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waking in individual scholars. However you may be hindered in applying these principles, by large numbers, by infinite differences of character, or by lack of preparation in your scholars, I believe them to be efficient methods, capable, if skilfully employed, of accomplishing valuable and enduring, if not speedy results.

R. G. H.

THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Probably no other school book in our own tongue is so widely used, yet so widely abused, as the "English Grammar." Pupils appreciate the utility of a thorough knowledge of Arithmetic, because they are taught the constant application of the rules which it embodies; hence they struggle on, conquering at every step, though

they fain would cry out with the old rhymster :

"Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad;

The Rule of Three doth puzzle me

And Fractions make me mad."

Endeavor to interest these same pupils, however, in the study of the laws which govern the construction of their own language, and they will cry out: "Grammar is so dry that I hate it; what good will it do me? I shall learn it by hearing others; it will not assist me in talking; people that have never studied grammar speak quite as well as those who have," &c., &c.

Two reasons for the prevailing disinclination for this most interesting study occur to the reflecting mind. First, children are usually required to learn the rules and definitions of Grammar before they are acquainted with the simplest relations of words to each other. Second, they are quick to perceive that the theory and practice of their instructors do not go hand in hand. At home and at school children are brought into the atmosphere of misplaced adjectives, perverted verbs, and slaughtered or curtailed adverbs. Even in the Sabbath School they are not safe, since Coronas, Happy Voices, and doubtless other tune books, put into their mouths such songs as "Oh

won't you be a Christian." The habit, therefore, of a correct use of language is one of great importance to the teacher of a common school; for such a school is largely composed of children who, from association and lack of culture, rarely arrive at an early construction of English, according to grammatical forms. They have, however, bright wit and warm hearts, and are closely in sympathy with all that is lovable and elevating in the instructor's character and scholarship. Good impressions, therefore, should be left upon their minds in good English, not sentimental, but straightforward and simple, as is their childhood. It is for this purpose that teachers are employed, yet good teachers often dishonor their profession and annul the value of their own instruction by a perverted and careless use of language. This habit is not only dangerous, but contagious.

The carelessness of the American people in speaking their own tongue is proverbial among other nations. Those of our countrymen who speak it with the greatest propriety, are said to excel the best educated Englishmen ; but alas! their numbers are few. Senators make nothing of murdering their mother tongue at every recurring session, and our legislative assemblies give rise to solecisms which would disgrace a boy in the third form of a public school. It is regarded as a pity that so few of our public men speak foreign languages. It is a greater pity that so few of them are acquainted with the rules which govern their own. A habit of random talking, of talking for effect or for amusement almost invariably involves a habit of inaccuracy.

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Another widely extended idiosyncrasy of America, that of larding conversation with slang phrases, tends immediately to a violation of the laws of grammar, as well as to the laws of etiquette and good breeding. It needs not a sharp critic to epitomize the very common errors in our every day conversation. Time would fail me to speak of such as, "He done it ; " "I hain't got none;"" She was drownded; "You had ought;" "It is me;" "There ain't one left; left;""Give me my book;" "She is laying down;" "I can't never;" "I seen it;" "I have saw;" "He give it me; ""Father, he" and "Mother, she." Their name is Legion, and to attempt to elaborate all would be an Herculean task, exhaustive alike of your endurance and my own strength. "You and me will go," says, one, utterly oblivious of the

fact that me is never a subject, while the companion responds, "Yes, nobody shall go but you and I." "I might have known it would have happened," is an expression in general use which sets at defiance both the rules of grammar and the euphony of the language. A common error is the interchange of the pronoun them for the adjective those, as "Hand me them books," and also of the past participle for the past tense. The good old Saxon words "fix" and "got" are of much value in their right place, but are inelegant as commonly used. "I have got it" is no more expressive and not as euphonious as "I have it." Shall and will are so often confounded by our best speakers, that one is constantly reminded of the drowning Frenchman when he cried out, "I will drown, nobody shall help me." In some parts of our country we frequently hear, "I suspicioned him," for "I suspected him." Puritan usage drops the g from the end of such words as singing, but have went is a solecism in which no thorough bred Yankee ever indulges. Pillows and pillars are often confounded, so that we sometimes hear of the pillars on which we sleep, and of the pillows of the edifice. They was and we was are in very general use, but never excusable. Warn't for was not is not an allowable abbreviation. Ain't for are not is somewhat excusable, but not allowable. Aren't has been introduced into good society as its equivalent, and is truly preferable except when misapplied, as I once heard it in the sentence, "She aren't going to do it," by a young lady more familiar with the requirements of fashion than with those of Lindley Murray. Won't for will not has taken such deep root in our language that it can only be eradicated by years of patient toil on the part of our teachers. The word female has been applied to individuals so long that we forget that although all women are females, yet that all females are not women. Hence when we read of female colleges and seminaries, we are apt to wonder whether they are for female bipeds or female quadrupeds. Mrs. Partington may no longer be considered as an individual, but as the type of a class of people who delight in the use of so called big words. In fact, as the old lady herself once said, "There have been so many intimations of her that it is very difficult for her to indemnify herself." A few Partingtonisms that have come under my own observation, may not be out of place. A young lady

"one of Mr. Waverly's

being asked what she was reading, replied, novels ;" another remarked that "a certain young gentleman was perfectly enameled with her," and still another said that she "Had two new dresses, an organic muslin and a grenadier." A minister on trial before an ecclesiastical court spoke of "The acquisitions that had been brought against him," and a good old deacon used to pray that "The gospel might be sent to the heathen upon the uninhabited islands of the Pacific Ocean." A New Yorker boasting of the style in which he lived, said "That his house had a pizarro on each side of it; that his folks drank out of goblers. every day, and used bodkins to wipe their hands on." A young lady inquiring for hose in a Southern country store, was much chagrined when the verdant clerk asked if she wished weeding hoes or grubbing hoes. The wife of a well known D. D. having taken a long journey for her health, was asked if she went directly through or by easy stages. Oh! was the response, "I did not travel at all by stage; I rode on the cars all the way." She afterwards informed a friend that her niece was studying "Mental Philosophy on the Mind." Many a hypochondriac staggers your faith in her honesty when she utters a Partingtonism in assuring you that she enjoys poor health." Artemus Ward, Josh Billings, and their numerous imitators, while contributing to our amusement, have lowered the standard of good English, to how great an extent, future generations alone can tell. The negro element of the South has been supposed to suffer great wrongs at the hands of the whites, but a more lasting injury has been done the whites in the corruption of the language. "He done gone," "I is," she say," "'pears like as though," "dis yere thing," "do like I do," are common expressions among southern children of all classes. When corrected by their teacher, they often respond, "My father and mother talks like I do, and I don't want to talk no better than they does."

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The vowel sounds of our language seem to be undergoing a change, so that we now have rather for rather, profele for profile, alpi(e)ne for alpine, &c. It may be smoother to speak of the serpenti(e)ne course of a river, but what North Carolinian would recognize turpenti(e)ne as one of the staple productions of his State? The use of provincialisms has been mostly accredited to New England, but a close observer of language finds that they are not indigenous to the

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Eastern States, but that they grow in every soil, and flourish at every point of the compass. The Yankee bids his horse to "go lang," the Pennsylvanian tells him to "go up," while the Hoosier orders him to git." The Yankee guesses he will raise a lot of corn, the Hoosier hopes to make a heap, the Southerner reckons on a mighty fine crop, and the Sucker calculates on a right smart chance. If the students in our academies and colleges would pay less attention to the dead languages and more to English, the living language of the world, we might soon become a nation of good talkers, and no longer be accused of murdering our mother tongue.

Fellow teachers, let us remember that it is as essential to speak English correctly as it is to read and write it correctly; and let us endeavor, both in theory and practice, to teach those who may come under our instruction the proper use of language.

Let us bear in mind that as we have the greatest country of the earth, so have we the greatest language—great in copiousness, great in simplicity, and great in strength. Already more widely spread abroad than any other tongue, it is destined, without doubt, to become the language of the world.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD PRIMARY TEACHER?

At the late National Teachers' Association, in St. Lous, the above question was considered at some length.

The discussion was opened be N. A. Calkins, of New York city. He said that, first of all, the good Primary Teacher should be able to ascertain readily the condition of the child's mind; to comprehend its difficulties; to begin with it just where it is and lead it gradually from the known to the unknown.

2. She should know exactly what means to use, whatever the condition of her school, graded or ungraded.

3. She should have the ability to command attention without effort; to teach in such a way that children will govern themselves.

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