sented by them. When the child has succeeded in learning the names
of the twenty-six letters, he has gained no knowledge of their real use
as representatives of sounds, and, consequently, little ability in
determining how to pronounce a new word from naming its letters.
Besides, the names of the letters constantly mislead him when formed
into words.

"He may have made the acquaintance of each of the twenty-six individual
letters, so as to recognize their faces and be able to call them by name
singly; but when these same letters change places with their fellows, as
they are grouped into different words, he is frequently unable to
address many of them in a proper manner, or to determine what duties
they perform in their different places.

"Again, the words that are learned by naming over the letters which
compose them seldom represent any ideas to the young learner; indeed,
too many of the words learned by this method are only meaningless
monosyllables. The children begin to read without understanding what
they read, and thus is laid the foundation for the mechanical,
unintelligible reading which characterizes most of that heard in schools
where the A B C method is used. This plan is in violation of fundamental
laws of teaching; it attempts to compel the child to do two things at
the same time, and to do both in an unnatural manner, viz., to learn
reading and spelling simultaneously, and reading through spelling.
Reading has to deal with sounds and signs of thought.

"Spelling rests on the habit of the eye, which is best acquired as the
result of reading. In attempting to teach reading through spelling, the
effort of the pupil in trying to find out the word by naming the letters
that compose it distracts the attention from the thought intended to be
represented by it; the mind becomes chiefly absorbed with spelling
instead of reading. When properly taught, reading furnishes natural
faculties for teaching spelling; but spelling does not furnish a
suitable means for teaching reading. Thus it will be seen that the usual
plans for teaching reading by the A B C method compel children to do
that for which their minds are not fitted, and thus cause a loss of
power by restraining them from attending to the thoughts represented by
the words, and to other things which would greatly promote their
development. The results are that a love for reading is not enkindled,
good readers are not produced. The few cases in which the results