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 ADVANTAGES 
 
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 OF 
 
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 ADDRESSED TO THE TEACHERS AND SCHOOL OFFICERS 
 
 OF 
 
 CALIFO^IA. 
 
 BY ANDREW J. MOULDER, 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 
 
 SACKAMENTO: 
 BENJ. P. AVERY, STATE PRI 
 
 1862. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 APR 2 9 1945 
 
►••••: : 
 * •• • 
 
 •••• : : 
 
 
 
In compliance with the following request, the accompanying 
 Lecture is published. It is hoped that it may furnish some use- 
 ful hints to the Teachers and School-Officers of the State. 
 
 ANDEEW J. MOULDEK, 
 
 Supt.- Public Instruction. 
 
 Teachers' Institute, ) 
 
 San Francisco, Dec. 6th, 1862. j 
 Hon. A. J. Moulder, 
 
 Dear Sir : — I have the pleasure to transmit to you the following resolution, which 
 was unanimously adopted by the Teachers' Institute, at its last meeting : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Institute he presented to the Hon. A. J. Movllder 
 for his scholarly and practical Address ; and that he be respectfully requested to fur- 
 nish a copy of the same for publication. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 D. H. WHITTEMORE, 
 
 Secretary Teachers' Institute, 
 
x\DVANTAGES 
 
 AN ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS IN TEACHING, 
 
 A LECTURE, 
 
 Delivered before the Teachers' Institute of San Francisco, 
 Dec. 5th, 1862. 
 
 By ANDREW J. MOULDER, 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION' 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen or the Institute : 
 
 In the remarks I propose to make this evening, I do not in- 
 tend to bore you with platitudes about the importance of edu- 
 cation, or with vague generalities about teaching thoroughly, 
 enforcing good order, awakening thought, and the like.. I have 
 myself been dosed too severely with such stuff to attempt to 
 inflict it upon others. 
 
 I propose to make a running commentary upon some matters 
 connected with your profession — to rejuvenate some old ideas — 
 present them in as pleasing a dress as possible — glance at some 
 of the late improvements in the art of teaching — suggest some 
 useful expedients, and assist in burying some moribund theories 
 and exploded notions. 
 
 At this late day, one cannot expect much of originality in the 
 treatment of a subject embraced between such narrow limits of 
 variation as the true principles of education. You might as 
 well expect originality in a translation of the Scriptures. Bat, 
 
6 THE ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 If in 8C| saiail a matter as teaching the Geography of our own 
 State, 1 can cut a trail by which you shall reach your end along 
 the diameter, instead of around the circumference, I have made 
 a labor-saving improvement. 
 
 Nobody can invent the sewing-machine over again, but one 
 may get out a patent for a new stitch, or a little hemming at- 
 tachment. 
 
 All knowledge is attained either through the medium of the 
 senses, or by inductive. reasoning. The sense of touch informs 
 us that ice is cold, and fire hot. No amount of reasoning could 
 convince us of these facts. But none of our senses could satisfy 
 us that the three angles of a triangle are together equal to two 
 right angles. 
 
 There are two modes of reasoning, so called, the distinction 
 between which is clearly marked, and should so be kept. The 
 one is by means of an association of ideas — the other, by what 
 I shall call an association of words. The latter* is really not 
 reasoning at all, although the process by which results are 
 reached, is often called so. If one should teach a parrot to 
 repeat, " two and and two make five," the words " two and two " 
 would ever after suggest to the parrot the conclusion " five." 
 This is a result reached by an association of words. It involves 
 no exercise of intelligence, no assent of the mind. So is it 
 With much of the knowledge imparted to children. The child 
 used to be taught, for instance, that " a verb is a word which 
 signifies to be, to do, or to suffer " — " mood or mode is the par- 
 ticular form or manner in which the action, passion, or being of 
 the verb is represented." The child may glibly repeat these 
 definitions. This it effects by the association of words. There 
 is no association of ideas, and without such association, the 
 acquirements, mis-called knowledge, of the youthful prodigy 
 gifted with a retentive memory, are all a sham and a delusion. 
 
 Let me illustrate the distinction I am attempting to make, 
 by the curious and fantastic mythology of the Greeks and Bo- 
 mans, the joint production of their priests and poets. They 
 were taught in their infancy to believe, or rather to repeat, that 
 Jupiter was the King of the G-ods— that Neptune was Sovereign 
 of the Seas, and Pluto of the Infernal Kegions. They acted 
 upon this belief. They erected costly temples and altars — main- 
 tained large retinues of priests — offered perpetual sacrifices. 
 But the belief in the existence and attributes of Jupiter, of 
 Neptune, and of Pluto, was neither based upon the evidence of 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, / 
 
 the senses, nor was it the result of any compelling sequence of 
 reasons, such as that by which we are forced to the conviction 
 that the square of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle is 
 equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. In the 
 former case, Jupiter is declared to be the King of the Gods on 
 the same principle by which the parrot declares "two and two 
 make five" — that is, by association of words. The word "Ju- 
 piter" suggests the words " King of the Gods." In the latter 
 case, the mind assents — in fact it cannot, if it would, avoid the 
 conclusion, that the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the 
 sum of the squares on the other two sides, and this conclusion 
 it reaches by the association of ideas — not of words. Nobody 
 now believes in the Deities of the Pantheon, but Christian, He- 
 brew, Mahometan, Brahmin, Buddhist, and Parsee, all assent 
 to the mathematical conclusion, established by the Greek geom- 
 eter, 400 years before Christ. Fortunately the old system of 
 teaching, which required the child to commit a certain amount 
 of matter to memory, and to repeat it, is rapidly falling into 
 disrepute. A child so taught is very like the telegraph instru- 
 ment that repeats words all day long, but never gets an idea. 
 
 I have still a horrible recollection of the manner in Which I 
 was taught Grammar. Old Lindley Murray was my text book. 
 I was required to get by rote two pages per day of Eules and 
 Notes, beginning at the top of the left hand page, although it 
 might be Note 8, under Eule 20, and ending at the bottom of 
 the right hand page — though', likely as not, it ended with Note 
 5 of Eule 21. With feelings of unutterable aversion, I would 
 still diligently con my task — task, in the roughest acceptation 
 of the term — and at the time appointed, would move slowly and 
 lingeringly up to the master to recite. To the last moment, I 
 would hang on to the book, and many a time, after having 
 handed it to my Teacher, have I asked him to let me have it 
 back again a moment, before he commenced, that I might have 
 a last look at the words of some frightful sentence upon which 
 I was afraid I should break down. The recitation commenced, 
 I would rush rapidly on, for fear the words would escape me if 
 I lingered. As the impression produced by light upon the 
 retina remains for a brief period after the illuminating body is 
 withdrawn, so remains — and for but a little while longer — the 
 impression produced by the words of a task whose meaning is 
 unintelligible to the pupil. It is important, therefore, that the 
 boy should be in a hurry. He is very like the man who is 
 
8 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 attempting to cross a shaking bog. He must skip rapidly from 
 tuft to tuft. If he hesitates, he is lost. Well, I would push 
 briskly through my recitation, scarcely halting to take breath, 
 until I reached a point where memory failed me. Floundering 
 here a moment, the indulgent master would sometimes give me 
 a clue to help me on. He would repeat perhaps the next two or 
 three words, such as " and the noun," or " is governed " — and 
 with this assistance, I would dart on, like the pointer that has 
 got on the scent anew. 
 
 Sometimes when at fault in the middle of one of the most 
 incomprehensible of the Notes, I would try back, just as a boy 
 does who balks as he reaches the edge of a ditch which he is 
 attempting to clear by a run and jump. The second time, per- 
 haps, I would get on so much impetus that I would run down 
 the obstacle, and come out at the end with filing colors, 
 although, like an overtasked racer, a little blown. 
 
 My Grammar master, I remember, was a great stickler for 
 the text of old Murray. If Murray used the word " signify- 
 ing" — " signifying" it must be. If, instead, I happened to em- 
 ploy the word u meaning," or if in place of the expression 
 " nouns signifying the same thing," I substituted the phrase 
 '• substantives expressing the same idea," I was stopped at once 
 with the remark — " No, that's not it; that wont do." 
 
 Murray's text was the only genuine coin — all imitations, how- 
 ever good, were but counterfeits that could not pass. I have 
 sketched the miseries a boy endured in the study of Grammar 
 in early days, that I might bring out in bold relief the glaring 
 faults and errors of the system of training formerly in vogue. 
 Even yet, there are Teachers w T ho cling to this abominable sys- 
 tem, while others, who have kept pace with the age, and who 
 know how a child should be taught, rest contend with parrot 
 recitations, because it saves the time and trouble it would take 
 to test the pupil's comprehension and to illustrate the subject of 
 the lesson. 
 
 In a little book, called " Familiar Dialogues," written by Mr. 
 Fowle,for the amusement of his pupils, occurs a dialogue which 
 takes off so happily this folly of expecting children to acquire 
 knowledge by committing lessons to memory, and also the 
 kindred folly of crowding a little of everything into the young 
 mind, that I may be pardoned if I here repeat it : 
 
 "A mother in search of a school for her child, accosted a young teacher as fol- 
 lows : 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 9 
 
 Mother. — Are you the mistress of this school, miss ? 
 Teacher. — I am, madam. 
 
 M. — Your school has hcen highly recommended to me, and I have concluded to place' 
 my only daughter under your care, if we can agree upon the subject of her studies 
 Pray what do you teach ? 
 
 T. — What is usually taught in preparatory schools, madam. How old is your littlo 
 girl? 
 
 31. — She is only five, but then she is a child of remar-kable capacity. 
 T. — I should not think she studied many branches at present, madam, whatever she 
 may do hereafter. 
 
 M. — Indeed she is not so backward as you imagine. She has studied astronomy, 
 botany, and geometry, and her teacher was preparing to put her into Latin, when ilj 
 health obliged her to relinquish her school. 
 
 T. — Have you ever examined her in these sciences, madam ? 
 
 31. — yes, indeed. Fraxinella, my dear, tell the lady something of geometry and 
 astronomy. What is astronomy, my dear ? Ask her a question, miss, any question 
 you please. 
 
 T. — What planet do we inhabit, my dear ? 
 
 C— Hey ? 
 
 T. — What do you live on, my dear ? 
 
 C. — On meat, ma'am ; I did not know what you meant before. 
 
 31. — No, my dear, the lady wishes to know what you stand on now — on what do you 
 stand ? 
 
 C. — On my feet, mother ; did she think I stood on my head ? 
 
 31. — Fraxinella, dear, you have forgotten your astronomy the three days you have 
 staid at home. But do now say a line or two of your last lesson to the lady ,• now do, 
 dear, that's a darling. 
 
 C. — The equinoctial line is the plane of the equator extended in a straight line until 
 it surrounds the calyx or flower-cup, for the two sides of an isuckle triangle are always 
 equal to the hippopotamus. 
 
 31. — There, miss ; I told you she had it in her, only it requires a peculiar tact to 
 draw it out. I knew she would astonish you. 
 
 T. — She does, indeed, madam. You speak of the plane of the equator, my dear ; 
 will you be good enough to tell me the meaning of the word plane ? 
 
 C. — Ugly, ma'am ; I thought everyboby knew that. 
 
 T. — How many are three times three, my dear ? 
 
 0. — Three times three ? 
 
 T. — Yes ; how many are they ? 
 
 C. — I don't know. Mrs. Flare never told me that; she said everj'body knows how 
 to count ! 
 
 T. — She taught you to read and spell, I suppose. 
 
 M. — No, I positively forbade that. I wished to have her mind properly developed, 
 without having her intellect frittered away upon elements. But I see your school will 
 not do for my daughter. I was afraid you only taught the lower branches. Come, 
 Fraxy, dear, let U3 call on Miss Flourish ; perhaps she is competent to estimate your 
 acquirements, and finish your education." 
 
 It is now accepted almost as an axiom by the profession, that 
 any thing which appeals to the senses can best be taught through 
 the senses, and by a little ingenuity and preparation on the part 
 of the Teacher, many things may be thus taught, which, at first 
 
 2 
 
10 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 sight, appear of an abstract nature, and not reducible to the 
 test of the senses. 
 
 The alphabet, for instance, is taught in some of the Primary 
 Schools of Europe by means of large block letters. 
 
 The child is made to look upon them as toys, and soon learns 
 to pick out any particular letter from the blocks, ranged upon 
 the floor, without regard to sequence. 
 
 But in the absence of blocks, the same result may be obtained 
 by assisting the child with a resemblance of the letter to some- 
 thing with which he is familiar. I cannot better illustrate my 
 idea than by reading an extract from a quaint old work entitled 
 " The Youth of Shakspeare." 
 
 "Mother," said young Shakspeare, "I pray you tell me something of the fairies 
 of whom nurse Cicely discourseth to me so oft. How may little children be 
 possessed of such goodness as may make them he well regarded of these same fairies, 
 mother?" " They must be sure to learn their letters betimes," replied she, "that 
 they may be able to know the proper knowledge writ in books, which, if they know 
 not when they grow up, neither fairy nor any other shall esteem them to be of any 
 goodness whatsoever." " I warrant you I will learn my letters as speedily as I can," 
 replied the boy, eagerly. " Nay, I beseech you, mother, teach them to me now, for I 
 am exceeding desirous of being thought of some goodness. But what good are these 
 same letters of, mother?" inquired he, as he took his horn book from the shelf. " This 
 much," replied Dame Shakspeare ; "by knowing of them thoroughly one by one, you 
 shall soon come to be able to put them together for the forming of words ; and when 
 you are sufficiently apt at that, you shall thereby como to be learned enough to read all 
 such words as are in any sentence, which you shall find to be only made up of such ; 
 and when the reading of such sentences shall be familiar to you, doubt not your abil- 
 ity to master whatsoever proper book falleth into your hand, for all books are com- 
 posed only of letters, as I shall teach thee straightway." The lesson had not proceeded 
 far, when the draper's wife came in. " And what hast got here, prithee, that thou art 
 so earnest about? " asked Mrs. Dowlass. "A horn book, as I live ! And dost really 
 know thy letters at so early an age?" "Nay, I doubt I can tell you them all," re- 
 plied Master William, ingenuously, "but, methinks I know a good many of them." 
 Then pointing at the several characters, as he named them, he continued : "First, 
 here is A, that ever standeth astraddle. Next him is B, who is all head and body and 
 no legs. Then cometh C, who bulgeth out behind like a very hunchback. After him 
 cometh D, who doeth the clean contrary, for his bigness is all before. Next," — here 
 he hesitated for some few seconds, the others present regarding him with exceeding 
 attentiveness and pleasure — " next here is — alack, dear mother, do tell me that fellow's 
 name again, will you, an' it will go hard with him if he escape me." 
 
 Here, you observe, the young scholar breaks down as soon as 
 a resemblance fails to assist him with an association of ideas. 
 
 Think you, that a child taught the alphabet in this, or any 
 similar way, would ever be tired of his lesson ? 
 
 In teaching Geography, all . admit that the approach to the 
 child's comprehension is easiest through the sense of sight. A 
 globe is therefore indispensable. If the District is too poor to 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 11 / 
 
 </> 
 
 buy one, the Teacher should get up a substitute. Eun a skewer 
 through a pumpkin, if nothing better can be done. The sense 
 of sight embraces resemblances to familiar objects, and of this, 
 valuable use may be made in imparting a knowledge of many 
 details in Geography. 
 
 If you would impress upon the mind of a child the shape or 
 outline of Italy, for instance, call his attention to its close 
 resemblance to the shape of a boot. You may rely upon it he 
 will always have a clear idea of that country. 
 
 Go a little farther, and, using this same resemblance, you may 
 impress upon him, with equal force, some details of the geogra- 
 phy of Italy. Thus, show .him that the Alps form its northern 
 border, and correspond to the trimming or border around the top 
 of the boot. Show him, by means of an outline map, that the 
 toe of the boot approaches very closely to Sicily, from which it 
 is only separated by the narrow Strait of Messina — that Europe, 
 in fact, through Italy, seems in the act of booting Sicily. Call 
 his attention to the fact that Cape Spartivento is just at the toe 
 of the boot ; that the Gulf of Taranto corresponds very accu- 
 rately to the hollow or arch in the sole of the foot; that the 
 peninsula of Otranto, terminated by Cape Di Leuca, answers 
 to the heel, and that this heel approaches closely to the coast of 
 Turkey, being separated from it only by the Strait of Otranto ; 
 that Naples and Mount Vesuvius are but little above the instep 
 of the boot, and that the Apennines run down the middle of the 
 country, just as the seam does in the side of the boot. With 
 such assistance, my word for it, the child will always have a 
 clear and distinct idea of the shape of Italy — the location of 
 the Alps, the Apennines, Sicily, Cape Spartivento, the Straits 
 of Messina and Otranto — the Gulf of Taranto and Cape Di 
 Leuca — Naples and Vesuvius ; and one thus instructed, will be 
 able to construct, from memory alone, an outline map, embracing 
 at least the particulars named, that will show a very fair approx- 
 imation to the reality. Weeks of drilling in the text books, 
 and pages of description, would not infix so much knowledge. 
 
 Again, if you would impress the geographical outline of the 
 Spanish Peninsula upon the pupil's mind, you cannot so well 
 attain your end as by showing him a Spanish dollar, and call- 
 ing his attention to the shield, the form of which is exactly 
 that of the Peninsula; to the Castle and the Lion — the ancient 
 Christian kingdoms of Castile and Leon, whose union freed 
 Spain from the Saracens ; to the two pillars, emblems of the 
 
12 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 Pillars of Hercules, Gibraltar and Ceuta; to the motto that 
 entwines them, " Ne plus ultra'' " there is nothing beyond " — 
 alluding to the foot that Spain was looked upon as the outer- 
 most edge of the earth until 1492. when she herself pushed 
 beyond. 
 
 Coming nearer home, how can we assist a child to a lasting 
 impression of the outline and leading geographical features of 
 our own State ? Put before him an outline or other map of 
 California, and show him that, including the Peninsula of the 
 Mexican Province — Lower California — it closely resembles, in 
 shape, a side view of the body of a man from the waist down, 
 with the leg bent at the hip and the knee. You will remember 
 that our eastern boundary line runs due south from the south- 
 ern line of Oregon to Lake Bigler, thence it makes a bend to 
 the east, running in a south-easterly direction to the river Colo- 
 rado, thence southerly down that river to its intersection with 
 the Gila, near the Gulf of California, Now call attention to 
 the fact that our northern boundary corresponds very accu- 
 rately to the waist of a man — Cape Mendocino, to the hip — so 
 much of the Eastern boundary as runs due South, to the stom- 
 ach — so much of the State as lies below Sacramento, to the 
 upper portion of a leg bent — so much of the Colorado Kiver as 
 forms our eastern boundary, to the knee bent, and Lower Cali- 
 fornia to the leg below the knee. Our southern boundary may 
 be likened to the garter worn by gentlemen when knee breeches 
 were the fashion, or to the upper edge of the stocking. With 
 such aids, a child can never forget the contour of our State, 
 and will never be at a loss to draw from menfory an outline 
 map of it, with very tolerable exactness. 
 
 Extend your similes further, and show that the Coast Eange 
 of Mountains, running from the neighborhood of Mt. Shasta all 
 the way down to Lower California, and thence to Cape St. 
 Lucas, answers pretty nearly to the outside seam in a trousers' 
 leg j San Pedro, the port of Los Angeles, to the angle just 
 under a bent knee ; Fort Yuma on the Colorado, to the old- 
 fashioned knee-buckle ; Humboldt Bay, to the buckle behind, 
 used to contract the waist of pantaloons ; Lake Bigler, to the 
 angle made by the body with the femur or thigh bone when 
 bent, and so on, continuing your fancied resemblances as long 
 as your ingenuity will suggest. 
 
 Enough has been mentioned to show that the outline, leading 
 geographical features, and limiting points of importance of the 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 13 
 
 State, may, by this expedient, be ineffaceably impressed upon 
 the pupil's mind. 
 
 With ordinary ingenuity and a little preparation, the Teacher 
 may find familiar objects to which to liken other countries. It 
 will involve some trouble, perhaps, at first, but it will save more 
 in the end. 
 
 One word upon the teaching of spelling and defining. In 
 this, no assistance can be obtained from the senses, either di- 
 rectly by a picture or model of the object, or indirectly by its 
 real or fancied resemblance to some other object. 
 
 Here the memory alone must be relied on. 
 
 If ours were a phonetic language we might appeal to the 
 sense of hearing through resemblances in sound. 
 
 If the pupil once learned that bough spelled bough, he would 
 not hesitate, when asked, to spell cough — cow; rough, row. 
 But as our spelling is extremely irregular, the same letter assum- 
 ing as many functions, according to its company, as the figure 
 in arithmetical notation, there is no. expedient to abridge the 
 labor of memorizing each word. And just here, I cannot for- 
 bear quoting a portion of Horace Mann's amusing description 
 of the complexities and absurdities of our spelling, and the con- 
 sequent sufferings of the unfortunate child learning to spell. 
 He happily describes the five vowels as five harlequins. "Ac- 
 cording to Worcester, these five letters alone have 29 different 
 sounds, viz. : a, 7 ; e, 5 ; t,*5'j o, 6 ; and u, 6. 
 
 But the difficulty of their number is nothing compared with 
 that of their masquerading. In almost every line we read, these 
 letters reappear several times; but however short their exit 
 from the stage, they reenter in a changed dress. But not only 
 does the same letter puzzle us with its multiplicity of sounds, 
 but different letters have the same sound, and combinations of 
 letters assume the sound of individual letters ; and they mock 
 us by playing back and forth with the facility and malignancy 
 of evil sprights. 
 
 Thus, as Mr. Pierpont has shown in his " Little Learner," 
 there are eight letters and combinations of letters which have 
 the first sound of a, as in fate, viz. : a, in date; ai, in paid ; aigh, 
 in straight; ay, in day ; eh, in eh (exclamation); eigh, in eight; 
 and ey, in they. 
 
 So the first sound of e is given to e, in be ; to ea, in bean ; ee, 
 in bee; ei, in seize; eo, in people; i, in machine; ie, in grief ; and 
 o, in you. 
 
14 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 The first sound of o is given to o in note ; oa, in boat; oe, in doe ; 
 oh, in oh (exclamation) ; ough, in borough ; ow, in throw ; owe, in 
 owe ; and eau, in fteaw. 
 
 Again; owr/A appears in these different sounds: bough, cough, 
 hough (the hinder part of the leg of a beast), though, through, 
 thought, thorough, tough. 
 
 It was on this combination, or rather dispersion, that the cele- 
 brated couplet was formed : 
 
 " Though the tough cough and hiccough plough ine through, 
 O'er life's dark lough, I still my way pursue." 
 
 Take, as specimens, such words as success, or vaccine, where, 
 although the letters cc are placed in juxtaposition, they are 
 sounded differently j or the words holy and wholesome ; or the 
 classes of words in which 6% and ie are arbitrarily transposed, as 
 perceive, retrieve, deceive, believe, receive, aggrieve, etc. ; in one 
 class the i coming before the e, in the other after it, though 
 sounded alike in both cas.es. Why should there be a t in clutch 
 and crutch, but none in such or much t. Take any volume of 
 poetry, and observe with what different combinations of letters 
 the lines terminate, and you will perceive, however certain it is 
 that each rhyme will chime, yet the harmony is only for the ear, 
 not for the eye. 
 
 But an exposition of all the contradictions, complexities and 
 tortuosities in the formation of our language, can never be 
 given-' by any finite mind. It is one immense shuffle and pre- 
 varication. However Hibernian it may seem, it is still almost 
 true, that what rules there are, are exceptions, and that the 
 anomalies tend towards a law, not from one. 
 
 If the 26 letters were multipled into each other, according to 
 the rule of permutations and combinations, the product would 
 hardly exceed the bewildering diversities of its construction ; 
 for after all the differences in the powers of the letters, whether 
 used singly, or in combination, there would still remain unenu- 
 merated, all the cases of silent letters, the reduplication or omis- 
 sion of consonants in compound and derivative words, and the 
 transposition of sounds, as in the numerous cases where h, 
 though coming after w in writing, is sounded before it, as in the 
 words when, whether, wherefore, etc. 
 
 In the last named cases the h was formerly written before 
 the w, following the order of the sound, as hwen, instead of 
 when; but this natural arrangement was altered for no other 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 15 
 
 reason that we can perceive, but only to render it a member 
 worthy to be admitted into the general chaos. 
 
 In the same way the words knot and gnarled seem to have been 
 spelled with a k and a g, to make the orthography of the names 
 twist and curl like the things themselves. 
 
 Ey the course ordinarily pursued in teaching a child to read, 
 he is made to repeat the letters, one by one j then in combina- 
 tions like ba, be, bi, bla, ble, bli, in which each letter has a single 
 and uniform sound. 
 
 He is then taken into words, where each of the principal let- 
 ters, in the rapidity of its changes from one sound to another, 
 outdoes ventriloquism; where the first five vowels to which 
 respectively he has been accustomed to give the same alpha- 
 betic sound, assume 29 different sounds, so that, according to the 
 doctrine of chances, it will happen only once in five or six times 
 that he will be correct, if he sounds them as he was taught. 
 Give a child, for instance, such a sentence as this : " The far- 
 famed walls of the palace are fast falling to decay." He begins 
 by giving the alphabetic sound of a to the a in far, and of course 
 calls it fare; he is corrected and told to pronounce it far; he 
 catches the sound of a in far and proceeds to the next word, 
 which he calls famm'd; here he is again corrected and made to 
 say famed ; he then pronounces walls, wales, according to the last 
 direction; but this will not do, and he is obliged to say walls; 
 in consequence of this he gives the broad sound to the first sylla- 
 ble in palace calling it p&ll; here he is snubbed and tol'd to say 
 pal; he does so, and hurrying to the next syllable, he sounds 
 the a in ace as in pal, making the word pallas. The teacher now 
 begins to think him a fool, and is confirmed in the opinion, 
 when he carries forward the obscure sound of a, as in palace, 
 and applies it, instead of the grave sound, to a in are. - 
 
 The poor child, now seeing the same letter in the next word, 
 fast, is in a quandary, and will not venture to pronounce it, but 
 waits to be told; being told how to pronounce fast, he abides by 
 the direction and says fal-ling, when he is violently arrested, 
 and made to utter falling, falling, fCdling, with repetition and 
 emphasis; secure in this sound, he comes to the last word 
 which, in imitation of the preceding, he calls deed, and gets 
 slapped, if not flogged, for his stupidity. 
 
 Who has not seen a hapless child, when first carried from the 
 alphabet into short words, after he finds that none of the letters 
 with which, he thought he was so well acquainted, will now 
 
16 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 answer to their names, but that all balk and tantalize him, and 
 chatter in his face with unknown sounds — who has not seen 
 him gaze up in bewilderment into the teacher's face, with such 
 a piteous and imploring look as would almost make statuary 
 weep? 
 
 In further illustration of the ever changing sounds of the vow- 
 els, take the following verses miscalled " Univocalic Verses." 
 The Teacher who examines these will no longer blame the young 
 reader who fails to give the correct pronunciation of words. 
 The plan of teaching the alphabet, usually adopted — not the 
 child — is responsible for the failure. 
 
 A. 
 
 THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR. 
 
 " Wars harm all ranks — all arts, all crafts appal ; 
 At Mars' harsh blast, arch, rampart, altar fall 1 
 Ah ! hard as adamant, a braggart Czar 
 Arms vassal swarms, and fans a fatal war ! 
 Rampant at that bad call, a vandal band 
 Harass and harm and ransack Wallach land ! 
 A Tartar phalanx Balkan's scarp hath past, 
 And Allah's standard falls, alas, at last 1 " 
 
 E. 
 
 THE FALL OF EVE. 
 
 " Eve, Eden's Empress, needs defended be ; 
 The serpent greets her, when she seeks the tree. 
 Serene, she sees- the speckled tempter creep ; 
 Gentle he seems — perverted schemer deep — 
 Yet endless pretexts, ever fresh, prefers, 
 Perverts her senses, revels when she errs — 
 Sneers when she weeps, regrets, repents she fell, 
 Then, deep-revenged, reseeks the nether Hell." 
 
 I. 
 
 THE APPROACH OF EVENING. 
 
 " Idling I sit in this mild twilight dim, 
 Whilst birds, in swift, wild vigils skim. 
 Light winds in sighing sink, till, rising bright, 
 Night's virgin pilgrim swims in vivid light 1" 
 
 In connection with this subject of the utter lack of art in the 
 construction of our language, the following " Humble Petition 
 of the Letter C," taken from the Zanesville Gazette, will be 
 found suggestive, as well as amusing. It is addressed : 
 
ASSOCIATION OP IDEAS. 17 
 
 " TO THE HONORABLE THE ARBITERS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE : 
 
 "Most High and Mighty Sirs : — The appearanse of so humble an individual as 
 the undersigned, before your august body, is, perhaps, as well kalkulated to exsite sur- 
 prise in you, as awe in him ; but when you reflekt that ever sinse his introduktion into 
 the mashinery of the English language, over whose destinies you hold supreme kon- 
 trol, he has been the subjekt of grievanses the most intolerable and usurpations the 
 most foul, you will, it is hoped, find a palliation for his offense, and be konstrained to 
 regard his prayer in a spirit less of reproof for his boldness than of kompassion for his 
 patient long suffering. 
 
 * But to show you that your petitioner has just kause of komplaint, a kandid exhi- 
 bition of fakts is nesessary. 
 
 M 1st. Your petitioner, when plased before a, o, u,r, and t, as in car, core, cut, crash, 
 and tract, though standing in bold relief, as large as life, is always usurped in his funk- 
 tions by the ugly h, and it really appears to him that he is permitted to okkupy these 
 stations only in derision, or to hide the deformity of his suksessful rival ; and even 
 when your petitioner takes an humbler station at the end of a syllable or word, as in 
 fraction, public, antic, and the like, he is not permitted to perform the servile labors 
 belonging to it, but is superseded by the same ugly but enviable rival. 
 
 " 2nd. Your petitioner when plased before c, i, and y, as in lace, cider, mercy, is not 
 permitted to enjoy the honors of his position, but they are invariably usurped by the 
 graseful, singing, slippery s, to the no small disgrase and mortifikation of your peti- 
 tioner. 
 
 "3d. When plased before a diphthong, and preseded by an aksent, as in ocean, social, 
 species, spacious, saponaceous, your petitioner is deprived of the blushing honors that 
 he did think were koming thik upon him, by sh. 
 
 "4th. Your petitioner, in some kompanies, as in discern, sacrifice, is only a pitiable 
 proxy for the zigzag z, and in other kompauies such as corpuscle, czar, indict, victuals, 
 he has the double mortifikation of finding that your honorable body have deprived him 
 not only of the right to speak for himself, but also of the poor komfort of speaking as 
 proxy for any other. 
 
 " 5th. Even when in combination with his friend and ally h, as in chair, child, 
 milch, bench, chaos, chasm, your petitioner does not enjoy the honors he onse expekted 
 to reap from that alliance, but is lost in the superior glories of tsh, sh, or his most in- 
 veterate rival h ; and sometimes, as in drachm, schism, yacht, he is under the painful 
 nesessity of witnessing the humiliating silense that both he and his friend are kom- 
 pelled to observe, even in konspikuous stations. 
 
 " 6th. Besides all these, certain signs or marks, such as the sedilla, and, by Webster, 
 a horizontal line through, have been invented to lead the ignorant to a knowledge of 
 the individual by whom the honors of his station are stolen from your petitioner j thus 
 kompelling him, not only to witness his own humiliation, but aktually to bekome the 
 publisher of his own shame, by karrying marks of it upon his person. 
 
 " Your petitioner, therefore, begs your honorable body, in the humblest and most 
 respektful manner, that from this time forth, k, s, z, tsh and sh, be kompelled to assume 
 in their own proper persons, the stations they have so long okkupied through him, and 
 to bekome personally responsible for the faithful and korrekt performanse of the funk- 
 tions of those stations, and that your petitioner, henseforth and forever, be exkused 
 from performing servise in the English language. 
 
 " And your petitioner will ever pray. " C." 
 
 In a number of schools, some of the difficulties described by- 
 Horace Mann are now obviated by teaching the child to give, 
 
l§ THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 not the common alphabetic sound, but the sounds which the 
 
 letters are to haye in combination, according to the phonetic 
 method, but there arc still thousands who teach in the old fash- 
 ioned way. 
 
 Some distinguished Educators — Horace Mann among them — 
 strongly urge that whole words should be taught on the prin- 
 ciples of the object lessons, before teaching the letters of which 
 t hey are composed. Of the advantages of this method, I cannot 
 speak from experience. Some who have tried it speak very 
 highly of it. 
 
 One thing is certain, the last generation of Teachers had not 
 hit upon the proper method of teaching spelling. Their method 
 has proved a failure, for it is astonishing how r many persons of 
 no little pretension to attainments, including but too large a 
 number of Teachers, are at this day utterly reckless of the mys- 
 teries of spelling. 
 
 They remind me of the little boy who spelled OJidand, Oak- 
 land, and when corrected, replied sturdily — " Well, that may be 
 your w r ay of spelling it — you may spell it just as you please, but 
 this is my way." 
 
 The ingenuity some people exhibit in misspelling even simple 
 words is really wonderful. 
 
 The ingenuity of the man who employed Kaugfophy to spell 
 what : ' Coffee " would so much more easily spell, does not ex- 
 ceed that of some applicants for Teachers' certificates, whom I 
 have examined. 
 
 The time devoted to the study of definitions by young chil- 
 dren, I look upon as almost w T asted. If the w T ords are common 
 no definition is needed. In the case of unfamiliar Avords, the 
 definitions are as unintelligible as the words defined. They con- 
 vey no idea whatever to the child. There must be a definition 
 of the definition — a square of the definition, so to speak — and 
 the obscurity, it maybe said, increases as the square of the defi- 
 nition. Our dictionaries have been greatly improved in modern 
 times, but to the child, many of the definitions arc about as 
 lucid as that given in the first edition of Johnson, of the word 
 ' ; boy"" — "not a girl." The reader naturally turned to look for 
 " girl," and found that it meant " not a boy." 
 
 Prof. Fowle gives an amusing illustration of the mystification 
 produced by definitions of even common words. 
 
 In preparing a new work to oblige children to write the words 
 of their spelling books, he was in search of a simple definition 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 19 
 
 of a ''flounce" and a "periwig," both common things and well 
 understood. He says — "I turned to the most popular, and re- 
 ally the best school dictionary, and found the definitions as 
 follows : 
 
 " Perurig. Adscititious hair. 
 
 " Flounce. A loose, full trimming, sewed to a woman's garmen t 
 so as to swell and shake. 
 
 " I then asked an intelligent child what sort of hair he thought 
 'adscititious hair' w T as. — k I do'nt know;' said he. 'Is it hair 
 that is all in a snarl ? ' — I then asked an intelligent girl what 
 she would call ' a loose, full trimming, sewed to a woman's gar- 
 ment so as to swell and shake/ and she said at once, 'an April 
 fool/ She was thinking of the tag she had pinned to the back 
 of her companion's dress on the first of April. So much for the 
 definition of easy words. I then had occasion to look out the 
 word ' Imbricated/ and found that it meant ' Indented with 
 concavities.' I asked a Miss who was reading, the meaning of 
 the word ' anodyne/ in the expression, 'the anodyne draught of 
 oblivion,' and she looked in the dictionary, and mistaking the 
 a which denoted that the word was an adjective, for a part of 
 the definition, she said anodyne meant ' a mitigating pain/ " 
 
 If the memory is treacherous, the definition will soon escape, 
 almost as soon as it is learned, or it may be applied to the wrong 
 word. When a class of young Misses was once reading to me, 
 the word " wedlock" occurred, antl, as usual, I asked the mean- 
 ing of it. " I know," said a lively little girl, who had ' studied 
 dictionary/ as she called it, at another school ; " it is something 
 they fasten barn-doors with." 
 
 The same writer gives an amusing instance of the inapplica- 
 bility or ambiguity of Murray's definition of a "Preposition." 
 "In the first school I undertook to teach," says he, "I sought, 
 at the outset, to ascertain the progress the highest class had 
 made in Grammar. I selected a sentence from the reading book. 
 It was, ' David smote Goliah/ ' Well/ said I to the first 
 pupil, 'what part of speech is David? 7 'A noun, Sir.' 'What 
 is a noun ?' 'A substantive or noun is the name of anything 
 that exists, or of which we have any notion/ ' Is David, in 
 this sentence, the name of anything that exists V 'No, Sir; 
 David died long ago/ ' Is it the name of anything of which 
 you have any notion ? ' ' Yes, Sir ; I have some notion of him 
 as a very small man, and a king.' As the object was only to 
 ascertain the part of speech, I asked the next pupil what part 
 
20 THE ADVANTAGES OP 
 
 of speech ' smote ' was. ' A preposition, Sir.' ' A preposition ! ' 
 said I, with astonishment, ' pray what is a preposition ? ' 
 ' Prepositions serve to connect words with one another, and 
 to show the relation between them.' ' Very well/ said I, with 
 all the importance of a Teacher who felt it his duty to expose 
 the ignorance of his pupil, 'what words does 'smote' connect?' 
 'David and Goliah, Sir, for there is nothing else to connect 
 them.' 'Yes/ said I, somewhat flurried, 'but what relation 
 does it show between them?' 'Not a very friendly one I 
 should think, Sir/ said the pupil. I was struck with the truth 
 of the answers, and had the honesty to say, ' You are right, 
 Miss, or the definition in your book is wrong.' " 
 
 And just here let me give the Scotchman's definition of " Meta- 
 physics." You will appreciate it. His head had been thoroughly 
 muddled by the clashing theories and fine-spun distinctions of 
 Dugald Stewart, Kant, and Thomas Brown. To a friend who 
 asked him "What is Metaphysics?" he exclaimed, at last, in 
 despair : 
 
 " When the mon who hears does na ken what the mon who 
 speaks, means, and when the mon who speaks does na ken what 
 he means himself — that is Metaphysics." 
 
 Bishop Berkeley is the author of one of the wittiest defini- 
 tions I have ever met with. The famous Dr. Halley, the 
 mathematician and astronomer-royal of England, wrote a num- 
 ber of valuable scientific worfts. In some of them, he trod upon 
 the toes of the theologians, and he was by them accused of infi- 
 delity. A controversy sprung up between him and Bishop 
 Berkeley upon the nature of the soul, spirits, etc., Halley con- 
 tending that these subjects were too etherial and intangible to 
 admit of demonstration — that it was unphilosophical to reason 
 upon the nature and qualities of things whose existence could 
 not be proved, etc. Berkeley retorted that the same style of 
 argument would upset one of the most beautiful fabrics of the 
 Mathematicians — to wit, Fluxions, introduced but a little while 
 before by Newton in his Principia, and greatly affected by 
 Halley The received definition of a Fluxion, at that time, was 
 "A quantity infinitely smaller than any finite quantity, contain- 
 ing a quantity infinitely smaller than itself, and that again 
 containing a quantity infinitely smaller than itself, and so on 
 ad infinitum" 
 
 " This," said Berkeley, " is nothing more nor less than the 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, 21 
 
 ghost of a departed quantity, and yet, you write volumes upon 
 it." 
 
 Returning to our subject of the study of definitions in school, 
 I have always thought, with Mr. Fowle, that " The true place 
 to teach a child the meaning of a word is not in the dictionary, 
 where it may have a dozen meanings apparently contradictory 
 or perfectly unintelligible, but in the reading lesson, where the 
 word is used, and where its very use often defines it. The faith- 
 ful Teacher will never miss this opportunity to explain words, 
 not only because the interest and the intelligent reading of the 
 particular lesson depend upon it, but because he will never, in 
 any other department of instruction, have so good a chance to 
 teach the correct meaning and use of words." 
 
 A Teacher may forever fix the recollection of an important 
 fact or leading principle, by the relation of an amusing incident, 
 entertaining anecdote, or pertinent story. He should not be 
 above a joke now and then. It will not hurt either him or his 
 children. * 
 
 Nothing, perhaps, so forcibly impressed me with the true 
 principles of inductive philosophy as the story told me by my 
 Teacher, of the trick played by Charles I, (I believe it was,) 
 upon the savans who composed the Royal Academy of Sciences. 
 In solemn audience, he demanded of them to explain why it 
 was that when you put a fish weighing 20 pounds into a vessel 
 brimful of water, the water will not overflow. You all recol- 
 lect the story. The philosophers puzzled for a month over the 
 question, each inventing a different theory. At a subsequent 
 audience they presented their various explanations, but were 
 confounded by Charles telling them that none of their labored 
 theories would answer, because the water would overflow. 
 
 Many a time since has this story saved me from wasting time 
 in speculations upon impossible, improbable, or unauthenticated 
 phenomena. But a day or two ago, I clipped from the Spring- 
 field (Mass.) Republican, a paragraph headed " A Nut for the 
 Geologists." It stated that a returned Californian met a number 
 of his friends in Springfield on Thanksgiving Day, and desiring 
 to astonish them, he brought out a large specimen of crystal- 
 lized quartz and gold for their inspection. Whilst handling, it 
 dropped upon the floor and broke in two. To the amazement 
 of every one, a cut iron nail was found, imbedded in the gold 
 and quartz. The editor thereupon indulged in some fanciful 
 speculations as to the way in which this nail came to be in this 
 
22 THE ADVANTAGES OF 
 
 position, and called lustily upon Geologists for an explanation. 
 It was King Charles' trick over again. There are two 
 questions of a similar character that greatly exercised me when 
 a boy — " If the third of six be three, what will the fourth of 
 twenty be?" and " If a body, moving with irresistible force, 
 encounter an immovable body, what will be the effect?" Little 
 anecdotes like these, act as finger-boards pointing to great 
 principles. 
 
 One word more, in conclusion. From what I have said, you 
 will understand that no matter what the branch taught, its lend- 
 ing facts and principles may be ineffaceably impressed upon the 
 mind of the pupil by assisting him with an association of idea*. 
 If this adjunct be witty, odd or striking, so much greater will 
 be the impression produced. 
 
 Take Chemistry, for instance. What pupil will ever forget 
 the chemical facts, that Hydrogen unites with Chlorine to form 
 Muriatic Acid Gas, and that Ammonia is the volatile alkali, 
 who hears the following verses, entitled "Lays of the Labora- 
 tory," taken from an old English magazine ? The first is en- 
 titled : 
 
 "hydrogen to chlorine — A Sonnet. 
 tell me when thou wilt he mine, 
 
 My beautiful ! my green ! 
 say our atoms shall combine, 
 
 My love — my own Chlorine ! 
 
 How slowly will the moments pass, 
 
 The sands of time will run ; 
 As Muriatic Acid Gas, 
 
 Till thou and I make one ! " 
 
 The next is entitled: 
 
 " AMMONIA — A Duet. 
 
 Ammonia, so frolicsome, whither away? 
 
 To sport in the breeze, like the butterfly gay ? 
 
 Still lively as ever, thou aeriform thing ! — 
 
 My delight is to constantly be on the wing, 
 
 So I'll merrily, merrily soar to the sky 
 
 For you know I'm the volatile alkali." 
 
 Sulphuric acid has a stronger affinity for Baryta than for most 
 other bases. Hence, when Carbonate of Baryta is introduced 
 into a solution of Sulphate of Magnesia, a double decomposition 
 takes place, producing Sulphate of Baryta and Carbonate of 
 Magnesia. I defy the pupil to forget these facts, and this prin- 
 ciple of double decomposition, who hears the following. It is 
 entitled : 
 
ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 23 
 
 " MAGNESIA, THE FORSAKEN ONE, TO SULPHURIC ACIB. 
 
 Thou hast left mo for another — 
 
 . Be it so, since Ave must part : 
 Scorned affinity I'll smother — 
 Go — inconstant, as thou art ! 
 
 Since Baryta, me forsaking, 
 
 Thou hast chosen for thy mate, 
 I, a worthier partner taking, 
 
 Will become a Carbonate. 
 
 To a rival more alluring, 
 
 Now Magnesia leaves thee free ; 
 Form with her a more enduring 
 
 Sulphate, than thou did'st with me!" 
 
 There is wit, as well as chemistry, in this. 
 
 In imitation of this, let us try our hand at a chemical sonnet. 
 You are all aware, that up to a comparatively recent period, the 
 alkalies, potash and soda, were classed by chemists as simple 
 substances. 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy was the first to discover their compound 
 nature. By means of a powerful Yoltaic battery, he, succeeded 
 in resolving potash into the metal,* potassium, and the gas 
 oxygen; and soda, into sodium and ogygen. Both sodium and 
 potassium have so strong an affinity for oxygen, that they will 
 burn when thrown on water, or exposed to the air, at the ordi- 
 nary temperature. Hence, to preserve them in their metallic 
 state, it is necessary to keep them in naphtha, a liquid that con- 
 tains no oxygen. Let us endeavor* to convey these ideas by a 
 sonnet which we will call — 
 
 THE LAMENT OP POTASSIUM. 
 
 Sweet Oxygen, my life and my bride ! 
 
 Sir Humphrey, that man full of guile, 
 J las torn thee away from my side, 
 *■ Through that odious Voltaic pile. 
 
 No longer as an alkali known, 
 
 My nature is utterly changed ; 
 The dear name of potash has gone, 
 
 And, as potassium, a metal, I'm ranged. 
 
 Oh ! Oxygen, pride of my heart ! 
 
 To thee my soul fondly yet clings, 
 Though I've long known how ready thou art, 
 
 To unite with all created things. 
 
 Our parting still fills me with pain ; 
 
 E'en Naphtha my love can't efface, 
 I burn to embrace thee again, 
 
 And will burn when reunion takes place. 
 
24 THE ADVANTAGES OP ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. 
 
 / 
 
 • Note. — The expedients which I have suggested, are, of course, intended more 
 particularly for use in Primary Schools. Their object is to amuse and interest, while 
 instructing, very young children. 
 
 Young pupils do not love knowledge for knowledge's sake, and it is not to be ex- 
 pected that they should. 
 
 The Teacher's great difficulty is to awaken their interest and fix their attention, and 
 every expedienUthat will assist in accomplishing these objects, may be legitimately, 
 and should be unhesitatingly employed, even though young hearts bubble up with 
 laughter at its oddity or novelty. 
 
 I am aware that the canting, snuffling, Aminadab Sleeks of society look with hor- 
 ror upon this thing of amusing young children in the school-room. 
 
 They regard a joke as an impiety — the spirit of fun as the spirit of the devil, and 
 laughter, as an echo of hell. 
 
 The race of Waxford Squeers is not yet extinct. Let us hope there are few of the 
 tribe left in California. 
 
 A. J. M. 
 
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