Teachers' definitions, in such cases, I have often
noticed, are no better than dictionary definitions, and surely
everybody knows that few more fruitless things than dictionary
definitions are ever crammed into the memory of a child. Better far
give free play to the native intelligence of the child, and trust it to
apprehend, though it may not yet comprehend nor be able to express its
apprehension in definition. On this subject I am glad to quote so high
an authority as Sir Walter Scott: "Indeed I rather suspect that
children derive impulses of a powerful and important kind from reading
things which they do not comprehend, and therefore that to write down
to children's understanding is a mistake. Set them on the scent and
let them puzzle it out."
>From time to time I have allowed my pupils to give me written reports
from memory of these essays, and have often found these little
compositions sparkling with pleasing information, or full of that
childlike fun which is characteristic of the author. I have marked
the errors in these exercises, and have given them back to the children
to rewrite.
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