mmended. It will generally be found
advantageous to teach the vowels first, and then to teach such
consonants as combine with the _long sound_ of the vowel; as, for
example, first o; then g, h, l, n, and s, when the child can read go,
ho, lo, no, and so. After this, e may be learned, and then b, m, and s,
when the child can read be, bee, me, and see. Then these may be combined
as see me; lo, see me; see me ho; lo, see me ho, etc. The idea is, that
every letter and combination of letters be used as fast they are
learned.

_Second._ The Roman notation table is sometimes taught after the same
manner. After spelling, I have heard the teacher say to the class, One
I.? to which the scholar at the head would reply, one; and the exercise
would continue through the class, as follows: two I.'s? two; three I.'s?
three; IV.? four; and so on, to two X.'s? twenty; three X.'s?
twenty-one. No, says the teacher, _thirty_. Thus corrected, the class
went through the entire table, without making another mistake. The
thought occurred to me that they did not _know_ their lesson, though
they had _recited_ it, making but _one_ mistake. With the permission of
the teacher, I inquired of the class, "What does IV. stand for?" None of
them could tell. I then inquired, "What do VII. stand for?" They all
shook their heads. I next inquired, "What does IX. stand for?" and the
teacher remarked, "_They have just got it learnt the other way; they
ha'n't learnt it that way yet._" They had all learned to _count_; they
hence recited correctly to twenty; and when told that three X.'s stand
for _thirty_ instead of _twenty-one_, they passed on readily to forty,
fifty, sixty, etc., without making another mistake. And this, too, is
but a _specimen_ of the evil.

In teaching this table, the child should be instructed, in the
beginning, that there are but seven letters used, by which all numbers
may be represented; that when standing alone, I. represents _one_; V.,
_five_; X., _ten_; L., _fifty_; C, _one hundred_; D., _five hundred_;
and M., _one thousand_. The child should next be taught that, as often
as a letter is repeated, so many times its _value_ is repeated; thus, X.
represents _ten_; two X.'s, _twenty_; three X.'s, _thirty_, etc.; that
when a letter representing a _less_ number is placed _after_ one
representing a _greater_, its value is to be _added_; thus, VII.
represent _seven_; LX., _sixty_, etc.; that when a letter representing a
_