CLASSICS OLD AND NEW A Series of School Readers BY EDWIN A. ALDERMAN, LL.D. A FIFTH READER A NEW YORK: CINCINNATI: CHICAGO PREFACE THE Fifth Reader in the Series "Classics, Old and New," is given to the schools in the belief that it will commend itself to teachers and pupils by reason of its literary quality, its careful grading, and its illustration of the principle of unity in variety. Great care has been taken in the choice of material to have all the selections complete literary units of thought and style. These vary in length-and while some are very short, they are by no means the least valuable. Realizing that the love of reading depends, with most boys and girls, upon the amount of interest awakened, the lessons have been chosen with a view to interest the pupil, and through his interest to cultivate his taste and to put him in the way of knowing and appreciating good literature. Any reading book compiled for young pupils may be rated as to its excellence according to three standards: technical arrangement, literary quality, and moral purpose. Under technical arrangement is understood the proper grading of lessons, the orderly presentation of new words to be mastered, and such helps in the mechanism of reading as will call out the power of the pupil to help himself. The literary quality and the moral purpose cannot be so easily outlined. In quiet ways a perception of their meaning should grow into the youth's heart and mind. Love of country, pride of home, scorn of a lie, sympathy for the weak, love of wild life, courage to dare, and devotion to duty are some of the lessons taught in this book in myth and fable, in song and story, and in the record of human deeds told by men and women who could write with freshness and charm. To teach a child to love to read is to give him an education. And although it is foolish to attempt to lay down formal rules |