They are arts; the acquisition of them is not to be considered as knowledge, so much as the means by which knowledge may be obtained.

A child who is studying Geography, or History, or Natural Science, is learning _facts_--gaining information; on the other hand, the one who is learning to write, or to read, or to calculate, may be adding little or nothing to his stock of knowledge.

He is acquiring _skill_, which, at some future time, he may make the means of increasing his knowledge to any extent.
This distinction ought to be kept constantly in view, and the teacher should feel that these three fundamental branches stand by themselves, and stand first in importance.

I do not mean to undervalue the others, but only to insist upon the superior value and importance of these.
Teaching a pupil to read before he enters upon the active business of life is like giving a new settler an axe as he goes to seek his new home in the forest.

Teaching him a lesson in history is, on the other hand, only cutting down a tree or two for him.