No matter how the subject is presented it is necessary that the child do his part and put his own brain to work; and for this purpose he _should be required to retell each story after he has read it_ and should be repeatedly questioned on names and dates as well as stories, to make sure he is retaining and assimilating what he hears. I recall how once upon a time a young chap, just out of college, taught his first class in history. With all the enthusiasm of a full-back who has just kicked a goal from field, he talked, he sang; he drew maps on the blackboard, on the floor, on the field; he drew pictures, he vaulted desks, and even stood on his head to illustrate points. His pupils attended spellbound, with their eyes wide open, their ears wide open, and their mouths wide open. They missed nothing. They drank in his flow of words with thirst unquenched; but, like Baron Munchausen, he had failed to look at the other end of the drinking horse that had been cut in half. At the end of a month his kindly principal suggested a test, and he gave it with perfect confidence. There were only three questions: (1) Tell all you can about Columbus. (2) “ “ “ “ “ Jamestown. (3) “ “ “ “ “ Plymouth. And here are the three answers of one of the most interested pupils: (1) He was a _grate_ man. (2) “ “ “ “ “ (3) “ “ “ “ “ _to_. Here is the STAIRCASE OF TIME It starts far, far, below the bottom of the pages and rises up, UP, UP to where we are NOW--each step a hundred years, each flight of steps a thousand. It will keep on up until it reaches high heaven. From where we are NOW let us look down the flights below us and listen to the Story of what has happened in the long years gone by. [Illustration] TIME TABLE with DATES AND OTHER FOOD FOR THOUGHT _Don’t devour these dates all at once, or they’ll make you sick, and you’ll never want to see one again._ _Take them piecemeal, only one or two at a time after each story, and be sure to digest them thoroughly._