themselves
and those facts which had better be told. Many teachers tell too much
and do not throw the pupils sufficiently on their own resources. On the
other hand, many teachers tell too little and waste valuable time in
trying to "draw" from the pupils what they do not know, with the result
that the pupils fall back upon the pernicious practice of guessing. The
teacher needs to be on his guard against "the toil of dropping buckets
into empty wells, and growing old in drawing nothing up."

It may be added further that, in practical life, man is constantly
required to interpret through spoken language. For this reason,
therefore, all children should become proficient in securing knowledge
through spoken language, that is, by means of the lecture, or telling,
method.

THE TEXT-BOOK METHOD

=Nature of Text-book Method.=--In the text-book method, in place of
listening to the words of the teacher, the pupil is expected to read in
a text-book, in connection with each lesson problem, a series of facts
which will aid him in calling up, or selecting, the ideas essential to
the mastery of the new knowledge. This method is similar, therefore, in
a general way, to the lecture method; since it implies ability in the
pupil to interpret language, and thus recall the ideas bearing upon the
topic being presented. Although the text-book method lacks the
interpretation which may come through gesture and tone of voice, it
nevertheless gives the pupil abundance of time for reflecting upon the
meaning of the language without the danger of losing the succeeding
context, as would be almost sure to happen in the lecture method.
Moreover, the language and mode of presentation of the writer of the
text-book is likely to be more effective in awakening the necessary old
knowledge, than would be the less perfect descriptions of the ordinary
teacher. On the whole, therefore, the text-book seems more likely to
meet the conditions of the laws of apperception and self-activity, than
would the lecture method.

=Method Difficult for Young Children.=--The words of the text-book,
however, like the words of the teacher, are often open to
misinterpretation, especially in the case of young pupils. This may be
illustrated by the case of the student, who upon reading in her history
of the mettle of the defenders of Lacolle Mill, interpreted it as the
possession on their part of superior arms. An amusing illustration of
the same tendency to misinterpret p