nly the most indolent and
profitless use of his faculties while reciting. He could hardly answer
amiss, unless he were an idiot, and yet he has the appearance, and he is
often flattered into the belief, of having given some evidence of
knowledge and proficiency.

The opposite extreme from the method just exhibited, is that known as
the topical method. It is the method pursued in the higher classes of
schools, and among more advanced students. In the topical method, the
teacher propounds a topic or subject, sometimes in the form of a
question, but more commonly only by a title, a mere word or two, and
then calls upon the pupil to give, in his own words, a full and
connected narration or explanation of the subject, such as the teacher
himself would give, if called upon to narrate or explain it. The subject
already suggested, if profound topically, would be somewhat in this
wise:

The first temptation of Jesus.

Or, more fully: Narrate the circumstances of the first temptation of
Jesus, and show wherein his virtue was particularly tried in that
transaction.

The teacher, having propounded the subject clearly to the class, then
waits patiently, maintaining silence himself, and requiring the members
of the class to be silent and attentive, until the pupil interrogated is
quite through, not hurrying him, not interrupting him, even with
miscalled helps and hints, but leaving him to the free and independent
action of his own faculties, in giving as full, connected, and complete
an account of the matter as he can. When the pupil is quite through, the
teacher then, but not before, makes any corrections or additional
statements that may seem to be needed. In such an exercise as this, the
pupil finds the absolute necessity of full and ample preparation; he has
a powerful and healthy stimulus thus to prepare, in the intellectual
satisfaction which one always feels in the successful discharge of any
difficult task; and he acquires a habit of giving complete and accurate
expression to his knowledge, by means of entire sentences, and without
the help of "catch-words," or leading-strings of any kind.

Some classes, of course, are not sufficiently advanced to carry out
fully the method here explained. But there are many intermediate
methods, founded on the same principle, and suited to children in every
stage of advancement. Only let it be understood, whatever the stage,
that the object of the recitation is, not to show what the te