Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/397

Rh demonstration. So far as there is reason in English spelling, the child is taught to spell logically; so far as spelling is conventional, the child learns to remember it because of its departure from the usual rules.

In order to give the children, from their earliest years, such acquaintance with English literature as will lead to lifelong friendship with our great writers, all reading-lessons are chosen, not from “readers,” but from the standard books that are adapted to their ages. As the children grow the range of their reading widens, and thus, without especial effort, they acquire in connection with the school work a thorough and varied knowledge of the best that has been written in English.

There is another means of expressing thought that in importance stands second only to language. The Merrill-van Laer School looks upon drawing as a necessary equipment for the work of life, and children are taught to draw correctly from the beginning, and may develop the power as far as each pupil’s taste for the art permits. The work is under the direction of a professional painter, in a well-equipped studio where the young pupils have the advantage of the use of models and of all adjuncts to the art of drawing and painting, The importance of this side of a child’s education is fully recognized in the School, since drawing  is a regular part of the work, instead of a mere “extra,” being taught to the Junior pupils without additional charge.

Music can, of course, be especially studied, but it is not obligatory, except that the elements of music, in the form of sight-singing, are taught to the younger classes.

Although it has been said that nature study of late years has acquired perhaps undue prominence in the education of the very young, it is undeniable that it has its rightful place; and there is in the School such elementary work as will prepare the way for the special knowledge