This irreceptivity caused me grave disquiet. Was it possible that by diligent practice a child should convert himself into a sort of “graph” or “phone,” capable of reproducing a story with absolute accuracy without intelligent comprehension? Was it not possible to superadd a test? I tried the experiment thus: the story was of the usual type, and I told it to a large mixed class, boys and girls: “A French officer, coming into a wineshop in Paris, heard an old soldier boasting of his battles, his wounds and losses. ‘I have lost my right arm,’ he said, lastly, ‘but it was for France and the Emperor; and for them I would gladly give the other arm.’ ‘That is all very fine,’ remarked the officer; ‘it is easy to boast when you are safe, but if it came to the real thing, it might be different.’ The brave man rose from his seat, drew his sword, and cut off the other arm.” “Now, children,” I concluded, “write that story, _and at the bottom say what is wrong with it_.” The best of the boys were already chuckling: other boys joined in more slowly: even the careworn teacher of the class, after staring hard at me for two or three minutes, came up, and confidentially informed me that he had got it, though at first it seemed a hard thing. But the girls sat dull-eyed and resentful of the novelty. At the end of twenty minutes they had reproduced the story word for word; and the most intelligent of them had appended the criticism, “It was very wrong of the man to cut off the arm which God had given him.” Emboldened by success, I tried another: “A Boer farmer wished to sell his cattle to a Scotch dealer. They met at the nearest hotel and agreed that the price should be £7 10s. a head: there were fifty of them, and, as the Boer said he was no scholar, the Scotchman made out the bill; ‘fifty head of cattle at £7 10s.,’ he said, ‘just £350,’ and he gave the farmer a cheque for the money, and rode off with the cattle. But the Boer did not feel quite sure it was right; and when he got to the next hotel, he borrowed a Ready Reckoner, which showed that the price should have been £375. Full of fury, he galloped after the Scotchman, caught him up, and charged him with cheating. “‘Eh, man,’ said the rogue, ‘what makes you think it was £375?’ “‘I found it in the Ready Reckoner at Smith’s Hotel,’ said the Boer. “‘Pooh, pooh, man,’ said the other, ‘I know that Reckoner: it is last year’s.’ “And the Boer rode back content. “There is the story. Write at the end, _What the Boer ought to have said_.”