Now the pictorial memory is a valuable thing; and this pictorial method of teaching is no doubt valuable. But surely the pictures are of no real use unless there is some inevitable connection, however slight, between the form of the thing which it is desired to impress on the memory and the picture with which it is compared. My daughter’s imagination is, of course, much more vivid than mine, but, even so, I cannot imagine her looking coolly at the naked D and saying, “Yes, that is the old man leaning on a stick.” She is more likely to say, “That is the ground-floor of the house with two windows,” for she has a logical mind. And even if she does not remember the futile picture of the old man in a long shirt with his body bent at right angles to his legs, I don’t see why, even then, she should connect him with D. There is nothing peculiarly D-ish about an old man. Yet it seems that I learned my alphabet in this way. I was a clever child, though sinful, I fear. Then we get on to words. The book follows the first principle of all teachers of languages in arranging that among the first words which the child learns there are as many words as possible which he will never use as a child, and, indeed, will probably never encounter in his entire career. Prominent among the first words in this book are such favourites as _pap_, _bin_, _hob_, _sob_, and _sop_, _emmet_ and _tome_. Each of these is printed three times, in a column, like this: Pat Pan Pap PAT PAN PAP pat pan pap Over each column is a little picture. When you are teaching the child _pap_ you say to her: “P-aP, pap--do you see the pretty picture? That is a nanny with a baby in her lap. She is giving the baby a bottle. The bottle has pap in it. At least, it is not pap, really, but it is called pap for the purposes of the alphabet. You remember the letters, don’t you? First there is a big P--_you_ know, like a man with a pack on his back. Then a little a, which is like a goose on the water. Then a little p; that is like another man coming to you with a pack on his back. Now we have it all in big letters. Maggie, read them out.” _Maggie_ (_firmly_). K. _You._ No, no, not K. Don’t you remember the picture? _Maggie._ Yes, it was a nanny with a baby. _You._ No, not that one. It was a man with a pack on his back--P. _Maggie._ P. _You._ That’s right. What comes next? _Maggie._ A goose on the water. _You._ No, that was a _little_ a. This is a big letter. Don’t you remember the dear little hut with the window upstairs? What letter was that? _Maggie._ B. _You._ No, no, that was a _house_, not a _hut_, and it had _two_ windows. Don’t be so inaccurate. This is a big A. Now, what’s next? _Maggie._ A little house with a nanny inside. And there’s a goose in the garden. And a baby. _You_ (_patiently_). No, this is another P. He is like a man with a pack on his back. P-A-P pap--there you are. That’s very good. _Maggie._ May I go into the garden now?