RHETORICAL RECITATIONS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. COMPILED BY ROBERT MCLEAN CUMNOCK, A.M. NINTH EDITION CHICAGO: A. C. McCLURG & COMPANY. PREFACE. The THAT young people prefer reading or speaking exercises which are presented to them in some form of story or romance to those of a didactic character, is a fact familiar to every instructor. A recognition of this preference has led the compiler of this little volume to include only such selections as seem to appeal directly to the fancy and the feelings of youth. Great care has been taken to exclude all excessive or weakly sentiment, and to furnish only that which is fresh, wholesome, and inspiring. chief aim, however, has been to secure selections possessing good speaking qualities, and at the same time to make a collection of the brightest and rarest specimens of juvenile literature in our language. No attempt has been made to grade the selections from the more juvenile specimens to the more mature, or to introduce any elocutionary advice, which would necessarily be so meagre as to be of little value. As this is a companion to a work by the same compiler, entitled "Choice Readings," which has had the good fortune to receive the hearty approval of the public, it is hoped it also may meet with a cordial welcome, and prove worthy of its relationship. The thanks of the compiler are due to the publishing house of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., by whose courtesy he is enabled to use certain poems from the writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes, John G. Saxe, James T. Fields, John G. Whittier, and J. T. Trowbridge. ROBERT MCLEAN CUMNOCK. EVANSTON, ILL., October, 1883. |