to the hearers. But the emotions are all there: and if those who have a good command of their voices should once hear a master reader utter the word with the fulness of its meaning, they too could, by imitation, approximate his success and translate what is already clear in their own mind.

Under such circumstances, imitation is not a bad thing; indeed, it is one of the very best things. The danger lies, of course, in a failure to insist on the child's first having the thought for himself, a thought which he thoroughly understands but may be unable to express vocally. The teacher must be sure, too, that her understanding of the thought and that of the pupil approximately agree, otherwise gross misunderstandings may arise and much effort be wasted. She must be sure, too, that the child has the vocal skill to express it satisfactorily.

Setting Up Ideals of Reading

All this is largely about the expression of literature. The same thing is true to a less extent with our denotative material,—to a less extent because there is less room for variation. Some primary teachers who do not fear the effect of employing imitation have an excellent device that could be utilized at times even by teachers in the upper grades. When a child reads mechanically “I—see— a—dog—in—the street,” the teacher reads with proper inflection. "I saw a cat in the street," and then the child repeats his own sentence, using a similar inflection and phrasing. This can be done

effectively in any grade, the teacher giving a good reading of a sentence nearly parallel to the one the pupil has misread, or making any variation whatever in the sentence form, provided she retains an illustration of the essential point.

Another device for a similar end, to be used largely with pupils who are not so clever at transferring a notion, is for the teacher to present several readings of the same sentence, readings that will each give a different turn to the meaning or shade to the expression, and have the pupil choose from these the one that best gives his idea of the meaning.

The Teacher's Reading

Too much can not be said in insistence upon the teacher's setting a good model in reading of whatever kind she does in the schoolroom. Just as reading can not be taught well if the pupil is held to a good standard only in the reading class, so the effect of the teacher's admonitions and precepts is greatly weakened unless she illustrates them herself all through the day. It is possible, of course, for a person who can not sing to teach vocal music; but how much better if he can practice what he teaches!

The teacher of reading should have an intelligent understanding, a quiet, firm voice, clear articulation, correct pronunciation, and a good manner in every thing she reads before her school, from the Bible lesson in the morning to the last assignment in the afternoon.

Setting a good example does not mean that the teacher will resort to exhortation or rank didacticism to bring about the desired result. She will not be constantly haranguing her class, wasting valuable recitation time, by urging them with such characteristic injunctions as, "Now, children, read it this way, ""Listen to me and then read it in the same way,' " "Why, Mary, didn't you hear me? Try it again," and so on ad nauseam. How much better and wiser it is for her to be a good model at all times instead of practicing her precept perhaps only during the reading lesson!

We are not denying the necessity of occasionally calling the attention of the children to a correct or corrected pronunciation, to a more appreciative or meaningful reading, to grammatical misconstructions or inaccuracies of statement. Example should be reinforced by precept, but the efficacy of precept increases in value with the age of the child. In primary work, the former is of the more vital and far-reaching significance. Far better is it for the teacher to read here and there as the recitation proceeds apparently because she can not help it, because she is so alive to the story, than to assume an air of pseudo-dignity, and, after inviting the children to listen to her, to pronounce the language in an unnatural tone, one probably wholly unadapted to the spirit of the selection. By reading occasionally herself in the proper way she keeps up the standard, which, if the children are permitted to do all the reading, is sure to retrograde and likely to be lost

sight of entirely, just as it often is in writing. There pupils, beginning with an excellent copy at the top of the page and using each succeeding line they write as the copy, finally produce one that is almost wholly unlike the one at the top; the standard of excellence, in most cases, diminishes as the writing proceeds.

Pupils Set Models

The teacher must unconsciously in reading be the pattern, and the needs and abilities of the children must afford her almost intuitive knowledge of the means to be employed. As soon as possible some secondary pattern work may be done by some of the better pupils.

Undoubtedly there is little place for conscious imitation in reading except in the drill phases of it, which really are only accessories to the deeper purpose. In these, however, there may be an abundance of individual, sectional, and class imitation carried on consciously to relieve physiological defects and to acquire proficiency in the mechanical features, or the so-called tools, of reading.

This principle implies that good models, whether they be material or the more potent ones of personality, be placed before the child. Why has so much effort been made in educational circles in recent years to secure well-lighted buildings, neat and clean floors, tinted walls decorated with masterpieces of art, beautiful playgrounds, and the like but that the right kind of material models may be

constantly before the child? Surely that teacher whose spirit is alive, whose interest in the thing she is doing is real, and who, in the primary grades, can bring to her "aid a great company of invisible spirits, interpreters to her as well as to the child," will be most stimulating and most worthy of being followed.

If she has vivid and beautiful imagery, a soul saturated with the spirit of art and music, if she clothes her thoughts in clear, choice language, tells her stories with appropriateness, reads as she should, and pronounces and articulates in almost faultless style, the effect upon her pupils cannot be estimated. These are the ideal qualities of the primary teacher, never realized completely in any but always to be striven for by all. In proportion as they are attained, the responsibilities of the day become lighter, the tasks easier, the duties more welcome, and the mechanical and routine features of teaching, heretofore dry and uninteresting, rich in devices and fruitful in results.