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has a large group of more broadly funny writers with whom children may well become acquainted, looking toward the time when they can appreciate these finer ones. Leigh Hunt wisely says: "The difference between nonsense not worth talking and nonsense worth it is simply this: the former results from a want of ideas; the latter, from a superabundance of them."

It is worth while to prepare gradually a list of funny books which are also wholesome. Habberton's "Helen's Babies" and "Other People's Children," Dickens' "Pickwick Papers," and Twain's "Tom Sawyer" are among the very best and afford untold delight to their readers. Some libraries publish such a list, and children should never be discouraged from reading funny books. As a people, we need more fun, more holidays, more relaxation of all healthful sorts.

A collection of epigrams would be of interest to every student, young or old. A good old epigram is: "What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind." Many wise and pithy sayings are epigrammatic without being amusing; as, "Very often the worst mistake. one can make is the fearing to make a mistake."

As a matter of course, every school should have its carefully compiled scrapbook of funny stories, jingles, jokes, and so on, from which an occasional reading lesson is enjoyed.

The wisdom of the following words is as well suited to this day as to earlier days:

Tom Mercet means no man ill, but does ill to everybody. His ambition is to be witty; and to carry on that design, he breaks through all things that other people hold sacred. If he thought that wit was no way to be used but to the advantage of society, that sprightliness would have a new turn; and we should expect what he is going to say with satisfaction instead of fear.

From The Tatler, Number 219, Sir Richard Steele.

Among the various errors in conversation, there is one which seems to deserve a more particular severity. It is an humour of jesting on disagreeable subjects, and insisting on the jest, the more it creates uneasiness; and this some men think they have a title to do as friends. Is the design of jesting to provoke? or does friendship give a privilege to say things with a design to shock? How can that be called a jest which has nothing in it but bitterness? It is generally allowed necessary, for the peace of company, that men should a little study

the tempers of each other; but certainly that must be in order to shun what is offensive, not to make it a constant entertainment. The frequent repetition of what appears harsh, will unavoidably leave a rancour that is fatal to friendship. From The Tatler, Number 269, Anon.

The Wit of Conversation consists more in finding it in others, than shewing a great deal yourself. He who goes out of your Company pleased with his own Facetiousness and Ingenuity, will the sooner come into it again. Most men had rather please than admire you, and seek less to be instructed and diverted, than approved and applauded, and it is certainly the most delicate sort of Pleasure, to please another.

But that sort of Wit, which employs itself insolently in Criticizing and Censuring the Words and Sentiments of others in Conversation, is absolute Folly; for it answers none of the Ends of Conversation. He who uses it neither improves others, is improved himself, or pleases anyone.

From" Poor Richard for 1756."

Children will enjoy Holmes' “ The Height of the Ridiculous," and his other amusing poems. See as a good and appropriate memory gem "The Satirist," by Harry Lyman Koopman.

See for a remarkable study in puns, Thomas Hood's "The Art of Book Keeping." See also Holmes' burlesque "Evening," as a capital example of wit and humor.

CHAPTER XXIII Page 207 Let no one dispute concerning tastes, says the wise proverb. Since taste may vary as widely as any other faculty of the mind, it is well to have generous toleration for the likes and dislikes of others. Very monotonous would a world be where tastes should cease to differ. Moreover, to care for only one sort of reading shows a narrow outlook, and one should cultivate a liking for all good things. Altho today one may see no beauty in a great painting, a noble building, or a worthy book, yet a year hence his æsthetic perception may have increased until he shall find his chief delight in that which he once despised.

Vulgarisms always show lack of taste; yet we must recognize the fact that vulgar and common are synonyms. Our pronunciation of Mistress as Missis is an out and out vulgarism grown universal so that no one objects to it. Then let us weigh with care the specific vulgarisms which we condemn.

As regards abbreviations, the following lines use just as good form

as many exercises given children to write, whose incorrect teaching they must later unlearn:

There was once a nice young Mr.

Who loved some one else's sr.

When he asked her to wed

She just nodded her head,

So he promptly got up and he kr.

Wesleyan Literary Monthly.

The strong and general reaction against abbreviations is tending to cause the word Saint to be spelled out in full in many names of cities, as Saint Louis and Saint Paul, wherever these names are printed. Every instinct of good taste recoils from such forms as “Pres. Roosevelt," "Gen. Grant," and others of like character. Courtesy alone should forbid such use, but even if one chooses to be rude, he may not be inartistic. Abbreviations were first employed to save the time and labor of the early copyists before printing was invented. No such excuse can now be urged, and it is folly to drill children upon what is acknowledged bad form.

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If it is not desirable that children say "pen for penitentiary, then newspapers should not so abbreviate. If the short form is the better, we should omit the period altogether and both write and say simply pen. So, too, if "Pensy" is a suitable term for the good old Quaker State, let us follow the newspaper headline in this usage also, but omit the needless period. One who writes "Prof." will say "Prof," and so on

thru the whole list. To insist upon good taste as to abbreviations would certainly tend to lessen the tendency to slang.

It is interesting to note that the best typographical form today tends toward the omission of all needless points in headlines of every sort. Letter headings, superscriptions and return legends upon envelopes, addresses of all kinds, may well omit all points which are not needed for clearness. Note that the items of headings are not sentences. This tendency is shown in the following letter headings selected from a large number of similar ones:

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES

HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

FRANKLIN SQUARE NEW YORK

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE CITY OF NEW YORK
PARK AVENUE AND FIFTY-NINTH STREET
OFFICE OF THE

CITY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS

And here is an extreme instance of the present style, which may perhaps become general since there is no loss in clearness :

CONNECTICUT PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEE

96 CAPITOL HARTFORD CONN

CHARLES D HINE

Hartford Chairman

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Good taste prefers the language forms used by the cultured to those used by the ignorant. Once let the child's mind be turned toward seeking the best forms of expression in language, and he will inevitably acquire those forms. Without the æsthetic appreciation of good form in language, no knowledge of grammar can avail: with such appreciation, excellence will be reached even tho one be ignorant of grammar as taught in the books. Language is a habit, and the vulgar forms I done it, I seen it, he has went, I come last week, and so on, can be quickly cured by the exercise here given: Daily have pupils repeat the following synopsis of the conjugation paradigm for every verb which they misuse. Two or three minutes a day for a year will suffice to give auditory and powerful enough to counteract the influence of home and street. The subjects may be changed from singular to plural at pleasure. These forms should be memorized and given rapidly, one subject and one verb at a time, about as rapidly as the pupil can speak; thus: he sees, he has seen, he saw, he had seen, he will see, he will have seen.

I (we) sit (come, do, get, go, have, see)

I (we) have sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

I (we) sat (came, did, got, went, had, saw)

I (we) had sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

I (we) shall sit (come, do, get, go, have, see)

I (we) shall have sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

motor images.

you sit (come, do, get, go, have, see)

you have sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)
you sat (came, did, got, went, had, saw)

you had sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)
you will sit (come, do, get, go, have, see)

you will have sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

he (she, it) sits (comes, does, gets, goes, has, sees)
he (she, it) has sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)
he (she, it) sat (came, did, got, went, had, saw)

he (she, it) had sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

he (she, it) will sit (come, do, get, go, have, see)

he (she, it) shall have sat (come, done, got, gone, had, seen)

No technical terms and no reasons need or should be given in this exercise. It should have been mastered in the primary grades. But it has equal value for older children. The fact that educated persons thus speak is sufficient reason; usage has made these forms right and usage alone. Good taste then requires them.

All questions of typography are questions of good form, that is, of taste as embodied in the best usage. The exercise of making printer's copy from memory gems is invaluable for the teaching of good form in written speech.

CHAPTER XXIV Page 216 Because the term art is applied both to doing and to the product of doing, the teacher should be certain that in class discussion pupils use this word understandingly. In his " Introduction to the Study of Poetry," page 27, Professor Liddell says: "It is important for us, therefore, if we think of poetry as one of the fine arts, to guard against the mistake of confusing the artist with the art. An art is really a skilful way of doing something, a fine art a skilful way of appealing to the esthetic sentiment."

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The nature of poetry is a subject which has had endless discussion. In the book just quoted, on page 55, is given the following definition of poetry: "An interesting thought in a beautiful form of expression." This seems satisfactory since it fastens every argument upon the question as to whether a given "form of expression" is or is not beautiful. This is again satisfactory, because the standard of beauty changes as the indi

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