inclination to mechanical work may be with advantage corrected by teaching through the eye as well as the ear: the blackboard should be brought into constant requisition for illustrative diagrams: the geography incident to the history lesson should be elucidated with the aid of wall maps, both flat and moulded to represent physical features: photographs, prints, coins, and archæological relics from the school museum should be brought into use.

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'But, while much is required of the teacher, it is equally necessary that the pupil should not be merely receptive. The history lesson should not be, what I have known the science lesson to be in some cases, an entertainment kindly provided by the teacher, which relieved the tedium of severer studies, and only asked from the pupil that he should act as spectator. There should be much questioning, the power of making valid comparisons should be developed, and the scholar should be taught to give clear and accurate expression to his opinions."

We are justified at this juncture in insisting upon the teacher's deeper knowledge of the colonial period. He should have read a number of books. which the children could not be expected to use. The large secondary histories should be in part, at least, familiar to him. The biographies of the Statesmen's series, the Commonwealth series of State histories, Parkman's narratives of the French régime, John Fiske's books on colonial history, are

exceedingly interesting and inspiring to a teacher. They cannot all be read at once, but from time to time, and in leisure hours, these intensely interesting and valuable books will be found to greatly stimulate a teacher without burdening him. The knowledge thus acquired is, of course, a reserve fund to be drawn upon, here and there, as occasion may require; not a collective mass of learning with which to flood the children and waste their time.

An examination of the American historical literature, prescribed in the reading of the sixth grade, will show that the regular reading exercises may contribute much to the enlargement and enrichment of the history studies. "The Courtship of Miles Standish," "Grandfather's Chair," "The Gentle Boy," "Giles Corey," Hawthorne's "Biographical Stories," "The Sketch Book," and the "Autobiography of Franklin" deal directly with colonial life, and several of the books of history story do the same. This is one of the best illustrations we can have of the powerful reënforcement of history through classic readings.

The readings derived from other European countries give a still further enlargement to historical knowledge. A very large proportion of the history that comes to the children of the common school must come to them through these supplementary and voluntary readings.

The course of study in history can never be loaded

up with any very large amount of required work along these historical lines. A few chief topics can be treated in an interesting way, and the children may be encouraged to use the school library and to employ their own leisure hours at home in extending and enriching their knowledge of history and literature.

Many of the finest literary products appropriate to school children have, fortunately, this marked historical interest and character, and the taste for this kind of good reading should be the goal of the teacher's efforts with many children. The selections of historical literature in this course of study form only a part of the great body of good literature with which children should become acquainted during their school years.

The chapters containing the Course of Study and the List of Books arranged according to grades should be consulted to see how abundant and excellent are the historical and classical readings which may directly supplement and strengthen the classroom work.

Many children of good capacity and of a natural turn toward this class of readings will find in them a means of intellectual and social expansion and a capital resource for leisure hours.

CHAPTER V

HISTORY IN THE SEVENTH GRADE

At the beginning of the seventh grade three large topics of European history are treated. The first of the three terms of the year can be profitably given to these topics: The Reformation, the Puritan revolution in England, and the French monarchy-large and difficult topics to deal with in the seventh grade.

In dealing with the Reformation there is danger of awakening religious controversies. And yet the Reformation has powerfully influenced the whole of modern history, and especially those parts of it which led to the settlement of America. The conflict between Luther and Rome, and later between Protestant and Catholic nations, should be handled in an unpartisan manner. The better purposes and tendencies of both parties to the conflict should be emphasized, and the weaknesses on both sides exposed with a fair but charitable spirit. The main purpose is to get an interesting view of a few men like Luther, Leo X, Charles V, Loyola, Gustavus Adolphus, and Henry VIII.

It is quite possible that in many schools the Refor

mation cannot yet be treated as an historical topic, in a fair-minded way, and will have to be omitted.

The Puritan development and revolution in England produced such a profound and determining influence in America that it needs to be understood by Americans, more perhaps than any other part of English history. It may be fairly questioned whether seventh-grade children can grasp enough of its real meaning to get out of it a culture value. But, assuming that they can, it is a very interesting problem to inquire how they can best approach it. Usually it has been supposed that a few lessons should be given to the Puritan revolution as a preparation and means of appreciating the great Puritan exodus from England to America in the first half of the seventeenth century; the chronological and causal sequence which is usually followed in history would also suggest this order. But it has been often observed by thinkers that the pedagogical order is the reverse of the logical and causal. Instead of studying English Puritanism as an approach to the better understanding of American Puritanism, it may be better to begin at home with a study of American Puritans as a means of better understanding English Puritans. In fact, the pedagogical argument is very strong in favor of the latter procedure. American Puritanism is not only much nearer home to an American child, being a very prominent part of our own life and history, but it is very much