Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/303

293 SKETCH OF AN ENGLISH SCHOOL:

FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY.

T is expected that every ſcholar to be admitted into this ſchool, be at leaſt able to pronounce and divide the ſyllables in reading, and to write a legible hand. None to be received that are under years of age.

FIRST, OR LOWEST CLASS.

Let the firſt claſs learn the Engliſh Grammar rules, and at the ſame time let particular care be taken to improve them in orthography. Perhaps the latter is beſt done by pairing the ſcholars; two of thoſe neareſt equal in their ſpelling to be put together. Let theſe ſtrive for victory; each propounding ten words every day to the other to be ſpelled. "He that ſpells truly moſt of the other's words, is victor for that day; he that is victor moſt days in a month, to obtain a prize, a pretty neat book of ſome kind, uſeful in their future ſtudies. This method fixes the attention of children extremely to the orthography of words, and makes them good ſpellers very early. It is a ſhame for a man to be ſo ignorant of this little art, in his own language, as to be perpetually confounding words of like found and different ſignifications; the conſciouſneſs of which defect