sporting as the winged songster, versatile as the mountain stream, is the prattle of happy childhood. Nature has shown herself more lavish in the instrument of communication than in the knowledge to be communicated. The Godgiven voice is greatly superior to the God-given knowledge. The natural suggestion is, that the culture of the voice should be assigned its proper place in the van of all higher culture. The fact is, they are educated inversely. Processes of development are applied to the mind tending to natural and vigorous growth. A lifetime is devoted to storing in knowledge, while the great channel of communication is almost entirely neglected. The voice is left to itself; and, in one, is dwarfed for want of the necessary attention and nourishment; in another, for want of proper pruning and direction, is allowed to run into the most unnatural vagaries.

We submit, there should be early attention given to the habits of voice in the child. The voice in recitation should not be diverted from the simplest and purest tones of its ordinary use. When false tendencies are discovered, they should be promptly corrected, whether on the play-ground, in the morning salutation, or in the grammar recitation, as well as in the reading class. The current of tone should be kept in the proper channel, and the stimulants of cleanliness, courtesy, business and morality, to which reference has already been made, applied in due proportion and with due caution. A faculty of such constant exercise, it is eminently important that the most careful attention be given to the habit of voice in the practice of the child.

I am told that so little attention has been given to this subject in the education of the teacher, that he is unprepared to criticise the voice of the pupil.

While admitting the force of the difficulty, yet were he ordinarily to apply the principle of correcting bad habits as far as he knows, we believe great good would be done, and he would be led to the discovery of much that is unknown.

In addition to this direction and correction of the voice, pleasing and varied exercises should be mingled with the

reading exercises, such as the ear will enjoy. The ear shou d be led as rapidly as possible to enjoy sounds. It will thus soon discriminate between what it likes and what it dislikes, and this accomplished, the point of a higher and closer discrimination is not far distant. The teacher should aim to secure in the pupil the criticism of his own ear. A most important work is done when this is attained. Every indication in this direction should be encouraged by the teacher. When the flat, high, hard, harsh or excessive nasal tones are observed by the pupil, and hurt as they fall upon the ear, the teacher's work is largely done. The student is then put under a critic more faithful and constant than the teacher can possibly be to him.

Nothing can take the place of judicious exercise of the elementary sounds in early practice. The drill on these, carefully varied, should form a daily exercise in our primary schools. The greatest care should be taken in all these exercises to develop chest tones, versus head, throat, or mouth tones. I shall suggest a single additional element in the culture of the voice. The teacher cannot impress the value of proper breathing with too much emphasis. Deep, full breathing should be urged as a habit, not merely as an exercise. Every muscle and organ within the whole range of the respiratory system should act with each successive breath. The intercostal muscles are very largely dependent upon breathing for their exercise. By it, the lungs are rendered capacious and flexible, the muscles of the sides and back are strengthened, the whole body has added form and comeliness, and the voice obtains a strength and resonance which it can have from no other source.

A new era is dawning in the history of education with reference to human speech. In our haste after principles we have overlooked the fact, that culture as well as knowledge must supplement nature. In the palmy days of oratory, and in the age of its masters, the culture of the voice was held of first importance. We believe that within the possi bilities of this wonderful instrument, there may be found a

response to every sentiment of the mind and every emotion of the heart. And it is not an idle hope that in proportion as the mind of man expands to a wider range, and the human heart glows in a higher benevolence, and human nature is absolved from sin, the voice may be first to reflect the Divine image, in tones such as make up the melody of Heaven.

SUGGESTION TO THE TEACHER.-While it is believed that a somewhat definite order of outline will best represent to the teacher the important principles involved in Primary Instruction, yet it is by no means supposed that he will follow, slavishly, the explanation of the several steps here given.

The teacher should have in mind some simple sentence, for example, "It is my hat." Presuming that the pupils know nothing of the letters or words, the task before him is to teach them the thought of the sentence, the four words, the seven different letters and the seven sounds which compose the sentence, and to enable them to express the thought naturally, upon sight. The latter is preeminently the end to

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be attained, and the steps leading to it should be so conducted as will best accomplish this end.

IDEA. The teacher may introduce the object hat to his class, and conduct an object lesson. It will aid in impressing the appearance of the word when it is presented.

IDEA WORD.-The class may be lead by appropriate questions, to the idea involved in the sentence. When I say "hat," what do you think about? When I show you this (pointing to the object, hat), what do you think about? What is the name of this object? That name is a word. Can you see the word "hat" when I say it with my mouth? Where are words put so that you can see them? Would you know the word "hat" if I should show it to you? I will now show you the word "hat," and I want you to remember what it looks like, so that you will know it whenever you see it.

Nothing more should be attempted at this lesson than to impress the appearance of the word "hat" upon the minds

of the class.

SOUNDS.-By prolonging the pronunciation of the word "hat," the teacher can readily show to the smallest class, that it is composed of different sounds; and that, to say the word "hat" is only to put these sounds so close together that no one will know where they are separated. The children should, at the same time, be taught to give the sounds. LETTER.-Each one of these sounds has a name. Tell the children that the name of the first sound heard in the word "hat" is h. Show them the letter h and show them that it is the same as the first mark or form in the word "hat." The sound and the name of the sound should then be frequently alternated until the class will associate them readily, and promptly recognize either.

OTHER WORDS.-The other words of the sentence should be taught first by name and then separated into sounds according to the methods suggested for the word "hat."

READING. The teacher of primary pupils should not force upon them any technical definition of Reading, but he

should so conduct their approach to it, that they will absor the idea that Reading is saying something from words that are

seen.

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The pupils, before seeing the sentence, "It is my hat," should be capable of pronouncing the words of the sentence upon sight, as promptly as they would pronounce the names of their classmates or of their brothers and sisters. The teacher should call from the child an expression of the sentence before it is seen: "Harry, suppose your hat is in your hand. If I ask you, whose hat have you in your hand, what will you say?" He may answer, It's mine." The teacher need only tell him that it is prettier and more cor rect to say, "It is my hat," and that, as he comes to school to learn, he should now answer in those words. Harry, whose hat is that? The answer will be an expression and not a merely formal utterance of the words, as if the teacher had pointed in succession to "It" and "is" and my" and "hat." The expression thus obtained should then be used as a model for the child. How did you say "It is my hat?" The child repeats, and in the repetition is copying from his own natural expression, or fronı nature.

The model having been obtained, let the teacher direct the pupils to the sentence upon the board or chart, asking, "What have you in your hand?" They will answer with a proper expression of the words which their eyes now see. Tell them this is reading, and they have absorbed the idea that Reading is saying something from words that are seen.

The object has been to approach Reading by another path than through pronunciation. The usual impression left upon the child is, "When I can pronounce the words of the sentence, I can read it. I can pronounce the words of this sentence, therefore I can read it." This is fundamentally wrong. It is exalting a prerequisite of reading to reading. Pronunciation, or knowing words on sight, is as much a prerequisite of Reading as knowing figures is a prerequisite of arithmetic. Pupils should be constantly impressed with the idea, when they attempt to read, that it is taken for granted