A comparison of Cortés' expedition against Mexico with Clark's undertaking has some striking points of resemblance which children may discover later when they study the story of Cortés. Cortés' boldness in marching with a small army against a rich empire is like that of Clark. In the management of the Indian tribes so as to secure the aid of the powerful tribe of the Tlascalans, Cortés showed a shrewdness like that of Clark. Which of these leaders had greater difficulties to surmount? Cortés had vast numbers of enemies to deal with, but Clark not only had against him superior numbers, but the western Indian tribes were excellent fighters, and the English troops were quite equal in training and courage to his

own men.

Which of these men was engaged in the more desperate adventures ? The retreat of the Spaniards from the city of Mexico was a fearful struggle, such as Clark did not have to encounter; but if Clark had not been the most fearless of men he would certainly have been scalped with all his men by the Indians, while the hardships of Clark's men in crossing the drowned valley of the Wabash have scarcely been equalled. Which of these men was the more skilful in recruiting his army? In this respect they were very much alike and were both successful.

In which case were the results more important, the conquest of Mexico by Cortés, or the conquest of the Northwest by Clark? Which of these countries now

has the greater wealth and population, the northwestern states captured by Clark, or Mexico? Compare their chief cities in importance. If the English had held the Ohio Valley at the close of the Revolutionary War, how large would the United States be now, perhaps?

After dealing with Wolfe's capture of Quebec, it may be well to compare the results of the conquest of Canada by the English and Americans with the later conquest of the Northwest by Clark. In fact, Clark's success was the next great step in preparing the way for the growth of the American nation. There are several other important events of American history which may be brought into fruitful comparison with Clark's enterprise. Anthony Wayne's capture of Stony Point, and his later expedition against the Indians of Ohio and Indiana and the battle of Fallen Timber may be compared to advantage with the campaign of Clark.

In his personal deeds there are some striking points of resemblance between him and La Salle in council with the Indians, also Champlain and Frontenac in their dealings with the Iroquois.

It is well then to keep the children alert in the direction of comparing men and events. It teaches them to bring their previous studies into constant review, to discover interesting resemblances and contrasts, and to bring into a closer relationship events which teach the same lesson.

CHAPTER IV

SIXTH GRADE IN HISTORY

THAT part of American history which is proposed for treatment in sixth grade includes the early settlements, the growth of the colonies, and the French and Indian wars up to the outbreak of the Revolution. Children at this age are not philosophers, nor are they interested in abstract questions of government and social order, but in all the lively, picturesque, and adventurous phases of life.

This period, as a whole, is well adapted in its materials to instruct children because it is so simple and primitive in all its surroundings, occupations, social amusements, and politics. Even in the later period there are no large cities. By far the greater part of the people lived on farms or scattered estates. Modes of travel by boat or on horseback, methods of government and trade, were of a rude character, adapted to the simplest necessities.

But in contrast with the two preceding years, we now take up the chronological, consecutive development of the colonies, including in one movement the varied and complex elements of progress. Pupils

begin to trace the causes and results of historical events. This brings us to the consideration of one of the most difficult problems in teaching and even in writing history, namely, how to carry along simultaneously the main threads of historical action and to maintain a comprehensive grasp of the complex forces at work. In nearly all of our text-books we have brief summaries or comprehensive statements giving an epitome of leading events in each period; but it is a miscellaneous and incoherent body of facts which is thus collected. It is not suitable material of instruction for children.

In Spencer's "Aims and Practice of Teaching " Prof. J. E. Lloyd, while discussing the methods of teaching in history, says:

"I take the epitome method first, as the most widely prevalent, at any rate in secondary schools, and undoubtedly the worst. It consists in placing in the hands of the pupil one of those cunningly devised summaries of all English history, thickly seasoned with dates and tables, in which an amazing amount of information is compressed within the narrowest limits, and then expecting the hapless youth or maiden to commit assigned portions to memory. I well remember the surprise which a pupil of mine, newly arrived at college from a school where this was the plan, expressed on getting, in a history examination paper, questions which involved a certain amount of thinking; 'I thought,' was the naïve

remark, 'we should have been asked to write out a reign.' Indeed, I have a lively recollection of the compendium to which I devoted many hours of my own school days, the most compendious and systematic of its kind, a history with all the life crushed out of it. Such books resemble nothing so much as the pemmican of American hunters- they are exceedingly compact, but at the same time a highly unpalatable form of intellectual sustenance. No one

who has followed me in the account I have tried to give of the function of history will need to be told that the epitome system is radically vicious. There is a well-known maxim in education -'the concise is the opposite of the elementary,' and in no field of study is this truer than in history. The compiler who rigidly strips his narrative of all ornamental and illustrative detail may suppose he is giving the pupil the very pith and marrow of history: he is, in fact, robbing the story not only of all its interest, but of all its value. For history is only worth studying in so far as it vivifies the past, lights up the dim spaces of the bygone world and fills them with figures which move and feel and live. That Henry VIII was six times wedded is of small importance to us, even though we know the names and the parentage of the ladies what is vital is that we should have a clear conception what manner of man he was."

If such a system of epitomizing and thus squeezing the life out of history is to be rejected in second