“Why, I should have first ascertained exactly where Lucy was, in her knowledge of figures, and then I should have gone to her there, and led her along by plain and easy steps to where I wanted her to go. You must know that teaching is a kind of ladder-making.”
“Ladder-making?” repeated Royal.
“Yes,” replied Miss Anne; “that is, it consists in preparing a succession of steps for the pupil to mount by, and the success of it depends upon beginning upon the ground, or wherever the pupil is, and then having the steps so near together, that she can ascend from one to the other, and so get up. Now, you did not even stop to inquire where Lucy was in her knowledge, much less to make any ladder for her; but you remained upon the top of the house, and tried to drag her up by main force.”
Royal laughed at Miss Anne’s singular metaphor.
“Now, I should have thought,” continued Miss Anne, “that the first thing would have been, to teach Lucy the figures, at least as many of them as you are going to use in the sums. This alone will take several lessons. Then I should set her some very small sums, with only ones in them, and let her add those. Then I should set some more sums, and put in a two here and there, and let her practise a day or two upon those. Then I should put one or two threes into her sums, and have the rest ones. After that I should put threes and twos both in; and thus, after a time, she would get so as to add such sums as you set her just now.”
“All that would take a great while,” said Royal.
“Yes,” replied Miss Anne; “teaching is slow work; but then it would not take so long as it would to make a paint-box.”
“No,” replied Royal, “it would not.”
“I suppose you expected that you could sit down and earn your paint-box in half an hour, and by one single lesson.”
“Why not exactly in one lesson,” said Royal.