"See Sophia." "Somewhat sultry," suggested Sophia. "Sar-sartin, Sophia," said Sam. (Silence seventeen seconds.) "Selling saddles still, Sam?" "Sar-sar-sartin," said Sam, starting suddenly. "Season's somewhat soporific," said Sam, stealthily staunching streaming sweat, shaking sensibly. "Sartin," said Sophia, smiling significantly. "Sip some sweet sherbet, Sam?" (Silence sixty seconds.) "Sire shot sixty shel-drakes, Saturday," said Sophia. "Sixty? sho!" said Sam. (Silence seventy-seven seconds.) sister Susan's sunflowers," said Sophia, sociably scattering such stiff silence. Sophia's sprightly sauciness stimulated Sam strangely; so Sam suddenly spoke sentimentally: "Sophia, Susan's sunflowers seem saying, 'Samuel Short and Sophia Sophronia Spriggs, stroll serenely and seek some sequestered spot, some sylvan shade. Some sparkling spring shall sing soul-soothing strains; sweet songsters shall silence secret sighing; super-angelic sylphs shall Sophia snickered; so Sam stopped. "Sophia,” said Sam, solemnly. "Sam," said Sophia. "Sophia, stop smiling. Sam Short's sincere. Sam's seeking some sweet spouse, Sophia. Speak, Sophia, speak! Such suspense speeds sorrow.' "Seek sire, Sam, seek sire." So Sam sought sire Spriggs. Sire Spriggs said, "Sartin." Seven short Sabbaths later saw Sophia Sophronia Spriggs the smiling spouse of Simon Short's son Samuel. WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED. 1. Accepted, acclimate, accost, advertise, alibi, acorn, almoner, aeronaut, alms, alternate, analogous, Arab, aroma, aft, arrow, appalachian, allopathy, adult, area. 2. Bastile, behemoth, beneficent, Belial, biography, bomb, bravado, Burgundy, bot, bought, bronchitis, bouquet. 3. Calf, calliope, calm, Caucasian, chastisement, communist, consummate, concise, critique, contumely, coquetry, crochet, cost, courtesy, camelopard. 4. Dahlia, Danish, deficit, defalcate, dew, due, diphthong, disarm, dolorous, debut. 5. Eclat, epizootic, European, eyry, exponent. 6. Finance, frankincense, franchise. 7. Geyser, gallows. 8. Haughty, herculean, hymeneal, half, horizon. 9. Idea, illustrate, inquiry, institute, isothermal, implacable, industry. 10. Jocose. 11. Lamentable, laths, leisure, lien. 12. Magazine, maniacal, mirage, misanthropy, months, mouths, mercantile. 13. National, nomenclature. 14. Or, on, orgies, orison, often, ogle, oaths, opponent, ought. 15. Pageant, Palestine, palm, panorama, parquet, pedagogy, Persian, Philistine, piquant, plateau. 16. Quadrupedal, quaggy, quagmire. 17. Radish, raillery, reparable, rinse, roof, root, routine. 18. Sacrifice, salient, seine, sew, shire, shrub, sleek, slough (a scab), slough (mud hole), snout, soft, sough, strata, subtle, subtile. 19. Uranus, usurp. 20. Vagary. 21. Were, wife's, wreaths. 22. Xenophon. 23. Yea, your. 24. Zoology. FIFTY-FOUR TEST WORDS. 1. Fir 2. fur 3. earn 4. urn 5. caught 7. grass PART III. HOW TO TEACH READING. BY S. E. THOMAS, President of Kentucky University, Paducah, Ky. THE key to all learning is study. That method which causes the pupil to study what he reads is surely the true one. The mere calling of words advances the student but little. Class reading, where each pupil reads a different verse, has many serious defects and but few advantages. Many times there is no complete thought in a single verse. When the pupil reads such a verse he is compelled to do it in a machine-like way; he has no mental picture, and hence there is nothing to inspire him to make an effort. He soon has the idea that calling words is reading, and he further believes that the one who can call all the words in a verse the quickest is the best reader. This kind of reading makes parrots and not thinkers. The teacher, by questioning his pupils, may bring out the thought of the selection, but that thought is naked and cold. There is but little in this plan to stimulate the pupil to secure the thought for himself, but merely (34) for recitation. The grand object of a teacher's work is to make the pupil think for himself. There must be something about teaching reading that will make the pupil give careful attention to every word and sentence in his selection. In the study of words he must be constantly searching the dictionary for pronunciation and meaning. It is not, or should not be expected that the teacher is to pronounce every word on which the pupil may stumble. If he does, he takes self-reliance away from his pupils, and they resort to him for help under all circumstances. In teaching primary reading, the teacher is compelled to assist his pupils in pronouncing some words, but such help should be under the utmost discretion. Articulation is miserably neglected in many schools. There is no possible chance for a pupil to pronounce correctly when he has not yet learned the sounds of the letters and how to produce them. Too much attention can not be given to this part of the work. Not only should the sounds be given separately but combined. The pupil may find no trouble in making the sounds of 8 and h separately and still be unable to pronounce correctly the words shrink, shriek and shrill. It is not really necessary that the student be supplied with a book containing articulating exercises. A teacher can have better interest in his classes, and his pupils will have more confidence in him, if he makes his own exercises and puts them on the black-board. Great attention should be given to final consonant words. Take such words as bat, cat, hat, content, and use particular care in giving the final t sound. In such words as back, rack, crack, and hack, the k sound should be distinctly uttered. The word insists is a good word on which to practice. Be sure and get the t sound where it belongs. Below are a few sentences for class or private drill. EXERCISES. He rejoiceth when it raineth, and he laugheth when it ceaseth. Some shun sunshine. She sells seashells. Shall she sell seashells? She shall sell six slick seashells. Swift the streamlet's soft struggles sent strong strings, stopt stuffs of stammering stones. He was amiable, respectable, formidable, unbearable, intolerable, unmanageable, terrible. A hint has been previously given in this article about dictionary work. A few more thoughts here would, no doubt, be useful. Many teachers are not very careful about pronunciation, and guess many times when assisting their pupils in pronouncing words. If we are in doubt about a word, we should not be satisfied until the doubt is removed. The only way to learn how to pronounce correctly is to make a constant use of the dictionary and do not allow yourself to be put off. Either make a memorandum of the word or seek authority at once. Teach the pupils that learning to pronounce words is a part of the reading lesson, and when they study the reading lesson they must acquaint themselves with all the words in the lesson, must learn their pronunciation, their meaning and their use. Bad pronunciation is a crime! It is a sure test of ignorance. We give below a list of words which are generally mispronounced unless authority be consulted. If a student wants to find out the necessity of referring to a dictionary, let him use his own judgment in pronouncing these words, and then let him look up their pronunciation and find out how many he has missed. While the list is only a few out of the many which are often mispronounced, yet several of these have sent the writer to the dictionary as many as four times for each |