valid argument.  The recitation is rather more decorous than some of these other discussions, but, in principle, they are identical.  Every one has freedom to express his convictions and to adduce contributory arguments or evidence.  There are no restrictions save the implied one of decorum.  The utmost courtesy obtains in the recitation, even at the sacrifice of some eagerness.  There may be a half-dozen members of the group on their feet and anxious to be heard, but they do not interrupt one another without due apology.

=Abiding resultants.=—­Unlike some of their elders, they are ready to acknowledge mistakes and to make concessions.  They do not scruple to correct the mistakes of others, knowing that corrections will be gratefully received, but they do not accept mere statements from one another.  They must have evidence.  They combat statements with evidence from books or other sources that are regarded as authorities.  They read extracts, or draw diagrams, or display pictures or specimens in support of their contentions.  There is animation, to be sure; and, at times, the flushed face and the flashing eye betoken intense feeling.  But the psychologist knows full well that these expressions intensify and make abiding the impressions.  Both in victory and in defeat the pupil comes to an appreciation of the truth.  Defeat may humiliate, but he will evermore know the rock on which his craft was wrecked.  Victory may elate and exalt, but he will not forget the occasion or the facts.  The truths of the lesson become enmeshed in his nervous system and throughout life they will be a part of himself.

=Reflex influence.=—­Still further, this type of recitation reaches back into the home and begets a wholesome cooeperation between the home and the school, and this is a desideratum of no slight import.  The events of the day are recounted at the home in the evening, and the contributions of the members of the family are deposited as assets in the recitation the next day.  Then the family is eager to learn of the reactions of the class to their contributions.  Such a community of interests cannot be confined to the four walls of a home, but finds its way to other homes and to places of business; the discussions of the class become the property of society, and the influence is most salutary.  Indirectly, the school is affording the people of the community many profitable topics of conversation, and these readily supplant the futile and less profitable topics.  It is easy to measure the intelligence of an individual or of a community by noting the topics of conversation.  Gossip and small talk do not thrive in a soil that has been thoroughly inoculated with history, art, music, literature, economics, and statecraft.