UN the basis of the above negatiye criticism, we may perhaps formulate the following positive requirements for those reading selections which are to be the foundation for instruction in languages, namely that as far as possible they must

(I) be connected, with a sensible meaning, (z) be interesting, lively, varied, (3) contain the most necessary material of the

language first, especially the material of everyday language,

(4) be correct French (German, etc.), (5) pass gradually from that which is easy to that

which is more difficult, (6) yet without too much consideration for what is

merely grammatically easy or difficult. This order does not indicate the relative importance or

value of the requirements, which might be difficult to determine. If there should be any disagreement between them, I suppose it is generally best to try to find some practical compromise. We must now pass on to examine some of these requirements more closely.