he _can_ state the day of the week correctly, yet of late she has no
longer taken the same delight in doing so; it has become "a bore"--and
for this reason she is now only asked two or three times a month. Four
days after she had learnt this accomplishment I tackled the dates. At
first it was rather difficult to explain to her _why_ a year, which
was already divided into weeks, should be again sub-divided into
months--within which, moreover, the weeks could not be disposed of in
complete numbers. Once more I made out my chart, and wrote down
everything as I had done on previous occasions, but with divisions into
twelve parts. Then I wrote out the months and placed the number of days
after each, making the addition at the bottom of the chart come to 365.
I then explained to her that, besides being divided into weeks, the
year was also divided into months, so that each day of the year might
be more easily remembered. I told her that for instance--"this day was
Saturday; that it was in the month of March, and that to-day was the
13th of March." That "yesterday had been Friday, the 12th of March, and
that to-morrow would be the 14th," and so forth. Then I left my chart
on the floor again, and did not refer to the subject any more that day.

On Sunday Lola was seldom given anything to do so that the divisions of
the week should be firmly planted in her memory. Having, therefore,
removed the chart on Sunday, I asked her on Monday:

"How many months has the year?" Answer: "12."

"And what is the second month called?" "February."

She was very eager and giving her undivided attention to the work, so I
continued: "What day is to-day?" "Monday." "What number is this day?"
"12." Now, this was wrong, so I said: "Yesterday was the 14th, so what
is to-day?" And she replied: "15." I said: "How many days has March?"
Answer: "31." This last answer seemed to me the most astonishing,
especially as I had not really laid much stress on this part of the
lesson--fearing I might be expecting too much from her at the
beginning. As a matter of fact, I was myself by no means sure as to the
number of days in March, and had to verify it first! Up to this day
Lola has not forgotten how many days there are in each month, although
this question has merely been asked now and again; it has not been put
to her now for about nine months. Owing to the regularity of my daily
work I take but little heed of dates, so it comes that I have often put
the ques