This is not so much the statement of a theory as a direct inference from many observations. It has been observed repeatedly, in different schools under many teachers, that the "Lady of the Lake," "Vision of Sir Launfal," "Sleepy Hollow," or "Merchant of Venice" have had an astonishing power to bring teacher and children into near and cherished companionship. It is not possible to express the profound lessons of life that children get from the poets. In the prelude to Whittier's "Among the Hills," what a picture is drawn of the coarse, hard lot of parents and children in an ungarnished home, "so pinched and bare and comfortless," while the poem itself, a view of that home among the hills which thrift and taste and love have made,-- "Invites the eye to see and heart to feel The beauty and the joy within their reach; Home and home loves and the beatitudes Of nature free to all." To study such poetry in its effect upon children is a monopoly of the rich educational opportunity which falls naturally into the hands of teachers. Psychology, as derived from text-books, is apt to be cold and formal; that which springs from the contact of young minds with the fountains of song lives and breathes. If a teacher desires to fit herself for primary instruction, she can do nothing so well calculated to bring herself _en rapport_ with little children as to read the nursery rhymes, the fairy tales, fables, and early myths. They bring her along a charming road into the realm of childlike fancies and sympathies, which were almost faded from her memory. The same door is opened through well-selected literature to the hearts of children in intermediate and grammar grades. The sense of humor is cultivated in literature better than elsewhere. In fact, no other study contains much material of humorous quality. A quick sense of it is deemed by many of the best judges an indispensable quality in teachers. Not that a teacher needs to be a diverting story-teller or entertainer, if only he has an indulgent patience and kindly sympathy for those who enjoy telling stories. There is a certain hearty, wholesome social spirit in the enjoyment of humor which diffuses itself like sunlight through a school. It contains an element of kindliness, humanity, and good fellowship which lubricates all the machinery and takes away unnecessary stiffness and gravity in conduct. Best of all it is a sort of mental balance-wheel for the teacher, which enables him to see the ludicrous phases of his own behavior, should he be inclined to run to foolish extremes in various directions. Much of our best literature abounds in humorous elements. Lowell, Holmes, Shakespeare, and Irving are spontaneously rich in this quality of ore, and it is just as well perhaps to cultivate our appreciation in these richer veins as in shallow and unproductive ones elsewhere.