ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 95 



We let them alone until one day the farmer missing his coat, 

 thought he would go up into the granary and get it. When 

 he stepped on the floor of the loft he heard a most awful 

 chirp and then such a fluttering. 



Although he needed his coat he let the birds stay there 

 until they could fly. He went home and told his wife who 

 advised him to leave them there. 



A few days later the mother and all the family were seen 

 flying about, and so we knew she had left the pocket. She 

 came up to the door one day and just the same as said, 

 " Thank you," for the nest which she had borrowed. 



The farmer felt very proud of the coat and showed it to 

 nearly every one who came to his house. He left the coat 

 up in the granary to see if another bird would want it for 

 a nest. 



The creative spirit expresses itself beautifully in this 

 paper, and the mechanics are not very faulty for a seventh 

 grade child. There is abundant suggestion in it for the 

 teacher in guiding the whole class. " A most awful chirp " 

 calls for the selection of an appropriate adjective. Several 

 places need punctuation study. Some of the pronouns need 

 to be attached more closely to their antecedents. A few of 

 the sentence structures can be strengthened. Seventh grade 

 pupils should be using the connective that more frequently. 

 Care should be taken in such corrections that the teacher's 

 personality is not impressed upon the literary side of the 

 paper, but that the individuality of the writer is preserved. 



EIGHTH YEAR GRADE 



In this, the last year of the elementary grades, the work 

 is governed largely by textbooks. The grammar is com- 



