which, in itself
and in what it does, illustrates the subject and the predicate of a
sentence, the work of comprehending the offices which words perform is
rendered comparatively easy. Having the skeleton thus furnished, and
with the eyes and minds of the pupils fixed upon an object that
possesses known and appreciable powers and qualities, it is not
difficult for the teacher to construct a sentence that shall contain
words of several parts of speech, all understood, because the
grammatical office of each was seen even before the word itself was
used. This work may be commenced when the child is young, and very
satisfactory results ought to be secured as soon as the pupil is in
other respects qualified to enter a grammar school. The pupil should be
trained in reading as an art; that is, with the purpose of expressing
whatever is intellectual and emotional in the text. Satisfactory results
cannot at first be secured by much reading; it seems wiser for the
teacher to select an extract, paragraph, or single sentence only, and
drill a pupil or a class until the meaning of the author is
comprehended, and accurately or even artistically expressed. This can be
done only when the teacher reads the passage again and again in the best
manner possible. The contrary practice of reading volumes of extracts
from the writings of the most gifted men of ancient and modern times,
without preparation by the pupil, without example, explanation,
correction, or questionings, by the teacher, cannot be too strongly
condemned. The time will come when these selections may be read with
profit; but it is better to read something well than to read a great
deal; or there should be at least thorough drill in connection with
every exercise, until the pupils have attained some degree of
perfection. It may not be best to confine advanced pupils to the
exercises in the text-books. If such pupils are invited occasionally to
make selections from their entire range of reading, the teacher will
have an opportunity to correct whatever is vicious in taste; and the
pupil making the selection will be compelled to read in such a manner
that those who listen can understand, which is not always the case when
the language is addressed to the eye as well as to the ear.

The introduction of Colburn's Intellectual Arithmetic was an epoch in
the science. It wrought a radical change in the ability of the people to
apply the power of numbers to the practical business of