groups of people in earnest, animated conversation or discussion. They
are discussing politics, religion, community affairs, public
improvements, tariff, war, fashions, crops, live stock, or machinery.
Whatever the topic, they pursue the give-and-take policy in their
efforts to arrive at the truth. They contest every point and make
concessions only when they are confronted by indisputable facts. Some
feeling, or even acrimony, may be generated in the course of the
discussion, but this is always accounted a weakness and a substitute for
valid argument. The recitation is rather more decorous than some of
these other discussions, but, in principle, they are identical. Every
one has freedom to express his convictions and to adduce contributory
arguments or evidence. There are no restrictions save the implied one of
decorum. The utmost courtesy obtains in the recitation, even at the
sacrifice of some eagerness. There may be a half-dozen members of the
group on their feet and anxious to be heard, but they do not interrupt
one another without due apology.

=Abiding resultants.=--Unlike some of their elders, they are ready to
acknowledge mistakes and to make concessions. They do not scruple to
correct the mistakes of others, knowing that corrections will be
gratefully received, but they do not accept mere statements from one
another. They must have evidence. They combat statements with evidence
from books or other sources that are regarded as authorities. They read
extracts, or draw diagrams, or display pictures or specimens in support
of their contentions. There is animation, to be sure; and, at times, the
flushed face and the flashing eye betoken intense feeling. But the
psychologist knows full well that these expressions intensify and make
abiding the impressions. Both in victory and in defeat the pupil comes
to an appreciation of the truth. Defeat may humiliate, but he will
evermore know the rock on which his craft was wrecked. Victory may elate
and exalt, but he will not forget the occasion or the facts. The truths
of the lesson become enmeshed in his nervous system and throughout life
they will be a part of himself.

=Reflex influence.=--Still further, this type of recitation reaches back
into the home and begets a wholesome cooeperation between the home and
the school, and this is a desideratum of no slight import. The events of
the day are recounted at the home in the evening, and the contributions
of the members of