isposed child sees a school-fellow praised and
rewarded for being obliging and kind to the aged or the poor, there is
formed in the mind of that child, more or less distinctly, a resolution
to follow the example on the first opportunity. Here is the fact and the
lesson, with the application in prospect. This whole feeling may be
faint and evanescent, but it is real; and it only wants the cultivating
hand of the teacher to arrest it, and to render it permanent.
Accordingly, if on the child hearing the praise given to his companion
for being kind and obliging to the poor, he had at the time been asked,
"What does that teach you?" the lesson suggested by Nature would
instantly have assumed a tangible form; and in communicating the answer
to the teacher, both the truth and the lesson would have been brought
more distinctly before the mind, and the reply, "I should be kind and
obliging to the poor," would tend to fix the duty on the memory, and
would be a good preparation for putting it in practice when the next
occasion should occur.

Again, if another thoughtful and well disposed child sees a companion
severely punished for telling a lie, the question, "What does that teach
me?" is in some shape or degree formed in his mind, and his resolution,
however faint, is taken to avoid that sin in future. This, it is
obvious, is nothing more than a practical answer to the above question,
forced upon the child by the directness of the circumstances, but which
would not have so readily made its appearance, or produced its effect,
in cases of a less obtrusive kind, or in one of more remote application;
and every person must see, that the beneficial effects desired would
have been more definite, more effectual, and much more permanent, had
this faint indication of Nature's intention been followed up by orally
asking the question at the child, and requiring him audibly to return an
answer.

Let us once more suppose a child in the act of reading the history of
Cain and Abel, in the manner in which it is commonly read by the young,
and that the child thoroughly understands all the circumstances. He may
be deeply interested in the story, while the uses to be made of it may
not be very clearly perceived. But if, after reading any one of the
moral circumstances, such as "Cain hated his brother," or after having
it announced to him by the teacher, he was asked, "What does that teach
you?" the practical use of the truth would at once be force