sense of hearing,

- organs of speech,-intelligence,-feeling, - moral sense.

Besides its educational influence, reading is the key to study, and the most powerful means of instruction for youth, after leaving school.

1. Teaching of reading, writing and spelling inseparable.

2. Preliminary exercises in reading,

writing and spelling.

ELEMENTARY
READING.

OF METHOD
SO-CALLED.

1. The procedure must be gradual. 2. Elements of a complete lesson. 3. Plan or programme of lesson.

Definition.- General Principle: Reading should be sufficiently slow.

READING.

Definition. Reading is the vocal and intelligent expression

of thoughts, written or printed.

Exercise of the Faculties. The art of reading claims the

attention both of the MIND and of the EYE, for the apprehension of the various characters. It exercises the sense of HEARING in determining SOUNDS, INTONATIONS and INFLECTIONS according to the rules of harmony, as regards EUPHONY, CADENCE and RHYTHM. It trains the ORGANS OF SPEECH by the correct emission of these sounds; it cultivates INTELLIGENCE by exercising thought; it develops the FEELINGS when it appeals to the sentiments of the heart; finally, it strengthens the MORAL SENSE when it tells of deeds and quotes sayings in which the great moral truths are correctly applied.

Importance. Reading is the key to knowledge, for in each specialty the scholar must privately study the lesson that has been publicly explained. Even religion can be but imperfectly known without it.

After the knowledge of the truths of our holy faith,

there is no qualification more agreeable and useful to offer the pupil than reading. It quietly opens to the student the intellectual labors of the greatest geniuses, the productions of the greatest authors. By reading we

husband and preserve the lessons of experience. The mind is thus stored with numberless useful subjects of information that cannot enter into the programme of ordinary schools. Reading opens the book of the past, with its noble lessons and reminiscences; the pages of the present, with all its teachings, its aspirations and its needs, at the same time that it procures instruction and amusement for one's hours of leisure.

Division. — Reading may be considered under three headings, viz.: ELEMENTARY, FLUENT, EXPRESSIVE.

In ELEMENTARY READING, the child distinguishes letters, pronounces and unites the sounds represented by these letters, so as to form syllables and words, and constructs sentences.

In FLUENT READING, the pupil reads a succession of sen-
tences connected by their meaning, CLEARLY, DISTINCTLY,
TO THE POINT, and with SUFFICIENT RAPIDITY, — pronouncing
the words CORRECTLY Without HESITANCY or REPETITION,
giving every LETTER and every SYLLABLE its proper sound
in the word, and observing the proper pauses.
In EXPRESSIVE READING, the pupil marks by the INTONATIONS,
INFLECTIONS, and the SHIFTINGS of his voice, the different
ideas of the piece, and the various sentiments expressed
by the author.

The perfection of EXPRESSIVE READING presupposes,
together with the attributes of FLUENT READING, the
following conditions on the part of the reader:
(a) An INTELLIGENCE apt to conceive the sense of the
picce read.

(b) A practised EYE.

(c) A delicate SENSIBILITY.
(d) An accurate EAR.

(e) A VOICE agreeable, ample, yielding and sonorous.

(f) A TASTE sure and prompt in discerning literary

beauties and defects.

In one word, a good reading is a complete literary analysis.

To read well implies:

1. INTELLIGENCE to grasp the meaning.

2. SOUL to feel.

3. TASTE to express in an agreeable manner.

TO EXPRESS PROPERLY one must feel; and to FEEL one must thoroughly UNDERSTAND.

TO UNDERSTAND THOROUGHLY is:

1. To grasp all the shades of meaning expressed in every sentence.

2. To note the connection of the sentences with each other.

3. To note their relation to the whole subject. Frequently, reading is a mere mechanical exercise: words enter the pupil's eye in the shape of characters, and escape by the mouth under the form of sounds, while the mind plays no part in the operation. The memory does not preserve the slightest trace of the ideas expressed. This is proved by the meaningless phrases the pupils at times read. Results far more deplorable than mere slovenly reading arise from such a habit. From thoughtless reading the pupil goes to listless memorizing: from hearing without listening, to acting without thinking, knowing not what he says or does. To prevent this, even the child learning the first elements of reading should be taught:

1. To associate the idea with the words which express it. 2. The judgment must bear upon the different propositions contained in the lesson.