Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: TALK II. READING. In the teaching of any subject it is of great importance that we have a clear definition of what we teach. Not a definition in words alone, but a definition in thought that comprehends what we teach in the most definite manner. The question before us is, What is reading ? The answer to this question that I shall give, is, Reading is getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences. Thought may be defined as ideas in relation. Ideas are either sense products, or derivations from sense products. We get thought, first, by seeing objects in their relations ; second, by thinking of things in their relations without their presence ; third, by seeing pictures or drawings of objects in their relations ; and fourth, by language. We get thought by language in two ways. First, by the spoken language, and, second, by the written or printed language. To illustrate, I put this hat upon the table. Here you see the relation of two objects, and you think The hat is on the table. I draw or sketch the hat on the table, and it brings to your mind the thought The hat is on the table. I say, " The hat is on the table," and you think the same. I write on the board the sentence, The hat is on the table, and that conveys to your mind the sameREADING. 27 ideas in their relations. Thus we get the same thought in four ways ; the only difference in the result is, that the thought gained from seeing objects in their relations is generally clearer. Hearing language is getting thought by means of spoken words arranged in sentences. Reading, as I have said, is getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences. It would be well for us to examine these two operations, hearing language, and reading, in order to see in what they are alik... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.