge, she ought to teach herself, at the same time she is giving lessons to others.

The great object, however, should be, to enable the pupils to draw from Nature; and the following will probably be found one of the easiest modes of commencing such a practice. Let the pupil be seated at a table, directly before a window commanding a prospect of some suitable objects for drawing, such as a house or barn, with trees, fences, &c. The seat should be at such a distance from the window, that a sufficient number of

objects to form a picture, may be seen through one pane, the sky filling one third or one half of it. The pupil should now be told to consider the pane as a picture, placed before him to copy; and let him use his best endeavors, to make a correct transcript of it on his slate or paper. At first, it would very much facilitate his operations, if three, four, or five threads were fastened horizontally, and as many vertically, across the pane, at equal distances, thus dividing it into nine, sixteen, or twenty-five squares, or rectangles. His slate or paper should be ruled with lines, representing that part of the sash around the pane. The first time he attempts such a drawing, perhaps it would be well to divide his slate or paper into squares, or rectangles, corresponding to those of the pane. When every suitable object, that can conveniently be seen from the windows, has been copied, his table can be placed in the fields, and a small frame placed on it, to represent the pane. All such artificial aid should, however, soon be laid aside, and the pupil accustomed to rely on his eye alone, without other assistance than a piece of pasteboard on his hat or his knee.

The chief difficulty, in drawing from Nature, lies in the fact, that we see things neither in their true situation, nor form, nor proportionate size. The appearance of the landscape is chiefly the work of our own imagination. Take, for instance, the size of an object. If we look at a house, about half a mile off, and when we turn away, some one ask, how big it appeared to us, compared to some object in the room, the answer will be very wide, indeed, of the truth. If again, we were asked, "Did the house appear as large as your thumb nail, held at arm's length ?" we should be apt to laugh, heartily, at the absurdity of the question; and yet, in fact, it would fall short of the reality; for, if the thumb were held in that position, and so as to appear at the side of a moderate-sized house, we should find that, in reality, the nail appeared much the largest. As another instance, take the form of an object. The appearance which a cylinder really presents to us, is that of a plane rectangle; and the reason why it appears to us a cylinder, is our knowledge, acquir