is at first used as principal, because of its value in developing a habit of reading thoughtfully, and afterwards as auxiliary, to remedy the shortcomings of the phonetic method and increase the stock of phonograms. The phonetic method, which is introduced by easy stages during the ascendancy of the word method, finally becomes itself the principal means of growth and progress." A detailed statement of the method is found in the Ward Readers, published by Silver, Burdett & Co.

Along in the early seventies of the last century, many educators began to claim that since the unit of all language work is the sentence, we should begin to teach reading by the sentence method. Many different plans and combinations with the other methods have been tried in recent years, but no one has been universally accepted. In the pages which follow, we believe that there is unfolded a safe, sensible plan, one that has stood the test of experience.

PART II

PRIMARY READING

CHAPTER III

THE PRIMARY PERIOD

The child, on entering school, stands on the threshold of a new phase of life wondering, listening, ready to have his imagination attuned to the finer influences. It is a most significant and impressive time for him. His mind is not filled with many perplexing questions and he is prone to believe all that he hears and sees. He is curious, groping, searching, and reaching out for the unknown and at the same time busy constructing imaginary situations. His whole disposition is to follow after nature, to do those things for which he feels a need rather than pursue conditions set up for him by others. The two words which summarize the distinctive characteristics of the primary period are imitation and imagination.

Imagination and Literature

Although the latter of these will receive a more exhaustive discussion farther on, a word or two

about it here may not be amiss. No better material can be found for stimulating this power of mind than literature. As soon as the child has acquired the power to read, and even while he is acquiring it, he should not be sent on a long chase after the phantoms and vagaries found in cheap literature produced by indifferent writers, but to "the rich deposit of the centuries—which by its simplicity, its self-reliance upon elemental truths of the soul, its homely instincts, its free spirit of wonder and belief, appeals directly, surely to the imagination of the child."* Feed him only on the best. Through the already wide-open gates of child-life let in the lifegiving floods. Give him through choice books a multitude of friends who will never desert him and of whom he will never be ashamed. The best literary works have so much imagination concentrated in them that they appeal to and stimulate this activity in the child.

Imitation

The other factor, imitation, is well worthy of our serious attention just now. While the adult is probably never free from its influence, the child at six is largely controlled by it. His imitation may be either unconscious or conscious, but more commonly the former than the latter. He is indebted to it for his language, habits, mannerisms, many of his movements, social notions, moral and religious conceptions, and probably even self-consciousness itself.† *Scudder: Atlan. 73, 252.

Royce: Studies of Good and Evil, p. 182.

Imitation is the basis of originality. It is not possible for one to add something characteristic to his copy until after he has imitated two or more copies. Indeed, he cannot even be selective of his copy until after he has done this. Then, too, originality is shown in the fact that while many may be following the same form, say in the copy-book, no two copies are exactly alike, the individuality of each is expressed in his copy.

Imitation is thus the basis for enriching life "by adding to it the lives of others.""* It enables one to repeat in himself the conduct, the thinking, and feeling of his fellows. Before the true judgment, insight, and discrimination have been cultivated, there is a marked tendency in children, and in primitive peoples, slavishly to imitate all details; but when these qualities have been progressively strengthened and attention is given to the consequences, then the person seeks to appropriate only those qualities which can be utilized in new adaptations. He has then reached the plane of self-emancipation, but, unquestionably, he has not arrived at this station in his development when he enters school. In school training it is important to lift the pupil above the low plane of mere imitation or copying, but it must be remembered that the former is basic to the latter.

The existence and operation of this principle in child life is clear even to casual observers; still its application to the problem in hand may not, at first sight, seem so obvious. We have already stated,

*Harris: N. E. A., 94, 637-41.

and shall do so again and again, that thought-getting is the first essential in any kind of reading. If the thought is thoroughly understood, a pupil will usually have no trouble in giving it oral expression. His rendering may not be the best possible, the most musical, or expressive of the subtler shades of thought, but it is essentially correct, and what is more important, it is his own.

The Value of Tone and Inflection

There are times when the voice is unable to translate the thought to another's ear, however well it be understood. Many a cheerful, social man has a manner of saying "Good morning" that belies his whole nature. This is probably due to a bad or thoughtless habit. In other cases, the reader simply does not know how to use his voice to express what he has in mind.

In the first act of Hamlet, for instance, when the ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius has murdered the king, Hamlet utters merely the one word "Murder." Now, to one who has studied the play, there is little doubt concerning what lies back of the word. Hamlet has long suspected his uncle: and through this one word he expresses his horror at the revelation, his grief for his father, his determination to avenge the crime, and some satisfaction that his suspicion has been confirmed. How, then, should the word be uttered? Most readers and actors despair of conveying all the emotions through the word, and concentrate their efforts on translating one of them