28 METHODS IN TEACHING 



moral lesson may be inculcated, the deeper thought is left 

 until the last. Merely the story is taken first; then, if the 

 children seem ready for the inner thought, it is taken, but 

 it is never forced. Recently, after the study of " Excelsior," 

 a particularly appreciative child asked if the poem did not 

 have another meaning than the one that had just been 

 brought out by the story. The question led to a discussion 

 of the great life lesson suggested by Longfellow, after which 

 the children loved the poem far more than they did the others 

 studied. Toward the close of the school year, when a paper 

 was written on " My favorite Poem," more than half the 

 class chose "Excelsior" and "The Village Blacksmith," 

 giving in substance as a reason for the choice that the first 

 might apply to themselves, and that the second might mean 

 any good man whom they knew. The time given to these 

 poems varies considerably. Such a one as " The Skeleton 

 in Armor," where the life of a strange people in a foreign 

 country and a distant age has to be discussed as a prepara- 

 tion to the poem itself, may take from two to three weeks. 

 The shorter poems may be completed in two or three days. 



The papers of the pupils, saved throughout the year, show 

 that a great deal is gained from ten months' study of Long- 

 Results fellow. There are drills in reading and writ- 

 ing; the arousing of independent thought; 

 the inspiring of a love for Longfellow and his poems ; the 

 memorizing of many poems, usually with little effort; an 

 ability, gained by nearly all the class, to read and enjoy for 

 themselves the simpler poems of our writer, and to see and 

 appreciate some of the beauties of his style. 



The following reproduction of a poem by Longfellow was 

 written by a fifth grade girl. It is accompanied by a study 



