+T+.—A spoken word then is the sign of what?
+P.—A spoken word is the sign of an idea+.
+T+.—I will call up the same idea in another way. I will write three letters and unite them thus: bud. What do you see?
+P+.—I see the word bud.
+T+.—If we call the other word bud a spoken word, what shall we call this?
+P+.—This is a written word.
+T+.—If they stand for the same idea, how do they differ?
+P+.—I see this, and I heard that.
+T+.—You will observe that we have called attention to four different things; viz., the +real bud+; your mental picture of the bud, which we have called an +idea+; and the +two words+, which we have called signs of this idea, the one addressed to the ear, and the other to the eye.
If the pupil be brought to see these distinctions, it may aid him to observe more closely and express himself more clearly.