set in order, every one's
work appointed them, and a charge given that none should come into the
room from nine till twelve, or from two till five, which were our school
hours. One day was allowed the child wherein to learn its letters, and
each of them did in that time know all its letters, great and small,
except Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before they knew them
perfectly, for which I then thought them very dull; but the reason why I
thought them so, was because the rest learned them so readily; and your
brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever taught, learnt the
alphabet in a few hours. He was five years old the 10th of February; the
next day he began to learn; and as soon as he knew the letters, began at
the 1st chapter of Genesis. He was taught to spell the 1st verse, then
to read it over and over till he could read it off hand without any
hesitation;--so on to the second, &c. till he took ten verses to a
lesson, which he quickly did. Easter fell low that year, and by
Whitsuntide he could read a chapter very well; for he read continually,
and had such a prodigious memory, that I cannot remember ever to have
told him the same word twice. What was yet stranger, any word he had
learnt in his lesson, he knew wherever he saw it, either in his Bible or
any other book, by which means he learnt very soon to read an English
author well.

"The same method was observed with them all. As soon as they knew the
letters, they were first put to spell and read one line, then a verse,
never leaving till perfect in their lesson, were it shorter or longer.
So one or other continued reading at school, time about, without any
intermission; and before we left school, each child read what he had
learned that morning, and ere we parted in the afternoon, what he had
learned that day."--_Southey's Life of Wesley_, Note, p. 429.

In the above simple narrative, there is a distinct reference to the
principles of "Reiteration," and "Individuation," and hence Mrs Wesley's
great success.

Note I, p. 162.--When the true nature of Education is better understood,
it will be found that a child may have advanced far on its path by oral
instruction, before it be either necessary or desirable that he should
be compelled to read for himself. To assist the parent and teacher in
this preliminary part of their duty, the "First Initiatory Catechism,"
or the "First Steps" to the Old and the New Testaments, with their
respective Keys,