These reminiscences are most suggestive. Do they not find a parallel in our memory of our childhood conquest of the art of reading?
Before planning her lessons in reading, the teacher will do well to review her own experience in reading, or to scan the difficulties which she has encountered in teaching other classes. A brief analysis of her experiences, both as a pupil and as a teacher, will reveal distinct lines of achievement in learning to read. These are illustrated in any act of reading.
“The old familiar sights of ours
Took marvellous shapes. Strange domes and towers
Rose up where sty and corncrib stood,
Or garden wall, or belt of wood.
The bridle post an old man sat,
With loose-flung coat and high-cocked hat.
The wellcurb had a Chinese roof,