her. It behooves teachers entering upon their work with
this scanty preparation to recognize their limitations, however, and
to do their best to remedy them. Low grade of certificate, low
standings in any branches, or the teacher's own consciousness of lack
of mastery should be sufficient to send the sincere and earnest
teacher to school again, even if this must be to summer schools
instead of longer sessions. This sacrifice will not only pay
abundantly in higher salary, but also in greater teaching power and in
the sense of greater mastery and personal growth.

But no amount of preparation in a branch will relieve a teacher of the
necessity of daily preparation for the recitation. Dr. Arnold
expressed this thought when he said: "I prefer that my pupils shall
drink from a running stream, rather than from a stagnant pool." In
order that one may develop a line of thought easily it must be _fresh_
in his mind; it is not enough that he has once known it well. One of
the master teachers of our country, a university professor who is
recognized as a great authority in his chosen subject, Latin, recently
said to a group of Latin teachers: "I have taught Cicero for twenty
years, until I know it by heart. But yet, every day, one hour before
the time for my Cicero class, I go to my study and spend an hour with
Cicero, just to get into the spirit of it. I would not dare to meet my
class without this."

It is true that the teacher with twenty classes a day cannot spend an
hour on the preparation of each lesson. But most of the lessons will
not require so much--sometimes the preparation will be the making of
an outline or plan, sometimes reading the lesson over to freshen the
mind upon it, sometimes only thinking the lesson through, for its plan
and topics. It may at times, however, mean hard and serious study to
master the difficult points and their presentation. But whatever it
means, the conscientious and growing teacher will go to the lesson
prepared to teach it in such a way as to inspire to high standards and
mastery on the part of the pupils.

_b. Preparation by the class._--But in addition to the well-prepared
teacher, there must also be a well-prepared class. The teacher cannot
make bricks without straw. Every failure to recite when called upon is
a dead weight upon the progress of the recitation; and each failure
makes it easier for the next one to fail with impunity, or at least
without disgrace. It therefore behooves t