ust not be forgotten
that they are obliged to remain seated and quiet, each one in
his place, and that they are not to move. "Well, what do you
see?" "A book," says the most stupid child in the class.
Meanwhile, the more intelligent children have been asking
themselves over and over again what it is they do see; they
feel they cannot guess what the teacher wants, and that they
will have to answer that this fish is not a fish, but
something the name of which is unknown to them. "Yes, yes,"
says the master, eagerly, "very good indeed, a book. And what
else?" The intelligent ones guess, and say joyfully and
proudly: "Letters." "No, no, not at all!" says the teacher,
disappointed; "you must think before you speak." Again all
the intelligent ones lapse into mournful silence; they do not
even try to guess; they think of the teacher's spectacles,
and wonder why he does not take them off instead of looking
over the top of them: "Come then; what is there in the book?"
All are silent. "Well, what is this thing?" "A fish," says a
bold spirit "Yes, a fish. But is it a live fish?" "No, it is
not alive." "Quite right. Then is it dead?" "No." "Right.
Then what is this fish?" "A picture." "Just so. Very good!"
All the children repeat: "It is a picture," and they think
that is all. Not at all. They have to say that it is a
picture which represents a fish. By the same method the
master induces the children to say that it is a picture which
represents a fish. He imagines that he is exercising the
reasoning faculties of his pupils, and it never seems to
enter his head that if it is his duty to teach children to
say in these exact words, "it is a book with a picture of a
fish," it would be much simpler to repeat this strange
formula and make his pupils learn it by heart.

As a pendant to this old-fashioned lesson witnessed by Tolstoy in an
elementary school in Germany, we may cite the following lesson
recently set forth by a distinguished French pedagogist and
philosopher, whose text-books are classics in the schools of his own
country and in those of many foreign lands, and are also in use in the
teachers' training colleges in Italy. As the sub-title on the
title-page informs us, it is one of a series of "lessons designed to
mold teachers and citizens who shall be conscious of their duties, and
useful to families, to t