Is this standard met when the child understands and can reproduce in
substance the definition of desert? Far from it! That definition is as
dry and barren as the desert itself; it tends to deaden rather than
quicken. The pupil must go far beyond the mere cold understanding and
reproduction of a topic. He must see the thing talked about, as though
in its presence; he must not only see this vividly, but he must enter
into its spirit, or _feel_ it; he must experience or live it.
Otherwise the desired effect is wanting. This standard furnishes the
reason for such detailed questions as are suggested above. The
frequency with which stirring events, grand scenery, and great
thoughts are talked about in class with fair understanding, but
without the least excitement, is a measure of the failure of the so-
called better instruction to come up to this standard. No really good
instruction, any more than good story books, will leave one cold
toward the theme in hand.

_Reasons why authors fail to express their thought more
completely_

It must be confessed that this standard calls for a large amount of
supplementing. There are meanings of words and phrases to be studied,
references to be looked up, details to be filled in for the sake of
vivid pictures, illustrations to be furnished out of one's own
experience, inferences or corollaries to be drawn, questions to be
raised and answered, and finally the bearings on life to be traced. It
might seem that authors could do their work better, and thereby
relieve their readers of work.

Yet these omissions are not to be ascribed to the evil natures of
authors, nor to the superabundance of their thought, alone. Readers