with a view to assist him; and particularly, that he may copy the form of his letters, from seeing him make them. We find this copying one from another a great step towards proficiency. In teaching the boys to print the alphabet, the monitor first makes a letter on the sand, before any boy who knows nothing about it; the boy is then required to retrace over the same letter, which the monitor has made for him, with his fingers; and thus he is to continue employed, till he can make the letter himself, without the monitor's assistance. Then he may go on to learn another letter.

The letters are taught in courses: they are arranged in three courses, according to their similarity of form. There are three simple examples, which regulate the formation of the whole alphabet. First, a line, as in the letters, I, H, T, L, E, F, i, 1: Second, depending upon the formation of an angle; as, A, V, W, M, N, Z, K, Y, X,-v, w, k, y, z, x: a circle or a curve; as, O, U, C, J, G, D, P, B, R, Q, S,-a, o, b, d, p, q, g, e, m, n, h, t, u, r, s, f, s, j. These courses of letters are soon acquired, on account of the similarity of form. The greatest difficulty in teaching the letters occurs in those, the form of which is exactly alike, and are only distinguished by change of position; p, q, and p, d, are perpetually mistaken for each other; by making the two letters at the same time, the children readily learn to distinguish them. Then again, they are all employed printing at once; and it is both curious and diverting to see a number of little creatures, many not more than four or five years old, and some hardly that, stretching out their little fingers with one consent, to make the letters. When this is done they sit quietly till the sand is smoothed for them, by the monitor, with a fat-iron, as commonly used for ironing linen. The sand being dry, the iron meets no resistance, and thus,

all the letters made in a very short time, by each boy, are, in as short a time, obliterated by the monitor; and the boys again apply their fingers to the sand, and proceed as before.*

Another method of teaching the alphabet is, by a large sheet of pasteboard suspended by a nail on the school wall; twelve boys, from the sand class, are formed into a circle round this alphabet, standing in their numbers, 1, 2, 3, &c. to 12. These numbers are pasteboard tickets, with number 1, &c. inscribed, suspended by a string from the button of the bearer's coat, or round his neck. The best boy stands in the first place; he is also decorated with a leather ticket, gilt, and lettered merit, as a badge of honour.

He is always the first boy questioned by the monitor, who points to a particular letter in the alphabet, "What letter is that?" If he tells readily, what letter it is, all is well, and he retains his place in the class; which he forfeits, together with his number and ticket, to the next boy who answers the question, if he cannot.

This promotes constant emulation. It employs the monitor's attention continually; he cannot look one way, while the boy is repeating his letters another; or at all neglect to attend to him, without being immediately discovered. It is not the monitor's

* Having some old alphabets, which were of no use in the school else, they were nailed before each boy; this is not absolutely necessary, but contributes to expedite their progress. While the monitor is smoothing

the sand, the employment of the class is unavoidably suspended: the time thus unoccupied is, indeed, but short; but the little printed alphabet often attracts the involuntary attention of the children, when waiting till the sand is ready for them. The example of one often spreads through the whole class; and they make quite a buzz, repeating their letters, till the monitor calls them again to make use of their fingers to shape in the sand.

business to teach, but to see the boys in his class or division teach each other. If a boy calls A, by the name of B, or O, he is not to say, it is not B, or O, but it is A; he is to require the next boy in succession to correct the mistakes of his senior. These two methods, of the sand and alphabet card, with their inferior arrangements detailed, are made use of daily in rotation, and serve as a mutual check and relief to each other.

The figures are taught in the same manner. Sand is a cheap substitute for books any where; but more so in those parts of the country where the soil is sandy, than in London. This method was taken in the outline from Dr. Bell, formerly of Madras; but he did not say, in his printed account of that institution, whether wet or dry sand was used. It for a long time involved our minor classes in much difficulty, having begun with the wet sand: we continued it some time. It required great care in wetting: if wetted either too much or too little, it was equally useless and inconvenient; it occasioned a deal of trouble to smooth, and took double or treble the quantity of sand which it would have taken dry. All these difficulties my boys overcame in a short time; but every time we had a change of monitors in this class, we found it a troublesome qualification for him to attain the art of preparing it properly. All these difficulties were obviated by my hearing from Dr. Bell, that it was dry sand. This circumstance fully shows, how essential a minute detail is, to the ready practice of any experiment, and will be an apology for the length of this, on the art of teaching the A, B, C. We of course use no books for this class of children, nor indeed for several other classes, as will be seen in the sequel.

SECOND CLASS.

The second class are chiefly boys who, having learnt to print the alphabet and figures in sand, and readily to distinguish the same on paper, are then advanced to this second, and comparatively superior, class. Their business is to spell short words, by writing them with their fingers in the sand, as the monitor dictates to them: a method clearly described in the account of the new method of spelling in the sequel: the monitor pronouncing a word, as, to, &c.; or a syllable, as, ba, &c. and each boy printing it on the sand with his fingers, and thus spelling it. The order of the desks, and smoothing the sand with the irons, is the same as in the first class. They also make the figures in the sand, to a great num

Besides this they have small slates, the method of obtaining which will be described hereafter. On these slates they learn to make all the alphabet in writing: this is done that they may not, when in the preceding class, be perplexed with learning the printed and written alphabet at once. Care is also taken, that the series of words, and syllables of two letters, which this class print in the sand, is so arranged as to contain all the letters of the alphabet; which, otherwise, being recently learnt, would be easily forgotten, unless kept in memory by daily practice. This arrangement of words, and syllables of two letters, will be published on a sheet by itself, for the use of persons concerned in the education of youth. The words are arranged by themselves, and syllables by themselves: words of two letters, being most familiar to the juvenile mind, are placed first. Syllables are what they cannot attach any sense to; and, in fact, have no sense or meaning, unless compounded into words above the comprehensions of children in this class. They

have a card, with words and syllables of two letters, round which the whole class successively assemble, in subdivisions of twelve boys each. The first boy is required to spell a word by the monitor, in the same manner as the first boy, in the a, b, c, was required to distinguish a single letter; and precedency is awarded according to excellence, as be fore. In short, this method is the same as with the a, b, c, card, only it is combining the letters, instead of distinguishing them. The succeeding classes. have no sand allowed them, but they write on a slate. They are taught to read and spell on the same plan; and therefore, the management of them will be best described by detailing the methods of reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, emulation, competition, and reward. It is only to be observed, that the class which reads and spells in three letters, spells, by writing on the slate, words of three letters; the 4th, or four-letter class, writing words of four letters; and the 5th, or five-letter class, writing words of five letters on the slate; and the superior classes, words of three or four syllables; also, words with the meanings attached. Each class has cards, in the same manner as the first and second classes; all of which are made use of in a similar way, only varying as to the length of the words or syllables each class may be learning.

Improved Method of teaching Spelling by Writing.

This method of spelling seems to be excellent: it being entirely an addition to the regular course of studies, without interfering with, or deranging them in the least. It commands attention, gratifies the active disposition of youth, and is an excellent intro