Perfect recitation or reading aloud is very rare and difficult to
acquire. For a few years there was a tendency to over-emphasis in both,
and, in recitation, to teach gesture, for which as a nation we are
singularly inapt. This is happily disappearing, simplicity and restraint
are regaining their own, at least in the best teaching for girls. As to
reading aloud to children it begins to be recognized that it should not
be too explicit, nor too emphatic, nor too pointed; that it must leave
something for the natural grace of the listener's intelligence to supply
and to feel. There is a didactic tone in reading which says, "you are
most unintelligent, but listen to ME and there may yet be hope that you
will understand." This leaves the "poor creatures" of the class still
unmoved and unenlightened; "the child is not awakened," while the more
sensitive minds are irritated; they can feel it as an impertinence
without quite knowing why they are hurt. It is a question of manners and
consideration which is perceptible to them, for they like what is
best--sympathy and suggestiveness rather than hammering in. They can help
each other by their simple insight into these things when they read
aloud, and if a reading lesson in class is conducted as an exercise in
criticism it is full of interest.
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