One child recites a letter to Anna begging her not to leave.

"They were the sort of thing a child would recite to his parents in the parlour," he explains.

Some categories are straightforward, like whether a child can recite the alphabet.

Paper was precious, so the children often recited their lessons until they memorized them.

It was like hearing a child recite a lesson learned by heart, but her dignity and gravity were those of a general in the field.

"Sleep," he said quietly and slowly, like a child reciting its lesson.

The five children recited the seven words very solemnly, and Lily looked relieved.

At home, Howells's children recited it to him in chorus.

Now our children can't recite multiplication tables or add, but they're great at concepts.

Then he spilled words with the rattling speed of a child reciting poetry.