method immensely. It encouraged their dramatic instincts, and resembled
impromptu theatricals. It was a point of honour to throw themselves
thoroughly into the parts, and they would often prepare themselves at
home by reading up various points in histories or encyclopaedias. This
was exactly what Miss Mitchell aimed at.

"They're educating themselves!" she explained to Miss Fanny. "They'll
never forget these facts that they have taken the trouble to find out.
Once a girl has realised the outlook of Mary Queen of Scots or Elizabeth,
and has learnt to impersonate her without glaring mistakes, she has the
keynote to the history of the times. When she has spoken to 'Darnley,'
'Black Both-well,' 'Rizzio,' 'John Knox,' or to 'Bacon,' 'Raleigh,'
'Essex,' and 'Sidney,' she has turned mere names into real personages,
and will be no more likely to confuse them than to mix up her friends.
By supplying her own dialogue she shows exactly how much she knows of the
character, and I am able to judge how far the lesson has been
assimilated. Fifteen years hence I venture to think Scottish Mary or
Queen Elizabeth will still be vivid remembrances to her; but would she be
able to tell the date of the battle of Pinkie? And would it be of very
vital importance whether she did or not? In my opinion to grasp the main
motives of history and to follow the evolution of the British nation is
far more necessary than memorising dates. Of course, a few must be
insisted on, or there would be no means of relative comparison, but these
few, accurately learnt, are better than a number repeated glibly without
any particular conception of their importance."

In the teaching of geography Miss Mitchell also put her theories into
action. As taught in many schools she thought it was a wearisome subject.

"You don't want to knock into a child's head the names of the capes and