CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

  ( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  5 } - What was stranger, any word he had learned in his lesson, he knew wherever he saw it, either in his Bible or in any other book, by which means he learned very quickly to read an English author well. Susanna's energetic and determined conduct as wife of a parish clergyman is wonderfully illustrated by a letter, still existing, between herself and her husband on an unusual occasion. Ir appears that during Mr. Wesley's lengthy absences from home in attending Convocation, Mrs. Wesley, dissatisfied with the state of things at habit of gathering a few parishioners at the rectory on Sunday evenings and reading to them. As might naturally have been expected, the attendance soon became so large that her husband was alarmed at the report he heard, and he made some objections to the practice. The letters of Mrs. Wesley on this occasion are a model of Christian good sense, and deserve the attention of many timid believers in the present day. After defendin

  ( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  4 } - The way of teaching was this: the day before a child began to learn, the house was set in order, everyone's work was appointed to them, and instruction was appointed to them, and instruction was given that no one should come into the room from nine to twelve, or from two to five, which were our school hours. One day was allowed for the child to learn his letters, and each of them did learn all their letters, great and small, in that time, except Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before they knew them perfectly, for which I then thought them very dull. However, the reason why I thought them so was because the rest learned so quickly. Your brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever taught, learned the alphabet in a few hours. He was five years old on February 10. The next day he began to learn, and as soon as he knew the letters, began at the first chapter of Genesis. He was taught to spell the first verse, then to read it over all over