at
were they? Who proposed to pay the expense? Does _propose_ in this case
have a different or larger meaning than that in which you are in the
habit of seeing it used? Of what did they propose to pay the expense?

If a young person can answer all the questions in the preceding
paragraph, he undoubtedly understands the passage upon which they are
based. The questioner must watch the answers and be ready to detect
mistakes. Often the answer shows why the person fails to understand, and
a different question will then bring out the correct reply. The
questions always should be so worded that they do not anticipate the
answer, yet so the person questioned will thoroughly understand what is
expected. A little help now and then is appreciated by anyone, certainly
by those who are being led to think.

Carried to excess, close reading is wearisome; and parents, remembering
this, should be discriminating in their selections for study and not too
exacting in their requirements. Everything may be lost by dwelling too
long upon even the most delightful selections. Left to himself, almost
every child will be fond of _The Village Blacksmith_, but it may be
read and "studied" till the very thought of it is obnoxious to the young
reader.

_Industry and Sloth_

(Volume I, page 300)

To bring out the thought in this selection, study it as follows:

What is the meaning of _jocosely_? (Flippantly.) What is a court? (A
place where disputes between persons are settled by a judge, or by a
judge and jury.) What is a jury? (A company of men, usually six or
twelve, who hear the evidence and decide on the facts.) What are cases?
(The dispute or disagreement is called a _case_, when it is brought to
court to be decided or settled.) What are damsels? (Young girls.) What
were the names of the young damsels the young man said he saw? Why do
the words "Industry" and "Sloth" begin with capital letters? (Because
they are the names of girls.) Were they real girls? What does _industry_
mean? (Work.) What does _sloth_ mean? (Laziness.) Were these real girls?
Then what does this mean? (The young man thinks of fondness for work and
fondness for idleness as though they were girls.) When we write of
qualities, or feelings, as though they were human beings, the words
become proper nouns and we begin them with capital letters. Do you know
what we call this process of lifting something that is lower to the
level of human beings? No? We call it _personifi