imagination,
as well as its memory, and making a monotonous, and comparatively
unintellectual exercise, one of considerable variety and amusement.

In teaching the alphabet to adults, whose minds are capable of
appreciating and applying the principle of analysis, the "Classified
Alphabet" should invariably be used. By this means their memory, in
endeavouring to recall the form and name of any particular letter,
instead of having to search through the whole _twenty-six_, has never to
think of more than the four or five which compose its class,--a
circumstance which makes the alphabet much more easily acquired by the
adult than by a child. But even here, the principle of individuation
must not be lost sight of; each letter in the class must be separately
learned, and each class must be familiar, before another is taught.

The principle of individuation continues to be equally necessary in
teaching children to combine the letters in the formation of words; and
when it is attended to, and when the only real use of letters, as the
mere symbols of sound, is understood by the pupil, a smart child may be
taught to read in a few minutes. This is not a theory, but a
fact,--evidenced in the experience of many, and in the presence of
thousands. Nor is it necessary that the words which are taught, should
consist only of two or three letters; if the word be familiar to the
child in speech, it becomes instantly known, when divided and taught in
parts or syllables; and when once it is learned by the sounds of the
letters, though these sounds merely approximate to the pronunciation of
the word, it is sufficient to give a _hint_ of what the word is, and
when once it is known, it will not likely be again forgotten. By this
means, the child is never puzzled except by entirely new words; and by
knowing the use of the letters in their sounds, he receives a key by
which at least to _guess_ at them, which the sense of the subject
greatly assists; so that one day, or even one hour, is sometimes, and we
have no doubt will soon be generally, sufficient to overcome the
hitherto forbidding and harassing drudgery of learning to read.

In teaching children their first lessons, it is of great importance that
the main design of reading should be clearly understood, and attended
to. As writing, philosophically considered, is nothing more than an
artificial substitute for speaking, so reading is nothing more than an
artificial substitute for hearing,