A Digression.
The difference between a good history teacher and a poor one lies largely in the skill and purpose of the former in making his work vivid. Vividness is best secured by a comparison of these ancient conditions with our own. And it is a scholastic crime that a child should be allowed to run away with such a notion as this: that at Salamis the “Greek forts on the shore bombarded the Persian fleet and saved the day”; or that “the Persians steamed away in despair.” These are real examples. Such a child needs waking up. Ask him if he knows what a “Marathon runner” is, and show that by means of such runners the place of the telegraph in our modern life was taken. Pictures may be made of great service. Teachers in our great centers, who have their own history rooms, with their proper apparatus and adornments, have a great advantage here; but humbler means, like the Perry pictures, are available by all.