placed in the Readers to teach certain historical, geographical, or
scientific facts. They are placed there, as has been said, primarily
because they have some value as literature. Hence the literature lesson
should require few digressions, the necessary preparatory work having
been done in previous periods.

But while history, geography, nature study, and art frequently assist in
the interpretation of a poem or prose selection, these subjects, on the
other hand, may be reinforced and strengthened by selections drawn from
the fields of literature. The facts of the history lesson will be given
an additional attractiveness if the pupil is directed to some
well-written biography or drama embodying the same facts, or if the
teacher reads or recites to the class some spirited ballad, such as
_Bonnie Dundee_, bearing upon the lesson. The interest in the
observations made in nature study will be intensified by reading some
nature story written in good literary form.

While these studies may go hand in hand with literature, it is not
necessary that they should be always taken on the same day or even in
the same week. The literature lesson may be an effective agent in the
recall of ideas that have had time to be assimilated from previous
nature study, history, or geography lessons. In our enthusiasm for
literature we must not make these subjects the mere soil and fertilizers
out of which the flowers of poetry will spring. Each of these subjects
has its proper sphere, but that teacher misses many golden opportunities
who does not frequently take a comprehensive survey of his material in
all these studies in order to find the element that will give a unity to
all our knowledge and experience. The lessons in the Reader may be taken
according to the conditions existing in the class or the inclination of
the teacher. By no means is it necessary to follow the order in the
book.

AIMS IN TEACHING LITERATURE

The teacher should always have a clear and definite aim in view in
teaching a selection in literature, but different teachers may have
different aims in teaching the same selection. There should, of course,
always be the general aim to create a taste for good literature by
leading the pupils to appreciate the beauty and power of clear and
artistic expression of thought and feeling; but this aim must be
specific according to the nature of the selection to be taught. Some
specific aims may be given as suggestive:

1. To appe