owers, or leaves, or seeds, and stamps the most important
phenomena about them on the scholar's mind by an objective lesson.
Prints of animals are presented, and the teacher begins at the lowest
orders, and rises up in regular gradation, questioning the children as
to the uses and purposes of every feature and limb. They work out their
own natural philosophy. They observe, and then reason; and what they
learn is learned in philosophical order, and imprinted by their own
efforts on their memories. It is astonishing how much, in these simple
methods, may be learned in natural science by very young children; and
what nutritive but simple food may be supplied to their minds for all
future years.

From lessons in science thus given, the teacher rises easily to lessons
of morality and religion. Nothing even in moral teaching impresses a
child's mind like pictures, stories, or parables, or some form of
"object-teaching." The modern charts and books are extremely ingenious
in giving religious lessons through the senses.

The beginning of the higher mathematics may be taught children perfectly
well under this method. Straight lines and angles are drawn, or
constructed with little sticks, and named, and various figures thus
formed. With blocks, the different geometrical figures are constructed
and named--all being finished by the pupils themselves. On the
blackboard certain lines are given, and with them "inventive drawing"
goes on under the pupil's own suggestion.

Weights and measures are learned by practical illustrations with real
objects, and are thus not easily forgotten.

Definition is very agreeably taught by the teacher's producing some
object, say, an apple, and then making each scholar describe some
quality of it, in taste, color, form, or material, and then write this
word on the board. Very difficult adjectives, such as "opaque," or
"pungent," or "translucent," or "aromatic," may thus be learned, besides
all the simpler, and learned permanently.

The old bugbear to children, spelling, is by no means so terrible under
these methods. The teacher writes two initial consonants, say, "th," and
each scholar makes a new word with them, and it is written on the board;
or a terminal consonant is given, or certain combinations of letters are
written down--say, _ough,_ in "though" and words of corresponding sound
must be written underneath, or the different sounds of each vowel must
be illustrated by the scholar, and the v