364 APPENDIX 



first place, the teacher may set it down as unquaHfiedly true 

 that the child cannot be taught to read from a text-book 

 alone. Natural expression can come only out of his own 

 life. The child in the first and second grades must furnish 

 his own reading lesson out of the abundance of his own ex- 

 periences and he must tell it in his own way. If he feels 

 that he has the complete sympathy of the teacher, he may 

 give the fullest, most natural expression to some childish 

 experience, and when the teacher has written his story on 

 the board may be made to realize that the language is the 

 symbol of his actual experience. 



The assignment, therefore, must find its first subject-mat- 

 ter in the child's world. Then, after the child has learned to 

 read, and has become mature enough to read real works of 

 literature, the teacher should still make his choice of reading- 

 matter reflect the life of the child. The poetry of nature and 

 the prose of farm and field should be chosen in part, at least, 

 because in these the child will find himself and will realize 

 that his world is recognized. The country boy and girl 

 possess the imagery with which to interpret Shakespeare, 

 Wordsworth, Gray, Thomson, Burns, Bryant, and Whittier. 

 It is their 



"Knowledge never learned of schools 

 Of the wild bee's morning chase, 

 Of the wild flower's time and place, 



Flight of fowl and habitude 



Of the tenants of the wood" 



that makes it possible for them to appreciate the beauty of the 

 masterpiece at its full value. 



Whittier's " Barefoot Boy " is a good type of the material 

 that should be used in the reading work of the country school. 



