The Sixth Reader

Mrs. H. A.Clarkson

20,feb.us

THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRA
281523
ASTOR, LENOX)
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

1980

Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1872, by

LEWIS B. MONROE,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

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PREFACE.

HE preparation of a series of Readers has been con

templated by the compiler. for more than twenty years. Experience in the school-room convinced him that there was room for improvement in this class of schoolbooks. Twelve years devoted to reading as a specialty, in State Institutes, Normal Schools, and in the public schools of Boston and elsewhere, have given him opportunity to ascertain the actual needs of teachers and pupils; and the present volumes embody such ideas as have been found most fruitful in practical results.

It is assumed at the outset that the primary purpose of a reading-book is to teach the art of reading. It is not intended to be a cyclopedia of facts, a book of history or of science, nor even a perfect compendium of literature. Its selections must be such as are adapted for school drill. And, as every good teacher knows, it is but a small proportion of scientific or even purely literary works which afford anything suitable for this purpose. There must be a certain vitality in the selections themselves to make them enjoyable and therefore profitable to the learner.

But more, it must not be forgotten that the reading-book does for the student what no other school-book can do in so great a degree. It teaches him the art of written and oral expression; it furnishes him with models of style; it gives him gems of thought and sentiment as they have crystallized in the most gifted minds; it holds up for his admiration and imitation examples of virtue, moral heroism, and self-sacrifice; it instills a love for the good, the pure, and the beautiful, in the natural and moral worlds,--and has thus more influence in forming his character than perhaps all other school-books united.

Such, in the opinion of the compiler, is the province of the reading-book; and the endeavor has here been made to prepare a series which should fulfill this high mission, and serve, in the hands of our noble army of teachers, not only as instruments of mental culture, but of moral elevation, to the young generation on whom the future hopes of our country and the cause of civilization depend.

If students, having mastered this book, desire to make a further or more systematic study of English literature, such a compilation as Underwood's Handbook will be found excellent for that purpose.

The writer would here express his obligations to Messrs. J. R. Osgood & Co. for permission to use extracts from their copyright editions of leading American authors; and he acknowledges with gratitude the assistance he has received from many kind friends, particularly from J. T. Trowbridge, Esq., to whom he is especially indebted.

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