LANGUAGE 



3316 



LANGUAGE 



people through carelessness violate the rules 

 of speech daily in such sentences as are given 

 above. Their practice is not on a par with their 

 knowledge. If the child hears these violations 

 in the home he will use them, believing that 

 they are correct, and when the wrong forms 

 are once learned it is difficult to eradicate them. 



3. To avoid "baby talk." Perhaps no other 

 practice in the home does so much to corrupt 

 the child's speech as indulging in the "tootsie 

 wootsie little manny" talk in which many 

 good people take delight. Those who con- 

 sider the child's welfare will refrain from such 

 expressions, once they realize their influence 

 upon his language. 



4. To encourage the child to talk. The child 

 will talk all his life, and he should begin right. 

 Children like to talk, but their chatter is too 

 often suppressed by those who dislike to be 

 "bothered." If simple words are used in con- 

 versation with the child he will soon learn 

 them, and will use them in his conversation. 

 Words difficult to pronounce and words whose 

 meaning the child cannot understand should 

 be avoided. 



5. To teach the child good literature. A col- 

 lege professor once claimed that he could pick 

 out* his students who had learned Mother 

 Goose melodies in childhood, by their use of 

 language. Be this as it may, the value of the 

 nursery rhyme, the nonsense jingle and the 

 classic myth in laying the foundation of lan- 

 guage is universally recognized. And unless 

 these are taught in the early years when they 

 appeal to the child's mind their influence will 

 never be felt. Here are a few selections that 

 every child should learn before his fifth year. 

 The accompanying illustrations shdw what the 

 mother may do to impress the story more 

 strongly upon the mind. These selections 

 should be taught incidentally as part of the 

 child's play: 



Little fishie in the brook, 

 Papa caught him with a hook, 

 Mamma fried him in a pan, 

 Baby ate him like a man ! 



Bye, baby bunting, 

 Father's gone a-hunting, 

 Mother's gone a-milking, 

 Sister's gone a-silking, 

 Brother's gone to buy a skin 

 To wrap the baby bunting in. 



Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man, 

 Make me a cake as fast as you can ; 

 Prick it and pat it and mark it with T, 

 And put it in the oven for Teddy and me. 



HUMPTY DUMPTY 



Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall ; 



Humpty Dumpty had a great fall , 



And all the King's horses and all the King's 



men 

 Can't put Humpty Dumpty together again. 



ROCK-A-BYE, BABY 



Rock-a-bye, baby, in the treetop ; 

 When the wind blows, the cradle will rock ; 

 When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall ; 

 Down will come baby, cradle and all. 



Little Boy Blue, come, blow your horn ; 



The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the 



corn. 

 'Where's the little boy that looks after the 



sheep?" 

 'He's under the haystack, fast asleep." 



