While these studies may go hand in hand with literature, it is not necessary that they should be always taken on the same day or even in the same week. The literature lesson may be an effective agent in the recall of ideas that have had time to be assimilated from previous nature study, history, or geography lessons. In our enthusiasm for literature we must not make these subjects the mere soil and fertilizers out of which the flowers of poetry will spring. Each of these subjects has its proper sphere, but that teacher misses many golden opportunities who does not frequently take a comprehensive survey of his material in all these studies in order to find the element that will give a unity to all our knowledge and experience. The lessons in the Reader may be taken according to the conditions existing in the class or the inclination of the teacher. By no means is it necessary to follow the order in the book. AIMS IN TEACHING LITERATURE The teacher should always have a clear and definite aim in view in teaching a selection in literature, but different teachers may have different aims in teaching the same selection. There should, of course, always be the general aim to create a taste for good literature by leading the pupils to appreciate the beauty and power of clear and artistic expression of thought and feeling; but this aim must be specific according to the nature of the selection to be taught. Some specific aims may be given as suggestive: 1. To appeal suitably to such instinctive tastes and interests of childhood as are already awake and active; for example, Second Reader, p. 3, _My Shadow_; p. 185, _A Visit from St. Nicholas_; p. 125, _Little Gustava_; p. 215, _The Children's Hour_. 2. To awaken and develop interests and tastes that are as yet dormant; for example, Second Reader, p. 42, _A Song for Little May_; p. 88, _The Brown Thrush_. 3. To develop and direct the imagination; for example, Second Reader, p. 72, _The New Moon_; p. 117, _Little Sorrow_; p. 45, _The Little Land_; p. 172, _The Wind_. 4. To arouse and quicken the sense of beauty; for example, Second Reader, p. 92, _Mother's World_; p. 155, _Lullaby_. 5. To exercise and cultivate the emotions; for example, Second Reader, p. 94, _Androclus and the Lion_; p. 135, _Ulysses_; p. 107, _A Night with a Wolf_. 6. To develop manners and morals through examples of character and conduct in action; for example, Second Reader, p. 114, _Joseph II and the Grenadier_. 7. To develop appreciation for the well-told story; for example, Second Reader, p. 5, _The Pail of Gold_; p. 12, _How I Turned the Grindstone_; p. 56, _The Blind Men and the Elephant_; p. 211, _How the Greeks Took Troy_. 8. To develop a true sense of humour; for example, Second Reader, p. 50, _Change About_. 9. To develop a sense of reverence; for example, Second Reader, p. 203, _The Lord is my Shepherd_; p. 218, _Abide With Me_. GENERAL PRINCIPLES APPLICABLE IN THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE