LANGUAGE 



3320 



LANGUAGE 



THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT 



Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl ! 



How charmingly sweet you sing ! 

 Oh, let us be married too long we have tarried 



But what shall we do for a ring?" 

 They sailed away for a year and a day 



To the land where the Bong-tree grows, 

 And there in a wood a piggy-wig stood 



With a ring in the end of his nose. 



"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling 



Your ring?" Said the piggy, "I will." 

 So they took it away, and were married next day 



By the turkey who lives on the hill. 

 They dined upon mince and slices of quince, 



Which they ate with a runcible spoon, 

 And hand in hand on the edge of the sand 



They "danced by the light of the moon. 



Second Year. The work of the second j^ear 

 is a continuation of that already outlined for 

 the first year. The amount of written work 

 should be increased; the child's ability to 

 describe what he sees and hears should be 

 doubled, and the selections learned should be 

 longer and more directly connected with char- 

 acter building. The lines of work suggested 

 for the previous grade should be continued. 

 More attention should be given to details such 

 as capitals and periods in writing, and the use 

 of correct forms of pronouns and verbs. 



1. Oral Composition. This is the most im- 

 portant line of work for the second and third 

 years. If children speak correctly they will 

 write correctly, unless they become confused 

 by the mechanics of writing. But on the other 

 hand, because children (or adults, for that 

 matter) may write correct English, it does not 

 follow that they will speak correctly. We 

 should therefore place all possible emphasis on 

 securing fluency and accuracy of speech. 



The two chief essentials to good oral com- 

 position are that the child has something to 

 tell and someone to whom he wants to tell it. 



Subjects in which the pupils were interested 

 the first year should be taken up again this 

 year and enlarged upon, but the teacher must 

 keep the lessons within the capacity of the 

 pupils, or they will soon lose interest and 

 enthusiasm. The teacher will find a wealth of 

 material for language lessons in these volumes. 

 The article BIRD, for example, and its related 

 topics give an idea of the abundance of ma- 

 terial which the work contains. Look up in a 

 similar manner ANT; BEE; DICKENS, CHARLES; 

 LONGFELLOW, HENRY W., and the programs for 

 special days. 



2. Picture Study. Excellent lessons can be 

 based on the study of pictures. The pictures 



