increased facility, freedom and naturalness of expression. As in learning to draw, so in learning to speak, one should aim at facility first and accuracy second. Again, an artist who has had experience in clay modeling will almost unconsciously model his figures in his drawings, so that they stand out with naturalness. Similarly a speaker who gains ease in oral speech will learn to write with a grace and naturalness that can hardly be obtained by the practice of written work alone. I imagine that our great writers were also great conversationists and had a favorable environment in youth to form their speech. The plan generally followed, at least in some parts of the country, of demanding written compositions only, to the entire neglect of oral speech, is one-sided and defective, not only from the point of view of individual development, but also from the sociological point of view. In a democracy, that man can hardly be called educated who is unable to express his ideas effectively in public. He has not been trained for citizenship. In every pedagogical faculty there should be a specialist in oral speech, who should train the teachers how to develop this highly useful and beautiful faculty in their pupils. Teachers so trained also might do a very much needed work by addressing the public frequently upon educational and sociological questions. The teachers as a body are entirely out of touch with the people; whereas our position in the state gives us the right, if only we had the zeal and the ability, to lead. Near the close of the school year, the pupils were asked to write an account of the work in composition done during the year. It was gratifying to find that, without an exception, the pupils expressed themselves regarding the plan pursued and the benefit accruing with hearty appreciation. Some typical utterances from their point of view may not be uninteresting as showing that pupils do not fail to meet half way the teacher who makes an honest effort to understand and interest them. "Composition has been to me one of the most interesting and pleasant subjects of the year. I, for one, most thoroughly enjoyed the preparation almost as much as the final speech or essay, and we are all grateful to our teacher who made so many hours pass with interesting talk on Foreign People, Books, Discoveries, Great Men and the beautiful characters of the Bible" (girl of 15). "The work gone over in the past year in Composition has been altogether a success, and every one appreciated it as being interesting, informing and in cases amusing. It helped us understand past events better, and to be able to get up and speak if called upon to do so" (boy of 15). "During the past year the work in composition has been very enjoyable, interesting and also profitable. It seems to me Composition has been a regular bugbear to students in both Public and High schools. But for a great many of us that is all over like a bad dream. Thanks to the kind advice of a very patient teacher, we at last are feeling more and more confident in our reading and speaking in public" (girl of 16). "We have learned many interesting facts, have acquired the art of speaking, and have enjoyed ourselves instead of feeling it a burden" (boy of 14). "These subjects were followed by a talk on the way each had prepared and delivered his speech, which did so much good that some boys, who would not move from their seats, tried the oral. Those who gave oral compositions from the first showed great improvement" (boy of 17). "In composition I have learnt something that I think will be of use to me for the rest of my life, and that is the power to get up before an audience and speak upon some subject. The first time I lacked grit to get up. The second time I was nervous and felt warm. Since then I have been more and more at my ease" (boy of 17). "In time we could get up without the class seeming to grow suddenly large, and thus we were able to throw more vim into our subject. We are all glad that this method of teaching composition has been adopted, as we now realize that it is bound to be of help to us in the future" (girl of 14). "It is very helpful, when one goes out to enjoy an evening, to get up on your feet, if asked to give a little speech praising those who take part, etc. I know that one time, before we started to make speeches, I would not go out to a party, even with girls and boys of my own age, for fear I should be asked to make a speech. But it doesn't bother me in the least now" (boy of 16). "It has taught me not to be afraid of my own voice; and I find that when out in company I can talk with a great deal more ease" (boy of 16). "All hope that the master will continue in this same way next year, allowing those who wish to write, and the others to speak" (boy of 13). "Unusual interest was manifested in the debate" (boy of 16). "This year's work in composition has been a complete success. We started at the very beginning of the year with a change from the regular routine of just writing out a composition and handing it in to be marked. By this time we had ceased to be afraid to speak, so our teacher proposed the forming of a class club" (boy of 14). "The Science II Society was carried on very successfully for six weeks, and gave the pupils an excellent training in conducting public meetings and in public speaking. All the students entered into it with a will, and very few failed to speak at any of the meetings" (boy of 14). Such expressions of opinion could easily be multiplied, as there was complete unanimity. There is considerable evidence here of that "dumb-bound feeling" of the adolescent of which Miss Williams speaks, as well as of the "rise of interest in words as instruments of thought" which characterizes this period of rapid psychical development. The pupil's evident preference for oral speech over written, once his shyness has worn off, is probably due to his feeling that oral speech is a completer expression of his personality. In writing he is merely copying down his thoughts silently and painfully for some one else to read. In reading his essay to the class, and particularly in delivering it orally without manuscript, he is more truly, more actively, more directly expressing himself; he is using his vocal muscles, his facial muscles, indeed, his whole body in the expression, and has a sense of power that mere writing cannot give. As for the "kindness" and "patience" of the teacher, to which reference was sometimes made, that was, of course, a mere matter of professional duty, of ordinary pedagogical tact. In criticising the pupils' efforts I made it a rule to comment first on the good points of the speech or essay, and only then, and often not at all, to mention ways in which I thought it might be improved. By my praise I warmed their hearts, gained their confidence and aroused a feeling of comradeship. I thus stimulated their self-respect and self-activity, relaxed their muscles tense with worry rather than attention, and opened their minds to receive with calm intelligence any suggestions I might make for their improvement. I do not doubt that the praise and encouragement were more helpful to them than the suggestions. The longer I teach the more I believe in the power of love and faith. We can make a child or a youth a thief by believing him a thief, we can make him hateful by hating him; and we can also develop his infinite intellectual and spiritual capacities by believing in their existence and by showing him that we do honestly believe him capable of great things. When one considers the immense number of cells that lie fallow throughout life in every human brain, one has a physical basis for this faith, as well as a hint of the exceeding but little recognized importance of the teacher's calling. During the last month of the school year I asked the pupils of my classes to list our twelve subjects in the order in which they were now interested in them. In this way I thought to obtain an idea of the effect the work of the year had had upon their interest in the various subjects taken up. All the subjects except Plants and Animals were dealt with in the classes of second year science boys (24). All were taken up in the larger of the two first year commercial classes (23 boys, 9 girls), except three, Plants and Animals, Industry and Invention, and History of some Science. The other first year commercial class (17 girls, 5 boys) I taught but about two-thirds of the year. The subjects discussed with them were seven: Foreign Customs, Sports and Outings, Novel and Story, Great Men, Voyage of Discovery, Bible Characters, and Myth and Legend. The numbers of the pupils given are of those only who were present at the beginning and end of the work and handed in both lists. The fifty-two boys, as well as the twentysix girls, averaged fifteen years of age, the science boys sixteen, and the commercial boys fourteen and a half years, at the close of the school year. The charts given herewith show the rank of interest of the various subjects in the estimation of the pupils of the various classes and ages in September, 1906, and June, 1907, respectively. It is evident at a glance that the interests of boys and girls differ very greatly. The subjects in which the greatest sexual difference in interest appears are Novel and Story, Bible Characters, Foreign Customs, and Plants and Animals, in which the girls are predominantly interested; and on the other hand, Great Events, Industry and Invention, History of Science, Earthquakes and Volcanoes, and Voyages of Discovery, in which the boys are most interested. The sexual difference in interest becomes less pronounced during the year on the whole in younger boys and girls, and more pronounced in the older; the sum of the differences in the twelve subjects being 24.4 and 19.4 for September and June of pupils of 12 to 14 years, and 18 and 24.8 for pupils of 15 to 18 years. Nearly half the boys in question-and these in general the older boys, being in their second high school year-were in classes in which were no girls. Possibly this fact accounts in part for the more pronounced sexual differences of the older pupils. The second year boys differ from the first year boys in their course of instruction; as the former take practical science subjects and the latter commercial. This fact appears in the prominence of Industry and Invention and the History of Science in the list of the practical science boys. I took up both subjects with these boys, talking to them about the progress of invention, and giving a summary history of the sciences of chemistry and electricity. As a result, their interest in these subjects was still further stimulated. In the commercial forms I did not reach these subjects; consequently the commercial boys' interest in them scarcely changed. As for the |