applied to all schools, whatever may be the ages of the pupils.

Each pupil has a blank book, in which the words spelled are written with pen and ink. I use Worcester's dictionary, which I go through regularly, from beginning to end. At first, all my pupils were in one class, but after a while the best were separated from the others. With the lower class my method was to write the words to be spelled on the black board; a few minutes were allowed the class, to study them; the rules of spelling were given and explained whenever they were applicable; if there were any words whose meaning was not understood, they were explained; and I stated what I knew of the derivation. and history of all interesting words, aud made use of any information I possessed in regard to the lesson; the words were then pronounced, first by the teacher and then by the scholar (it would be a good plan to analyze the words into their elementary sounds, instead of merely pronouncing them); the black board was then cleaned, the words were put out to the class and written by them in their books. The lesson was then written over again on the black board; the pupils compared their work with that on the board, and they noted their mistakes, marking them with a cross or otherwise, and the teacher called for, and recorded the number of mistakes which each had made. The teacher afterwards collected the books, examined them, and wrote, in a book kept for that purpose, all the words which were misspelled; he began his next day's lesson with these words, and continued to do so until every word had been spelled correctly by every member of the class. It will be seen that every word

is studied three times by the pupils,-when the lesson is first written on the black board, when the class write it, and when the teacher rewrites it; and every time a word is misspelled, it is, in the same manner, studied three times.

The higher class, as they do not require so much study, have the lesson written for them but once. Their books are examined, either by the teacher, or, what is better, by pupils detailed for that purpose.

A further step forward is, not to write the words at all; as those spelled wrong are marked, the pupil would learn, by referring to the dictionary, to correct his errors.

The whole process takes the pupils twenty minutes each day. The advanced class write one-third more words than the other, and make considerable more progress from having fewer mistakes. I gave, at first, nearly all the words in common use, both simple and compound. When the laws for making compounds were well understood, I gave only the simple words. I also dropped all words not likely to be misspelled.

If the lower class were to continue at the same rate which they have been going for the twenty months. since they began, they would require five years to finish the dictionary. If the higher class go on at the rate they have been going, they would require three years. But our progress is not by uniform, but by accelerated velocity. Slow at first, it grows faster as the pupil advances, and is finally extremely rapid. The dictionary would be finished, and all the misspelled words reviewed, in less than three years.

In applying this method to young children, it will

be necessary, after writing the lesson, to let them copy it before they attempt to write it from dictation. This will give them a very useful lesson in writing. They should analyze each word twice; once before they copy the lesson, and again before they write it from dictation. The meanings of the words should be taught to them in such a manner that they will not be likely to forget them. If the dictionary is used, only the words which the child uses or meets with in the books he reads, should be selected. Three objects, besides spelling, would be attained by such lessons; writing, in perhaps as good a way as could be devised, were that the only end; pronunciation and articulation, in a very thorough manner, because all the common words in the language would be analyzed by the pupils; and definition, which is best taught by the living voice of the teacher. Considering that these four subjects are the first to be taught, I should think that, in primary schools, two hours each day might be profitably spent in this manner. Supposing a child to begin school at seven years of age, at twelve he would have completed the dictionary, and be able to spell any word in the language; and this may be done with the means in every one's power. Were a proper course continued, the child, on leaving school at sixteen, would be a perfect speller by habit, and able to fortify his memory by the aid of principles fixed permanently in his mind.

To do this, we want a good spelling-book-a complete, scientific treatise on English Orthography— containing all the principles of spelling, and all the words of the language arranged according to them. Such a book cannot be written by an ordinary man.

It can be written only by one who, having spent long years in investigating, with the greatest industry and ability, the whole course of the English language, sits down to this work as the crowning labor of his life.

No meaner man should dare to write a school-book. And as to the crowd of such who manufacture Readers and Arithmetics, Spelling-books and Grammars, with no especial preparation, and no motive but praise and pay, verily I say unto you, they have their reward.