LINES SPOKEN AT A SCHOOL-EXHIBITION, BY A LITTLE BOY SEVEN YEARS OLD

You'd scarce expect one of my age,

To speak in public, on the stage;

And if I chance to fall below
Demosthenes or Cicero,

Don't view me with a critic's eye,
But pass my imperfections by.

Large streams from little fountains flow;
Tall oaks from little acorns grow:
And though I now am small and young,
Of judgment weak, and feeble tongue ;
Yet all great learned men, like me,
Once learn'd to read their A, B, C.
But why may not Columbia's soil

Rear men as great as Britain's isle;
Exceed what Greece and Rome have done,
land beneath the sun?

Or

any

May n't Massachusetts boast as great
As any other sister state?

Or, where's the town, go far and near,
That does not find a rival here?

Or where's the boy, but three feet high,
Who's made improvements more than I?
These thoughts inspire my youthful mind
To be the greatest of mankind;

Great, not like Cæsar, stain'd with blood;
But only great, as I am good.

The prefaces of the readers during the first half of the nineteenth century vie with each other in proving that each offers superior training in enunciation, declamation, and elocution. Even as late as 1854 we find the following statement in a preface:

As an accurate and distinct articulation forms the basis of good reading, it should receive our first attention in instruction, and be constantly taught until words are habitually delivered out from the

lips as beautiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately impressed, perfectly finished, neatly struck by the proper organs, distinct, in due succession, and of due weight.

Thus we see how expressive oral reading secured its prominent place in the schools in response to the need for oratory and eloquence in a relatively primitive democratic community where books, newspapers, and periodicals were scarce, intercommunication very slow, and many persons unable to read silently effectively.

Silent reading now important; oral infrequent. Books and periodicals numerous; intercommunication rapid; reading universal.-In contrast with the Revolutionary War situation, we may picture conditions at the present time in the United States. Free city libraries contain hundreds of thousands of books which are delivered conveniently through branch libraries within easy walking distance of most homes. Many small towns have their free Carnegie libraries. Convenient libraries abound where for two or three cents a day the latest books of fiction may be rented and taken home. Hundreds of periodicals appear weekly or monthly in the news stands in the large cities, and a score appear even in the small towns. News is transmitted so rapidly by wire that President Wilson's famous statement of America's war aims, issued in 1918, was received in all the larger cities all over the world within a few hours after he read it to Congress in Washington. As a result of the work of the public schools, most adults in the United States can read, the number of illiterate adults being only 8 per cent in 1910. In the more favored states even a smaller number is found; for example, less than 2 per cent in Iowa and Nebraska.

Yet many adults neglect wide effective silent reading. Yet, while nearly everybody can read and does read silently, it remains to note whether they read enough or effectively enough. The following example will probably serve to

CONSISTING OF

ORATIONS, ADDRESSES, EXHORTATIONS FROM THE PULPIT, PLEADINGS AT THE BAR, SUBLIME DESCRIPTIONS, DEBATES, DECLAMATIONS, GRAVE AND HUMOROUS DIALOGUES, POETRY, &c. VARIOUSLY

INTERSPERSED.

EXTRACT FROM AN

ORATION ON ELOQUENCE, PRONOUNCED AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY, ON COM MENCEMENT DAY, 1794.

THE

HE excellence, utility, and importance of ELOQUENCE; its origin, progress, and present state; and its superior claim to the particular attention of Columbia's free born sons, will exercise for a few moments the patience of this learned, polite, and respected assembly.

Speech and reason are the characteristics, the glory, and the happiness of man. These are the pillars which support the fair fabric of cloquence; the foundation, upon which is erected the most magnificent edifice, that genius could design, or art construct. To cultivate eloquence, then, is to improve the noblest faculties of our nature, the richest talents with which we are entrusted. A more convincing proof of the dignity and importance of our subject need not, cannot be advanced.

The benevolent design and the beneficial effects of cloquence, evince its great superiority over every other art, which ever exercised the ingenuity of man. To

truct, to persuade to please; these are its objects.

To

HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF EMPHASIS ON ORAL READING Illustrated by praise of eloquence for "Columbia's free-born sons," in the first selection from Bingham's "Columbian Orator," originally published in 1797

illustrate that many persons need more effective training in rapid silent reading.

Example. In January, 1918, America had been in the war about nine months. The efficiency of the War Department was being seriously questioned by certain prominent persons and newspapers, and the resulting controversy aroused great interest on the part of the public. The reading habits of this public are well illustrated by the following facts and incidents. Social information. - The Secretary of War spent a whole day addressing a gathering of members of Congress and others, explaining the steps taken in preparation for the war, in order, as he said, that all citizens might know the facts and judge for themselves. In the newspapers, his address filled almost three pages.

Slow oral reading. A woman decided to read this important information to her family. She read aloud for fortyfive minutes, and then had to desist, as she was hoarse. She had read about one fifth of the address.

Rapid silent reading. - Another member of the family who does much rapid silent reading then decided to finish reading the address for himself. Reading actively and silently, in forty-five minutes he was able to glean all the essential facts of the remaining four fifths.

Social neglect of silent reading. The next day three adults, with nothing to do except loaf at a winter resort, were heard roundly condemning the Secretary for his address. Upon being asked if they had read it, they said, "No, it is too long." They were basing their condemnation on a one-third column editorial in a newspaper politically opposed to the administration. Yet the Secretary had said that the facts were being presented fully so that citizens might know them and judge for themselves.

Schools should subordinate oral and emphasize silent reading. This example is typical of the present social need for training in habits of wide, effective, rapid silent

reading. On the other hand, the social need for training in expressive oral reading which prevailed earlier in our history has almost entirely disappeared. Yet many schools continue to emphasize expressive oral reading and to neglect almost entirely training in effective rapid silent reading.

Adapting arithmetic to social needs. Obsolete and new topics. The second subject which we shall use to illustrate the adapting of subject matter to changing social needs is arithmetic. Arithmetic is taught primarily for its utility in business operations and in various kinds of measurement. As the business processes change from generation to generation, the arithmetic taught in the schools should change accordingly. For example, English money was at one time the dominant currency in the colonies. Then the table of English money was very important in American arithmetic. Now it has little social value. Before the establishment of a federal money in 1786 decimal fractions were little used in America; consequently elaborate operations with common. fractions had to be taught in the schools. Now decimals are used in social life for nearly all complicated fractional calculations. ¡Hence the use of common fractions in such calculations is socially wasteful and should be omitted from arithmetic teaching.

Management of modern social activities is largely quan titative. Similarly, many new forms of business activity have developed in which arithmetic is used very extensively and which are important in the lives of many persons; for example, life insurance, savings accounts, checking accounts, etc. In the upper grades of the elementary schools the study of these social activities is being introduced, and training is given in the arithmetical processes involved. Furthermore, arithmetic is acquiring an increasing importance in school, owing to the tendency to use it more and more in the scientific business management of all affairs, — industrial, commercial, educational, philanthropic,