62

WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF 361, 372

WILSON, PRESIDENT (DANIEL) 383

WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM 202

INTRODUCTORY.

The ability to read well cannot be attained without much pains and
study. For even a moderate proficiency in the art of reading two
requirements are essential: (1) A cultivated mind quick to perceive the
sequence of thoughts which the words to be read logically express, and
equally quick in its power sympathetically to appreciate the sentiment
with which the words are informed--the feeling, emotion, passion, which
pervades them--but which they suggest rather than actually portray; and
(2) a voice so perfected that its utterances fall upon the ear of the
listener with pleasing effect, and so flexible that it can be managed
skilfully to convey to him the full meaning and force of all the ideas
and sentiments formally expressed by the words or latent in them. Of
these two requirements the first is undeniably the more important; and
that training in the art of reading in which the close, persistent, and
liberal study of literature for its own sake has not proceeded _pari
passu_ with the requisite exercises for the development of the powers of
the voice and with the study of the principles of vocal interpretation,
has resulted in a meretricious accomplishment of very illusive value.

Nor will the special study and accurate mastery of a number of
individual selections give that readiness of mental apprehension which
is indispensable to a good reader. The ability quickly to recognize
word-forms and to utter them with ease, to catch the drift of ideas, and
to feel ready sympathy with change and flow in sentiment, is not to be
had without a long course of wide and varied reading. No one can become
a good reader by passing through, no matter how carefully, a set of
reading text-books merely. Pupils should be encouraged to read for
themselves. They should, of course, be guided in their selection of
reading matter, and they should be helped to acquire a taste for that
which is purest and most helpful in literature; but unless they form a
_habit_ of reading, and of reading thoughtfully and with precision, they
can never become good readers.

In oral reading, readiness and accuracy depend largely upon the
alertness and flexibility of the vocal organs, and to secure ea