d to the one thing under consideration. The teacher's first and
most persistent problem in the recitation is, therefore, to gain and
hold the highest possible degree of attention.

Three types of appeal to attention.--We are told that there are three
kinds of attention, though this is not strictly true. There is really
only one _kind_ of attention, for attention is but the _concentration of
the mind's energy on one object or thought_. What is meant is that there
are three different _ways of securing_ or appealing to attention. Each
type of attention is named in accordance with the kind of compulsion or
appeal necessary to command it, as follows:

1. _Involuntary_ attention, or attention that is demanded of us by some
sudden or startling stimulus, as the stroke of a bell, the whistle of a
train, an aching tooth, the teacher rapping on the desk with a ruler.

2. _Nonvoluntary_, or spontaneous, attention that we give easily and
naturally, with no effort of self-compulsion. This kind of attention is
compelled by _interest_, and, when left unhindered, will be guided by
the nature of our interest.

3. _Voluntary_ attention, or attention that is compelled by effort and
power of will, and thereby required to concern itself with some
particular object of thought when the mind's pull or desire is in
another direction.

How each type of attention works.--The first of these types of
attention, the _involuntary_, has so little place in education that we
shall not need to discuss it here. The teacher who raps the desk, or
taps the bell to secure attention which should come from interest must
remember that in such case the attention is given to the _stimulus_,
that is, to the signal, and not to the lesson, and this very fact makes
all such efforts to secure attention a distraction in themselves.

The _spontaneous_, or nonvoluntary, attention that arises from interest
is the basis on which all true education and training must be founded.
The mind, and especially the child's mind, is so constituted that its
full power is not brought to bear except under the stimulus and
compulsion of interest. It is the story which is so entrancing that we
cannot tear ourself away from it, the game which is so exciting as to
cause us to forget all else in watching it, the lecture or sermon which
is so interesting that we are absorbed in listening to it, that claims
our best thought and comprehension. It is when our mind's powers are
thus driven by