Work and Play in Girls' Schools / By Three Head Mistresses

I propose to treat in order of the different subjects of our school curriculum. The first of these is language generally.

Reading.As a branch of formal instruction, we begin with reading. A more aggravating subject of dispute can hardly be found than that which relates to the teaching of reading. The pure Fröbellian will have none of it before the child is seven years old, and occasionally children do come to school unable to read, but with the senses awakened to all sorts of other relations except that of articulate sounds to written forms. In spite of the reproaches of those who build the sepulchres of the prophets, we teach reading when a child seems ready for it, and maintain that the principles of Fröbel are best carried out when we improve on his methods, and adapt ourselves to new circumstances; we urge that the children from intellectual homes are different from the class of children with whom he had most to do.

When begun.I would not press reading upon infants, nor require the close and continuous attention that reading implies, but as soon as the appetite for any special kind of knowledge is shown, we may conclude, on Fröbellian principles, that the child is fit for it. Our order is: (1) drawing, (2) writing, (3) reading.

First lessons.The kindergarten child has learned to draw lines, straight and curved, developing into simple objects and curious patterns—rude picture-writing, it may be called. We lead on to writing in some such way as this.

Alphabet.“How did men at first send silent messages to one another when they were far off? If you wanted a doll, you might draw a picture of one and send it to mother on your birthday. A man might make a picture of a fish, and send it to a fisherman with a piece of money, and the fisherman would understand; or one might want to sell a sheep, and send a picture to his neighbour; this would be easier than sending the sheep. In fact, the first letter of the alphabet is a rude picture of the head of an ox, . People were not particular, as we see on old monuments, which way the letter stood, and so we have it sometimes topsy-turvy, sometimes sideways, ; this is like a Greek alpha, , . Beth in Hebrew was a dwelling, two tents , Gimel , the camel’s head and long neck. Delta , a door. Kappa Κ, a bird with its wings out. Rho Ρ, a man’s head. But with pictures only it is hard to make sentences; e.g., if you wanted to say, “I have found some water,” you might draw , but you would have to find some way of showing whether you meant ‘I have’ or ‘I want’; and if somebody sent you the picture of a man walking, you might not know whether you were expected to come or to go. It is hard to represent verbs by pictures, though it is so easy in speaking.”

Some pictures of Egyptian hieroglyphics and explanations will here be found to interest children much—-part of their drawing lesson might be to copy a hieroglyph alphabet. Then we might enlarge on the need for words to tell people what to do. Baby says “mamma,” “doll,” “puss,” but it wants also to say “come,” “give,” “go,” and this cannot be pictured, so people seem to have tried to represent sounds by drawing a picture of the mouth making the different sounds.

I suppose the first sound most babies make is a sort of mumbling, and if they open their mouths we get a sound like ma; now in all languages ma stands for mother, with some slight alterations. What is M like? Is it not much like a mouth shut up? and suppose you add a round shape to represent an open mouth you would get something like picture-writing ma. You might put the two side by side, a picture of a woman and ma—the Egyptians often had the two signs. The next easy sound is pa, and this stands in all languages that I know, for father. How could this be written? If you say ap you will notice a movement of the lips, which open with a sort of bursting sound. We may represent that movement by a stroke and put a round after it to stand for the open mouth P. There is another sound very like P, but not quite so sharply said. We hear it in ab. We can make the stroke as before, and put the loop lower down, to show that ba is a quieter sound than pa—so shorthand writers make a long stroke for the b and a short one for p (│b ╷p) and put no loop.

Thus we get three lip letters, but we can shut up the mouth in the middle—half shut it and we get n, which is half m. The breath will have to come of course through the nose. We can move the tongue suddenly from the teeth and get d as in ad, and write a stroke as before, but put a loop representing the open mouth behind it; the sound nearest to it which we hear in at would have the loop at the top, , as we had in pa, but in our alphabet the loop has disappeared and we have only t. In shorthand we write a long horizontal stroke for d and a short one for t. Thus we have three dentals.

We may also shut up the throat and let the breath go through the nose, as in sing, or we may make the sudden movement quite in the throat. We could take the bird shape but think of the two strokes as if pointing down the throat in Κ, and for the softer sound only one pointer Γ, this was the Greek G. We make it rounder at the bottom now. For the first of the throat sounds we have no single letter, but we write an n to show it is a nose letter, and a g to show the shutting up is to be done in the throat.

So now you see we have got nine letters—three made with the lips, three with the tongue near the middle of the mouth, three in the throat. Three are made by sending the breath through the nose, three are made by a sudden opening and sending the breath through it with force, and three by sending the breath more gently. The names given to these different sorts of letters I may now give and the shorthand signs:—[6]

Reading books published by A. Chrysogon Beale (Sonnenschein) are perhaps the best for beginners. There are coloured pictures of the mouth; the deaf alphabet is given, and the words which are not written phonetically are gradually introduced. Sonnenschein’s books are also good, and Miss Soames’ Introduction to Phonetics.

Thus the child could be taught to observe the movements for articulation, be interested in early writings, and prepared to look intelligently at ancient monuments.

In teaching, the sounds of the letters will be given of course, not their names, and the alphabet will be from the first classified, and a basis laid for philological study. A shorthand alphabet will be learned side by side without trouble, and besides this, the pronunciation will be improved—all this without any over-pressure or giving any instructions unsuited for a small child.

In a later lesson the meaning of an aspirate should be explained, and added to each of the mutes; we then get four varieties under the heads of labial, dental and guttural. The sibilants, which are in some respects aspirates, may be classified, and the feeble lip aspirate in when (written in old English hwen) should be noticed. The relation of palatals l and r, and the different kinds of palatals, may be dwelt on.

I give a comprehensive table, founded on one in Professor Key’s volume on the alphabet. The three horizontal planes give gutturals, dentals and labials. The front plane the sharp mutes, the back the flat mutes; the right plane the sharp aspirates, the left the flat aspirates; the sibilants are classed as dental aspirates and the nasals appended.

Other classifications are noticed in the paper on Spelling Reform.

The classification of vowels is more difficult, and it may be pointed out how easily these pass into one another. How difficult it is too for English people to sustain a pure vowel, o, without passing into u, a into ai. The vocal triangle as given in Brachet’s dictionary, adapted from Helmholtz and Brücke, is perhaps most easily understood.

For those who do not use the alphabet of the maître phonétique, tables such as those of Larousse should be always at hand to hang on the wall, when French lessons are given. These tables enable one to draw attention to sounds which English people do not discriminate, or which offer special difficulty, e.g., ê, è, é, ais, ai, ou, u, eu, e; to the feebly nasalised vowels as in French pain, pronounced Anglice, pang; to the formation of the sound constantly changed by English people into ou, when a vowel follows, e.g., loui for lui; to the proper pronunciation of moi, mwa, not mwau; to the addition of a syllable, as in deer for di+r; to the attractive power of labial consonants, making impossible inpossible, and so on. Systematic teaching saves much time.

For older pupils it is an instructive and amusing exercise to work out the combinations of two vowels to produce a multitude of mixed or diphthongal forms; such an exercise will do much to teach delicate discrimination of sounds, and it is important early to cultivate the ear and the vocal organs. I append the diphthong table—to read it proceed from one vowel to another, following the arrow head.

Interchange of letters.The classification of letters is of the greatest importance as the basis of linguistic study, and so the matter should early be made interesting and intelligible, not only for the sake of pronunciation, but as accounting for, and simplifying a great many rules of grammar, and enabling pupils to acquire quickly a large vocabulary, when they begin foreign tongues, by observing such laws as are expounded by Grimm and Vernier, and thus helping them later to recognise that there is such a thing as a science of language, something more than a wearisome list of empirical rules and unreasonable exceptions. Thus reading, if taught as it should be, conforms to the psychological principles (1) that we should develop the powers of observation, (2) let the child do or make something, (3) show the uses of what is produced, (4) plant some root principles which may grow up and bear fruit in later studies, (5) associate the different studies with one another. The reason why teaching is often so dull, is that teachers do not take a large view of the field of instruction, but work like day-labourers, and adopt that fatal maxim, you should “throw it all off, out of school hours”. “I am a gentleman after four o’clock,” said a schoolmaster! Now I should like those who are going to teach the alphabet to read Max Müller’s Science of Thought in their leisure hours. It is too ponderous a volume to buy—660 pages—but it should be in the Teachers’ Library. There is a most interesting chapter on the origin of roots, which he traces to imperatives. I need hardly say that the two volumes of Lectures on Language should be familiar to all, and that the teacher should work out roots for herself after the model of “Mar”. She must not, however, bury the important things under a mass of erudition; the larger her store the more should she be able to select by the discursive faculty (I ask pardon of Herbart) what is most illustrative of her subject for the special class: it is very important to know what not to say.

Melville Bell’s Visible Speech is very instructive reading, and all should be familiar with Le Mestr.: Fonetiq of Paul Passy. I abstain from recommending some of the very learned books “made in Germany”. These are not suited to persons of limited leisure, but are rather for the Grammarian who said:—

If reading is begun early, taught in the way suggested, and the sounds insisted on, to the exclusion of the absurd spelling, which pretends to produce cat from see ay tee, children seem to get on slowly at first, but the progress is rapid, when they have once mastered the signs, i.e., as rapid as is possible with our cacography.

In an excursus I have insisted on the great importance of reformed spelling. It is difficult to get people to agree, but any system, Soames’ or Pitman’s or Bell’s, would be better than our present chaos. If Government would give liberty to those who teach a phonetic system, things would improve, and children would easily read ordinary characters afterwards. All who write shorthand must spell phonetically.

Voice production.Not only right articulation needs attention, but what is called voice production. The health of many a delicate girl may be greatly strengthened by habituating her to breathe as she ought, and the whole class of what are called clergymen’s throats are in great measure, if not entirely due to the improper use of the organs of speech. There will be little difficulty later, if we, from the beginning, make children stand and breathe rightly, speak and read with due attention to stops and emphasis, and to those subtle changes of voice on which expression depends so much.

Children should never be allowed to learn a poem without preparation, or to memorise it by gabbling it over; as well might we expect them to become musicians by rattling off pieces unstudied, without regard to time and accent. At first, the poems to be learned should be repeated viva voce by the teacher to the little ones. Later, a special study should be made of anything set to a class, and it should be learned by the mind, not the ear. In France and Germany a poem is not set until it has been discussed and explained, points of importance insisted on, special beauties, etc.

A reading class should not be one in which each girl has to listen to the bad reading of another. I know no manual so good for the teacher, and for elder pupils, as Professor Meiklejohn’s Expressive Reading. There are some good remarks in a brief paper by Mr. Birrell in Barnett’s Teaching and Organisation, and I may draw attention to page 131 of Spenser’s chapters on Teaching, for all these books should be in the Teachers’ Library.

From the first, children should learn poetry by heart—poetry suited to their understanding. A child was heard to drone forth:—

The reflections of the poet were utterly uninteresting to him; he did not perceive the absurdity of cows ascending a tower.

I cannot sufficiently deprecate the setting of melodramatic pieces chosen not for their intrinsic beauty, but to show the power of execution—to borrow a musical term. The pieces learned need not be all poetry. Some of Hans Andersen’s Mährchen are excellent. Scenes in which several can take part help to give animation.

Learning by heart.Throughout their school life children should continue to store their memory, during the years in which it is easy to learn, with masterpieces in prose and poetry; because learning by heart was formerly overdone it is much neglected now. These early acquisitions are a treasure all one’s life. Familiarity with really good writers is the first thing necessary for writing well; it is good to let children write from memory passages learned instead of giving dictation.

Recitation.Looking at the higher aspects, I can hardly exaggerate the importance of getting children to speak with the understanding and right expression; for this teachers must make them enter into the meaning of the writer, realising the imagery, the feelings, the thoughts; this calls out right emotion, and thus elocution becomes of no small value as a part of moral training. Plato dwells much on the influence for good or evil upon the actor who realises the character he represents, and as Aristotle has said that through the drama one may purify the soul, so we may help our pupils to feel all the grand music of our great poets, and to enter with fuller sympathy into the teaching of the sacred scriptures of the world.

There is an excellent article in the volume of Special Reports issued by the Education Office by Mr. Dale of Merton College, from which I give extracts.

“Before the reading of Geibel’s poem on Frederick Barbarossa (the story of the sleeping kaiser who wakes to grasp the sceptre once more) a scholar was bidden to relate the fairy tale of the sleeping princess.

“The analysis of the piece into sections was given, each with a brief title indicating its subject-matter, and the exposition of their relation to one another, showing it had a distinct purpose and value.”

Oral composition.The practice of composition may begin systematically in quite early years. Mr. Dale has given an interesting account of the way in which children are taught orally, and one who attended a Ferien-Kursus at Jena has explained the matter fully to me. First, the teacher always insisted upon answers to questions being complete sentences. I quote once more from Mr. Dale, but the whole article should be read.

“The first division of the subject in the German code is ‘exercises in speaking’; and the careful and admirable training in oral expression is worthy of special attention. It is of frequent occurrence to hear a boy when called upon for an answer speak with but little hesitation for two or three minutes, using grammatical and connected language, and displaying a vocabulary which might have been supposed to be too wide for any but adults. This result is the working, primarily, of a principle which has always lain deep in the German conception of teaching, and which has been reinforced by the influence of Herbart and his followers, that in every lesson the child should take an active part. It is given as a precept to every seminar student, ‘Let the teacher speak little, the children much’.

“The teaching of composition is one of the most valuable parts of the work done in the German schools. It is begun at a very early age and practised steadily throughout the course.

“The composition is conducted by word of mouth. ‘Who,’ asks the teacher, ‘can give me a sentence to begin the first section?’ One is suggested, and criticised. ‘Can any one else give me a better?’ The others then suggest, if necessary with a little help, their variants, and finally one version is accepted. In the case of the youngest children this is written on the blackboard. The same process is pursued with each section till the piece is finished. With the older boys the blackboard is not used, save for the titles indicating the outline of each section. The class then writes it out from memory.

“The fundamental presupposition of this method is the inability of young pupils to compose and think out a series of ideas without much assistance, even though the subject be a familiar one. Their thoughts need concentration and guidance, and this help is given them by the working out of the matter in class. Yet individual liberty of expression is by no means sacrificed. The sentences are the children’s own, and for the purpose of good composition the oral method is invaluable. It proceeds on the sound principle that a child should be taught to test style by the ear and not by the eye alone. It makes short work of a lumbering period.

“On the other hand, the activity and interest of every scholar are kept up by the desire to improve on his fellows, and to have his own version accepted. Constant practice, moreover, is gained in the art of finding synonyms, and it affords an admirable opportunity of instruction in grammar and orthography. Indeed, the practising school at Jena, following a suggestion of Professor Ziller, removes grammatical explanations altogether from the reading piece, and transfers them to the child’s own composition, an expedient which avoids the fault of defacing the beauty and unity of a poem by picking it to pieces for the sake of illustration.”

Sometimes a picture is used to form a subject of conversation, questioning and explanation. Thus is the valuable power of oral composition formed, a good vocabulary obtained, taste cultivated, and that respect for the mother tongue which is so sadly wanting in many English people. Children gain a facility in writing which no dissection into different clauses, enlargements of predicates, etc., can give. Rules are introduced with the reasons for such rules, and only at last a grammar is placed in the pupil’s hands—even as a Euclid is given when it is all known. I have heard a small kindergarten boy stand up and give in a clear and quiet way quite a long story which he had studied. The habit of accurate expression will thus be formed and the thought become clear, for it is language alone which gives form and body to thought—gives it “a local habitation to a name”.

In the higher schools, Mr. Dale writes, the practice of oral composition is continued (p. 573):—

“The practice of oral paraphrase which we saw existing in the elementary schools here reaches its climax. The scholars are bidden to prepare a scene or passage of some author, or to read up some period of literary history at home. The next morning, before the lesson begins, one of them is called upon to give a summary of what he has read, a sort of short essay by word of mouth—lasting three or four minutes, and sometimes even longer. The correctness both of style and matter, with which this difficult task is performed, needs to be heard in order to be fully appreciated at its true value. It combines many of the advantages gained from a debating society with those of an essay. It cultivates readiness of speech and thought, while, like an essay, by enabling the teacher to gauge the points on which interest has centred, it lends him a proper starting-place for his lecture.”

This oral composition tells very advantageously upon the written work, and could be introduced more generally into English schools; but from quite early years children should be accustomed to write answers to questions upon their lessons, or to tell something that they know. Later, subjects may be given to be thought out or a résumé given of a lesson; and lastly the pupils of the higher class required to read up a subject, and write upon it, or compose an essay.

Grammar taught inductively.As regards the formal teaching of English grammar, I shall say but little. I may instead refer my readers to the long and interesting paper by Dr. Abbott in the volume edited by Mr. Barnett, and to his book, How to Tell the Parts of Speech. The system he recommends will form a good foundation for the acquisition of foreign tongues. Pupils are led to make their own definitions, and in part their own grammar. A class thus taught French by our present Mistress of Method were astonished and delighted to find they knew already the chief rules of their French grammar, when at length it was placed in their hands. It is impossible and unnecessary to insist upon all grammatical forms being obtained inductively; life is too short to carry it out in all its details, and so the tabulation and learning of various paradigms becomes necessary; but pupils should learn to form them. I am sure there is much less use in the old-fashioned parsing exercises than is generally supposed; parsing becomes mechanical; nine-tenths of what they have to write children know, and need not think about, and when sentences are given to parse, certain words only should be underlined for parsing. I first questioned its usefulness when I found at school that one who was so dull, that we used to regard her as somewhat of an idiot, always came to the top when we took places for parsing. What the French call analyse logique—classifying all words and phrases according to their function in the sentence—is valuable.

Logical and grammatical analysis.Mr. Blakiston in his School Management endorses this view, and recommends the teaching of logical even before grammatical parsing. Mr. Fearon in School Inspection writes: “What is wanted is to get as quickly as possible a notion of the structure of the sentence, and the logical relation of its parts. The teaching of English should be based on the analysis of sentences. Some may think the teaching of English grammar by means of logical analysis more difficult than the old method. I am perfectly convinced from observation and experience, both as a teacher and as an inspector, that this is not the case. They are not more difficult than the terms which it is necessary to use in teaching grammar on the old system. The great point is to make children have an intelligent understanding of the real things which underlie them and which they represent.”

Professor Woodward (Monographs on Education) writes: “There is need of preparatory drill in forms and language study, to bring a child to the intelligent study of construction, but this done, the analytical method of sentence-study commends itself. Intelligence is called into play, for the pupil is no longer studying words as words, but as the expression of thought; memory is subordinate and reason to the front—nouns, verbs, etc., are in some languages stamped with distinguishing marks, and can be recognised by their forms, but in English the power of any word and its influence in the sentence are rarely dependent on its form; the part of speech cannot be determined at sight, but by its connection and dependency.”

The analysis of sentences is of course very important in the study of foreign languages. Hosts of rules about conjunctions, governing moods, etc., can be discarded if once children can recognise a dependent sentence. Various models of analysis are given in all good grammars. Here is a form which has many recommendations as showing clearly the structure of a complex sentence:—

Another matter which should have great attention is the use of tenses. There is nothing perhaps so difficult for foreigners to acquire as the power of discriminating tenses. Owing to the want of the present and future imperfect in French verbs, many children get an idea that imperfect means past, and few know until they learn Greek that “I have written” is a present tense. Such a table as this can be used to contrast languages:—

The authors of the Parallel Grammar Series have sought to reduce the time occupied in learning grammar. In one book the general rules only need be given, and the variations from these rules appear in other grammars. Thus the tiresome repetitions in each grammar of the letters of the alphabet—the definitions of the parts of speech of many rules regarding concords—could appear once for all.

Let me in conclusion quote a portion of the resolutions concerning the teaching of English passed by the Conference called by the Committee of Ten.[7]

“The main direct object of the teaching of English in schools is (1) to enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts of others and to give expression to thoughts of his own; and (2) to cultivate a taste for reading, to give the pupil some acquaintance with good literature, and to furnish him with the means of extending that acquaintance. Incidentally, other ends may be subserved, but such subsidiary interests should never be allowed to encroach on the two main purposes. Though it may be necessary to consider these separately, in practice they should never be dissociated in the mind of the teacher, and their mutual dependence should be kept constantly present to the mind of the pupils.

“If the pupil is to secure control of the language as an instrument for the expression of his thoughts, it is necessary (1) that during the period of life when imitation is the chief motive principle in education, he should be kept so far as possible away from the influence of bad models and under the influence of good models, and (2) that every thought which he expresses, whether orally or on paper, should be regarded as a proper subject for criticism as to language. Thus every lesson should become a part of the pupil’s training in English. There can be no more appropriate moment for a brief lesson in expression than the moment when the pupil has something which he is trying to express.

“In addition to this incidental training, appropriate special instruction in English should form a part of the curriculum from the beginning. This special instruction may be considered under three heads: A. Language and composition. During the first two years at school, children (under eight) may acquire some fluency of expression by reproducing orally in their own words stories told them by their teachers, and by inventing stories about objects and pictures.

“In the third school year children should begin to compose in writing; they should copy and write from dictation and from memory short and easy passages of prose and verse.

“The subjects assigned should gradually increase in difficulty. (The paraphrasing of poetry is not to be commended.) Pains should be taken to improve the child’s vocabulary by suggesting to him, for the expression of his thoughts, better words than those he may himself have chosen. He should also be trained to perceive the larger divisions of thought which are conventionally indicated by paragraphs. The teacher should bear in mind the necessity of correctness in the formation of sentences and paragraphs.

“Compositions and all other written exercises should receive careful and appropriate criticism, and the staff of instructors should be large enough to protect every teacher from an excess of this peculiarly exacting and fatiguing work.

“B. Formal or systematic grammar. Not earlier than twelve years of age the study of formal grammar, with drill in fundamental analysis, may be taken up. It should not be pursued as a separate study longer than is necessary to familiarise the pupil with the main principles. Probably a single year will be sufficient. Subsequently, although grammatical analysis may properly accompany reading and the study of composition, it should not be regarded as a separate subject in the curriculum. The teaching of formal grammar should aim principally to enable the pupil (1) to recognise the parts of speech, and (2) to analyse sentences both as to structure and as to syntax. Routine parsing should be avoided.

“With regard to the study of formal grammar the Conference wishes to lay stress on three points: (1) a student may be taught to speak and write good English without receiving any special instruction in formal grammar; (2) the study of formal grammar is valuable as training in thought, but has only an indirect bearing on the art of writing and speaking; and (3) the teaching of formal grammar should be as far as possible incidental, and should be brought into close connection with the pupil’s work in reading and composition. These principles explain the considerable reduction recommended by the Conference in the amount of time allowed to this study.

“The best results in the teaching of English in high schools cannot be secured without the aid given by the study of some other language. Latin and German are especially suited to this end.

“Every teacher, whatever his department, should feel responsible for the use of good English by his pupils.”

One would like to say much on the study of language generally, and not only of its mere formal elements—of the “fossil poetry” to be found in figures of speech; of the metaphors which express the same thought in different languages. I give the names of some useful books, but there are many other good grammars.

Amongst English grammars I may mention those by Morris and Mason, various books by Dr. Abbott, and the Parallel Grammar Series. There are good grammars, too numerous to mention, suitable for school use.

CLASSICAL STUDIES.

By W. H. D. Rouse, M.A., formerly Fellow of Christ’s College in Cambridge, and a Master at Rugby School.

Aim of a girl’s education.It were idle to expect that classics can be studied with the same thoroughness in girls’ schools as in boys’. Girls’ schools have grown up with other traditions; music and drawing and modern languages have so long been the staple of a girl’s education, that it is perhaps too late now to make any radical change. Nor is it clear that even if possible, it would be well to substitute classics for these subjects. If the object of girls’ education be, as many think, not so much to turn out finished scholars as to give an intelligent and sympathetic interest in life, this can be better achieved by grafting classics upon the existing curriculum, than by ousting other studies for the sake of these. Nevertheless, there will be many whose aim it is to give themselves to teaching as a profession, and some who are scholars born, and willing to spend their life in research and study. A good school must provide for these; and we have to consider how to combine the interests of both classes. The result will naturally be a compromise: the average pupil getting less than the average boy gets, while the few specialists will need to make up for lost time, and to compress their work into a shorter period than is usually given to it. The object of teaching will be the same in any case: a mastery of the matter perfect as far as it goes; and at the outset, the methods will be much the same.

Importance of Latin in all schemes of higher education.It is scarcely necessary to insist on the value of Latin for every educated man or woman. It is not only valuable as a thorough training of the mind, in close reasoning and unremitting attention; nor only as opening to the student a literature of great interest: it is actually useful in a practical way. It is the key to all the Romance languages; Latin once mastered, French and Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are brought within easy reach. Almost all that has then to be learnt is the grammar of these languages; for the body of the words is already familiar. Certainly much study and practice will be needed before these languages can be spoken; but is it nothing to be able to read? Men who are preparing for the Civil Service in India learn Sanskrit; not because the Government is interested in the training of their minds, but because this is the key to the spoken dialects of India. As this dead language is practically useful in learning Hindi or Bengali, so Latin is practically useful in learning Italian or French. Then again, the grammatical drill is much more rigid and effective in teaching Latin than in teaching French, Italian, or even German. The relation of action to object, the subordination of thought to thought, the dependence of an oblique statement, all become clear to the mind in English or French when they have been made clear to the eye by Latin. Nor must we forget that without Latin no one can really understand English, especially the English of such writers as Milton and Bacon. And besides these advantages, Latin has a direct use in several professions, which are now or may yet be open to women: in medicine, in the law, in letters; and even in business a knowledge of it, as already pointed out, will enable any one to become fit for foreign correspondence with far less difficulty than otherwise.

We will assume, then, that Latin will be begun even in girls’ schools early enough (say at thirteen or fourteen) to get through the grammar, without undue pressure, by the time the specialist will wish to begin Greek. There may be at that time a certain amount of work yet to get through which a boy of the same age would have done; but this will have to be done more quickly, that is all. It must not be slurred or neglected, certainly; but the student will probably find that the work progresses at a rather quicker rate than might be expected, because the mind is already better trained and stored than is usual at that stage of the study.

The right method of teaching a language.The right method of teaching a language may be put in a nutshell: grammar, reading, writing and conversation should go side by side. For convenience, and because of the importance of the subjects, grammar and exercises in composition will naturally have special times assigned to them; but they should never be left out of sight. No construing lesson ought to be done without some grammatical drill, or without a few sentences of conversation, which is in fact composition in brief. (1) Grammar.The importance of grammar can hardly be overestimated; and the first thing the learner must understand is that the skeleton of the language, the inflections, have to be known by heart. A knowledge of cognate languages may help, and comparative tables of forms may help both intelligence and memory, but in the end it all comes to the same thing: however the pupil may have learnt them, he must be prepared to say off his declensions and conjugations from memory in the usual tabular form. There are, in this slipshod age, those who affect to despise precise knowledge, such as geographical names and facts, historical dates, and the paradigms of a grammar. To “learn by reading” not sufficient.“Learn by reading” is their motto in language; a most false and pernicious principle, as I can testify from sad experience. It has been my lot to learn one or two languages sufficiently well to enable me to read in them, and I grieve to relate that in these I shirked the drudgery of the grammar. The result is that although a certain amount of grammar has soaked in, I cannot yet read without a manual by my side. The most such a method can do is to give the general sense of a sentence; but it often fails to do even that, inasmuch as the general sense of a sentence is made up of the precise sense of its parts. Exactness in understanding is not to be had without paying the price, and the price is an exact knowledge of grammar. The rottenness of this system is shown when it comes to writing; and the productions of these empirics might well make Quintilian stare and gasp. Thus, however the grammar may be taught to begin with, the class should always have handy some book containing just the facts of the language, arranged in the usual fashion, and not encumbered with exercises. They will need this in the end, and they may as well have it at the beginning. The most useful books of the kind are Kennedy’s Revised Latin Primer (or Postgate’s New Latin Primer, which is in some respects better, notably in the marking of quantities) and Abbott and Mansfield’s Greek Grammar. If no book of exercises is used, it is hardly necessary to say that these books cannot be learnt straight through from cover to cover. Indeed, the very first pages of both are unintelligible to beginners. In that case the teacher must himself select what is to be learnt; and the tables which follow (pp. 87-8) are meant to assist in this.

(2) Reading to be begun as soon as possible.As soon as the pupil is able to understand a simple sentence, he should begin to use some reading book. One of the most satisfactory Latin readers I have had to do with is Abbott’s Dux Latinus; some of the books err in not being simple enough in the structure of the sentences. Equally good and more easy to work with are the cheap Single Term Readers of Messrs. Rivington. The sooner the pupil can be put on to a genuine classical author, the better. Eutropius, Nepos or Phædrus is better suited for beginners than Cæsar; Cæsar will come next. Stories from Ovid may follow, and some of Cicero’s lucid and interesting narrative; the best selection is that of Walford (Clarendon Press). Virgil may be well begun in Allcroft’s Story of Æneas (Blackie). Once the pupil has attained this stage, further selection should be easy; only, be it said, too many notes spoil the scholar.

The student will be able sooner to tackle an author in Greek than in Latin, because of the greater simplicity of the language. In a very short time he ought to pass on to the excellent Clarendon Press Easy Selections from Xenophon, or some adaptation of stories from Herodotus, or parts of Lucian. He may then take one of the Rugby Scenes from Greek Plays (Rivingtons), and the easier parts of Thucydides, as edited in Rivington’s Middle Form Greek Readers.

Construing.In the construing lesson, the teacher will of course try to give each pupil a small portion to translate; and with a class of twenty-five this can easily be done in three quarters of an hour, leaving time for questions. He will then go through the passage himself, asking a question or two now and then to rivet their attention; and then one and another should be called upon to decline or conjugate as many of the words (regular as well as irregular) as can be got into the time. It is needless to insist that constant practice is necessary in grammar and parsing. In this manner the accidence will be kept fresh in the mind, and at last (it is to be hoped) firmly impressed upon it. But one most important aid to learning is so often neglected, that it will be necessary to speak about it rather fully. (3) Conversation.This is conversation. First let me say that nothing is meant resembling the method of Gouin. What may be the merits of that method in the case of French or German, it is needless to ask here; but I am confident that a syntax and accidence so elaborate as those of Greek could not possibly be taught by that method in any reasonable time, and I do not believe they could be so taught at all. Simple conversation can be begun as soon as the pupil begins to read. We will suppose the reading book contains the sentence, Post triduum Cæsar equitatum ad Labienum misit. How to be used.The teacher will ask, Quid fecit Cæsar? and the pupil must be made to answer, at first by prompting if necessary, Misit equitatum Cæsar. The next question may be, Ad quem misit equitatum? the reply, Ad Labienum misit equitatum Cæsar. Other questions may be got out of this short sentence; such as Quis misit? quid? quando? The class should be made to give always a complete sentence in reply. At first they may have the book open before them; but so soon as they are used to the sound of the words, they should be made to shut the book and answer from memory. Five minutes at the end of a lesson is not much to give, and it is surprising how this kind of thing quickens interest and memory. Its great advantages.The pupils find the advantage when they sit down to write their exercises, for now the words and constructions come quickly into the mind. Moreover, they will find that they have learnt unconsciously the difference in emphasis which position makes; for it will be observed that in the simple answers given above, the words which answer the question, and are therefore the most important, come first in the answer. The teacher should ring the changes on his reading exercise in this way, until after a term or two he will be able to begin talking to them on other subjects: such as the weather, the pictures on the walls, the pupils’ dress, their inky fingers, anything that occurs to him. He must take every opportunity of dropping in the accusative and infinitive, a phrase of purpose or consequence, or the like; and thus, without much trouble, these bugbears will be got rid of. If a pupil can answer no more than Nescio quid dicas, it is something that he uses the subjunctive in a dependent question.

But it will be asked, where are the teachers to be found who can do this? A difficulty met.The answer is, that it is perfectly easy to learn, and only needs practice. The teacher will have his own book open before him, and need not go beyond its words till he has gained confidence; then by degrees he will do it more and more easily, and in a while talking will come quite naturally to him. In more discursive conversations, it is true, some preparation will be necessary, but it is quite worth the while. There are one or two little books that teachers will find useful,[8] but they will best make their own collections. A few hours’ reading will give an ample store of colloquialisms from Plato, Aristophanes and Lucian, from Plautus, Terence, and Cicero’s letters. It is not a bad plan to compile lists of colloquial sentences, say a hundred, and make every pupil learn them by heart.