hed in a very pleasant and sonorous flow of words, and
meaning doubtless something very comforting and edifying.

I was once teaching temporarily a young ladies' Bible Class. The average
age of the members was at least seventeen. They were the pick from a
large city school, and had been selected for their superior educational
advantages and attainments. Most of them were attending expensive
private schools during the week. Wishing to satisfy myself as to the
general knowledge and the intellectual habits of the members, I took the
plan of simply reading verse about, stopping from time to time to talk
familiarly about anything which might happen to suggest itself. This
verse among others was read: it is from the account of the miracle on
the day of Pentecost: "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like
as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." I found, upon inquiring,
that _not one_ in that large class had the remotest idea of what was
meant by the word "cloven." One young lady thought it meant "fiery,"
another "flaming," another "winged," and so on. Most of them, however,
said that they really had never thought of the matter before. Probably
every one of them had read the passage hundreds of times; and when we
began talking about it, no one of them seemed to have an idea that there
was anything in the verse which she did not understand. It was not until
I took it up, word by word, and challenged a peremptory and sharp
scrutiny into the meaning attached to each word, that the remarkable
fact came out which I have stated.

One or two more leaves from my professional experience will be given.

During the greater part of my professional life, it has been a part of
my duty to examine candidates for the office of teacher in the public
schools. Out of ninety-eight candidates for the office of assistant
teacher, whom I examined on one occasion, only one knew the meaning of
the word "sumptuary," although in the public discussion then going on
about the license law, the word was in daily use in the public papers;
in fact, I took it out of the newspaper of that morning. On another
occasion, out of fourteen candidates for the office of Principal teacher
of a boys' Grammar school, four defined "friable" as that which can be
fried; several did not know at all the meaning of "hibernating," and
one, the successful candidate, said it meant "relating to Ireland." By
"successful" candidate, I mean the one who got the vote of the
D