196 SCHOOL-CHAT IN PLAY-HOURS.

Adler, This makes it very desirable that, in ele-
mentary matters, and in rules, and in forms, the very
words should be remembered. Secondly, there are
cases in which the value of a passage depends on the
very words. This is true of all poetry and all eloquence.
What were the lines you repeated in your declamation

this morning ?
Gregory. They were from Denham :—
‘‘Oh could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!

Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull,
Strong without rage, without o’erflowing full.”

Adler. Now please to give me the substance of these
lines, as one might remember them who had caught
their general meaning, without the words.

Gregory. O sir, it would be folly for me to attempt it!

Adler. Then you admit the value of memory as to
poetic words.

Gregory. Certainly. You could not change a single
word without losing a beauty.

Adler. It is equally true of a thousand things,
especially of Scripture. And it is important to practise
this in childhood, because that is the spring-tide of
memory. It is a faculty sooner developed than that
of reasoning, and it sooner decays; therefore we should
seize its brief time of bloom for purposes of education.
As to abuses and excesses, here, as everywhere,
“ Wisdom is profitable to direct.”