Progress in the art studies is primarily through practice. Let the pupils learn to write by writing, to talk by talking, and to sing by singing. Since imitation is such an important factor in the mastery of an art, it is sheer cruelty to try to force a pupil to do that which you wish done, while the pupil is ignorant of your wishes. The use of instruments should be shown in practice, and not by words; by example, rather than by precept. It is many years since Quintilian wrote, “Through precepts the way is long and difficult, while through examples it is short and practicable.” But alas! remarks Comenius, how little heed the schools pay to this advice. Man is essentially an imitative animal, and it is by imitation that children learn to walk, to run, to talk, and to play.[30] Rules are like thorns to the understanding, since to grasp them requires a degree of mental development not common during the elementary school life of the child. Comenius would have the first attempts at imitation as accurate as possible, since whatever comes first is the foundation of that which is to follow. All haste in the first steps should be avoided, lest we proceed to the advanced work before the elements have been mastered. Perfect instruction in the arts is based on both synthesis and analysis. The synthetic steps should generally come first, since we should commence with what is easy, and our own efforts are always easiest to understand. But the accurate analysis of the work of others must not be neglected. Finally, it must be remembered that it is practice, nothing but faithful practice, that makes an artist. 3. _Language._ We learn languages, not merely for the erudition and wisdom which they hold, but because languages are the instruments by which we acquire knowledge and by which we impart our knowledge to others. The study of languages, particularly in youth, should be joined to the study of objects. The intelligence should thus be exercised on matters which appeal to the interests and comprehension of children. They waste their time who place before children Cicero and the other great writers; for, if students do not understand the subject-matter, how can they master the various devices for expressing it forcibly? The time would be more usefully spent on less ambitious efforts, so correlated that the languages and the general intelligence might advance together step by step. Nature makes no leaps, neither does art, since art imitates nature. Each language should be learned separately. First of all, the mother-tongue should be learned; then a modern language—that of a neighboring nation; after this, Latin; and, lastly, Greek and Hebrew. The mother-tongue, because of its intimate connection with the gradual unfolding of the objective world to the senses, will require from eight to ten years; a modern language may be mastered in one year; Latin in two years; Greek in one year; and Hebrew in six months.