rsing with us; it is not only bad manners but worse
pedagogy. The interested, sympathetic eye of the teacher has a wonderful
power of encouragement and stimulus to the child, while an attitude of
indifference on the part of the teacher is at once fatal to his
enthusiasm. One of the besetting sins of many teachers is to repeat the
pupils' answers after them. This habit probably has its rise in mental
unreadiness on the part of the teacher, who repeats what the child has
just said while getting ready to ask the next question. Besides being a
great waste of time, the repeating of answers is discourteous, and is a
source of distraction, and annoyance to pupils.

Finally, we may say that good questioning on the part of the teacher
leads to questions on the part of the pupils. The relations between
teacher and class always should be such, that the children, feel free to
ask questions on any points of the lesson, and they should be encouraged
to do so. The teacher must have the tact and skill, however, not to be
led away from the topic by irrelevant questions nor to be required to
waste time by discussing unimportant points which may be brought in. It
is to be feared that valuable time is sometimes lost in adult classes in
discussing controversial questions that ought not to have been asked.

THE STORY METHOD

The use of the story method of instruction has been mentioned many times
in the course of our discussion. It will still be worth while, however,
to note a few of the principles upon which the successful telling of
stories depends.

First of all, a story is--just a story! It is not an argument, nor an
explanation, not a description, nor a lecture in disguise. A story is a
narrative of a series of events, which may be either real or imaginary.
These events are so related as to form a closely connected unity from
beginning to end, and they are of such nature as to appeal to
imagination, interest, and emotion more than to the intellect. The
successful handling of the story depends on two chief factors: (1) _the
plan or arrangement_ of the story itself, and (2) skill in telling the
story.

The story itself.--The story must not be too long, or interest will
weaken and attention will flag. It must have an interesting beginning,
so that attention and anticipation are aroused from the very first
sentence. "Once upon a time..." "A long time ago when the fairies..."
"There once lived a king who..."--these all contain a hint