" " " " " Webster's _First Bunker Hill Oration_ 123

" " " " " Washington's _Farewell Address_ 127

APPENDIX

College Entrance Examinations in English 131

STUDIES IN ENGLISH

I. THE TEACHING OF THE NOVEL

All will agree that the novel is one of the most important forms of
literature for high school study. The fact that almost every boy and
girl who is at all interested in reading likes the novel, gives the
teacher an excellent opportunity to stimulate the pupil's love for
literature and to help him to discriminate between what is true and what
is false; between what is cheap and what is worth while. Moreover, the
study of the novel is the study of life and character. It is of great
human interest, and it may be made an important factor in developing the
pupil's ambition, judgment, ideals, and character. Good stories grow in
meaning with the growth of mental power. _The Iliad_ and _The Odyssey_
are full of delightful stories for boys and girls, but these same
stories, securely fixed in the youthful mind, gain a deeper meaning from
experience as the child develops into the man or the woman. Furthermore,
interest in a good story leads to other interests. It may encourage a
love of nature, stimulating to closer observation. It may awaken a love
of history, or of travel, or of some of the innumerable interests of
human activity.

Unfortunately, young people's delight in the reading of the novel is a
source of danger. The drama and the essay appear so full of difficulties
that the student regards their study seriously, as a task, and finds it
necessary to apply himself vigorously in order to master them. On the
other hand, the novel is so delightful, so easy, that he looks upon it
as a pastime. A superficial reading often gives him knowledge of many of
the main facts, and a mistaken idea that he knows the story. It is the
task of the teacher to get him to read with careful attention and with
imagination keenly alive. When a fair mastery of the facts of the story
has been gained, and clear mental images of the scenes portrayed and
suggested have been formed, studies of plot, character, interpretation,
etc., should follow. These studies, if they appeal to the class as
reasonable, will stimulate thought and imagination and will help to form
a basis for sound judgment and a habit of just criticism.

The practical plan here presented for the accomplishment of