296 Report 8. A. A. Advancement of Science. 



many subjects doubtless this is a true iiiipression, but witb leganl 

 to histoiy I am inclined to rank illustrations, lantern slides and maps 

 below moral attractiveness. To fix a wandering eye is to gain the 

 attention, and this may be done by photogi-aphs and the like; but only 

 frequent (perhaps too frequent) changes of such pictures will keep that 

 attention. And, after all, attention is one thing, real interest is 

 another. 



History teaching should begin with such matters as appeals to the 

 natural instincts of the pupil's age. By all means let them have wars 

 and rumours of wars while the engines of destruction entrance the 

 imagination ; kings and coronations, festivals and fields of the Cloth 

 of Gold Avhile mere magnificence entices the mind to wonder and 

 admire. History is an excellent outlet for the sentiments of youthful 

 philistinism. 



A certain amount of grinding hard work is necessary ; even if it 

 were not, it would still be desirable in order to impress the seriousness 

 of the subject. That hard work will inevitably be the learning of facts 

 and dates and a few genealogies. This is the grammar of histoiy, and 

 may be begun eai-ly and treated as vigorously as Latin grammar. 

 Dates and events may he written out fifty times as profitably as per- 

 fects and supines. The necessity for such impositions is, however, 

 something of a reflection upon the teacher ; for events can be made 

 interesting and dates can be taught efficiently as well as inefiiciently. 

 With regard to that matter, there can be no worse way than setting 

 strings of figures and facts to be learned by heart. The right way 

 is first to divide your period into centuries and then into decades. 

 The great difiiculty is to find in the boy's mind something which 

 will do to stand for a century. In default of anything better we 

 have to resort to a visual image such as a time line or a page in a note- 

 book. Then 3'ou start with a division into ten lines or spaces. At 

 first it will be sufficient for the pupil to know the right decade for 

 each event. Soon you will expect the pupil to know whether an event 

 comes at the beginning, middle, or end of the decade. Then he sliuuld 

 begin to construct time lines for himself and tables of chronology. In 

 these, again, mere lists are mistaken. I have here an example * of the 

 right thing. The great point is that all centuries are the same size 

 and all decades are the same size. I regard it as most important that 

 the pupil should make these tables for himself and keep them in books, 

 and not lose them or throw them away. The making of them is the 

 best way of teaching the chronology of a period, and makes it as 

 interesting as the old method makes it laborious. The example took 

 about an hour to make, and I think it is (juite full enough — perhaps 

 even too full for school work. Tliese tallies should be neatly and 

 clearly wi-itten, so that the whole may be taken in at a glance. 



Middle and lower school work in history should consist chiefiy of 



* Tlie exjiinple slioMed tli»^ principal dates and events of the tentli century 

 in European history in four cohnnns, the Empire, the Clnncli, France and the 

 rest of Europe — ten years to an incli. 



