U Q. What letter is this? A. Letter U, for umbrella, &c. Q. Is letter U a vowel or consonant? A. A vowel. Q. What is the use of the umbrella? A. To keep the rain off any body. Q. What are umbrellas made of? A. Some of silk and some of cotton. Q. Which are the best? A. Those that are made of silk. Q. Is there any thing else in an umbrella? A. Yes, whalebone. Q. Where does whalebone come from? A. Out of a large fish called a whale. Q. Who made the whale? 4. Almighty God. V Q. What letter is this? A. Letter V, for vine, &c. Q. What is a vine? A. A thing that grows against the wall and produces grapes? Q. Why does it not grow like another tree and support its own weight? A. Because it is not strong enough. Q. Then it cannot grow and become fruitful in this country without man's assistance. A. No; and, please sir, we cannot grow and become fruitful without the assistance of Almighty God.* W Q. What letter is this? A. It is letter W, for wheel. Q. Spell wheel? 4. W-h-ee-l. Q. What is the use of wheels? A. To make it easier for horses to draw. Q. How do you know that? A. Please sir, I had a little cart full of stones, and the wheel came off; and please sir, I found it much harder to draw. Q. Then if it was not for wheels the horse could not draw so great a weight? A. No; and, please sir, people could not go into the country so quick as they do. Q. What trade do they call the persons that make wheels? A. Wheel-wrights. * This answer was given by a child five years of age. X Q. What letter is this? A. Letter X, for Xenophon, a man's name. Q. What was the particular character of Xenophon? A. He was very courageous. Q. What does courageous mean? A. To be afraid to do harm but not to be afraid to do good or any thing that is right. Q. What is the greatest courage? A. To conquer our own bad passions and bad inclinations.Q. Is he a courageous man that can conquer his bad passions. A. Yes; because they are the most difficult to conquer. Y Q. What letter is this. A. Letter Y, for yoke, &c. Q. ls it a vowel or consonant? A. When it begins a word it is called a consonant, but if not a vowel. Q. What is a yoke? Q. What is a yoke? A. Please sir, what the milk people carry the milk pails on. Q. What is the use of the yoke? A. To enable the people to carry the milk easier. Z Q. What letter is this? A. Letter Z, for Zealander. Q. What is a Zealander? A. A man that lives on an Island on the Southern Ocean, called Zealand. Q. How do they live? A. Principally by hunting and fishing. Q. What is hunting? A. Following animals to catch them. Q. Who made all the animals? A. Almighty God. THE method above described, is adapted for the large room, where the children may be taught altogether; but it is necessary to change the scene even in this; for however novel and pleas ing a thing may be at first, if it be not managed with prudence it will soon lose its effect. It is, then, to be observed that the mode of teaching described in the preceding chapter is not practised every day, but only twice or thrice a week. The children will take care that the teacher does not altogether forget to teach them, in any way that they have been accustomed to. After letting the above plan lay by for a day or two, some of the children will come to the teacher, and say, "Please sir, may we say the picture alphabet up in the gallery?" If the other children overhear the question, it will go through the school like lightning: "O yes-yes-yes, sir, if you please, do let us say the letters in the gallery." Thus a desire is created in the children's minds, and it is then that they may be taught with good effect. Another plan which we adopt is in practice almost every day. It is better adapted for what is called the class-room, and is taught thus:we have the alphabet printed in large letters, both in Roman and Italic characters, on one sheet of paper; this paper is pasted on a board, or on pasteboard, and placed against the wall; the whole class then stand around it, but instead. of one of the monitors pointing to the letters, the master or mistress does it; so that the children not only obtain instruction from each other, but every child has a lesson from the master or mistress twice every day. In spelling, each child is supplied with a card and tin, and they are taught in the following manner. The children are taken into the classroom, a class at a time, when one child leads off as follows:-P-o-s-t. The other children imme diately follow, and when they have spelt the word, the leader repeats another, and so on through the card; the children at the same time keeping their finger to the word they are spelling, so that if a child be inattentive it is sure to be detected. We pursue, likewise, the following method of teaching the writing alphabet. The children who are about five years old are supplied with slates, on which is engraved the whole alphabet, the same as on copper-plate copies, thirteen letters on each side of the slate, some in capital letters, others in text; the children then put the pencil into the engraving, and work it round into the shape of the letter, which they cannot avoid doing as the pencil will keep in the engraved part; in this way they learn not only to read anything written but also to form their letters correctly. CHAPTER XI. NUMBER. VARIOUS METHODS OF TEACHING THE "It is not the possessing, but the right management of any valuable advantage, which makes it desirable." THE advantage of numerical knowledge has never been disputed. Its continual and universal application to the business of life renders it a most indisputable acquisition to all ranks and conditions of men. The practicability of imparting the rudiments of arithmetic to very young children, has been satisfactorily shewn by the infant school system; and it has been found likewise that it is the readiest and surest way of developing the thinking faculties of the infant mind. Since the most complicated and difficult questions of arithmetic, as well as the most simple, are all solvable by the same rules and on the same principles, it is of the utmost importance to give children a clear insight into the primary principles of number. For this purpose we take care to shew them, by visible objects, that all numbers are combinations of unity; and that all |