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diff --git a/39154.txt b/39154.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b283fa4 --- /dev/null +++ b/39154.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8452 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Special Method in the Reading of Complete +English Classics, by Charles McMurry + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics + In the Grades of the Common School + +Author: Charles McMurry + +Release Date: March 15, 2012 [EBook #39154] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECIAL METHOD IN THE *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + THE READING OF COMPLETE + ENGLISH CLASSICS + + IN THE COMMON SCHOOL + + + + + SPECIAL METHOD + + IN THE + + READING OF COMPLETE + ENGLISH CLASSICS + + IN THE GRADES OF THE + COMMON SCHOOL + + BY + + CHARLES McMURRY, PH.D. + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. + 1903 + + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1903, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + Set up and electrotyped October, 1902. + + Norwood Press + J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith + Norwood Mass. U.S.A. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER I + PAGE + EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 1 + + CHAPTER II + + THE USE OF MASTERPIECES AS WHOLES 41 + + CHAPTER III + + LITERARY MATERIALS FOR THE FIVE UPPER GRADES 67 + + CHAPTER IV + + CLASS-ROOM METHOD IN READING 102 + + CHAPTER V + + METHOD FURTHER DISCUSSED AND ILLUSTRATED 135 + + CHAPTER VI + + THE VALUE OF CLASSICS TO THE TEACHER 176 + + CHAPTER VII + + LIST OF BOOKS 205 + + + + +SPECIAL METHOD OF CLASSICS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LITERATURE + + +The gradual introduction of the choicer products of literature into the +grades of the common school has been going on for several years. +Bringing the school children face to face with the thoughts of the +masters has had often a thrilling effect, and the feeling has spread +among teachers that a new door has been opened into what Ruskin calls +"The King's Gardens." As we stand at this open portal to the Elysian +Fields of literature, there may fall upon us something of the beauty, +something even of the solemn stillness, of the arched cathedral with its +golden windows. But how inadequate is the Gothic cathedral, or the Greek +temple, to symbolize the temple of literature. + +Within less than a score of years there has been such reading of varied +literary masterpieces by children as to bring us face to face with a +problem of prime significance in education, the place and importance of +literature in the education of American children. + +Millions of children are introduced yearly to bookland, and it is a +matter of greater importance than what Congress does, what provision is +made for these oncoming millions in the sunlit fields and forest glades +of literature, where the boys and girls walk in happy companionship with +the "wisest and wittiest" of our race. We have now had enough experience +with these treasures of culture to get a real foretaste of the feast +prepared for the growing youth. We know that their appetites are keen +and their digestive powers strong. It is incumbent upon educators to get +a comprehensive survey of this land and to estimate its resources. Other +fields of study, like natural science, geography, music, etc., are +undergoing the same scrutiny as to their educative value. Literature, +certainly a peer in the hierarchy of great studies, if not supreme in +value above others, is one of the most difficult to estimate. Tangible +proofs of the vital culture-force of good literature upon growing minds +can be given in many individual cases. But to what degree it has general +or universal fitness to awaken, strengthen, and refine all minds, is in +dispute. + +It seems clear, at least, that only those who show taste and enthusiasm +for a choice piece of literature can teach it with success. This +requirement of appreciation and enjoyment of the study is more +imperative in literature, because its appeal is not merely to the +intellect and the reason, as in other studies, but especially to the +emotions and higher aesthetic judgments, to moral and religious sentiment +in ideal representation. + +It has been often observed that discussions of the superior educative +value of literature before bodies of teachers, while entertaining and +delightful, fall far short of lasting results because of the teachers' +narrow experience with literature. In the case of many teachers, the +primitive alphabet of literary appreciation is lacking, and the most +enthusiastic appeals to the charm and exaltation of such studies fall +harmless. Yet literature in the schools is hopeless without teachers who +have felt at home in this delightsome land, this most real world of +ideal strength and beauty. + +The discussion of the subject for teachers is beset, therefore, with +peculiar and seemingly insurmountable difficulties. The strength, charm, +and refinement of literature are known only to those who have read the +masters with delight, while even people of cultured taste listen +doubtfully to the praise of authors they have never read. To one +enamoured of the music of Tennyson's songs, the very suggestion of "In +Memoriam" awakens enthusiasm. To one who has not read Tennyson and his +like, silence on the subject is golden. To those not much travelled in +the fields of literature, there is danger of speaking in an unknown +tongue, while they, of all others, need a plain and convincing word. To +speak this plain and convincing word to those who may have acquired but +little relish for literature, and that little only in the fragmentary +selections of the school readers, is a high and difficult aim. But +teachers are willing to learn, and to discover new sources of enthusiasm +in their profession. It is probable, also, that the original capacity to +enjoy great literature is much more common than is often supposed, and +that the great average of teachers is quite capable of receiving this +powerful stimulus. The fact is, our common schools have done so little, +till of late, to cultivate this fine taste, that we have faint reason to +expect it in our teachers. + +Overwhelmed as we are with the folly of indulging in the praise of +literature before many whose ears have been but poorly attuned to the +sweet melody or majestic rhythm of the masters, we still make bold to +grapple with this argument. There is surely no subject to which the +teachers need more to open their eyes and ears and better nature, so as +to take in the enrichment it affords. There is encouragement in the fact +that many teachers fully appreciate the worth of these writers, and have +succeeded in making their works beautiful and educative to the children. +Very many other teachers are capable of the full refreshing enjoyment of +classic works, when their attention and labor are properly expended upon +them. The colleges, universities, high schools, and normal schools have +largely abandoned the dull epitomizing of literature, the talk about +authors, for the study of the works themselves of the masters. The +consequence is, that the study of literature in English is becoming an +enthusiasm, and teachers of this type are multiplying. + +The deeper causes for this widespread lack of literary appreciation +among the people, and even among teachers and scholars, is found partly +in the practical, scientific, and utilitarian spirit of the age, and +partly in the corresponding unliterary courses of study which have +prevailed everywhere in our common schools. The absence of literary +standards and taste among teachers is due largely to the failure of the +schools themselves, hitherto, to cultivate this sort of proficiency. +Those very qualities which give to literature its supreme excellence, +its poetic beauty, its artistic finish and idealism, are among the +highest fruits of culture, and are far more difficult of attainment than +mere knowledge. It is no small thing to introduce the rarest and finest +culture of the world into the common school, and thus propagate, in the +broadest democratic fashion, that which is the peculiar, superior +refinement of the choicest spirits of the world. If progress in this +direction is slow, we may remember that the best ideals are slow of +attainment. + +There is also an intangible quality in all first-class literature, which +is not capable of exact description or demonstration. George Willis +Cooke, in "Poets and Problems" (pp. 31-32), says:-- + +"Poetry enters into those higher regions of human experience concerning +which no definite account can be given; where all words fail; about +which all we know is to be obtained by hints, symbols, poetic figures, +and imagings. Poetry is truer and more helpful than prose, because it +penetrates those regions of feeling, beauty, and spiritual reality, +where definitions have no place or justification. There would be no +poetry if life were limited to what we can understand; nor would there +be any religion. Indeed, the joy, the beauty, and the promise of life +would all be gone if there were nothing which reaches beyond our powers +of definition. The mystery of existence makes the grandeur and worth of +man's nature, as it makes for him his poetry and his religion. Poetry +suggests, hints, images forth, what is too wonderful, too transcendent, +too near primal reality, too full of life, beauty, and joy, for +explanation or comprehension. It embodies man's longing after the +Eternal One, expresses his sense of the deep mystery of Being, voices +his soul sorrow, illumines his path with hope and objects of beauty. +Man's aspiration, his sense of imperfection, his yearning for a +sustaining truth and reality, as the life within and over all things, +find expression in poetry; because it offers the fittest medium of +interpretation for these higher movements of soul. Whenever the soul +feels deeply, or is stirred by a great thought, the poetic form of +utterance at once becomes the most natural and desirable for its loving +and faithful interpretation." + +This intangible excellence of superior literature, which defies all +exact measurement by the yardstick, puzzles the practical man and the +scientist. There is no way of getting at it with their tools and +measurements. They are very apt to give it up in disgust and dismiss it +with some uncomplimentary name. But Shakespeare's mild reign continues, +and old Homer sings his deathless song to those who wish to hear. + +Teachers need both the exact methods of science and the spiritual life +of the poets, and we may well spend some pains in finding out the +life-giving properties of good literature. + +Lowell, in his "Books and Libraries," says:-- + +"To wash down the drier morsels that every library must necessarily +offer at its board, let there be plenty of imaginative literature, and +let its range be not too narrow to stretch from Dante to the elder +Dumas. The world of the imagination is not the world of abstraction and +nonentity, as some conceive, but a world formed out of chaos by a sense +of the beauty that is in man and the earth on which he dwells. It is the +realm of Might-be, our haven of refuge from the shortcomings and +disillusions of life. It is, to quote Spenser, who knew it well,-- + +"'The world's sweet inn from care and wearisome turmoil.' Do we believe, +then, that God gave us in mockery this splendid faculty of sympathy +with things that are a joy forever? For my part, I believe that the love +and study of works of imagination is of practical utility in a country +so profoundly material (or, as we like to call it, practical) in its +leading tendencies as ours. The hunger after purely intellectual +delights, the content with ideal possessions, cannot but be good for us +in maintaining a wholesome balance of the character and of the +faculties. I for one shall never be persuaded that Shakespeare left a +less useful legacy to his countrymen than Watt. We hold all the deepest, +all the highest, satisfactions of life as tenants of imagination. Nature +will keep up the supply of what are called hard-headed people without +our help, and, if it come to that, there are other as good uses for +heads as at the end of battering-rams." + +"But have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read +means? That it is the key which admits us to the whole world of thought +and fancy and imagination? to the company of saint and sage, of the +wisest and wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moments? That it +enables us to see with the keenest eyes, hear with the finest ears, and +listen to the sweetest voices of all time? More than that, it +annihilates time and space for us; it revives for us without a miracle +the Age of Wonder, endowing us with the shoes of swiftness and the cap +of darkness, so that we walk invisible like fern-seed, and witness +unharmed the plague at Athens or Florence or London; accompany Caesar on +his marches, or look in on Catiline in council with his +fellow-conspirators, or Guy Fawkes in the cellar of St. Stephen's. We +often hear of people who will descend to any servility, submit to any +insult, for the sake of getting themselves or their children into what +is euphemistically called good society. Did it ever occur to them that +there is a select society of all the centuries to which they and theirs +can be admitted for the asking, a society, too, which will not involve +them in ruinous expense, and still more ruinous waste of time and health +and faculties? + +"The riches of scholarship, the benignities of literature, defy fortune +and outlive calamity. They are beyond the reach of thief or moth or +rust. As they cannot be inherited, so they cannot be alienated. But they +may be shared, they may be distributed." + +This notion of the select companionship of books finds also happy +expression in Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies":-- + +"We may intrude ten minutes' talk on a cabinet minister, answered +probably with words worse than silence, being deceptive; or snatch, once +or twice in our lives, the privilege of throwing a bouquet in the path +of a princess, or arresting the kind glance of a queen. And yet these +momentary chances we covet; and spend our years, and passions, and +powers in pursuit of little more than these; while, meantime, there is +a society continually open to us, of people who will talk to us as long +as we like, whatever our rank or occupation;--talk to us in the best +words they can choose, and with thanks if we listen to them. And this +society, because it is so numerous and so gentle,--and can be kept +waiting round us all day long, not to grant audience, but to gain it; +kings and statesmen lingering patiently in those plainly furnished and +narrow anterooms, our bookcase shelves,--we make no account of that +company,--perhaps never listen to a word they would say, all day long! + +"This court of the past differs from all living aristocracy in this: it +is open to labor and to merit, but to nothing else. No wealth will +bribe, no name overawe, no artifice deceive, the guardian of those +Elysian gates. In the deep sense, no vile or vulgar person ever enters +there. At the portieres of that silent Faubourg St.-Germain, there is +but brief question, 'Do you deserve to enter?' 'Pass. Do you ask to be +the companions of nobles? Make yourself noble, and you shall be. Do you +long for the conversation of the wise? Learn to understand it, and you +shall hear it. But on other terms?--no. If you will not rise to us, we +cannot stoop to you. The living lord may assume courtesy, the living +philosopher explain his thought to you with considerable pain; but here +we neither feign nor interpret; you must rise to the level of our +thoughts if you would be gladdened by them, and share our feelings, if +you would recognize our presence.'" + +Wordsworth says:-- + + "Books, we know, + Are a substantial world, both pure and good; + Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, + Our pastime and our happiness will grow." + +Carlyle says:-- + +"We learn to read, in various languages, in various sciences; we learn +the alphabet and letters of all manner of Books. But the place where we +are to get knowledge, even theoretic knowledge, is the Books themselves! +It depends on what we read, after all manner of Professors have done +their best for us. The true University of these days is a Collection of +Books." + +Were we willing to accept the testimony of great writers and thinkers, +we should but too quickly acknowledge the supreme value of books. James +Baldwin, in the first chapter of his "Book Lover," has collected more +than a score of like utterances of great writers "In Praise of Books." +Such testimony may at least suggest to some of us who have drunk but +sparingly of the refreshing springs of literature, that there are better +things in store for us. + +We will first inquire into those vital elements of strength which are +peculiar to literature. + +One of the elements that goes into the make-up of a masterpiece of +literature is its underlying, permanent truth. Whether written to-day or +in earlier centuries, it must contain lasting qualities that do not fade +away or bleach out or decay. Time and weather do not stain or destroy +its merit. Some classics, as Gray's "Elegy," or "Thanatopsis," are like +cut diamonds. The quality that gives them force and brilliancy is +inherent, and the form in which they appear has been wrought out by an +artist. The fundamental value of a classic is the deep, significant +truth which, like the grain in fine woods, is wrought into its very +structure. The artist who moulds a masterpiece like "Enoch Arden" or +"The Scarlet Letter" is not a writer of temporary fame. The truth to +which he feels impelled to give expression is strong, natural, human +truth, which has no beginning and no end. It is true forever. Schiller's +William Tell, though idealized, is a human hero with the hearty thoughts +of a real man. Shylock is a Jew of flesh and blood, who will laugh if he +is tickled, and break into anger if he is thwarted. The true poet builds +upon eternal foundations. The bookmaker or rhymer is satisfied with +empty or fleeting thoughts and with a passing notoriety. New books are +often caught up and blazoned as classics which a few years reveal as +patchwork and tinsel. Time is a sure test. Showy tinsel rusts and dulls +its lustre, while simple poetic truth shines with growing brightness. + +Schlegel, in his "Dramatic Art and Literature," thus contrasts the false +and the true (pp. 18-19):-- + +"Poetry, taken in its widest acceptation, as the power of creating what +is beautiful, and representing it to the eye or the ear, is a universal +gift of Heaven, being shared to a certain extent even by those whom we +call barbarians and savages. Internal excellence is alone decisive, and +where this exists we must not allow ourselves to be repelled by the +external appearance. Everything must be traced up to the root of human +nature: if it has sprung from thence, it has an undoubted worth of its +own; but if, without possessing a living germ, it is merely externally +attached thereto, it will never thrive nor acquire a proper growth. Many +productions which appear at first sight dazzling phenomena in the +province of the fine arts, and which as a whole have been honored with +the appellation of works of a golden age, resemble the mimic gardens of +children: impatient to witness the work of their hands, they break off +here and there branches and flowers, and plant them in the earth; +everything at first assumes a noble appearance: the childish gardener +struts proudly up and down among his showy beds, till the rootless +plants begin to droop, and hang their withered leaves and blossoms, and +nothing soon remains but the bare twigs, while the dark forest, on which +no art or care was ever bestowed, and which towered up toward heaven +long before human remembrance, bears every blast unshaken, and fills +the solitary beholder with religious awe." + +In his "Poets and Problems," George Willis Cooke fitly portrays the +poet's function (pp. 42, 32, and 44):-- + +"The poet must be either a teacher or an artist; or, what is better, he +may be both in one. Therefore, he can never stop at form or at what +delights and charms merely. He must go on to the expression of something +of deep and real abidingness of thought and beauty. This comes at last +to be the real thing for which he works, which he seeks to bring into +expression with such power and grandeur in it as he can produce, and +which he wills to send forth for the sake of this higher impression on +the world." + +"Man has within him a need for the food which does not perish; he always +is finding anew that he cannot live by bread alone. His mind will crave +truth, his heart love, somewhat to satisfy the inward needs of life. A +heavenly homesickness will draw him away from the material to those +aesthetic and spiritual realities which are at the source of the truest +poetry. Whenever these wants find fit interpretation, the poet and the +poetic method of expression appear and give to them outward forms of +beauty. Consequently the poet is + + 'One in whom persuasion and belief + Have ripened into faith, and faith become + A passionate intuition.' + +"The true poet is the man of his time who is most alive, who feels, +sees, and knows the most. In the measure of his life he is the greatest +man of his age and country. His eye sees farther and more clearly; his +heart beats more warmly and with a more universal sympathy; his thought +runs deeper and with a swifter current, than is the case with other men. +He is the oracle and guide, the inspirer and the friend, of those to +whom he sings. He creates life under the ribs of dead tradition; he +illumines the present with heart flames of beaconing truth, and he makes +the future seem like home joys far off, but drawing ever nigher. The +poet is the world's lover." + +Emerson found the Greeks standing as close to nature and truth as +himself ("Essay on History"):-- + +"The costly charm of the ancient tragedy, and indeed of all old +literature, is, that the persons speak simply,--speak as persons who +have great good sense without knowing it, before yet the reflective +habit has become the predominant habit of the mind. Our admiration of +the antique is not admiration of the old, but of the natural. The Greeks +are not reflective, but perfect in their senses and in their health, +with the finest physical organization in the world. Adults acted with +the simplicity and grace of children." + +In his "Defence of Poetry" Shelley says:-- + +"Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the +world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the +interlunations of life, and, veiling them or in language or in form, +sends them forth among mankind, bearing sweet news of kindred joy to +those with whom their sisters abide--abide, because there is no portal +of expression from the caverns of the spirit which they inhabit into the +universe of things. Poetry redeems from decay the visitations of the +divinity in man." + +Carlyle, in his "Heroes and Hero-worship," portrays the deeper art and +insight of the poet thus:-- + +"For my own part, I find considerable meaning in the old vulgar +distinction of Poetry being metrical, having music in it, being a Song. +Truly, if pressed to give a definition, one might say this as soon as +anything else: If your delineation be authentically musical, musical not +in word only, but in heart and substance, in all the thoughts and +utterances of it, in the whole conception of it, then it will be +poetical; if not, not. Musical: how much lies in that! A musical thought +is one spoken by a mind that has penetrated into the inmost heart of the +thing; detected the inmost mystery of it, namely the melody that lies +hidden in it; the inward harmony of coherence which is its soul, whereby +it exists, and has a right to be, here in this world. All inmost things, +we may say, are melodious; naturally utter themselves in Song. The +meaning of Song goes deep. Who is there that, in logical words, can +express the effect music has upon us? A kind of inarticulate +unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the Infinite, and +lets us for moments gaze into that! + +"Nay all speech, even the commonest speech, has something of song in it: +not a parish in the world but has its parish-accent;--the rhythm or tune +to which the people there sing what they have to say! Accent is a kind +of chanting; all men have accent of their own,--though they only notice +that of others. Observe, too, how all passionate language does of itself +become musical,--with a finer music than the mere accent; the speech of +a man even in zealous anger becomes a chant, a song. All deep things are +Song. It seems somehow the very central essence of us, Song; as if all +the rest were but wrappages and hulls. The primal element of us; of us, +and of all things. The Greeks fabled of Sphere-Harmonies: it was the +feeling they had of the inner structure of Nature; that the soul of all +her voices and utterances was perfect music. Poetry, therefore, we will +call musical Thought. The Poet is he who thinks in that manner. At +bottom, it turns still on power of intellect; it is a man's sincerity +and depth of vision that makes him a Poet. See deep enough, and you see +musically; the heart of Nature being everywhere music, if you can only +reach it." + +"Or indeed we may say again, it is in what I called Portrait-painting, +delineating of men and things, especially of men, that Shakespeare is +great. All the greatness of the man comes out decisively here. It is +unexampled, I think, that calm creative perspicacity of Shakespeare. The +thing he looks at reveals not this or that face of it, but its inmost +heart, and generic secret: it dissolves itself as in light before him, +so that he discerns the perfect structure of it. Creative, we said: +poetic creation, what is this, too, but seeing the thing sufficiently? +The word that will describe the thing, follows of itself from such clear +intense sight of the thing. And is not Shakespeare's morality, his +valor, candor, tolerance, truthfulness; his whole victorious strength +and greatness, which can triumph over such obstructions, visible there +too? Great as the world! No twisted, poor convex-concave mirror, +reflecting all objects with its own convexities and concavities; a +perfectly level mirror,--that is to say withal, if we will understand +it, a man justly related to all things and men, a good man. It is truly +a lordly spectacle how this great soul takes in all kinds of men and +objects, a Falstaff, an Othello, a Juliet, a Coriolanus; sets them all +forth to us in their round completeness; loving, just, the equal brother +of all. 'Novum Organum,' and all the intellect you will find in Bacon, +is of a quite secondary order; earthy, material, poor in comparison with +this. Among modern men, one finds, in strictness, almost nothing of the +same rank. Goethe alone, since the days of Shakespeare, reminds me of +it. Of him, too, you say that he saw the object; you may say what he +himself says of Shakespeare, 'His characters are like watches with +dial-plates of transparent crystal; they show you the hour like others, +and the inward mechanism also is all visible.'" + +"Dante, for depth of sincerity, is like an antique Prophet, too; his +words, like theirs, come from his very heart. One need not wonder if it +were predicted that his Poem might be the most enduring thing our Europe +has yet made; for nothing so endures as a truly spoken word. All +cathedrals, pontificalities, brass and stone, and outer arrangement +never so lasting, are brief in comparison to an unfathomable heart-song +like this: one feels as if it might survive, still of importance to men, +when these had all sunk into new irrecognizable combinations, and had +ceased individually to be. Europe has made much; great cities, great +empires, encyclopaedias, creeds, bodies of opinion and practice: but it +has made little of the class of Dante's Thought. Homer yet is, veritably +present face to face with every open soul of us; and Greece, where is +it? Desolate for thousands of years; away, vanished; a bewildered heap +of stones and rubbish, the life and existence of it all gone. Like a +dream; like the dust of King Agamemnon! Greece was; Greece, except in +the words it spoke, is not." + +J. C. Shairp, in his "On Poetic Interpretation of Nature" (p. 19), +says:-- + +"The real nature and intrinsic truth of Poetry will be made more +apparent, if we may turn aside for a moment to reflect on the essence of +that state of mind which we call poetic, the genesis of that creation +which we call Poetry. Whenever any object of sense, or spectacle of the +outer world, any truth of reason, or event of past history, any fact of +human experience, any moral or spiritual reality; whenever, in short, +any fact or object which the sense, or the intellect, or the soul, or +the spirit of man can apprehend, comes home to one so as to touch him to +the quick, to pierce him with a more than usual vividness and sense of +reality, then is awakened that stirring of the imagination, that glow of +emotion, in which Poetry is born. There is no truth cognizable by man +which may not shape itself into Poetry." + +The passages just quoted are but examples of many that might be cited +expressing the strength and scope of the poetic spirit, its +truth-revealing quality, its penetrating yet comprehensive grasp of the +realities. Shelley says, "A poem is the very image of life expressed in +its eternal truth"; and Wordsworth that poetry is "the breath and finer +spirit of all knowledge." These utterances will hardly be deemed +poetical extravagancies to one who has read such things as the Ninetieth +Psalm, "King Lear," or "The Deserted Village," or "Elaine." + +There is no form of inspiring truth which does not find expression in +literature, but it is preeminently a revelation of human life and +experience, a proclamation from the housetops of the supreme beauty and +excellence of truth and virtue. This brings us close to the question of +moral education, and the elements in literature that contribute to this +end. Literary critics are quick to take alarm at the propensity of the +schoolmaster and the moralist to make literature the vehicle of moral +training. To saddle the poets with a moral purpose would be like +changing Pegasus into a plough-horse. But the moral quality in the best +literature is not something saddled on, it is rather like the frame and +muscle which give strength to the body, or, to use a more fitting +figure, it is the very pulse and heart-beat of the highest idealism. The +proneness toward moralizing, toward formal didacticism, can be best of +all corrected by the use of choice literature. The best literature is +free from moral pedantry, but full of moral suggestion and stimulus. +Edmund Clarence Stedman says, in his "Nature and Elements of Poetry" (p. +216):-- + +"The highest wisdom--that of ethics--seems closely affiliated with +poetic truth. A prosaic moral is injurious to virtue, by making it +repulsive. The moment goodness becomes tedious and unideal in a work of +art, it is not real goodness; the would-be artist, though a very saint, +has mistaken his form of expression. On the other hand, extreme beauty +and power in a poem or picture always carry a moral, they are +inseparable from a certain ethical standard; while vice suggests a +depravity.... An obtrusive moral in poetic form is a fraud on its face, +and outlawed of art. But that all great poetry is essentially ethical is +plain from any consideration of Homer, Dante, and the best dramatists +and lyrists, old and new." + +In literature, as in life, those persons make the strongest moral +impression who have the least express discussion of morals. Their +actions speak, and the moral qualities appear, not in didactic formality +and isolation, but in their life setting. This is seen in the great +dramas, novels, and epic poems. + +These masterpieces are of strong and lasting value to the schools +because they bring out human conduct and character in a rich variety of +forms corresponding to life. Against the background of scenery created +by the poet, men and women and children march along to their varied +performances. Theseus, Ulysses, Crusoe, Aladdin, Alfred, Horatius, +Cinderella, Portia, Evangeline,--they speak and act before us with all +the realism and fidelity to human instincts peculiar to the poet's art. +These men and women, who are set in action before us, stir up all our +dormant thought-energy. We observe and judge their motives and approve +or condemn their actions. We are stirred to sympathy or pity or anger. +Such an intense study of motives and conduct, as offered in literature, +is like a fresh spring from which well up strengthening waters. The +warmth and energy with which judgments are passed upon the deeds of +children and adults is the original source of moral ideas. Literature is +especially rich in opportunities to register these convictions. It is +not the bare knowledge of right and wrong developed, but the deep +springs of feeling and emotion are opened, which gush up into volitions +and acts. + +Just as we form opinions of people from their individual acts, and draw +inferences as to their character and motives, so the overt act of Brutus +or of Miles Standish stands out so clear against the background of +passing events that an unerring judgment falls upon the doer. A single +act, seen in its relations, always calls forth such a sentence of good +or ill. Whether it be a gentle deed of mercy, or the hammer-stroke that +fells a giant or routs an army, as with Charles Martel or Alfred, the +sense of right or wrong is the deep underflow that gives meaning to all +events and stamps character. + +There is, however, a deeper and more intense moral teaching in +literature than that which flows from the right or wrong of individual +acts. The whole life and evolution of character in a person, if +graphically drawn, reveal the principles of conduct and their fruitage. +Character is a growth. Deeds are only the outward signs of the direction +in which the soul is moving. A dramatist like Shakespeare, or a +novelist like George Eliot, gives us a biographical development. Deeds +are done which leave their traces. Tendencies are formed which grow into +habits, and thus a character ripens steadily toward its reward. We +become conscious that certain deeper principles control thought and +action, whether good or bad. There is a rule of law, a sort of fatalism, +in human life. "The mills of the gods grind slow, but they grind +exceeding small." It is the function of the dramatist or novelist to +reveal these working principles in conduct. When the principle adopted +by the actor is a good one, it works out well-being in spite of +misfortunes; when evil, the furies are on the track of the evil-doer. +Men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles. As we move on +from step to step in a life-history, the sympathy deepens. The fatal +influence of a false step, followed up, is keenly felt by the reader; +the upward tendency of a right act inspires and lifts into freedom. But +whether we love or hate or pity, the character moves on in the course +which his deeds mark out. When finally he is overwhelmed in shame and +defeat, we see the early tendencies and later forces which have led to +this result. If ethical triumph is achieved, we recognize the reward of +generous, unselfish impulses followed out. + +As the interest in such a life-history deepens, the lessons it evolves +come out with convincing and overwhelming power. The effect of a great +novel or drama is more intense and lasting than any sermon. The +elements of thought and feeling have been accumulating energy and +momentum through all the scenes, and when contracted into a single +current at the close they sweep forward with the strength of a river. A +masterpiece works at the foundations of our sympathies and moral +judgments. To bring ourselves under the spell of a great author and to +allow him, hour after hour and perhaps for days in succession, to sway +our feelings and rule far up among the sources of our moral judgments, +is to give him great opportunity to stamp our character with his +convictions. We seldom spend so many hours in close companionship with a +living friend as with some master of the art of character-delineation. +Children are susceptible to this strong influence. Many of them take +easily to books, and many others need but wise direction to bring them +under the touch of their formative influence. A book sometimes produces +a more lasting effect upon the character and conduct of a child than a +close companion. Nor is this true only in the case of book-lovers. It is +probable that the great majority of children may feel the wholesome +effect of such books if wisely used at the right time. To select a few +of the best books as companions to a child, and teach him to love their +companionship, is one of the most hopeful things in education. The boy +or girl who reads some of our choice epics, stories, novels, dramas, and +biographies, allowing the mind to ponder upon the problems of conduct +involved, will receive many deep and permanent moral lessons. The +realism with which the artist clothes his characters only strengthens +the effect and makes them lasting food for thought in the coming years. +Even in early childhood we are able to detect what is noble and debasing +in conduct as thus graphically and naturally revealed, and a child forms +an unerring judgment along moral lines. The best influence that +literature has to bestow, therefore, may produce its effect early in +tender years, where impressions are deep and permanent. There are many +other elements of lasting culture-value in the study of literature, but +first of all the deep and permanent truths taught by the classics are +those of human life and conduct. + +George Willis Cooke gives clear and simple expression to the ethical +force in poetry ("Poets and Problems," p. 46):-- + +"True poetry is for instruction as much as for pleasure, though it +inculcate no formal lessons. Right moral teaching is by example far more +than by precept; and the real poet teaches through the higher purpose he +arouses, by the stimulus he gives, and by the purer motive he awakens. +He gives no precept to recite, no homilies to con over, no rules for +formal repetition; but he gives the spirit of life and the impulse of +true activity. An infallible test of the great poet is that he inspires +us with a sense of the richness and grandeur of life." + +Rooted in the genuine realism of social life, moral ideas are still more +strongly energized by feeling and even by passion. It is doubtful if +moral ideas have any roots that do not reach down into deep and genuine +feeling. + +Ruskin, in "Sesame and Lilies," speaks to the point. + +"Having then faithfully listened to the great teachers, that you may +enter into their Thoughts, you have yet this higher advance to +make,--you have to enter into their Hearts. As you go to them first for +clear sight, so you must stay with them that you may share at last their +just and mighty Passion. Passion, or "sensation." I am not afraid of the +word; still less of the thing. You have heard many outcries against +sensation lately; but, I can tell you, it is not less sensation we want, +but more. The ennobling difference between one man and another--between +one animal and another--is precisely in this, that one feels more than +another. If we were sponges, perhaps sensation might not be easily got +for us; if we were earthworms, liable at every instant to be cut in two +by the spade, perhaps too much sensation might not be good for us. But, +being human creatures, it is good for us; nay, we are only human in so +far as we are sensitive, and our honor is precisely in proportion to our +passion. + +"You know I said of that great and pure society of the dead, that it +would allow 'no vain or vulgar person to enter there.' What do you +think I meant by a 'vulgar' person? What do you yourselves mean by +'vulgarity'? You will find it a fruitful subject of thought; but, +briefly, the essence of all vulgarity lies in want of sensation. Simple +and innocent vulgarity is merely an untrained and undeveloped bluntness +of body and mind; but in true inbred vulgarity, there is a deathful +callousness, which, in extremity, becomes capable of every sort of +bestial habit and crime, without fear, without pleasure, without horror, +and without pity. It is in the blunt hand and the dead heart, in the +diseased habit, in the hardened conscience, that men become vulgar; they +are forever vulgar, precisely in proportion as they are incapable of +sympathy,--of quick understanding,--of all that, in deep insistence on +the common, but most accurate term, may be called the 'tact' or +touch-faculty of body and soul; that tact which the Mimosa has in trees, +which the pure woman has above all creatures,--fineness and fulness of +sensation, beyond reason,--the guide and sanctifier of reason itself. +Reason can but determine what is true: it is the God-given passion of +humanity which alone can recognize what God has made good. + +"We come then to the great concourse of the Dead, not merely to know +from them what is True, but chiefly to feel with them, what is +Righteous. Now to feel with them we must be like them; and none of us +can become that without pains. As the true knowledge is disciplined and +tested knowledge,--not the first thought that comes,--so the true +passion is disciplined and tested passion,--not the first passion that +comes." + +When we add to this deep feeling and sympathy the versatile poetic +imagination which freely constructs all phases of social life and +conduct, we have that union of the great powers of the mind and heart +which give such concentrated ethical energy to the best literature. + +Shelley, in his "Defence of Poetry" (pp. 13-14, 20), says:-- + +"The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry rests upon a +misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce the moral +improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements which poetry +has created, and propounds schemes and proposes examples of civil and +domestic life; nor is it for want of admirable doctrines that men hate, +and despise, and censure, and deceive, and subjugate one another. But +poetry acts in another and diviner manner. It awakens and enlarges the +mind itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended +combinations of thought. Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of +the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar; +it reproduces all that it represents, and the impersonations clothed in +its Elysian light stand thenceforward in the minds of those who have +once contemplated them, as memorials of that gentle and exalted content +which extends itself over all thoughts and actions with which it +coexists. The great secret of morals is love; or a going out of our own +nature, and an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which +exists in thought, action, or person, not our own. A man, to be greatly +good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in +the place of another and of many others; the pains and pleasures of his +species must become his own. The great instrument of moral good is the +imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting upon the +cause." + +"The drama being that form under which a greater number of modes of +expression of poetry are susceptible of being combined than any other, +the connection of poetry and social good is more observable in the drama +than in whatever other form. And it is indisputable that the highest +perfection of human society has ever corresponded with the highest +dramatic excellence; and that the corruption or the extinction of the +drama in a nation where it has once flourished, is a mark of corruption +of manners, and an extinction of the energies which sustain the soul of +social life." + +The inseparable union of the intellectual, moral, and imaginative +elements is well expressed by Shairp in his "On Poetic Interpretation +of Nature" (pp. 23-24):-- + +"Imagination in its essence seems to be, from the first, intellect and +feeling blended and interpenetrating each other. Thus it would seem that +purely intellectual acts belong to the surface and outside of our +nature,--as you pass onward to the depths, the more vital places of the +soul, the intellectual, the emotional, and the moral elements are all +equally at work,--and this in virtue of their greater reality, their +more essential truth, their nearer contact with the centre of things. To +this region belong all acts of high imagination--the region intermediate +between pure understanding and moral affection, partaking of both +elements, looking equally both ways." + +Besides the moral element or fundamental truth involved, every classic +masterpiece is infused therefore with an element of imagination. Whether +in prose or verse, the artist reveals himself in the creative touch. The +rich coloring and imagery of his own mind give a tint to every object. +The literary artist is never lacking in a certain, perhaps indefinable, +charm. He possesses a magic wand that transforms into beauty every +commonplace object that is met. We observe this in Irving, Hawthorne, +Warner, as well as in still greater literary masters. Our poets, +novelists, and essayists must all dip their pens in this magic ink. Even +Webster and Burke, Lincoln and Sumner, must rise to the region of fancy +if they give their thought sufficient strength of wing to carry it into +the coming years. The themes upon which they discoursed kindled the +imagination and caused them to break forth into figures of speech and +poetic license. The creative fancy is that which gives beauty, +picturesqueness, and charm to all the work of poet or novelist. This +element of fancy diffuses itself as a living glow through every classic +product that was made to endure. In the masters of style the rhythmic +flow and energy of language are enlivened by poetic imagery. Figures of +speech in architectural simplicity and chasteness stand out to symbolize +thought. That keenness and originality which astonishes us in master +thinkers is due to the magic vigor and picturesqueness of their images. +Underneath and permeating all this wealth of ideas is the versatile and +original mind which sees everything in the glow of its own poetic +temperament, kindling the susceptible reader to like inspiration. Among +literary masters this creative power shows itself in an infinite variety +of forms, pours itself through a hundred divergent channels, and links +itself so closely with the individuality of the writer as to merge +imperceptibly into his character and style. But as we cannot secure +wholesome bread without yeast, so we shall fail of a classic without +imagination. + +Stedman says: "If anything great has been achieved without exercise of +the imagination, I do not know it. I am referring to striking +productions and achievements, not to acts of virtue. Nevertheless, at +the last analysis, it might be found that imagination has impelled even +the saints and martyrs of humanity. Imagination is the creative origin +of what is fine, not in art and song alone, but also in all forms of +action--in campaigns, civil triumphs, material conquest. I have +mentioned its indispensability to the scientists." He says further: "Yet +if there is one gift which sets Shakespeare at a distance even from +those who approach him on one or another side, it is that of his +imagination. As he is the chief of poets, we infer that the faculty in +which he is supereminent must be the greatest of poetic endowments. Yes: +in his wonderland, as elsewhere, imagination is king." + +Not only is it true that the vitality of poets and prose writers, the +conceptive power of scientists, inventors, and business organizers, +depend upon the fertility and strength of the imagination, but +throughout the broader reaches of common humanity this power is +everywhere present--constructive and creative. Max Mueller has shown that +the root words of language are imbedded in metaphor, that "Language is +fossil poetry." Again, the mythologies of the different races, grand and +stately, or fair and lovely, are the immediate product of the folk +mind. + +It has been said that "The man of culture is preeminently a man of +imagination." But the kind of mental alertness, freedom, and joy which +is suggested by the term _culture_ may spring up in the heart of every +boy and girl endowed with a modicum of human nature. Hamilton Wright +Mabie, in his "Books and Culture" (pp. 148-149), says:-- + +"The development of the imagination, upon the power of which both +absorption of knowledge and creative capacity depend, is, therefore, a +matter of supreme importance. To this necessity educators will some day +open their eyes, and educational systems will some day conform; +meantime, it must be done mainly by individual work. Knowledge, +discipline, and technical training of the best sort are accessible on +every hand; but the development of the faculty which unites all these in +the highest form of activity must be secured mainly by personal effort. +The richest and most accessible material for this highest education is +furnished by art; and the form of art within reach of every civilized +man, at all times, in all places, is the book. To these masterpieces, +which have been called the books of life, all men may turn with the +assurance that as the supreme achievements of the imagination they have +the power of awakening, stimulating, and enriching it in the highest +degree." + +Besides the strong thread of truth and the work of the swift-glancing +shuttle of imagination, the woven fabric of the literary master must +show a beauteous pattern or form. The melody and music of poetry spring +from a rhythmic form. Apparently stiff and formal, it is yet the +consensus of critics that only through this channel can the soul of +truth and beauty escape from the poet, and manifest itself to others. +Says George Willis Cooke, "The poet worships at the triple shrine of +beauty, love, and truth; and his mission is to teach men that all other +objects and places of veneration are but faint imitations of this one +form of faith." But the spirit of this worship can best embody itself in +the poetic form. + +Schlegel, in his "Dramatic Art and Literature" (p. 340), says:-- + +"The works of genius cannot therefore be permitted to be without form; +but of this there is no danger.... [Some] critics ... interpret it +[form] merely in a mechanical, and not in an organical sense.... +Organical form, again, is innate; it unfolds itself from within, and +acquires its determination contemporaneously with the perfect +development of the germ. We everywhere discover such forms in nature +throughout the whole range of living powers, from the crystallization of +salts and minerals to plants and flowers, and from these again to the +human body. In the fine arts, as well as in the domain of nature,--the +supreme artist,--all genuine forms are organical, that is, determined by +the quality of the work. In a word, the form is nothing but a +significant exterior, the speaking physiognomy of each thing, which, as +long as it is not disfigured by any destructive accident, gives a true +evidence of its hidden essence." + +Some products, like the "Paradise Lost," "Thanatopsis," and "Hamlet," +show such a perfect fitness of form to thought that every effort to +change or modify is profanation. The classic form and thought go +together. As far as possible, therefore, it is desirable to leave these +creations in their native strength, and not to mar the work of masters. +The poet has moulded his thought and feeling into these forms and +transfused them with his own imagery and individuality. The power of the +writer is in his peculiar mingling of the poetic elements. Our English +and American classics, therefore, should be read in their original form +as far as possible. + +A fixed form is not always necessary. We need many of the stories and +epics that were written in other languages. Fortunately some of the +works of the old poets are capable of taking on a new dress. The story +of Ulysses has been told in verse and prose, in translation, paraphrase, +and simple narrative for children. Much, indeed of the old beauty and +original strength of the poem is lost in all these renderings; but the +central truths which give the poetic work its persistent value are still +retained. Such a poem is like a person; the underlying thought, though +dressed up by different persons with varying taste and skill, is yet the +same; the same heart beats beneath the kingly robes and the peasant's +frock. Robinson Crusoe has had many renderings, but remains the same old +story in spite of variations. The Bible has been translated into all +modern tongues, but it is a classic in each. The Germans claim they have +as good a Shakespeare as we. + +But many of the best masterpieces were originally written in other +languages, and to be of use to us the ancient form of thought must be +broken. The spirit of the old masters must be poured into new moulds. In +educating our children we need the stories of Bellerophon, Perseus, +Hercules, Rustum, Tell, Siegfried, Virginius, Roland, Wallace, King +Arthur. Happily some of the best modern writers have come to our help. +Walter Scott, Macaulay, Dickens, Kingsley, Hawthorne, Irving, and Arnold +have gathered up the old wine and poured it into new bottles. They have +told the old stories in simple Anglo-Saxon for the boys and girls of our +homes and schools. Nor are these renderings of the old masters lacking +in that element of fancy and vigor of expression which distinguishes +fertile writers. They have entered freely and fondly into the old +spirit, and have allowed it to pour itself copiously through these +modern channels. It takes a poet, in fact, to modernize an ancient +story. There are, indeed, many renderings of the old stories which are +not ideal, which, however, we sometimes use for lack of anything better. + +From the preceding discussion we may conclude that a choice piece of +literature must embody a lasting truth, reveal the permeating glow of an +artist's imagination, and find expression in some form of beauty. But +these elements are so mingled and interlaced, so organically grown into +one living plant, that even the critics have given up the effort to +dissect and isolate them. + +There are other strength-conferring qualities in good literature which +will be discussed more fully in those chapters which deal with the +particular literary materials selected for use in the schools. + +Among the topics to be treated in connection with materials which +illustrate them, are the following: the strong handling of essential +historical ideas in literature; the best novel and drama, as sources and +means of culture; religious ideals as embodied in the choicest forms of +literature; the powerful patriotic and social influence of the best +writers; the educative quality of the humorous phases of literature; the +great writers as models of skill and enthusiasm in teaching. + +In the foregoing pages the significance of literature among great +studies has been but briefly and inadequately suggested by these few +quotations and comments. It would be easy to multiply similar testimony +from the most competent judges. But enough has been said to remind +teachers of this rich treasure house of educative materials. Those +teachers who wish to probe deeper into this subject will find that it +has been handled in a masterly way by some of the great essayists and +critics. We will suggest the following for more elaborate study:-- + +Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies." The power and charm of Ruskin's writing +appears in full measure in these essays. + +Carlyle's "Heroes and Hero Worship," especially the chapters on "The +Hero as Poet," and "The Hero as Man of Letters." + +Shelley's "Defence of Poetry" (edited by Cook, and published by Ginn & +Co.) is a literary masterpiece of rare beauty and charm. + +Emerson's "Essay on History." + +George Willis Cooke, "Poets and Problems" (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.). +The first chapter, "The Poet as Teacher," is very suggestive, while the +chapters on Tennyson, Ruskin, and Browning are fine introductions for +those who will study the authors themselves. + +"The Book Lover," James Baldwin (McClurg & Co.). + +Charles Kingsley's "Literary and General Essays" (Macmillan & Co.). +Chapter on "English Literature," and others. + +Scudder's "Literature in Schools" (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.). Excellent +for teachers. + +J. C. Shairp, "On Poetic Interpretation of Nature" (Houghton, Mifflin, & +Co.). + +Matthew Arnold's "Sweetness and Light." + +Lowell's "Books and Libraries" (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.). + +Edmund Clarence Stedman's "The Nature and Elements of Poetry" (Houghton, +Mifflin, & Co.). + +It is not implied that even the essays of critics on the merits of +literature can take the place of a study of the works of the best +writers. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE USE OF MASTERPIECES AS WHOLES + + +With the increasing tendency to consider the literary quality and +fitness of the reading matter used in our schools, longer poems and +stories, like "Snow Bound," "Rip Van Winkle," "Hiawatha," "Aladdin," +"The Courtship of Miles Standish," "The Great Stone Face," and even +"Lady of the Lake" and "Julius Caesar," are read and studied as complete +wholes. Many of the books now used as readers are not collections of +short selections and extracts, as formerly, but editions of single +poems, or kindred groups, like "Sohrab and Rustum," or the "Arabian +Nights," or "Gulliver's Travels," or a collection of a few complete +stories or poems of a single author, as Hawthorne's "Stories of the +White Hills," or Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal," and other poems. Even +the regular series of readers are often made up largely of longer poems +and prose masterpieces. + +The significance of this change is the deeper regard which is being paid +to good literature as a strong agency of true culture. The real thought +and the whole thought of the best authors is sought for, presupposing, +of course, that they are within the range of the children's +comprehension. The reading books of a generation ago contained +oftentimes just as choice literary materials as now; but the chief +purpose of its selection was to give varied exercise in oral reading, +not to cultivate a taste for good literature by furnishing complete +poetic and prose specimens for full and enthusiastic study. The teachers +who lay stress on elocutionary skill are not quite satisfied with this +drift toward literary study as such. It remains to be seen how both +aims, good oral rendering and superior literary training, can be secured +at the same time. + +At the close of the last chapter of this volume we give a carefully +selected series of the literary materials adapted to the different +grades. This body of selections, taken from a wide range of literature, +will constitute a basis for our whole treatise. Having made plain by our +previous discussion what we understand by the quality of literary +masterpieces, we will next consider why these poems and stories should +be read and studied as complete wholes, not by fragments or by extracts, +but as whole works of literary art. + +1. A stronger interest is developed by the study, for several weeks, of +a longer complete masterpiece. The interest grows as we move into such a +story or poem as "Sohrab and Rustum." A longer and closer acquaintance +with the characters represented produces a stronger personal sympathy, +as in the case of Cordelia in "King Lear," or of Silas Marner. The time +usually spent in school upon some classic fragment or selection is +barely sufficient to start up an interest. It does not bring us past the +threshold of a work of art. We drop it just at the point where the +momentum of interest begins to show itself. Think of the full story of +Aladdin or Crusoe or Ulysses. Take an extract from "Lady of the Lake," +"Rip Van Winkle," "Evangeline." The usual three or four pages given in +the reader, even if taken from the first part, would scarcely suffice to +bring the children into the movement of the story; but oftentimes the +fragment is extracted from the body of the play without preliminary or +sequence. In reading a novel, story, or poem, we do not begin to feel +strongly this interest till two or three chapters are passed. Then it +begins to deepen, the plot thickens, and a desire springs up to follow +out the fortune of the characters. We become interested in the persons, +and our thoughts are busy with them in the midst of other employments or +in leisure moments. The personality of the hero takes hold of us as that +of an intimate friend. Such an interest, gradually awakened and deepened +as we move into the comprehension of a work of art, is the open sesame +to all the riches of an author's storehouse of thought. + +This kind of interest presupposes in the children the ability to +appreciate and enjoy the thought, and even the style, of the author. +Interest in this sense is a fundamental test of the suitableness of the +story or poem to lay hold of the inner life of the children. In many +cases there will be difficulties at the outset in awakening this genuine +form of interest, but if the selection is appropriate, the preparation +and skill of the teacher will be equal to its accomplishment. + +As we get deeper into the study of masterpieces, we shall discover that +there are stronger and deepening sources of a genuine interest. Even the +difficulties and problems which are supposed to dampen interest will be +found, with proper study, to be the source of a stronger appreciation +and enthusiasm. The refining and strengthening of these interests in +literature leads on steadily to the final goal of study, a cultivated +taste and habit of using the best books. + +2. A complete work of a master writer is a unit of thought. It is almost +as complete a whole as a living organism. Its parts, like the branches +of a tree, have no vitality except in communication with the living +trunk. In the "Vision of Sir Launfal," there is a single thought, like a +golden thread, running through the poem, which gives unity and +perfection to it. The separate parts of the poem have very great +intrinsic beauty and charm, but their deeper and more vital relation is +to this central thought. The story of "The Great Stone Face" is the +grouping of a series of interesting episodes along the path of a single +developing motive in the life of Ernest. A great writer would scarcely +waste his time in trying to produce a work of art without a controlling +motive, collecting his thought, as it were, around a vacuum. This +hub-thought must become the centre of all intelligent study. The effort +to unravel the motive of the author is the deeper stimulus of thoughtful +work by both teacher and pupils. + +In other studies, like geography, history, and natural science, we are +gradually picking out the important units of study, the centres of +thought and interest, the types. This effort to escape from the +wilderness of jumbled and fractional details into the sunlit region of +controlling ideas, is a substantial sign of progress in the teacher's +work. In literature these units have been already wrought out into +perfect wholes by first-class thinkers. + +In the greatest of all studies, the works of the literary masters, we +have the surest models of inspiring thought, organized and focussed upon +essential topics. Teachers, in some cases, are so little accustomed to +lift their heads above the tall grass and weeds around them, that they +are overtaken by surprise and bewilderment when called upon to take +broad and liberal surveys of the topography of school studies. + +It is fortunate that we have, within the fenced boundaries of the +commonly recognized school course, these shining specimens of organized, +and, what we might call, intelligent thought. + +We can set the children at work digging for the root-thoughts of those +who are the masters of strong thinking. This digging process is not +wholly out of place with children. Their abundant energy can be turned +to digging if there is anything worth digging for. Ruskin, in "Sesame +and Lilies," says:-- + +"And it is just the same with men's best wisdom. When you come to a good +book, you must ask yourself: 'Am I inclined to work as an Australian +miner would? Are my pickaxes and shovels in good order, and am I in good +trim myself, my sleeves well up to the elbow, and my breath good, and my +temper?' And, keeping the figure a little longer, even at cost of +tiresomeness, for it is a thoroughly useful one, the metal you are in +search of, being the author's mind or meaning, his words are as the rock +which you have to crush and smelt in order to get at it. And your +pickaxes are your own care, wit and learning; your smelting furnace is +your own thoughtful soul. Do not hope to get at any good author's +meaning without those tools and that fire; often you will need sharpest, +finest chiselling, and patientest fusing, before you can gather one +grain of the metal." + +It is not the dreamy, hammock-soothing, vacation idling with pleasant +stories that we are now considering. This happy lotus-land has also its +fitting season, in the sultry heats of summer, when tired people put +their minds out to grass. Any study will grow dull and sleepy that lacks +energy. + +Teachers who shrink back with anxiety lest works such as Irving's +"Sketch Book," "Evangeline," "Merchant of Venice," and "Marmion," are +too hard for children in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, should +consider for a moment what classical preparatory schools for centuries +have required of boys from ten to twelve years of age, the study of +"Caesar," "Eutropius," and "Virgil," of "Herodotus" and "Xenophon," in +unknown languages extremely difficult to master. Yet it has been +claimed for ages, by the best scholars, that this was the true +strength-producing discipline for boys. It would hardly be extravagant +to say that the masterpieces of literature now used, in our intermediate +and grammar grades, are not a quarter so difficult and four times as +appropriate and interesting as the Latin and Greek authors just cited. +It seems obvious that we are summoned to a more energetic study and +treatment of our masterpieces. + +This struggle to get at the deeper undercurrent of thought in an author +is the true stimulus and discipline of such studies. + +A great author approaches his deeper thought step by step. He has many +side-lights, variety of episode and preliminary. He provides for the +proper scenery and setting for his thought. He does not bring us at +once, point blank, upon his hero or upon the hero's fate. There is +great variety of inference and suggestion in the preparation and +grouping of the artist's work. As in climbing some mountain peak, we +wind through canon, along rugged hillsides and spurs, only now and then +catching a glimpse of the towering object of our climb, reaching, after +many a devious and toilsome march, the rugged backbone of the giant; so +the poet carries us along many a winding road, through byways and +thickets, over hill and plain, before he brings us into full view of the +main object of search. But after awhile we do stand face to face with a +real character, and are conscious of the framework upon which it is +built. King Saul has run his course and is about to reap the reward of +his doings, to lie down in the bed which he has prepared. We see the +author's deeper plan, and realize that his characters act along the line +of the silent but invincible laws of social life and conduct. These deep +significant truths of human experience do not lie upon the surface. If +we are really to get a deep insight into human character, as portrayed +by the masters, we must not be in haste. We should be willing to follow +our guide patiently and await results. + +A complete masterpiece, studied as a whole, reveals the author's power. +It gives some adequate perception of his style and compass. A play, a +poem, a novel, a biography, is a unit. No single part can give a +satisfactory idea of the whole. A single scene from "Crusoe" or from +the "Merchant of Venice" does not give us the author's meaning. An +extract from one of Burke's speeches supplies no adequate notion of his +statesmanlike grasp of thought. To get some impression of what Daniel +Webster was we must read a whole speech. A literary product is like a +masterpiece of architecture. The whole must stand out in the due +proportion of its parts to reveal the master's thought. + + "Walk about Zion, and go round about her: + Tell the towers thereof. + Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; + That ye may tell it to the generations following." + +To have read through with care and thoughtful appreciation a single +literary masterpiece and to have felt the full measure of a master's +power, is a rare and lasting stroke of culture. As children move up +through the grades they may receive the strong and abiding impress of +the masters of style. Let it come to them in its undiminished strength. +To feel the powerful tonic effect of the best stories and poems suited +to their age will give them such an appreciation of what is genuine and +good in literature, that frivolous and trashy reading is measured at its +true value. + +The fragments and extracts with which our higher readers are filled are +not without power and influence upon culture. They have given many +children their first taste of the beauty and strength of literature. +But it is a great mistake to tear these gems of thought from their +setting in literature and life, and to jam them into the close and +crowded quarters of a text-book. Why satisfy ourselves with crumbs and +fragments when a full rich feast may be had for the asking? + +In some cases it is said that the reading of fragments of large poems or +plays has excited curiosity and led to the reading of the larger wholes. +This is doubtless true, but in the greater number of cases we are +inclined to think the habit of being satisfied with fragments has +checked the formation of any appreciation of literary wholes. This +tendency to be satisfied with piecemeal performances illustrates +painfully the shallowness and incoherency of much of our educational +work. If teachers cannot think beyond a broken page of Shakespeare, why +should children burden themselves with the labor of thought? Charles +Kingsley, in his essay on English literature, says:-- + +"But I must plead for whole works. 'Extracts' and 'Select Beauties' are +about as practical as the worthy in the old story, who, wishing to sell +his house, brought one of the bricks to market as a specimen. It is +equally unfair on the author and on the pupil; for it is impossible to +show the merits or demerits of a work of art, even to explain the truth +or falsehood of any particular passage, except by viewing the book as an +organic whole." + +What would the authors themselves say upon seeing their work thus +mutilated? There is even a touch of the farcical in the effort to read +naturally and forcibly and discuss intelligently a fragment like +Antony's speech over Caesar. + +3. The moral effect of a complete masterpiece is deeper and more +permanent. Not only do we see a person acting in more situations, +revealing thus his motives and hidden springs of action, but the thread +of his thought and life is unravelled in a steady sequence. Later acts +are seen as the result of former tendencies. The silent reign of moral +law in human actions is discovered. Slowly but surely conduct works out +its own reward along the line of these deeper principles of action. Even +in the books read in the early grades these profound lessons of life +come out clear and strong. Robinson Crusoe, Theseus, Siegfried, +Hiawatha, Beauty and the Beast, Jason, King Arthur, and Ulysses are not +holiday guests. They are face to face with the serious problems of life. +Each person is seen in the present make-up and tendency of his +character. When the eventual wind-up comes, be it a collapse or an +ascension, we see how surely and fatally such results spring from such +motives and tendencies. Washington is found to be the first in the +hearts of his countrymen; Arnold is execrated; King Lear moves on +blindly to the reward which his own folly has prearranged; Macbeth +entangles himself in a network of fatal errors; Adam Bede emerges from +the bitter ordeal of disappointment with his manly qualities subdued but +stronger. Give the novelist or poet time and opportunity, and he is the +true interpreter of conduct and destiny. He reveals in real and yet +ideal characters the working out in life of the fundamental principles +of moral action. + +4. A classic work is often a picture of an age, a panoramic survey of an +historical epoch. Scott's "Marmion" is such a graphic and dramatic +portrayal of feudalism in Scotland. The castle with its lord, +attendants, and household, the steep frowning walls and turrets, the +moat, drawbridge, and dungeon, the chapel, halls, and feastings, the +knight clad in armor, on horseback with squire and troop,--these are the +details of the first picture. The cloister and nuns, with their +sequestered habits and dress, their devotion and masses, supply the +other characteristic picture of that age, with Rome in the background. +The court scene and ball in King James's palace, before the day of +Flodden, the view of Scotland's army from the mountain side, with the +motley hordes from highland and lowland and neighboring isles, and +lastly, the battle of Flodden itself, where wisdom is weighed and valor +put to the final test,--all these are but the parts of a well-adjusted +picture of life in feudal times on the Scottish border. There is +incidental to the narrative much vivid description of Scotch scenery +and geography, of mountain or valley, of frowning castle or rocky coast, +much of Scotch tradition, custom, superstition, and clannishness. The +scenes in cloister and dungeon and on the battle-field are more +intensely real than historical narratives can be. While not strict +history, this is truer than history because it brings us closer to the +spirit of that time. Marmion and Douglas stand out more clear and +lifelike than the men of history. + +Although feudalism underwent constant changes and modifications in every +country of Europe, it is still true that "Marmion" is a type of feudal +conditions, not only in Scotland, but in other parts of Europe, and a +full perception of Scott's poem will make one at home in any part of +European history during feudal times. As a historical picture of life, +it is a key to the spirit and animating ideas that swayed the Western +nations during several centuries. It is fiction, not history, in the +usual sense, and yet it gives a more real and vivid consciousness of the +forces at work in that age than history proper. + +While the plot of the story covers a narrow field, only a few days of +time and a small area of country, its roots go deep into the whole +social, religious, and political fabric of that time. It touches real +history at a critical point in the relations between England and +Scotland. It is stirred also by the spirit of the Scotch bard and of +minstrelsy. It shows what a hold Rome had in those days, even in the +highlands of Scotland. It is full of Scotch scenery and geography. It +rings with the clarion of war and of battle. It reveals the contempt in +which letters were held even by the most powerful nobles. Oxen are +described as drawing cannon upon the field of Flodden, and in time these +guns broke down the walls of feudalism. As a historical picture Marmion +is many-sided, and the roots of the story reach out through the whole +fabric of society, showing how all the parts cohere. Such a piece of +historical literature may serve as a centre around which to gather much +and varied information through other school and home readings. Children +may find time to read "Ivanhoe," "The Crusades," "Roland," "Don +Quixote," "The Golden Legend," "Macbeth," "Goetz von Berlichingen," etc. +They will have a nucleus upon which to gather many related facts and +ideas. It should also be brought into proper connection with the regular +lessons in history and geography. History reveals itself to the poet in +these wonderfully vivid and lifelike types. In many of these historical +poems, as "William Tell," "Evangeline," "Crusoe," "The Nibelung Song," +"Miles Standish," the "Odyssey," "Sohrab and Rustum," some hero stands +in the centre of the narrative, and can be understood as a +representative figure of his times only as the whole series of events in +his life is unrolled. + +Where the study of larger literary wholes has been taken up in good +faith, it has brought a rich blessing of intelligent enthusiasm. Even +in primary schools, where literary wholes like "Hiawatha," "Robinson +Crusoe," and the "Golden Touch" are handled with a view to exploit their +whole content, there has been a remarkable enrichment of the whole life +of the children. Such a treatment has gone so deep into the problems and +struggling conditions of life delineated, that the children have become +occupied with the tent-making, boat-building, spinning, and various +constructions incident to the development of the story. + +5. If it is true, as clearly expressed by strong thinkers in the most +various fields of deeper investigation, that many of the chief literary +products that have come down to us from former ages are the only means +by which we can be brought into vital touch and sympathy with the spirit +and motives then ruling among men; if it is equally true that children +will not grow up to the proper appreciation and interpretation of our +present life, except as they have experienced, in thought and interest +at least, the chief struggles and motives of our fathers,--we may find +in these historic and literary materials the deep and living springs of +true education for children. + +The thought of the educative power of this ancestral literature has been +forcibly expressed by many eminent writers. + +Scudder, in "Literature in School," says:-- + +"There is the element of continuity. In the Roman household there stood +the cinerary urns which held the ashes of the ancestors of the family. +Do you think the young ever forgot the unbroken line of descent by which +they climbed to the heroic founders of the state? In the Jewish family +the child was taught to think and speak of the God of Abraham, and of +Isaac, and of Jacob. In that great succession he heard a voice which +told him his nation was not of a day. It is the business of the old to +transmit to the young the great traditions of the past of the country; +to feed anew the undying flame of patriotism. + +"It is this concentration in poetry and the more lofty prose which gives +to literary art its preciousness as a symbol of human endeavor, and +renders it the one essential and most serviceable means for keeping +alive the smouldering coals of patriotism. It is the torch passed from +one hand to another, signaling hope and warning; and the one place above +all others where its light should be kindled is where the young meet +together, in those American temples which the people have built in every +town and village in the country." + +Mabie, in "Books and Culture" (pp. 88, 89-113), says:-- + +"Now, it is upon this imperishable food which the past has stored up +through the genius of great artists that later generations feed and +nourish themselves. It is through intimate contact with these +fundamental conceptions, worked out with such infinite pain and +patience, that the individual experience is broadened to include the +experience of the race." + +"The student of literature, therefore, finds in its noblest works not +only the ultimate results of race experience and the characteristic +quality of race genius, but the highest activity of the greatest minds +in their happiest and most expansive moments. In this commingling of the +best that is in the race and the best that is in the individual, lies +the mystery of that double revelation which makes every work of art a +disclosure, not only of the nature of the man behind it, but of all men +behind him. In this commingling, too, is preserved the most precious +deposit of what the race has been and done, and of what the man has +seen, felt, and known. In the nature of things no educational material +can be richer, none so fundamentally expansive and illuminative." + +Emerson, in his "Essay on History," says:-- + +"The advancing man discovers how deep a property he has in +literature,--in all fable as well as in all history. He finds that the +poet was no odd fellow who described strange and impossible situations, +but that universal man wrote by his pen a confession true for one and +true for all. His own secret biography he finds in lines wonderfully +intelligible to him, dotted down before he was born. One after another +he comes up in his private adventures with every fable of AEsop, of +Homer, of Hafiz, of Ariosto, of Chaucer, of Scott, and verifies them +with his own head and hands. + +"The beautiful fables of the Greeks, being proper creations of the +imagination and not of the fancy, are universal verities. What a range +of meanings and what perpetual pertinence has the story of Prometheus! +Besides its primary value as the first chapter of the history of Europe +(the mythology thinly veiling authentic facts, the invention of the +mechanic arts and the migration of colonies), it gives the history of +religion with some closeness to the faith of later ages." + +"Thus in all ways does the soul concentrate and reproduce its treasures +for each pupil. He, too, shall pass through the whole cycle of +experience. He shall collect into a focus the rays of nature. History no +longer shall be a dull book. It shall walk incarnate in every just and +wise man. You shall not tell me by languages and titles a catalogue of +the volumes you have read. You shall make me feel what periods you have +lived. A man shall be the Temple of Fame. He shall walk, as the poets +have described that goddess, in a robe painted all over with wonderful +events and experiences; his own form and features by their exalted +intelligence shall be that variegated vest. I shall find in him the +Foreworld; in his childhood the Age of Gold; the Apples of Knowledge; +the Argonautic Expedition; the calling of Abraham; the building of the +Temple; the Advent of Christ; Dark Ages; the Revival of Letters; the +Reformation; the discovery of new lands; the opening of new sciences, +and new regions in man." + +6. It is not intended to limit the reading of the schools to the longer +classics, such as "Snow-Bound," "The Vision of Sir Launfal," and +Webster's Bunker Hill speech, etc. There are also many shorter poems and +stories, ballads, and myths, that are equally good and stand out as +strong, complete expressions of thought such as Tennyson's "Brook," +Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith," Whittier's "Barefoot Boy," and many +others. These shorter pieces should be interspersed among the longer, +and freely used to give greater variety and zest to reading exercises. +Many of the finest literary products of the language are found in these +shorter poems and stories. They also should be studied for the beauty +and unity of thought contained in each. + +7. But the _sustained power_ gained from the full and rich study of +longer classics is the best fruitage of the reading work. Every term of +school should lead the children into the full appreciation of one or +more of these masterly works. The value of such study is well expressed +by Scudder in his "Literature in Schools" (pp. 54-56):-- + +"The real point of practical reform, however, is not in the preference +of American authors to English, but in the careful concentration of the +minds of boys and girls upon standard American literature, in +opposition to a dissipation over a desultory and mechanical acquaintance +with scraps from a variety of sources, good, bad, and indifferent. In my +paper on 'Nursery Classics in School,' I argued that there is a true +economy in substituting the great books of that portion of the world's +literature which represents the childhood of the world's mind for the +thin, quickly forgotten, feeble imaginations of insignificant +bookmakers. There is an equally noble economy in engaging the child's +mind, when it is passing out of an immature state into one of rational, +intelligent appropriation of literature, upon such carefully chosen +classic work as shall invigorate and deepen it. There is plenty of +vagrancy in reading; the public libraries and cheap papers are +abundantly able to satisfy the truant: but it ought to be recognized +once for all that the schools are to train the mind into appreciation of +literature, not to amuse it with idle diversion; to this end, the +simplest and most direct method is to place before boys and girls for +their regular task in reading, not scraps from this and that author, +duly paragraphed and numbered, but a wisely selected series of works by +men whom their country honors, and who have made their country worth +living in. + +"The continuous reading of a classic is in itself a liberal education; +the fragmentary reading of commonplace lessons in minor morals, such as +make up much of our reading-books, is a pitiful waste of growing mental +powers. Even were our reading-books composed of choice selections from +the highest literature, they would still miss the very great advantage +which follows upon the steady growth of acquaintance with a sustained +piece of literary art. I do not insist, of course, that 'Evangeline' +should be read at one session of the school, though it would be +exceedingly helpful in training the powers of the mind if, after this +poem had been read day by day for a few weeks, it were to be taken up +first in its separate thirds, and then in an entire reading. What I +claim is that the boy or girl who has read 'Evangeline' through steadily +has acquired a certain power in appropriating literature which is not to +be had by reading a collection of minor poems,--the power of +long-sustained attention and interest." + +8. The study of literary wholes, whether longer or shorter, in the +common school is based upon the notion that the full, rich thought of +the author is the absorbing purpose of our effort. Literature is a +reservoir of mental refinement and riches, for the gaining of which we +can afford to sacrifice many things and make many even good things +subordinate. The words of the wise man in recommending wisdom to the +sons of men are not inappropriate: "Hear; for I will speak of excellent +things and the opening of my lips shall be right things, and wickedness +is an abomination to my lips. Receive my instruction and not silver; and +knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; +and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." + +To get at the wisdom of the best thinkers of the world, so far as it is +accessible to children, is the straightforward aim of such study. The +teachers of reading, if they but realized it, are the guardians of a +temple more beautiful than the Parthenon in the days of Pericles, more +impressive than the sacred towers and porticos at Jerusalem; they are +the custodians of a treasure far more rich and lasting than that in any +palace of a king. Such comparisons, indeed, are almost belittling to the +dignity of our subject. How noble and vast is the temple of literature! +What single mind can grasp its proportions or the boundless beauty of +its decorations? Moreover, it is a living temple, ever springing up +afresh, in all its pristine strength and beauty, whereever minds are +found reverent, studious, and thoughtful. + +9. The old proverb suggests that we "beware of the man of one book," and +is significant of a strong practical truth. Our modern life demands a +somewhat broader basis of operations than one book can furnish. But a +few of the great books, well mastered, give the main elements of +strength. + +Mabie has a short chapter on the "Books of Life" which "include the +original, creative, first-hand books in all literatures, and constitute +in the last analysis a comparatively small group, with which any +student can thoroughly familiarize himself. The literary impulse of the +race has expressed itself in a great variety of works of varying charm +and power, but the books which are fountain-heads of vitality, ideas, +and beauty are few in number." + +The effect upon the teacher of the study of a few of the "Books of Life" +is deserving of emphasis. First, by limiting the choice to a few things, +teachers are able, without burdening themselves, to penetrate into the +deeper thought and meaning of standard works which are good specimens +and criteria of all superior literature. Teachers are enabled thus to +become, in a limited way, real students of literature. It has been +observed, not seldom, that teachers of usual capacity, when turned into +a single rich field like that of "Hiawatha" or the "Merchant of Venice" +or "The Lays of Ancient Rome" or the "Lady of the Lake," receive an +awakening which means much for their general culture and teaching power. +The scattering of the attention over miscellaneous selections and +fragments can hardly produce this awakening. + +Certain difficulties are incident to the reading of longer works as +wholes which it is well to recognize. + +1. There is no such nice grading of verbal and language difficulties as +has been wrought out in some of the standard readers. On this point +Scudder says (p. 41 of "Literature in Schools"):-- + +"The drawback to the use of these nursery classics in the schoolroom +undoubtedly has been in the absence of versions which are intelligible +to children of the proper age, reading by themselves. The makers of the +graded reading-books have expended all their ingenuity in grading the +ascent. They have been so concerned about the gradual enlargement of +their vocabularies that they have paid slight attention to the ideas +which the words were intended to convey. But just this gradation may be +secured through the use of these stories, and it only needs that they +should be written out in a form as simple, especially as regards the +order of words, as that which obtains in the reading-books of equivalent +grade." + +But in the longer classics for more advanced grades there can be no such +adaptation, and the author's form should be retained. The authors of +"Rip Van Winkle" or "Snow-Bound" or "Horatius at the Bridge" were not +trying to phrase their thought to meet the needs of children, but wrote +as the spirit moved them. The greater vigor and intensity of the +author's style will make up, however, in large part, for this defect in +easy grading. Children are not so much afraid of big or new words, if +there is attractiveness and power of thought. The larger richness and +variety of language in a fruitful author is a positive advantage as +compared with the leanness and dulness of many a smoothly graded reading +lesson. + +2. It is claimed that there is, in some masterpieces, like "Evangeline" +or one of Webster's speeches, a monotony and tiresome sameness which +grows burdensome to pupils ere the conclusion is reached. At least there +is much less variety in style and thought than in an equal number of +pages in the usual reader. + +In some cases there is good ground for this criticism. It may be a +defect in the writer's style, or in not finding a suitable selection for +the class. In some cases it is due to lack of power in the teacher to +bring the children properly into close contact with the author's +thought. + +But dulness and apathy are often found in reading short selections as +well as in longer ones. Generally speaking, longer pieces are apt to +kindle a deeper and stronger interest. Many of the longer selections +have also great variety of rhetorical style. Dickens's "Christmas Carol" +is employed in one of the drill books in reading to illustrate all +phases of voice and tone. + +3. It is not an unusual experience to find that a longer story or poem +seems too hard for a class, and it may be impossible to interest them +because of verbal or thought difficulties. But the teacher should not +give up the struggle at once. Often, in a new author, difficulties that +seem at first insurmountable give way before vigorous effort, and a +lively interest is awakened. This has been noticed in Macaulay's "Lays +of Ancient Rome," in Irving's "Rip Van Winkle," in Scott's "Lady of the +Lake," also in Webster's "Speech in reply to Hayne." The teacher should +not depend wholly upon the author's making himself intelligible and +interesting to the children. His own enthusiasm, clear grasp of thought, +suggestive assignment of lesson, and skill in comment and question +should awaken insight and attention. It is advisable at times to pass by +specially difficult passages, or leave them for later special study. + +4. In some schools it is not possible to secure books containing the +complete classics. But even the regular readers often contain complete +poems and stories, and several of the large companies are publishing +many of the complete masterpieces in good print and binding, no more +expensive than the regular readers. + +5. The greatest difficulty, after all, is the lack of experience of many +teachers with the longer classics. In many cases their inability to +select what would suit their classes is a hindrance. But the experience +of many teachers with these materials is rapidly settling the question +as to the place and importance of the leading masterpieces as well as of +many shorter selections. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LITERARY MATERIALS FOR THE FIVE UPPER GRADES + + +There is great abundance and variety of choice reading matter suitable +for the grades from the fourth to the eighth inclusive. The best sets of +reading-books have drawn from this rich material, but no series of +readers can compass adequately the field. Some of the longer classical +stories and poems have been incorporated into readers, but a single set +of readers cannot be made large enough to contain a quarter of the +valuable reading matter which should be furnished in these grades. The +large publishing houses now supply, at moderate expense, in small and +convenient book form, a great variety of the very best complete +masterpieces. In order to show more clearly the richness and variety of +this material, we will discuss briefly the principal kinds of reading +matter which are distributed through these five grades. We assume that +during the first three years of school life children have learned how to +read, having mastered the forms and symbols of printed language. At the +beginning of the fourth grade, therefore, they are prepared to read some +of those choice literary products which constitute a part of the +permanent literature of the world. After having collected and arranged +these products, we find that they fall into several distinctly marked +classes. + +1. The Myths. + +These include such stories as Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood +Tales," Peabody's "Old Greek Folk Stories," Kingsley's "Greek Heroes," +"The Story of Ulysses," Bryant's translation of the "Iliad" and +"Odyssey," Pope's "Homer," and many other prose and poetic renderings of +the Greek myths. + +Another group of myths include Mabie's "Norse Stories," "Heroes of +Asgard," "Siegfried," "Myths of Northern Lands," Skinner's "Readings in +Folk Lore," and many forms of the Norse myths. The story of "Hiawatha" +belongs also to this group, while some of the earlier English and Roman +myths belong to the same class. + +The choicest of these mythical stories are distributed as reading matter +through the fourth and fifth grades. They constitute a large share of +the most famous literature of the great civilized nations. It is worth +while to name over the virtues of these stories and poems. + +They have sprung directly out of the people's life, they are race +products, worked over from age to age by poetic spirits, and finally +gathered into enduring form by a Homer, Virgil, or Spenser. The best of +our later poets and prose masters have employed their finest skill in +rendering them into simple and poetic English, as Bryant, Kingsley, +Longfellow, Pope, Hawthorne, Palmer, Tennyson, Church, and many more. + +They are the best descriptions we have of the customs, ideas, and dress, +the homes, habits, and motives, of the ancestral races. Many other +sources, as temples, ruins, tombs, coins, etc., help to explain this +early history; but this literature calls it again into life and puts +meaning into all other sources of knowledge. + +The influence which this early literature has had upon later historical +growth of the great races is overwhelming, and is plain to the eyes of +even unscholarly persons. The root from which the marvellous tree of +Greek civilization grew is seen in Homer's poems. + +In these myths we find those commanding characters which typify the +strength and virtues of the race, as Achilles, Ulysses, Siegfried, +Penelope, Thor, Apollo, Theseus, Hiawatha, Orpheus, Diana, Vulcan, +Prometheus, and the Muses. + +A close acquaintance with these creative ideas of the early world is +necessary to an understanding of all subsequent life and literature. And +it is not merely the names of Greek divinities and definitions of their +character and qualities which put meaning into the numberless allusions +of modern writers. One reason why many modern thinkers smile at the +triteness and childishness of Greek fable is, that they have not caught +the spirit and meaning of the Greek story. The great masters of thought, +like Goethe, Shakespeare, Emerson, Tennyson, and Bryant, have seen +deeper. + +It is, moreover, in childhood, during the early school years especially, +that we may best appreciate and enjoy these poetic creations of an early +world. It is hardly to be expected that people whose youth has been +clamped into the mould of commonplace and sensuous facts, and whose +later years have been crusted over with modern materialism and +commercialism, should listen with any patience to Orpheus and the Muses, +or even to the wood notes of Pan. + +We hardly need to dwell upon the idea that the old heroic myths are the +delight of boys and girls, and that this sympathy for the myth is the +foundation of its educative power. Nor is it the purpose of the school +to warp the minds of children into this one channel of growth. The +historical and scientific studies run parallel with the myth, and give +strength for realities. + +It is not difficult to see that music, the drama, and the fine arts +spring from these old myths as from their chief source. They furnish +motive to many of the greatest works of dramatist, composer, painter, +and sculptor, in all the ages since. AEschylus and the Greek dramatists, +Goethe and Wagner, Fenelon and Shakespeare, drew abundantly from these +sources. + +A few of the striking characters of this great age of heroic myths +should be treated with such fulness as to stand out clearly to the +children and appeal to the heart as well as to the head. Ulysses and +Siegfried stand in the centre of two of the chief stories, and exemplify +great qualities of character, strength, wisdom, and nobleness of mind. + +In the third grade the children have had an oral introduction to some of +the old stories, and have had a spirited entrance to Mythland. This oral +treatment of the stories is a fitting and necessary prelude to the +reading work of the fourth and fifth grades. It is more fully discussed, +together with the art of the story-teller, in "The Special Method in +Primary Reading and Story." + +Closely related to the myths, and kindred in spirit, are such choice +reading materials as "The Arabian Nights," "King of the Golden River," +Stockton's "Fanciful Tales," "The Pied Piper," and a number of shorter +poems and stories found in the collections recommended for fourth and +fifth grades. Some of Hawthorne's and Irving's stories belong also to +this group. + +2. Ballads and Traditional Stories. + +A somewhat distinct group of the best reading for fourth and fifth +grades is found in the historical ballads and national legends from the +early history of England, Germany, Italy, and France. They include such +selections as "Sir Patrick Spens," "The Ballads of Robin Hood," +"Horatius," "Bannock-burn," "The Heart of the Bruce," "The Story of +Regulus," of "Cincinnatus," "Alfred the Harper," and many more. In the +list of books recommended for children's reading are several ballad +books, Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," "The Book of Golden Deeds," +"Tales from English History," and several others, with great variety of +poem and story. Many of these selections are short and spirited and well +suited to awaken the strongest enthusiasm of children. They are +sometimes in dialogue form, both in prose and verse, have strong +dramatic action, and are thus helpful in variety and force of +expression. There is also much early history and national spirit +involved. The old historical ballads and traditions have great educative +value. They are simple, crude, and powerful, and awaken the spirit to +receive the message of heroism. In her introduction to the "Ballad +Book," Katharine Lee Bates says, "For these primitive folk-songs, which +have done so much to educate the poetic sense in the fine peasantry of +Scotland--that peasantry which has produced an Ayreshire Ploughman and +an Ettric Shepherd--are assuredly, + + "'Thanks to the human heart by which it lives,' + +among the best educators that can be brought into our schoolrooms." + +"The Lays of Ancient Rome," the "Ballads," and the "Tales from English +History" belong to the heroic series. Though far separated in time and +place, they breathe the same spirit of personal energy, self-sacrifice, +and love of country. They reveal manly resistance to cruelty and +tyranny. We may begin this series with a term's work upon Macaulay's +"Lays" and a few other choice stories in prose and verse. Thereafter we +may insert other ballads, where needed, in connection with history, and +in amplification of longer stories or masterpieces like Scott's "Tales +of a Grandfather," and "Marmion." In the fifth grade, children are of an +age when these stories of heroism in olden days strike a responsive +chord. They delight in such tales, memorize them, and enter into the +full energy of their spirited reproduction. The main purpose at first is +to appreciate their thought as an expression of history, tradition, and +national life. A complete and absorbing study of a single series of +these ballads, as of Macaulay's, supplies also an excellent standard of +comparison for other more or less similar episodes in the history of +Switzerland, Greece, England, and America. + +These historical legends merge almost imperceptibly into the historical +tales of early English, Roman, and French or German history. The +patriarchal stories of the Old Testament furnish the finest of early +history stories and should be included in these materials. "The Old +Stories of the East," and "Old Testament Stories in Scripture Language" +are among the best. + +3. Stories of Chivalry. + +Tales of chivalry, beginning with "Arthur and his Round Table Knights," +"Roland and Oliver," and other mediaeval tales, have a great attraction +for poets and children. Such books are included in our lists as "The +Court of King Arthur," the "Story of Roland," "Tales of Chivalry," "The +Boys' King Arthur," the "Age of Chivalry," and "The Coming of Arthur" +and "Passing of Arthur." There are also many shorter poems touching this +spirit of chivalry in the Ballad literature. The character and spirit of +King Arthur as revealed in the matchless music of Tennyson should find +its way to the hearts of children before they leave the school. Like Sir +Galahad, he could say, + + "My strength is as the strength of ten + Because my heart is pure." + +4. Historical Stories and Poems. + +In the fifth and sixth grades children should begin to read some of the +best biographical and historical stories of America and of European +countries. Of these we have excellent materials from many lands and +periods of time, such as Higginson's "American Explorers," Morris's +"Historical Tales" (both American and English), "Stories of American +Life and Adventure," "Stories of Our Country," "Pioneer History +Stories," "Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago," "The Story of the +English," "Stories from Herodotus," "Pilgrims and Puritans," Hawthorne's +"Biographical Stories," "Stories from American Life," and others. + +In the oral history lessons given on alternate days in fourth grade (see +special method in history) we have made a spirited entrance to American +history through the pioneer stories of the Mississippi Valley. These +should precede and pave the way for classic readings in American +history. In the fifth grade, the stories of Columbus and of the chief +navigators, also the narratives of the Atlantic coast pioneers, are +told. The regular history work of the sixth grade should be a study of +the growth of the leading colonies during the colonial period and the +French and Indian Wars. + +In the fifth grade we may begin to read some of the hero narratives of +our own pioneer epoch as rendered by the best writers; for instance, +Higginson's "American Explorers," "Pilgrims and Puritans," "Stories of +Our Country," and "Grandfather's Chair." They are lifelike and spirited, +and introduce us to the realism of our early history in its rugged +exposure and trials, while they bring out those stern but high ideals of +life which the Puritan and the Cavalier, the navigator, the pioneer +hunter, and explorer illustrate. Higginson's collection of letters and +reports of the early explorers, with their quaint language and +eye-witness descriptions, is strikingly vivid in its portraiture of +early scenes upon our shores. Hawthorne, in "Grandfather's Chair," has +moulded the hardy biography of New England leaders into literary form. + +5. Great Biographies. + +In addition to the shorter biographical stories just mentioned, as +children advance into the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, they should +make a close acquaintance with a few of the great biographies. There is +an abundance of excellent American biographies, but we should limit +ourselves to those most important and best suited to influence the +character of young people. It is necessary also to use those which have +been written in a style easily comprehended by the children. Some of the +best are as follows: Scudder's "Life of Washington," Franklin's +"Autobiography," Hosmer's "Life of Samuel Adams," and the lives of John +Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, and Lincoln in the "Statesman Series." +There are two fairly good books of Lincoln's early life for children. +There are also many shorter biographies included in the books +recommended for regular or collateral reading. + +In style and content the story of Franklin is one of the best for +children. The "Autobiography" of Franklin has many graphic touches from +American life. His intense practical personality, his many-sidedness and +public spirit, make up a character that will long instruct and open out +in many directions the minds of the young. His clear sense and wisdom in +small affairs as in great, and the pleasing style of his narrative, are +sufficiently characteristic to have a strong personal impression. It +will hardly be necessary to take the whole of the "Autobiography," but +the more attractive parts, leaving the rest to the private reading of +children. "Poor Richard's Almanac" intensifies the notion of Franklin's +practical and everyday wisdom, and at the same time introduces the +children to a form of literature that, in colonial days, under +Franklin's patronage, had a wide acceptance and lasting influence in +America. + +Plutarch's "Lives" furnish a series of great biographies which grammar +school children should become well acquainted with. The lives of +American writers and poets should be brought to the attention of +children in conjunction with their productions. "The Children's Stories +of American Literature" and the introductory chapters of many of the +masterpieces furnish this interesting and stimulating material. It +should not be neglected by pupils and teachers. For older pupils and for +teachers several of Macaulay's "Essays" are valuable, and the style is +strikingly interesting. For example, the essays on Samuel Johnson, Lord +Chatham, Milton, Addison, and Frederick the Great. Motley's "Essay on +Peter the Great" and Carlyle's "Essay on Burns" are of similar interest +and value. "The Schoenberg Cotta Family" is valuable in the upper +grammar grades. Most of this kind of reading must be outside reference +work if it is done at all. Teachers should, first of all, enrich their +own experience by these readings, occasionally bring a book to the class +from which selections may be read, and, secondly, encourage the more +enthusiastic and capable children to this wider field of reading. + +6. Historical Poems and Pictures of American Life. + +Some of the best American poems and prose masterpieces are fine +descriptions of American life and manners, in different parts of the +country and at various times. Such are: "Courtship of Miles Standish," +"Tales of the White Hills," "Snow-Bound," "Rip Van Winkle," and "Sleepy +Hollow." "The Gentle Boy," "Mabel Martin," "Giles Corey," "Evangeline," +"Uncle Tom's Cabin," and some of the great biographies, like those of +Samuel Adams, Franklin, Washington, and Lincoln, are also fine +descriptions of home life in America. The same may be said of some of +the masterpieces of English and European literature, for example, +"Ivanhoe," "Roger de Coverley," "The Christmas Carol," "Vicar of +Wakefield," "William Tell," "Silas Marner," "The Cotter's Saturday +Night," and "Schoenberg Cotta Family." + +The culture value of these pictures of home and domestic life for young +people is surpassingly great. Gradually their views are broadened, and +they may be imbued with those social, home-bred qualities and virtues so +fundamental in human life. + +Irving's stories and Longfellow's "Miles Standish" give a still more +pronounced and pleasing literary cast to two of the characteristic forms +of life in our colonial history, the Puritan and the Dutch Patroon. If +the children have reached this point, where they can read and enjoy the +"Sketch-Book," it will be worth much as a description of life along the +Hudson, and will develop taste and appreciation for literary excellence. +Even the fanciful and ridiculous elements conduce to mental health and +soundness, by showing up in pleasing satire the weaknesses and foibles +of well-meaning people. + +"Snow-Bound," "Songs of Labor," and "Among the Hills," while not +historical in the usual sense, are still plainly American, and may well +be associated with other poetic delineations of American life. +"Snow-Bound" is a picture of New England life, with its pleasing and +deep-rooted memories. Its family spirit and idealization of common +objects and joys make it a classic which reaches the hearts of boys and +girls. "Among the Hills" is also a picture of home life in New England +mountains, a contrast of the mean and low in home environment to the +beauty of thrift and taste and unselfish home joys. The "Songs of Labor" +are descriptive of the toils and spirit of our varied employments in +New England and of that larger New England which the migrating Yankees +have established between the oceans. + +"Evangeline" is another literary pearl that enshrines in sad and +mournful measures a story of colonial days, and teaches several great +lessons, as of the harshness and injustice of war, of fair-mindedness +and sympathy for those of alien speech and country, of patience and +gentleness and loyalty to high ideals in a character familiar and sacred +to all. + +7. The Poetry of Nature in the Masterpieces of Literature. + +Both in poetic and in prose form there is great variety and depth of +nature worship in good literature. There are few, if any, of the great +poets who have not been enthusiastic and sympathetic observers of +nature,--nature lovers, we may call them. We can hardly mention the +names of Emerson, Bryant, and Wordsworth, without thinking of their +loving companionship with nature, their flight to the woods and fields. +But the same is true of Lowell, Whittier, Hawthorne, Whitman, and all +the rest. When we add to these, those companions of nature, such as +Thoreau, Leander Keyser, Olive Thorn Miller, Burroughs, Warner, and +others of like spirit, we may be surprised at the number of our leading +writers who have found their chief delight in dwelling close to the +heart of nature. + +An examination of the books recommended for children's study and +delight will reveal a large number of the most graceful, inspiriting +products of human thought, which are nature poems, nature hymns, odes to +skylark, the dandelion, the mountain daisy, communings with the myriad +moods and forms of the natural world. Such books as "Nature Pictures by +American Poets," "Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics," "Poetry of the +Seasons," the "Open Sesame" books, and others, show an infinite variety +of poetic inspiration from nature. Adding to these Burroughs's "Birds +and Bees," "Wake Robin," "Squirrels and other Fur-bearers"; Thoreau's +"Succession of Forest Trees"; Higginson's "Outdoor Papers"; Keyser's +"News from the Birds," "In Bird Land," and "Birddom"; Torrey's "Footpath +Way," and "Birds in the Bush"; Long's "Wilderness Ways," and "Ways of +Wood Folk"; the "Plant World" of Vincent, the "Natural History" of +Selborne, and others of like quality,--and we have an abundance of the +most friendly and enticing invitations to nature study. These materials +are suited, by proper arrangement, to all the grades from the fourth up. +Under good teachers such books can do no other than awaken and encourage +the happiest kind of observation and sympathy for nature. It is the kind +of appreciation of birds and trees, insects and clouds, which at once +trains to close and discriminating perception, and to the cultivation of +aesthetic sense in color, form, and sound. + +The love of nature cannot be better instilled than by following these +poets. + +While the study of literature as it images nature cannot take the place +of pure science, it is the most powerful ally that the scientist can +call in. The poets can do as much to idealize science study, to wake the +dull eye, and quicken the languid interest in nature, as scientists +themselves. Away, then, with this presumed antagonism between literature +and science! Neither is complete without the other. Neither can stand on +its own feet. But together, in mutual support, they cannot be tripped +up. The facts, the laws, the utilities, adaptations, and wonders in +nature are not so marvellous but the poet's eye will pierce beneath and +above them, will give them a deeper interpretation, and clothe them in a +garment of beauty and praise. There is nothing beautiful or grand or +praiseworthy that the poet's eye will not detect it, and the poet's art +reveal it in living and lasting forms. Let the scientist delve and the +poet sing. The messages between them should be only those of cheer. + +It is in this myriad-voiced world of fields and brooks, of mountain, +lake, and river, of storm and cloud and of the changing seasons, that +poets find the images, suggestions, and analogies which interpret and +illustrate the spiritual life of man. The more rigid study of science in +laboratory and class-room is necessary to the student, but it would be +a narrow and pedantic teacher who would not welcome the poetic temper +and enthusiasm in nature study. + +The teachers of reading have, therefore, the best of all opportunities +for cultivating this many-sided sympathy for and insight into nature, +and at the same time to train the children to correlate these nature +poems with their science studies. Observers like Thoreau and Burroughs +give us the greatest inducement for getting out into the woods. They +open our eyes to the beauties and our hearts to the truth of nature's +teachings. These are the gardens of delight where science and poetry +walk hand in hand and speak face to face. It would not be difficult to +show that many of the greatest scientists were poets, and that some of +the chiefest poets have been foremost in scientific study. + +8. The Sentiment of Patriotism in Literature. + +The powerful national spirit finds expression in many forms of +literature, in hymns, in war song, in oration, in essay, in pioneer +narrative, in stories of battle, in novel, in flag song, in ballad, and +in biography. + +We have already noted the great significance of American history stories +in fourth and fifth grades. It is from the early pioneer epoch and the +colonial history that we derive much of our best educative history. The +heroism of these old days has been commemorated in story and poem by our +best writers. + +As we approach the Revolutionary crisis a new body of choice literary +products, aglow with the fire of patriotism and independence, is found +stored up for the joy and stimulus of our growing young Americans: "Paul +Revere's Ride," "Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill," Washington's +letters, "A Ballad of the Boston Tea Party," "Ode for Washington's +Birthday," "Lexington" (Holmes), "The Song of Marion's Men," "The Green +Mountain Boys," Webster's speeches at Bunker Hill and on Adams and +Jefferson, "Old Ticonderoga" (Hawthorne), Burke's speech on the American +War, Washington's "Farewell to the Army," The Declaration of +Independence, "Under the Old Elm," and descriptions of some of the great +scenes of the war by our best historians. + +It is to be desired that children in the seventh grade may have +opportunity in regular history lessons to study in detail a few of the +central topics of the Revolutionary epoch. This will put them in touch +with the spirit and surroundings of the Americans. + +In the reading lessons of the same grade we may well afford to discover +and feel what our best patriots and men of letters have said and felt in +view of the struggle for freedom. The noblest expressions of sentiment +upon great men and their achievements are contagious with the young. +Patriotism can find no better soil in which to strike its deepest roots +than the noble outbursts of our orators and poets and patriotic +statesmen. The cumulative effect of these varied but kindred materials +is greater than when scattered and disconnected. They mutually support +each other, and when they are brought into close dependence upon +parallel historical studies, we may well say that the children are +drinking from the deep and pure sources of true Americanism. + +Parallel to whatever history we attempt to teach in the eighth grade +should run a selection of the best literary products that our American +authors can furnish, and here again we are rich in resources. The +thought and life of our people find their high-water mark in the poet's +clarion note and the statesman's impassioned appeal. No others have +perceived the destiny of our young republic as our cherished poets, +Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Holmes, and Emerson. They have stood upon +the mountain tops, looking far and wide through the clear atmosphere, +while the great army of the people has been tenting in the valleys +below. These wakeful priests and prophets have caught the bright tints +of the morning while the people were still asleep, and have witnessed +the suffused glory of the sunset clouds when the weary masses below had +already forgotten the day's toil. One thing at least, and that the +greatest, can be done for our children before they finish the common +school course. They may rise into this pure atmosphere of poet, patriot, +sage, and prophet. They may hear these deathless strains and feel the +thrill of these clarion notes. Let their ears be once attuned to the +strength and harmony of this music, and it will not cease to echo in +their deeper life. The future patriots will be at hand, and the coming +years will see them rising to the great duties that inevitably await +them. We have a body of noble, patriotic material which is capable of +producing this effect if handled by skilful teachers: the Ordinance of +1787, _The Federalist_, Numbers 1 and 2, Washington's "Inaugurals" and +the "Farewell Address," Everett's "Oration on Washington," "O Mother of +Mighty Race" (Bryant); "Our Country's Call" (Bryant); "Abraham Lincoln" +(Bryant); Lincoln's "Inaugurals" and "Gettysburg Speech," "Army Hymn" +and "The Flower of Liberty" (Holmes), Webster's "Second Speech on Foot's +Resolution," The Emancipation Proclamation, "The Fortune of the +Republic" (Emerson), etc., "Antiquity of Freedom" (Bryant); "Centennial +Hymn" (Whittier); "The Building of the Ship" (Longfellow); "The Poor +Voter on Election Day" (Whittier). + +Why not gather together these sources of power, of unselfish patriotism, +of self-sacrifice, of noble and inspiring impulse? Let this +fruit-bringing seed be sown deep in the minds and hearts of the +receptive young. What has inspired the best of men to high thinking and +living can touch them. + +It is not by reading and declaiming a few miscellaneous fragments of +patriotic gush, not by waving flags and banners and following +processions, that the deeper sentiments of patriotism and humanity are +to be touched, but by gathering and concentrating these fuller, richer +sources of spiritual power and conscious national destiny. The +schoolroom is by far the best place to consolidate these purifying and +conserving sentiments. By gathering into a rising series and focussing +in the higher grades the various forms, in prose and verse, in which the +genius of our country has found its strongest expression; by associating +these ringing sentiments with the epochs and crises of our history, with +the valorous deeds of patriots upon the field and of statesmen in the +senate, with the life and longings of home-nurtured poets and sages,--we +shall plant seed whose fruitage will not disappoint the lovers of the +fatherland. + +Mr. Horace E. Scudder, in his two essays on "Literature" and "American +Classics in the Common School," has portrayed with convincing clearness +the spiritual power and high-toned Americanism which breathe from those +literary monuments which have been quarried from our own hillsides and +chiselled by American hands. We recommend to every teacher the reading +in full of these essays, from which we quote at much length:-- + +"Fifty years ago there were living in America six men of mark, of whom +the youngest was then nineteen years of age, the oldest forty-four. +Three of the six are in their graves and three still breathe the kindly +air. [Since this was written, in 1888, the last of the six has passed +away.] One only of the six has held high place in the national councils, +and it is not by that distinction that he is known and loved. They have +not been in battle; they have had no armies at their command; they have +not amassed great fortunes, nor have great industries waited on their +movements. Those pageants of circumstances which kindle the imagination +have been remote from their names. They were born on American soil; they +have breathed American air; they were nurtured on American ideas. They +are Americans of Americans. They are as truly the issue of our national +life as are the common schools in which we glory. During the fifty years +in which our common school system has been growing up to maturity these +six have lived and sung; and I dare say that the lives and songs of +Bryant, Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell have an +imperishable value, regarded as exponents of national life, not for a +moment to be outweighed in the balance by the most elaborate system of +common schools which the wit of man may devise. The nation may command +armies and schools to rise from the soil, but it cannot call into life a +poet. Yet when the poet comes and we hear his voice in the upper air, +then we know the nation he owns is worthy of the name. Do men gather +grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, pure poetry springs from +no rank soil of national life. + +"I am not arguing for the critical study of our great authors, in the +higher grades of our schools. They are not the best subjects for +critical scholarship; criticism demands greater remoteness, greater +foreignness of nature. Moreover, critical study is not the surest method +of securing the full measure of spiritual light, though it yields +abundant gain in the refinement of the intellectual nature and in the +quickening of the perceptive faculties. I am arguing for the free, +generous use of these authors in the principal years of school life. It +is then that their power is most profoundly needed, and will be most +strongly felt. We need to put our children in their impressionable years +into instant and close connection with the highest manifestation of our +national life. Away with the bottle and the tube! Give them a lusty +draft at the mother's full breast! + +"Nor do I fear that such a course will breed a narrow and parochial +Americanism. On the contrary, it would destroy a vulgar pride in +country, help the young to see humanity from the heights on which the +masters of song have dwelt, and open the mind to the more hospitable +entertainment of the best literature of every clime and age. I am +convinced that there is no surer way to introduce the best English +literature into our schools than to give the place of honor to American +literature. In the order of nature a youth must be a citizen of his own +country before he can become naturalized in the world. We recognize this +in our geography and history; we may wisely recognize it also in our +reading. + +"The place, then, of literature in our common school education is in +spiritualizing life, letting light into the mind, inspiring and feeding +the higher forces of human nature. + +"It is the business of the old to transmit to the young the great +traditions of the past of the country, to feed anew the undying flame of +patriotism. There is the element of destiny. No nation lives upon its +past; it is already dead when it says, 'Let us eat and drink to-day; for +to-morrow we die.' But what that destiny is to be may be read in the +ideals which the young are forming; and those ideals, again, it is the +business of the old to guide. They cannot form them; the young must form +them for themselves; but whether these ideals shall be large or petty, +honorable or mean, will depend upon the sustenance on which they are +fed. + +"Now in a democracy, more signally than under any other form of national +organization, it is vitally necessary that there should be an unceasing, +unimpeded circulation of the spiritual life of the people. The sacrifice +of the men and women who have made and preserved America, from the days +of Virginia and New England to this hour, has been ascending from the +earth in a never-ending cloud; they have fallen again in strains of +music, in sculpture, in painting, in memorial hall, in tale, in oration, +in poem, in consecration of life; and the spirit which ascended is the +same as that which descended. In literature above all is this spirit +enshrined. You have but to throw open the shrine, and the spirit comes +with its outspread blessings upon millions of waiting souls. Entering +them, it reissues in countless shapes, and thus is the life of the +nation in its highest form kept ever in motion, and without motion is no +life. + +"The deposit of nationality is in laws, institutions, art, character, +and religion; but laws, institutions, character, and religion are +expressed through art and mainly through the art of letters. It is +literature, therefore, that holds in precipitation the genius of the +country; and the higher the form of literature, the more consummate the +expression of that spirit which does not so much seek a materialization +as it shapes itself inevitably in fitting form. Long may we read and +ponder the life of Washington, yet at last fall back content upon those +graphic lines of Lowell in 'Under the Old Elm,' which cause the figure +of the great American to outline itself upon the imagination with large +and strong portraiture. The spirit of the orations of Webster and +Benton, the whole history of the young giant poised in conscious +strength before his triumphant struggle, one may catch in a breath in +those glowing lines which end 'The Building of the Ship.' The deep +passion of the war for the Union may be overlooked in some formal study +of battles and campaigns, but rises pure, strong, and flaming in the +immortal 'Gettysburg Speech.' + +"Precisely thus the sentiment of patriotism must be kept fresh and +living in the hearts of the young through quick and immediate contact +with the sources of that sentiment; and the most helpful means are those +spiritual deposits of patriotism which we find in noble poetry and lofty +prose, as communicated by men who have lived patriotic lives and been +fed with coals from the altar. + +"It is from the men and women bred on American soil that the fittest +words come for the spiritual enrichment of American youth. I believe +heartily in the advantage of enlarging one's horizon by taking in other +climes and other ages, but first let us make sure of that great +expansive power which lies close at hand. I am sure there never was a +time or country where national education, under the guidance of national +art and thought, was so possible as in America to-day. + +"The body of wholesome, strong American literature is large enough to +make it possible to keep boys and girls upon it from the time when they +begin to recognize the element of authorship until they leave the +school, and it is varied and flexible enough to give employment to the +mind in all its stages of development. Moreover, this literature is +interesting, and is allied with interesting concerns; half the hard +places are overcome by the willing mind, and the boy who stumbles over +some jejune lesson in his reading-book will run over a bit of genuine +prose from Irving which the schoolbook maker, with his calipers, +pronounces too hard. + +"We have gone quite far enough in the mechanical development of the +common school system. What we most need is the breath of life, and +reading offers the noblest means for receiving and imparting this breath +of life. The spiritual element in education in our common schools will +be found to lie in reserve in literature, and, as I believe, most +effectively in American literature. + +"Think for a moment of that great, silent, resistless power for good +which might at this moment be lifting the youth of the country, were the +hours for reading in school expended upon the undying, life-giving +books! Think of the substantial growth of a generous Americanism, were +the boys and girls to be fed from the fresh springs of American +literature! It would be no narrow provincialism into which they would +emerge. The windows in Longfellow's mind looked to the east, and the +children who have entered into possession of his wealth travel far. +Bryant's flight carries one through upper air, over broad champaigns. +The lover of Emerson has learned to get a remote vision. The companion +of Thoreau finds Concord become suddenly the centre of a very wide +horizon. Irving has annexed Spain to America. Hawthorne has nationalized +the gods of Greece and given an atmosphere to New England. Whittier has +translated the Hebrew Scriptures into the American dialect. Lowell +gives the American boy an academy without cutting down a stick of timber +in the grove, or disturbing the birds. Holmes supplies that hickory +which makes one careless of the crackling of thorns. Franklin makes the +America of a past generation a part of the great world before treaties +had bound the floating states into formal connection with venerable +nations. What is all this but saying that the rich inheritance we have +is no local ten-acre lot, but a part of the undivided estate of +humanity. Universality, Cosmopolitanism,--these are fine words, but no +man ever secured the freedom of the Universe who did not first pay taxes +and vote in his own village."--"Literature in School" (Houghton, +Mifflin, & Co.). + +9. The series of American classics is nowise confined to the ideas of +local or national patriotism, but above and beyond that deep and +powerful sentiment which magnifies the opportunity and manifest destiny +of our nation, it grasps at the ideal form and content of those +Christian virtues which now and evermore carry healing and comfort to +the toiling millions. Our poets, as they have pondered on the past and +looked into the future, were not able to be content with less than the +best. As the vision of the coming years unrolled itself before them they +looked upon it with joy mingled with solicitude. In the mighty conflicts +now upon us only those of generous and saintly purpose and of pure +hearts can prevail. + + "Brief is the time, I know, + The warfare scarce begun; + Yet all may win the triumphs thou hast won. + Still flows the fount whose waters strengthened thee, + The victors' names are yet too few to fill + Heaven's mighty roll; the glorious armory + That ministered to thee is open still."--BRYANT. + +To reveal this Christian armory, the defences of the soul against the +assaults of evil, has been the highest inspiration of our poets. What +depth and beauty and impersonation of Christian virtues do we find in +"Snow-Bound," "Among the Hills," "Evangeline," "The Conqueror's Grave," +"To a Waterfowl," "The Groves were God's First Temples," "The Living +Temple," "The Sun Day Hymn," "The Chambered Nautilus," "Vision of Sir +Launfal," "The Great Stone Face." + +The Bible is not generally admissible as a schoolbook, but the spirit of +Christianity, clad in the forms of strength and grace, is immanent in +the works of our poets. So universal, so human, so fit to the needs and +destinies of men, are the truths of the great evangel, that the prophets +and seers of our race drift evermore into the sheltering haven they +supply. To drink in these potent truths through poetry and song, to see +them enshrined in the imagery and fervor of the sacred masterpieces of +our literature, is more than culture, more than morality; it is the +portal and sanctuary of religious thought, and children may enter it. + +10. The higher products of literature contain an energy that quickens +spiritual life in morals, in art, and in religion. To many people, whose +lives are submerged in commercial pursuits or in the great struggle to +develop and utilize the material resources of the world, these spiritual +forces seem vague and shadowy, if not mythical. But there are plenty of +heroic souls in the realm of letters, such as Emerson, Scudder, Ruskin, +Arnold, and Carlyle, who are not disposed to let men settle down in lazy +satisfaction with material good, nor to be blinded even by the splendor +of modern achievements in engineering, in medicine, and in the +application of electricity. We must at least reach a point of view high +enough to perceive the relations of these natural riches to the higher +nature and destiny of man. + +Scudder says, "It is to literature that we must look for the substantial +protection of the growing mind against an ignoble, material conception +of life, and for the inspiring power which shall lift the nature into +its rightful fellowship with whatsoever is noble, true, lovely, and of +good report." + +Shelley, in like spirit, says: "The cultivation of poetry is never more +to be desired than at periods when, from an excess of the selfish and +calculating principle, the accumulation of the materials of external +life exceed the quantity of the power of assimilating them to the +internal laws of human nature. The body has then become too unwieldy for +that which animates it." + +Matthew Arnold, in "Sweetness and Light," while discussing the function +of that truer culture and "perfection which consists in becoming +something rather than in having something," remarks:-- + +"And this function is particularly important in our modern world, of +which the whole civilization is, to a much greater degree than the +civilization of Greece and Rome, mechanical and external, and tends +constantly to become more so. But above all in our own country has +culture a weighty part to perform because here that mechanical +character, which civilization tends to take everywhere, is shown in the +most eminent degree. Indeed, nearly all the characters of perfection, as +culture teaches us to fix them, meet in this country with some powerful +tendency which thwarts them and sets them at defiance. The idea of +perfection as an inward condition of the mind and spirit is at variance +with the mechanical and material civilization in esteem with us, and +nowhere, as I have said, so much in esteem as with us." + +11. Judged by these higher standards our writers and literary leaders +were not simply Americans. They were also Europeans. The Puritan brought +his religion with him, the Cavalier acquired his gentlemanly instincts +in the old home, not in the untrodden forests of the New World. Much of +what we call American is the wine of the Old World poured into the +bearskins and buckskins of the West, with a flavor of the freedom of our +Western wilds. Though born and bred on American soil and to the last +exemplars of the American spirit, our literary leaders have derived +their ideas and inspiration from the literature, tradition, and history +of the Old World. It will be no small part of our purpose, therefore, to +open up to the children of our common schools the best entrance to the +history and literature of Europe. Our own writers and poets have done +this for us in a variety of instances: Hawthorne's rendering of the +Greek myths, Bryant's translation of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," a good +half of Irving's "Sketch-Book," Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal," +"Aladdin," and "Prometheus," Irving's "Alhambra," Longfellow's "Golden +Legend," "Sandalphon," Taylor's "Boys of Other Countries." Nearly the +whole of our literature, even when dealing ostensibly with American +topics, is suffused with the spirit and imagery of the Old World +traditions. There is also a large collection of prose versions of +European traditions, which, while not classic, are still lively +renderings of old stories and well suited to the collateral reading of +children. Such are "Gods and Heroes," "Tales from English History," +"Tales from Spenser," "Heroes of Asgard," "Story of the Iliad and +Odyssey." + +The transition from our own poets who have handled European themes to +English writers who have done the same, is easy and natural; Macaulay's +"Lays of Ancient Rome," Scott's "Tales of a Grandfather," "The Stories +of Waverley," the "Christmas Carol," Kingsley's "Greek Heroes" and +"Water Babies," Ruskin's "King of the Golden River," "Lady of the Lake," +"Marmion," "Roger de Coverley Papers," "Merchant of Venice," "Arabian +Nights," "Peasant and Prince," Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," +"Gulliver's Travels," and others have become by inheritance and +birthright as much a part of the American child's culture as the more +distinctive products of our own writers. No line can be drawn between +those writings which are American and those which sprung from the soil +of England and Europe. So intimate and vital is the connection between +our present and our past, between our children and their cousins across +the water. + +These American and European literary products lie side by side in the +school course, though the predominating spirit through the middle and +higher grades up to the eighth should be American. We have noticed that +in the earlier grades most of our classic reading matter comes from +Europe, the nursery rhymes, the folk-lore, fables, and myths, because +the childhood of our culture periods was in Europe. But into the fourth +grade, and from there on, beginning with the pioneers on sea and land, +our American history and literature enters as a powerful agent of +culture. It brings us into quick and vital contact, not simply with the +outward facts, but with the inmost spirit, of our national life and +struggle toward development. This gives the American impulse free and +full expansion, and fortunate are we, beyond expression, that pure and +lofty poets stand at the threshold to usher the children into this +realm, founded deep in the realism of our past history and rising +grandly into the idealism of our desires and hopes. As we advance into +the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades the literature of Europe begins +again to increase in quantity and influence, and to share equally with +American authors the attention of the children. + +The Americanism of our poets and prose writers, as previously shown, has +also another side to it, which is one sign of the breadth and +many-sidedness of literature as a study for the young. North America is +a land rich in variety of natural scenery and resource. Nature has +decked the New World with a lavish hand, forest and mountain, lake and +river, prairie and desert, the summer land of flowers and the home of +New England winters. The masterpieces of our poets are full of the +scenery, vegetation, sunsets, mountains, and prairies of the Western +empire. The flowers, the birds, the wild beasts, the pathless forests, +the limitless stretches of plain, have mirrored themselves in the songs +of our poets, and have rendered them dearer to us because seen and +realized in this idealism. Unconsciously perhaps the feeling of +patriotism is largely based upon this knowledge of the rich and varied +beauty and bounty of our native land. + + "I love thy rocks and rills, + Thy woods and templed hills, + My heart with rapture thrills, + Like that above." + +As along the shores of our Northern lakes the clear and quiet waters +reflect the green banks, the rolling, forest-crowned hills, the rocky +bluffs, the floating clouds, and overarching blue, so in the homespun, +classic verse and prose of our own writers are imaged the myriad charms +of our native land. Bryant especially is the poet of forest and glade, +"The Forest Hymn," "The Death of the Flowers," "The Return of the +Birds," "A Summer Ramble," "The Fringed Gentian," "The Hunter of the +Prairies," "The White-footed Deer," "To a Waterfowl," "Thanatopsis," and +many others. Longfellow's "Hiawatha," "Evangeline"; Whittier's "Barefoot +Boy," "Songs of Labor," "Among the Hills," and "Snow-Bound"; Hawthorne's +"Tales of the White Hills"; Holmes's "Spring"; Lowell's "Indian Summer +Reverie," "The Oak," and many more. + +The literature selected for these grades has a wide scope. It is +instinct with the best Americanism. It draws from Europe at every +breath, while enjoying the freedom of the West. Social, political, and +home life and virtue are portrayed in great variety of dress. Nature +also and natural science reveal the myriad forms of beauty and utility. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +CLASS-ROOM METHOD IN READING + + +1. The Doorway. + +There is a strong comfort in the idea that in the preparation of a +masterpiece for a reading class the teacher may be dealing with a unity +of thought in a variety of relations that makes the study a +comprehensive culture-product both to herself and to the children. To +become a student of "Hiawatha" as a whole, and in its relations to +Indian life and tradition, early aboriginal history, and Longfellow's +connection with the same, is to throw a deep glance into history and +anthropology, and to recognize literature as the permanent form of +expressing their spirit. There are a good many side-lights that a +teacher needs to get from history and other literature, and from the +author's life, in order to see a literary masterpiece in its true +setting. It is the part of the poet to make his work intensely real and +ideal, the two elements that appeal with trenchant force to children. +The teacher needs not only to see the graphic pictures drawn by the +artist, but to gather about these central points of view other +collateral, explanatory facts that give a deeper setting to the picture. +Fortunately, such study as this is not burdensome. There is a +joyousness and sparkle to it that can relieve many an hour of tedium. +Literature in its best forms is recreation, and brings an infusion of +spiritual energy. We should not allow ourselves to confuse it with those +more humdrum forms of school employment, like spelling, figuring, +reading in the formal sense, grammar, writing, etc. Literature is the +spiritual side of school effort, the uplands of thought, where gushing +springs well from the roots and shade of overarching trees. There is +jollity and music, beauty and grandeur, the freshness of cool breezes +and of mountain scenery, in such profusion as to satisfy the exuberance +of youthful spirit, and to infuse new energy into old and tired natures. +If the teacher can only get out of the narrow streets of the town and +from between the dead walls of the schoolroom, up among the meadows and +groves and brooks, in company with Bryant or Longfellow or Whittier, if +she can only take a draught of these spirit-waters before walking into +the schoolroom, her thought and conduct will be tempered into a fit +instrument of culture. + +The teacher's preparation is not only in the intellectual grasp of the +thought, but in the sympathy, feeling, and pleasure germane to a +classic. The aesthetic and emotional elements, the charm of poetry, and +the sparkle of wit and glint of literary elegance and aptness are what +give relish and delight to true literary products. Literature appeals to +the whole nature and not to the intellect alone. It is not superficial +and formal, but deep and spiritual. The teacher who reads a classic like +"Marmion," thoughtfully dwelling upon the historic pictures, calling to +mind other of Scott's stories and the earlier struggle between Scotland +and England, is drinking at the fresh fountains and sources of some of +the best parts of European history. The clear and rock-rimmed lakes of +Scotland, her rugged mountains and ruined castle walls, are not more +delightful to the traveller than the pictures of life and history that +appear in "Tales of a Grandfather," "Rob Roy," "Marmion," and "Lady of +the Lake." To paint these stirring panoramic views of Scotch adventure +and prowess upon the imagination of the young is to invigorate their +thought with the real sentiment of patriotism, and with appreciation for +manly struggle, endurance, and spirit. The vivid insight it gives into +feudal society in church and court and castle, on battle-field and in +dining hall, among the rude peasantry and the unlettered nobility, is +found more lifelike and lasting than the usual results of historical +study. + +The moment we take a longer masterpiece and examine it as a +representative piece of human life, or as a typical portraiture of a +historical epoch, it becomes the converging point for much lively and +suggestive knowledge, deep and strong social interests, and convincing +personification of moral impulses. + +The best preparation, therefore, a teacher can make for a class is a +spiritual and spirited one. At first the linguistic, formal, verbal +mastery of literature, its critical examination, even its elocution, +should remain in the background both for teacher and children. Let the +direct impress of the thought, motive, and emotion of the characters be +unimpeded; give the author a chance to speak direct to the hearts of the +children, and the avenue toward the desired results in formal reading +will be left wide open. + +We would not deny that a certain labor is required of the teacher in +such preparation. But, in the main, it is a refreshing kind of labor. If +it brings a feeling of weariness, it is the kind that conduces to sound +and healthy sleep. It invokes a feeling of inward power and of +accumulated rich resource that helps us to meet with confidence the +emergencies and opportunities of instruction. + +2. In the assignment of the lesson the teacher has a chance to give the +children a glimpse of the pleasure that awaits them, and to catch a +little of the enthusiasm which her own study has awakened. This should +be done briefly and by significant suggestion. In first introducing a +longer work, it will pay to occupy more than is usual in recitations in +opening up the new subject; if it is historical, in locating the time, +circumstances, and geographical setting. The chief aim of the assignment +should be to awaken curiosity and interest which may be strong enough to +lead to a full and appreciative study of the lesson. A second aim of +the assignment is to pave the way to an easier mastery of verbal +difficulties that arise, such as new and difficult words, obscure or +involved passages. The first aim is a substantial and fruitful one. It +approaches the whole reading lesson from the side of interest and +spirit. It seeks to plant direct incentives and suggestions deep enough +in the mind to start effort. The assignment should take it for granted +that natural interest and absorption in the thought will lead directly +to that kind of vigorous effort and mastery that will secure natural and +expressive oral reading. Look well to the deeper springs of thought and +action, and the formal reading will open just the avenue needed to +realize good expression. + +Skill, originality, and teaching art are much needed in the assignment. +It is not how much the teacher says, but the suggestiveness of it, the +problems raised, the questions whose answers lie in the examination of +the lesson. The reference to previous readings which bear resemblance to +this selection; the inquiry into children's experiences, sets them to +thinking. + +Sometimes it pays to spend five or ten minutes in attacking the +difficult words and meanings of the lesson assigned. Let the class read +on and discover words or phrases that puzzle them. Let difficult forms +be put on the board and syllabicated if necessary. A brief study of +synonymous words and phrases may be in place. + +It is a mistake to decline all helpful and suggestive study of the next +lesson in class, on the ground that it invalidates the self-activity of +children. Self-activity is, indeed, the chief aim of a good assignment. +It is designed to stimulate the children to energetic and well-directed +effort. Self-activity is not encouraged by requiring children to +struggle with obstacles they have not the ability to surmount. +Pronouncing new words and searching for dictionary meanings is often +made a mechanical labor which is irksome and largely fruitless, because +the wrong pronunciations are learned and the definitions do not fit. +Before children are required to use the dictionary in pronouncing and +defining words, they need careful exercises in how to use and to +interpret the dictionary. + +The teacher needs to make a study of the art of assigning lessons. +Clearness and simplicity, so as to give no ground for misunderstandings, +are the result of thoughtful preparation on the teacher's part. There is +always danger of giving too much or too little, of carelessness and +unsteady requirements, overburdening the children one day, and even +forgetting the next day to assign a definite task. The forethought and +precision with which a teacher assigns her lessons is one of the best +tests of her prudence and success in teaching. + +It is necessary also to be on one's guard against hasty assignments. +Even when proper care has been taken in planning the next lesson, the +time slips by with urgent work, and the signal for dismissal comes +before time has been taken for any clear assignment. + +If the teacher knows just what references will throw added light upon +the lesson, what books and pages will be directly helpful, if he can +appoint different pupils to look up particular references and sometimes +even go to the library with them and search for the references, in +grades from the fifth through the eighth, the result may be very +helpful. In the class recitation it is necessary to gather up the fruits +of this reference work with as little waste of time as possible, +recognizing that it is purely collateral to the main purpose. + +Pictures and maps are useful oftentimes as references. As children +advance in the grades, they are capable of greater independence and +judgment in the use of such materials. General, loose, and indefinite +references are a sign of ignorance, carelessness, and lack of +preparation on the teacher's part. They are discouraging and +unprofitable to children. But we desire to see children broadening their +views, extending their knowledge of books and of how to use them. The +amount of good literature that can be well treated and read in the class +is small, but much suggestive outside home and vacation reading may be +encouraged, that will open a still wider and richer area of personal +study. + +3. In spite of all the precautions of the teacher, in spite of lively +interest and intelligent study by the children, there will be many +haltings and blunders, many inaccuracies in the use of eye and voice. +These faults spring partly from habit and previous home influences. The +worst faults are often those of which a child is unconscious, so +habitual have they become. If we are to meet these difficulties wisely, +we must start and keep up a strong momentum in the class. There should +be a steady and strong current of effort in which all share. This +depends, as has been often said, upon the power of the selection to +awaken the thought and feeling of the children. It depends equally upon +the pervasive spirit and energy of the teacher. If we try to analyze +this complex phenomenon, we may find that, so far as the children are +concerned, two elements are present, natural and spontaneous absorption +in the ideas and sensibilities awakened by the author, and the bracing +conviction that sustained effort is expected and required by the +teacher. Children, to read well, must be free; they must feel the force +of ideas and of the emotions and convictions awakened by them. They must +also be conscious of that kind of authority and control which insists +upon serious and sustained effort. Freedom to exercise their own powers +and obedience to a controlling influence are needful. If the teacher can +secure this right movement and ferment in a class, she will be able to +correct the errors and change bad habits into the desired form of +expression. The correction of errors, in the main, should be quiet, +incidental, suggestive, not disturbing the child's thought and effort, +not destroying the momentum of his sentiment and feeling. Let him move +on firmly and vigorously; only direct his movement here and there, +modify his tone by easy suggestions and pertinent questions, and +encourage him as far as possible in his own effort to appreciate and +express the author's idea. + +In reading lessons there are certain purely formal exercises that are +very helpful. The single and concert pronunciation of difficult or +unusual words that come up in old and new lessons, the vocal exercises +in syllabication and in vowel and consonant drill, are examples. They +should be quick and vigorous, and preliminary to their application in +lessons. + +4. The teacher is only a guide and interpreter. With plenty of reserve +power, he should only draw upon it occasionally. His chief business is +not to show the children how to read by example, nor to be always +explaining and amplifying the thought of the author. His aim should be +to best call the minds of the children into strong action through the +stimulation of the author's thought, and to go a step farther and +reproduce and mould this thought into oral expression. + +In order to call out the best efforts of children, a teacher needs to +study well the art of questioning. The range of possibilities in +questioning is very wide. If a rational, sensible question is regarded +as the central or zero point, there are many degrees below it in the art +of questioning and many degrees above it. Below it is a whole host of +half-rational or useless questions which would better be left unborn: +What does this word mean? Why didn't you study your lesson? Why weren't +you paying attention? What is the definition of also? How many mistakes +did Mary make? + +Much time is sometimes wasted in trying to answer aimless or trivial +questions: Peter, what does this strange word mean, or how do you +pronounce it? Ethel may try it. Who thinks he can pronounce it better? +Johnny, try it. Perhaps somebody knows how it ought to be. Sarah, can't +you pronounce it? Finally, after various efforts, the teacher passes on +to something else without even making clear the true pronunciation or +meaning. This is worse than killing time. It is befuddling the children. +A question should aim clearly at some important idea, and should bring +out a definite result. The children should have time to think, but not +to guess and dawdle, and then be left groping in the dark. + +The chief aim of questions is to arouse vigor and variety of thought as +a means of better appreciation and expression. Children read poorly +because they do not see the meaning or do not feel the force of the +sentiment. They give wrong emphasis and intonation. A good question is +like a flash of lightning which suddenly reveals our standing-ground and +surroundings, and gives the child a chance to strike out again for +himself. His intelligence lights up, he sees the point, and responds +with a significant rendering of the thought. But the teacher must be a +thinker to ask simple and pertinent questions. He can't go at it in a +loose and lumbering fashion. Lively and sympathetic and appreciative of +the child's moods and feelings must he be, as well as clear and definite +in his own perception of the author's meaning. + +Questioning for meaning is equivalent to that for securing expression, +and thus two birds are hit with one stone. A pointed question energizes +thought along a definite line, and leads to a more intense and vivid +perception of the meaning. This is just the vantage-ground we desire in +order to secure good expression. We wish children not to imitate, but +first to see and feel, and then to express in becoming wise the thought +as they see it and feel it. This makes reading a genuine performance, +not a parrot-like formalism. + +5. Trying to awaken the mental energy and action of a class as they move +on through a masterpiece, requires constant watchfulness to keep alive +their sense-perceptions and memories, and to touch their imaginations +into constructive effort at every turn in the road. Through the direct +action of the senses the children have accumulated much variety of +sense-materials, of country and town, of hill, valley, river, lake, +fields, buildings, industries, roads, homes, gardens, seasons. Out of +this vast and varied quarry they are able to gather materials with which +to construct any landscape or situation you may desire. Give the +children abundance of opportunity to use these collected riches, and to +construct, each in his own way, the scenes and pictures that the poet's +art so vividly suggests. Many of the questions we ask of children are +designed simply to recall and reawaken images which lie dormant in their +minds, or, on the other hand, to find out whether they can combine their +old sense-perceptions so skilfully and vividly as to realize the present +situation. Keen and apt questions will reach down into the depth of a +child's life experiences and bring up concrete images which the fancy +then modifies and adjusts to the present need. The teacher may often +suggest something in his own observations to kindle like memories in +theirs. Or, if the subject seems unfamiliar, he may bring on a picture +from book or magazine. Sometimes a sketch or diagram on the board may +give sense-precision and definiteness to the object discussed, even +though it be rudely drawn. This constant appeal to what is real and +tangible and experimental, not only locates things definitely in time +and space, makes clear and plain what was hazy or meaningless, awakens +interest by connecting the story or description with former +experiences, but it sets in action the creative imagination which shapes +and builds up new and pleasing structures, combining old and new. This +kind of mental elaboration, which reaches back into the senses and +forward into the imagination, is what gives mobility and adjustability +to our mental resources. It is not stiff and rigid and refractory +knowledge that we need. Ideas may retain their truth and strength, their +inward quality, and still submit to infinite variations and adjustments. +Water is one of the most serviceable of all nature's compounds, because +it has such mobility of form, such capacity to dissolve and take into +solution other substances, or of being absorbed and even lost sight of +in other bodies. The ideas we have gathered and stored up from all +sources are our building materials; the imagination is the architect who +conceives the plan and directs the use of different materials in the +growth of the new structures. The teacher's chief function in reading +classes is, on the one hand, to see that children revive and utilize +their sense-knowledge, and on the other, to wake the sleeping giant and +set him to work to build the beauteous structures for which the +materials have been prepared. But for this, teachers could be dispensed +with. As Socrates said, they are only helpers; they stand by, not to +perform the work, but to gently guide, to stimulate, and now and then to +lend a helping hand over a bad place. + +Explanations, therefore, on the teacher's part, should be clear and +brief, purely tributary to the main effort. In younger classes, when the +children have, as yet, little ability to use references, the teacher may +add much, especially if it be concrete, graphic, picturesque, and +bearing directly upon the subject. But as children grow more +self-reliant they can look up facts and references, and bring more +material themselves to the elucidation of the lesson. But even in adult +classes the rich experience of a trained and wise teacher, whose +illustrations are apt and graphic and criticisms incisive, is an intense +pleasure and stimulus to students. + +6. The major part of time and effort in reading classes should be given +to the reading proper, and not to oral discussions, explanations, and +collateral information and references. It is possible to have +interesting discussions and much use of reference books, and still make +small progress in expressive reading. The main thing should not be lost +sight of. We should learn to march steadily forward through lively and +energetic thought toward expressive reading. There is no other right +approach to good reading except through a lively grasp of the thought, +sentiment, and style of the author. But the side-lights that come from +collateral reading and reference are of great significance. They are +something like the scenery on the stage. They make the effect more +intense and real. They supply a background of environment and +association which give the ideas more local significance and a stronger +basis in the whole complex of ideas. + +The reading or oral rendering is the final test of understanding and +appreciation of the lesson. The recitation should focus in this applied +art. All questioning and discussion that do not eventuate in expressive +reading fall short of their proper result. Reading is a school exercise +in which the principles discussed can be immediately applied, and this +is scarcely true in studies like history, science, and mathematics. +There are many hindrances in the way of this fruitful result; the +teacher is tempted to talk and explain too much, interesting questions +and controversies spring up, trivial matters receive too much +consideration, much time is spent in the oral reproduction of the +thought; often the time slips by with a minimum of effective reading. + +The questions, discussions, collateral references, and explanations +should be brought into immediate connection with the children's reading, +so that the special thought may produce its effect upon expression. This +test of effectiveness is a good one to apply to explanations, +definitions, and questions. Unless they produce a pronounced effect upon +the reading, they are largely superfluous. In view of this the teacher +will learn to be sparing of words, laconic and definite in statement, +pointed and clear in questioning, and energetic in pushing forward. +While interest in the thought-content is the impelling motive in good +reading exercises, lively and natural expression is likewise the proper +fruit and outcome of such a motive carried to its proper end. + +7. In order to keep up the right interest and movement, it is necessary +to give considerable variety to the work. A teacher's good sense and +tact should be like a thermometer which registers the mental temperature +of the class. If kept too long at a single line of effort, its monotony +induces carelessness and inattention; while a total change to some other +order of exercise would awake their interest and zeal. Variety is needed +also within the compass of a single recitation, because there are +several preliminaries and varieties of preparatory drill which conduce +to good rendering of any selection. Such are vocal exercises in +consonants and vowels; pronunciation and syllabication of new or +difficult words; physical exercises to put the body and nervous system +into proper tone; the assignment of the next lesson, requiring a +peculiar effort and manner of treatment; the report and discussion of +references; concert drills; the study of meanings--synonyms and +derivations; illustrations and information by the teacher; introduction +of other illustrative matter, as pictures, drawings, maps, and diagrams. +Variety can be given to each lesson in many ways according to the +ingenuity of the teacher. If we are reading a number of short +selections, they themselves furnish different varieties and types of +prose and verse. The dramatist or novelist provides for such variety by +introducing a series of diverse scenes, all leading forward to a common +end. + +8. Parallel to the requirement of variety is the equally important +demand that children should learn to do one thing at a time and learn to +do it well. This may appear contradictory to the former requirement, but +the skill and tact of the teacher is what should solve this seeming +contradiction. It is a fact that we try to do too many things in each +reading lesson. We fail to pound on one nail long enough to drive it in. +Reading lessons often resemble a child pounding nails into a board. He +strikes one nail a blow or two, then another, and so on until a dozen or +more are in all stages of incompleteness. We too often allow the +recitation hour to end with a number of such incomplete efforts. Good +reading is not like moving a house, when it is all carried along in one +piece. We reach better results if we concentrate attention and effort +during a recitation along the line of a narrow aim. At least this seems +true of the more formal, mechanical side of reading. It is better to try +to break up bad habits, one at a time, rather than to make a general, +indefinite onslaught upon all together. Suppose, for example, that the +teacher suggests as an aim of the lesson conversational reading, or that +which sounds like pupils talking to each other. Many dialogue selections +admit of such an aim as this. If this aim is set up at the beginning of +the lesson, the children's minds will be rendered acute in this +direction; they will be on the alert for this kind of game. Each child +who reads is scrutinized by teacher and pupils to see how near he comes +to the ideal. A conscious effort begins to dominate the class to reach +this specific goal. Children may close their eyes and listen to see if +the reading has the right sound. A girl or boy goes into an adjoining +entry or dressing room and listens to see if those in the class are +reading or talking. The enthusiasm and class spirit awakened are very +helpful. Not that a whole recitation should be given up to that sort of +thing, but it is the characteristic effort of the lesson. When the +children practise the next lesson at home they will have this point in +mind. + +For several days this sort of specific, definite aim at a narrow result +may be followed up in the class till the children begin to acquire power +in this direction. What was, at first, painfully conscious effort begins +to assume the form of habit, and when this result is achieved, we may +drop this aim as a leading one in the recitation, and turn our attention +to some different line of effort. Distinct pronunciation of sounds is +one of the things that we are always aiming at, in a general way, and +never getting. Why not set this up in a series of recitations as a +definite aim, and resort to a series of devices to lay bare the kind of +faults the children are habitually guilty of? Give them a chance to +correct these faults, and awake the class spirit in this direction. It +will not be difficult to convince them that they are not pronouncing +their final consonants, like _d_, _t_, _l_, _m_, _r_, and _k_. Keep the +attention for a lesson to this kind of error till there is recognizable +improvement. Then notice the short vowel sounds in the unaccented +syllables, and give them search-light attention. Notice later the +syllables that children commonly slur over. Mark these fugitives, and +see if they continue so invisible and inaudible. They are like Jack the +Giant Killer, when he put on his cloak of invisibility, or like Perseus +under similar circumstances. See if we can find these fellows who seem +to masquerade and dodge about behind their companions. Then some of the +long vowels and diphthongs will require investigation. They are not all +so open-faced and above board as they might be. When children have such +a simple and distinct aim in view, they are ready to work with a vim and +to exert themselves in a conscious effort at improvement. Keep this aim +foremost in the recitation, although other requirements of good reading +are not wholly neglected. + +After a definite line of effort has been strongly developed as one of +the above described, it is possible thereafter to keep it in mind with +slight attention. But if no special drill has ever been devoted to it +for a given length of time, it has not been brought so distinctly to +mind as to produce a lasting impression and to lay the basis for habit. +Besides the two aims, clear articulation and conversational tones, there +are others that may be labored at similarly. Appreciation of the thought +as expressed by the reading is a rich field for critical study of a +piece, and as a basis for observing and judging the children's reading. +This idea is well implied by such questions as follow: Is that what the +passage means? Have you given expression to the author's meaning by +emphasis on this word? Does your rendering of this passage make good +sense? Compare it with what precedes. How did the man feel when he said +this? What do we know of his character that would lead us to expect such +words from him? This line of questions has a wide and varied range. The +chief thing is to scrutinize the thought in all the light attainable, +and appeal to the child's own judgment as to the suitableness of the +tone and emphasis to the thought. Does it sound right? Is that what the +passage means? + +Each characteristic form of prose or verse has a peculiar style and +force of expression that calls for a corresponding oral rendering. There +is the serious and massive, though simple, diction of Webster's +speeches, with its smooth and rounded periods, calling for slow and +steady and energetic reading. We should notice this characteristic of an +author, and grow into sympathy with his feeling, language, and mental +movement. In Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome," the ring of martial +music is in the words, and it swells out into rapid and rousing speech +which should correspond to the thought. In "Evangeline" the flow of +language is placid and gentle and rhythmical, and in consonance with the +gentle faith and hope of Evangeline. Every true literary product has its +own character, which the genius of the author has impressed upon its +language and moulded into its structure, and which calls for a rendering +fit and appropriate. Before completing a selection, we should detect +this essence and quality and bring our reading to reveal it. The places +should be pointed out where it comes into prominence. + +When completing such a work of art there should be given opportunity to +bring all the varied elements and special aims discovered and worked out +during its reading to a focus. + +In the final review and rereading of a complete poem or prose selection +the points of excellence in reading which have been the special aims of +effort in the studies of the piece should be kept sharply in mind and +pushed to a full expression. The realization of these various aims may +be set before the class as the distinct object of their closing work on +a masterpiece. The failure to hold vigorously to this final achievement +is a clear sign of intellectual and moral lassitude. Reading, as noticed +before, is one of the few studies in which the final application of +theory to practice can be effected, and children may realize that things +are learned for the sake of using them, and not simply against some +future contingency. This implies, however, much resource and skill on +the teacher's part in awakening the children. The impulses and aims +which arouse the children to strenuous effort should spring from within, +and should be expressions of their own self-activity and volition. There +is much need of the enthusiasm and will-energy that overcome drudgery. +Children should be taught to be dissatisfied with anything less than +real accomplishment. + +The children will naturally memorize certain passages which strike their +fancy. Other passages have been suggested by the teacher for different +pupils to memorize. In one of the closing lessons let the children +recite these parts before the class. If the teacher has succeeded in +calling out the live interest of the class during the previous study, +such a lesson will be a joy to both pupils and teacher. One or two of +the children may also volunteer or be appointed to make an oral +statement of the argument, which will give freedom to natural and +effective speech. Such a round-up of the reading lessons at the end of a +series of interesting studies is a rich experience to the whole class. + +Besides the important special aims thus far suggested, which should each +stand out clear for a series of lessons until its value is realized and +worked over into habit, there are other subordinate aims that deserve +particular and individual consideration, and may now and then become the +dominant purpose of a lesson. Such are the correction of singsong +reading, the use of the dictionary, the study of synonyms and +antitheses, the comparisons and figures of speech, exercises in sight +reading of unfamiliar selections, quotations from selections and +masterpieces already read, study of the lives and works of authors. + +Reading is a many-sided study, and to approach its difficulties with +success we must take them up one at a time, conquering them in detail. +Good housekeepers and cooks are accustomed to lay out a series of +dinners in which the chief article of diet is varied from day to day as +follows: chicken pie with oysters, veal potpie, stewed fish, broiled +beefsteak, venison roast, bean soup with ham, roast mutton, baked fish, +broiled quail, roast beef, baked chicken with parsnips, etc. Such a +series of dinners gives a healthy variety and relish. It is better for +most people than the bill of fare at a large hotel, where there is so +much variety and sameness each day. When we try each day to do +everything in a reading lesson, we grasp more than our hands can hold, +and most of it falls to the ground. Children are pleased and encouraged +by actual progress in surmounting difficulties when they are presented +one at a time, and opportunity is given for complete mastery. The +children should labor consciously and vigorously at one line of effort, +be it distinctness or rhythm or emphasis or conversational tone, till +decided improvement and progress are attained, and the ease of right +habit begins to show itself. Then we can turn to some new field, +securing and holding the vantage-ground of our foregoing effort by +occasional reminders. + +9. One of the best tests applied to a reading class is their degree of +class attention. The steadiness and responsiveness with which the whole +class follow the work is a fair measure of successful teaching. To have +but one child read at a time while the others wait their turn or scatter +their thoughts, is very bad. It is a good sign of a teacher's skill and +efficiency to see every child in energetic pursuit of the reading. It +conduces to the best progress in that study and is the genesis of right +mental habit. + +Attention is a _sine qua non_ to good teaching, and yet it is a result +rather than a cause. It is a ripe fruit rather than the spring promise +of it. The provisions which lead up to steady attention are deserving of +a teacher's study and patient scrutiny. She may command attention for a +moment by sheer force of will and personality, but it must have +something to feed upon the next moment and the next, or it will be +wandering in distant fields. So great and indispensable is the value of +attention, that some teachers try to secure it at too heavy a cost. They +command, threaten, punish. They resort to severity and cruelty. But the +more formidable the teacher becomes, the more difficult for a child to +do his duty. Here, again, we can best afford to go back to the sources +from which attention naturally springs, interesting subject of thought, +vivid and concrete perceptions, lively and suggestive appeal to the +imagination, the sphere of noble thought and emotion, variety and +movement in mental effort, a mutual sympathy and harmony between teacher +and pupil. + +It is indeed well for the teacher to gauge his work by the kind and +intensity of attention he can secure. If the class has dropped into +slothful and habitual carelessness and inattention, he will have to give +them a few severe jolts; he must drop questions where they are least +expected. He must be very alert to detect a listless child and wake him +into action. The vigor, personal will, and keen watchfulness of the +teacher must be a constant resource. On the other hand, let him look +well to the thought, the feeling, and capacity of the children, and give +them matter which is equal to their merits. + +It is not unusual to find the teacher's eye following the text closely +instead of watching the class. But the teacher's eye should be moving +alertly among the children. In case he has studied the lesson carefully, +the teacher can detect almost every mistake without the book. In fact, +even if one has not recently read a selection, he can usually detect a +verbal error by the break or incoherency of the thought. Moreover, the +teacher can better judge the expressiveness of the reading by listening +to it than by following the text with his eye. Depending wholly upon the +ear, any defect of utterance or ineptness of expression is quickly +detected. Even the children at times should be asked to close their +books and to listen closely to the reading. This emphasizes the notion +that good reading is the oral expression of thought, so that those who +listen can understand and enjoy it. + +The treadmill style of reading, which repeats and repeats, doing the +same things day by day, going through the like round of mechanical +motions, should give way to a rational, spirited, variegated method +which arouses interest and variety of thought, and moves ever toward a +conscious goal. + +10. In studying the masterpieces of great writers, a question arises how +to treat the moral situations involved in the stories. In their revolt +against excessive moralizing with children, some critics object to any +direct teaching of moral ideas in connection with literature, being +opposed to explicit discussions of moral notions. + +All will admit that literature, dealing as it does with human life, is +surcharged with practical morality, with social conduct. It is also the +motive of great writers, while dealing honestly with human nature, to +idealize and beautify their representations of men. Nor is it their +purpose to make unworthy characters pleasing and attractive models. + +It is expected, of course, that children will get clear notions and +opinions of such persons as Miles Standish and John Alden, of Whittier's +father and mother and others in the fireside circle of "Snow-Bound," of +Antonio and Shylock in the "Merchant of Venice," of Cinderella and her +sisters in the story, of Wallace and Bruce in Scott's "Tales," of Gluck +and his brothers in Ruskin's story, of Scrooge in the "Christmas Carol," +of Evangeline, Enoch Arden, etc. + +But boys and girls are not infallible judges of character. They are apt +to form erroneous or one-sided judgments from lack of insight into the +author's meaning, or from carelessness. There is the same possibility of +error in forming moral judgments as in forming judgments in other phases +of an author's thought. + +It is the province of the teacher to stimulate the children to think, +and, by his superior experience and judgment, to guide them into correct +thinking. It is not the function of the teacher to impose his ready-made +judgments upon children, either in morals or in anything else. But it is +his concern, by questions, suggestions, and criticisms, to aid in +clarifying the thought, to put the children upon the right track. There +is no reason why a teacher should abdicate his place of instructor +because he chances to come before moral problems. Literature is full of +moral situations, moral problems, and moral evolutions in character, and +even of moral ideals. Is the teacher to stand dumb before these things +as if he had lost his wits? Or is he to consider it the greatest +opportunity of his life to prudently guide young people to the correct +perception of what is beautiful and true in human life? Why, indeed, +should he suppress his own enthusiasm for these ideals? Why should not +his personality be free to express itself in matters of moral concern, +as well as in intellectual and aesthetic judgments? So long as the +teacher throws the pupils back upon their own self-activity and thinking +power, there need be no danger of moral pedantry or of moral dyspepsia. + +It seems to me, therefore, that the teacher should use freedom and +boldness in discussing with the children candidly and thoughtfully the +characters presented in good literature. Let the situations be made +clear so that correct judgments of single acts can be formed. Let the +weaknesses and virtues of the persons be noted. Let motives be studied +and characteristic tendencies traced out. In this way children may +gradually increase their insight and enlarge the range of their +knowledge of social life. If these things are not legitimate, why should +such materials be presented to children at all? We need not make +premature moralists of children, or teach them to pass easy or flippant +moral judgments upon others. But we wish their interest in these +characters to be deep and genuine, their eyes wide open to the truths of +life, and their intuitive moral judgments to ripen in a healthy and +hearty social environment. To this end the teacher will need to use all +his skill in questioning, in suggestion, in frank and candid discussion. +In short, he needs just those qualities which a first-class teacher +needs in any field of study. + +We have gotten out of the mode of tacking a moral to a story. Ostensibly +moral stories, overweighted with a moral purpose, do not please us. We +wish novelists and dramatists to give us the truth of life, and leave us +to pass judgment upon the characters. Our best literature presents great +variety of scenes and characterizations in their natural setting in +life. They specially cultivate moral judgment and insight. One of the +ultimate standards which we apply to all novels and dramas is that of +their fundamental moral truth. Schlegel, in his "Dramatic Art and +Literature," in his criticisms of great writers, discusses again and +again the moral import of the characters, and even the moral purpose of +Shakespeare and the dramatists. In fact, these moral considerations lie +deep and fundamental in judging the great works of literary art. The +masterpieces we use in the schools bear the same relation to the +children that the more difficult works bear to adults. + +The clear discussion of the moral element in literature seems, +therefore, natural and legitimate, while its neglect and obscuration +would be a fatal defect. + +11. There are two kinds of reading which should be cultivated in reading +lessons, although they seem to fall a little apart from the main highway +of effort. They are, first, sight reading of supplementary matter for +the purpose of cultivating a quick and accurate grasp of new thought and +forms. When we leave school, one of the values of reading will be the +power it gives to interpret quickly and grasp firmly the ideas as they +present themselves in the magazines, papers, and books we read. Good +efforts in school reading will lead forward gradually to that readiness +of thought and fluency of perception which will give freedom and mastery +of new reading matter. To develop this ability and to regulate it into +habit, we must give children a chance to read quite a little at sight. +We need supplementary readers in sets which can be put into the hands of +children for this purpose. The same books will answer for several +classes, and may be passed from room to room of similar grade. + +The reading matter we select for this purpose may be classic, and of the +best quality, just as well as to be limited to information and +geographical readers which are much inferior. There are first-class +books of literary merit, which are entirely serviceable for this purpose +and much richer in culture. They continue the line of study in classic +literature, and give ground for suggestive comparisons and reviews which +should not be neglected. There is a strong tendency in our time to put +inferior reading matter, in the form of information readers, science +primers, short history stories, geographical readers, newspapers, and +specially prepared topics on current events, into reading classes. These +things may do well enough in their proper place in geography, history, +natural science, or general lessons, but they should appear scarcely at +all in reading lessons. Preserve the reading hour for that which is +choicest in our prose and verse, mainly in the form of shorter or longer +masterpieces of literature. + +Secondly, many books should be brought to the attention of the children +which they may read outside of school. The regular reading exercises +should give the children a lively and attractive introduction to some of +the best authors, and a taste for the strength and beauty of their +productions. But the field of literature is so wide and varied that many +things can only be suggested, which will remain for the future leisure +and choice of readers. Children might, however, be made acquainted with +some of the best books suited to their age for which there is not school +time. Many of the best books, like "Ivanhoe," "Quentin Durward," +"Captains Courageous," "Swiss Family Robinson," and "Nicholas Nickleby," +cannot be read in school. They should be in the school library, and the +teacher should often refer to them and to others suggested by the +regular reading, which give deeper and wider views into life. + +12. In the use of the symbols and language forms of reading, the +children should be led on to freedom and self-activity. How to get the +mastery of these forms in the early reading work is discussed in the +"Special Method in Primary Reading and Story." + +In the fourth and fifth years of school, children should learn to use +the dictionary. It is a great means of self-help when they have learned +to interpret the dictionary easily. But special lessons are necessary to +teach children: first, how to find words in the dictionary; second, how +to interpret the diacritical markings so as to get a correct +pronunciation; and third, how to discriminate among definitions. Adults +and even teachers are often deficient in these particulars, and children +will not form habits of using the dictionary with quick and easy +confidence without continuous, attentive care on the teacher's part. The +best outcome of such training is the conscious power of the child to +help himself, and there is nothing in school work more deserving of +encouragement. + +The system of diacritical markings used in the dictionary should be put +on the blackboard, varied illustrations of the markings given, and the +application of these markings to new words in the dictionary discovered. +Lack of success in this work is chiefly due to a failure to pursue this +plan steadily till ease and mastery are gained and habits formed. + +In the later grades these habits of self-help should be kept up and +extended further to the study of synonyms, root words and their kindred, +homonyms, prefixes and suffixes, and the derived meanings of words. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +METHOD FURTHER DISCUSSED AND ILLUSTRATED. + +SUMMARY + + +In the following chapter some phases of method not fully treated before +will be discussed and illustrated. + +1. The proposal to treat literary masterpieces as units of thought +implies a searching study and sifting out of the essential idea in each +poem or selection. In some, both of the longer and shorter pieces, it is +not difficult to detect the motive. In Bryant's "Ode to a Waterfowl," it +is even suggested as a sort of moral at the close. Likewise in the "Pied +Piper of Hamelin," and in Burns's "Tam O'Shanter." In "Glaucis and +Philemon," as well as in "The Golden Touch," even a child can quickly +discern the controlling idea of the myth. But in many of our choicest +literary products it requires deliberate thought to discover the poet's +deeper meaning, especially that idea which binds all the parts together +and gives unity to the whole. In Lowell's address "To the Dandelion," we +may find in each stanza the gleam of the golden thread which unifies the +whole. The first lines suggest it:-- + + "Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, + Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold." + +And again in the second stanza:-- + + "'Tis the Spring's largess which she scatters now + To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand." + +In the succeeding stanzas he calls to mind how the dandelion suggests +the riches of the tropics, the full promise of summer, the pure joys of +childhood, the common loving courtesies of life, the rich love and +prodigality of nature, and the divinity in every human heart. + +When by reflection we bind all these thoughts together, and find that +they focus in the idea that the best riches abound and even burst forth +out of common things and from the hearts of common men and women, we +realize that the poet has brought us to the point of discovering a deep +and practical truth, which, put to work in the world, would bring rhythm +and harmony into human life. + +But such a deep impression is not made by a superficial or fragmental +study of the poem. + +A somewhat similar result may be wrought out by the study of Lowell's +poem, "An Incident in a Railroad Car," and the idea is well expressed in +the verse:-- + + "Never did poesy appear + So full of heaven to me as when + I saw how it would pierce through pride and fear + To lives of coarsest men." + +The study of a poem or other masterpiece in this way, to get at its +inner life and continuity, reveals to us an interesting process of +mental elaboration and comparative thought. Such self-active reflection +is the subsoiling of the mind. + +To set children to work upon problems of this sort, to put them in the +way of thinking and feeling for themselves, and that too even in the +longer classics like "Evangeline," "Enoch Arden," "Silas Marner," etc., +is to bring such studies into the realm of great culture-producing +agencies. + +Many minor questions of method will be solved by having these centres of +thought, these problems for thinkers. Teachers are bothered to know what +sort of questions to ask. It would be safe to say, those questions which +move in the direction of the main truth, toward the solution of the +chief problem. But let the questions be shrewd, not revealing too much, +stimulating to thoughtfulness and heading off errors. To what extent +shall geographical, historical, or biographical facts be gathered for +the enrichment and clarifying of the poem? Those materials which throw +necessary light on the essential ideas, omitting what is irrelevant and +secondary. + +A careful study of the life of Alexander, by Plutarch, will bring to +light, more than anything else, his magnanimity. The thing that so much +distinguished him from other men was his large, liberal temper, +displayed on many various occasions. It reminds the mature student of +that remarkable utterance of Burke, "Great affairs and little minds go +ill together." The large-minded statesmanship with which Burke discusses +conciliation with the colonies is of like quality with this magnanimous +spirit of Alexander. + +One who reads receptively Emerson's "The Fortune of the Republic" will +open his eyes on two opposite but closely related ideas, the serious +faults,--the low political tone, the materialism, the spread-eagle strut +and slovenly mediocrity of much in American life,--and over against this +the splendid promise, manliness, and intense idealism of our national +life. To work out this conception in the brains of young people and let +it kindle their hearts with some true glow of patriotism, is the highest +form of teaching. Such instruction would convert every schoolhouse into +a true temple of freedom and patriotism. + +But in order to reach these results both teachers and pupils must put +their minds to the stretch of earnest work. In the introduction to the +above-named essay of Emerson, in the "Riverside Literature Series," +occurs the following interesting and suggestive passage: "Yet many of +his most notable addresses were given before audiences of young men and +women, and out of the great body of his writings it is not difficult to +find many passages which go straight to the intelligence of boys and +girls in school. The plan of this series forbids the use of extracts, +or many numbers might be filled with striking and appropriate passages +from Emerson's writings; but there are certain essays and addresses +which, though they may contain some knotty sentences, are in the main so +interesting to boys and girls who have begun to think, they are so +inspiring and yield so much to any one who will take a little trouble to +use his mind, that it is obviously desirable to bring them in convenient +form to the attention of schools. Some of the best things in literature +we can get only by digging for them; and there is great satisfaction in +reading again and again masterpieces like the essays in this collection, +with a fresh pleasure in each reading as new ideas spring up in the mind +of the attentive reader." + +It will be a day rich in promise and fruitful of great things when the +general body of our teachers take hold of our great American classics in +this determined spirit, treating them as wholes and grasping firmly the +essential fundamental ideas. + +2. It is in the thought-analysis of a reading lesson that a teacher's +wit and wisdom are brought to the severest test. The words of +Shakespeare may be applied to the teacher:-- + + "A prince most prudent, of an excellent + And unmatched wit and judgment." + +There is much danger of wasting time in formal questions, questions +striking no spark of interest, questions on familiar words that really +need no elucidation, vague and unpremeditated questions that make no +forward step. Simple, far-reaching questions, which touch the pupils' +deeper thoughtfulness in preparing the lesson and stimulate his +self-active effort, are needed. If the teacher has become keenly +interested, he will ask more telling questions. If he has probed into +the author's secret,--the thing which he has been hinting at and only +gives occasional glimpses of to whet your curiosity,--he will discover +that thought-getting is almost a tantalizing process with great writers. +The teacher must spur and almost tantalize the children with a similar +shrewdness of question. + +Problem-raising questions, involving thoughtful retrospect and shrewd +anticipation, questions which cannot be answered offhand but lead on to +a deeper study, are at a premium. Ruskin says:-- + +"And, therefore, first of all, I tell you earnestly and authoritatively +(I know I am right in this), you must get into the habit of looking +intensely at words and assuring yourself of their meaning, syllable by +syllable,--nay, letter by letter." Again he says, of a well-educated +gentleman, that "above all he is learned in the peerage of words; knows +the words of true descent and ancient blood at a glance from words of +modern canaille." + +In order to make his thought unmistakable, I quote at length a passage +from Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies":-- + +"And now, merely for example's sake, I will, with your permission, read +a few lines of a true book with you, carefully; and see what will come +out of them. I will take a book perfectly known to you all; no English +words are more familiar to us, yet nothing perhaps has been less read +with sincerity. I will take these few following lines of 'Lycidas':-- + + "'Last came, and last did go, + The pilot of the Galilean lake; + Two massy keys he bore of metals twain, + (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain), + He shook his mitred locks, and stern bespake, + How well could I have spar'd for thee, young swain, + Enow of such as for their bellies' sake + Creep and intrude, and climb into the fold: + Of other care they little reckoning make, + Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast, + And shove away the worthy bidden guest; + Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold + A sheep-hook, or have learn'd aught else, the least + That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs! + What recks it them? What need they? They are sped; + And when they list, their lean and flashy songs + Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw; + The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, + But, swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, + Rot inwardly, and foul contagion spread; + Besides what the grim wolf with privy paw + Daily devours apace, and nothing said.' + +"Let us think over this passage, and examine its words. + +"First, is it not singular to find Milton assigning to St. Peter, not +only his full episcopal function, but the very types of it which +Protestants usually refuse most passionately? His 'mitred' locks! Milton +was no Bishop-lover; how comes St. Peter to be 'mitred'? 'Two massy keys +he bore.' Is this, then, the power of the keys claimed by the Bishops of +Rome, and is it acknowledged here by Milton only in a poetical license, +for the sake of its picturesqueness; that he may get the gleam of the +golden keys to help his effect? Do not think it. Great men do not play +stage tricks with doctrines of life and death: only little men do that. +Milton means what he says; and means it with his might, too,--is going +to put the whole strength of his spirit presently into the saying of it. +For though not a lover of false bishops, he was a lover of true ones; +and the lake-pilot is here, in his thoughts, the type and head of true +episcopal power. For Milton reads that text, 'I will give unto thee the +keys of the kingdom of Heaven,' quite honestly. Puritan though he be, he +would not blot it out of the book because there have been bad bishops; +nay, in order to understand him, we must understand that verse first; it +will not do to eye it askance, or whisper it under our breath, as if it +were a weapon of an adverse sect. It is a solemn, universal assertion, +deeply to be kept in mind by all sects. But perhaps we shall be better +able to reason on it if we go on a little farther, and come back to it. +For clearly, this marked insistence on the power of the true episcopate +is to make us feel more weightily what is to be charged against the +false claimants of episcopate; or generally, against false claimants of +power and rank in the body of the clergy; they who, 'for their bellies' +sake, creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold.' + +"Do not think Milton uses those three words to fill up his verse, as a +loose writer would. He needs all the three; specially those three, and +no more than those--'creep,' and 'intrude,' and 'climb'; no other words +would or could serve the turn, and no more could be added. For they +exhaustively comprehend the three classes, correspondent to the three +characters, of men who dishonestly seek ecclesiastical power. First, +those who 'creep' into the fold; who do not care for office, nor name, +but for secret influence, and do all things occultly and cunningly, +consenting to any servility of office or conduct, so only that they may +intimately discern, and unawares direct the minds of men. Then those who +'intrude' (thrust, that is) themselves into the fold, who by natural +insolence of heart, and stout eloquence of tongue, and fearlessly +perseverant self-assertion, obtain hearing and authority with the common +crowd. Lastly, those who 'climb,' who by labor and learning, both stout +and sound, but selfishly exerted in the cause of their own ambition, +gain high dignities and authorities, and become 'lords over the +heritage,' though not 'ensamples to the flock.' + +"Now go on:-- + + "'Of other care they little reckoning make, + Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast. + Blind mouths--' + +"I pause again, for this is a strange expression; a broken metaphor, one +might think, careless and unscholarly. + +"Not so: its very audacity and pithiness are intended to make us look +close at the phrase and remember it. Those two monosyllables express the +precisely accurate contraries of right character, in the two great +offices of the Church--those of bishop and pastor. + +"A Bishop means a person who sees. + +"A Pastor means one who feeds. + +"The most unbishoply character a man can have is therefore to be Blind. + +"The most unpastoral is, instead of feeding, to want to be fed,--to be a +Mouth. + +"Take the two reverses together, and you have 'blind mouths.' We may +advisably follow out this idea a little. Nearly all the evils in the +Church have arisen from bishops desiring power more than light. They +want authority, not outlook. Whereas their real office is not to rule; +though it may be vigorously to exhort and rebuke; it is the king's +office to rule; the bishop's office is to oversee the flock; to number +it, sheep by sheep; to be ready always to give full account of it. Now +it is clear he cannot give account of the souls, if he has not so much +as numbered the bodies of his flock. The first thing, therefore, that a +bishop has to do is at least to put himself in a position in which, at +any moment, he can obtain the history from childhood of every living +soul in his diocese, and of its present state. Down in that back street, +Bill, and Nancy, knocking each other's teeth out!--Does the bishop know +all about it? Has he his eye upon them? Has he had his eye upon them? +Can he circumstantially explain to us how Bill got into the habit of +beating Nancy about the head? If he cannot, he is no bishop, though he +had a mitre as high as Salisbury steeple; he is no bishop,--he has +sought to be at the helm instead of the masthead; he has no sight of +things. 'Nay,' you say, it is not his duty to look after Bill in the +back street. What! the fat sheep that have full fleeces--you think it is +only those he should look after, while (go back to your Milton) 'the +hungry sheep look up, and are not fed, besides what the grim wolf with +privy paw' (bishops knowing nothing about it) 'daily devours apace, and +nothing said'? + +"'But that's not our idea of a bishop.' Perhaps not; but it was St. +Paul's; and it was Milton's. They may be right, or we may be; but we +must not think we are reading either one or the other by putting our +meaning into their words. + +"I go on. + + "'But, swolln with wind, and the rank mist they draw.' + +"This is to meet the vulgar answer that 'if the poor are not looked +after in their bodies, they are in their souls; they have spiritual +food.' + +"And Milton says, 'They have no such thing as spiritual food; they are +only swolln with wind.' At first you may think that is a coarse type, +and an obscure one. But, again, it is a quite literally accurate one. +Take up your Latin and Greek dictionaries, and find out the meaning of +'Spirit.' It is only a contraction of the Latin word 'breath,' and an +indistinct translation of the Greek word for 'wind.' The same word is +used in writing. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth;' and 'So is every +one that is born of the Spirit,' born of the breath, that is, for it +means the breath of God, in soul and body. We have the true sense of it +in our words 'inspiration' and 'expire.' Now, there are two kinds of +breath with which the flock may be filled; God's breath and man's. The +breath of God is health and life and peace to them, as the air of heaven +is to the flocks on the hills; but man's breath--the word he calls +spiritual--is disease and contagion to them, as the fog of the fen. They +rot inwardly with it; they are puffed up by it, as a body by the vapors +of its own decomposition. This is literally true of all false religious +teaching; the first and last and fatalest sign of it is that 'puffing +up.' + +"Lastly, let us return to the lines respecting the power of the keys, +for now we can understand them. Note the difference between Milton and +Dante in their interpretation of this power; for once the latter is +weaker in thought; he supposes both the keys to be of the gate of +heaven; one is of gold, the other of silver; they are given by St. Peter +to the sentinel angel, and it is not easy to determine the meaning +either of the substances of the three steps of the gate or of the two +keys. But Milton makes one, of gold, the key of heaven; the other, of +iron, the key of the prison, in which the wicked teachers are to be +bound who 'have taken away the key of knowledge, yet entered not in +themselves.' + +"We have seen that the duties of bishop and pastor are to see and feed, +and, of all who do so, it is said, 'He that watereth, shall be watered +also himself.' But the reverse is truth also. He that watereth not, +shall be withered himself, and he that seeth not, shall himself be shut +out of sight,--shut into the perpetual prison house. And that prison +opens here as well as hereafter; he who is to be bound in heaven must +first be bound on earth. That command to the strong angels, of which the +rock-apostle is the image, 'Take him, and bind him hand and foot, and +cast him out,' issues, in its measure, against the teacher for every +help withheld, and for every truth refused, and for every falsehood +enforced; so that he is more strictly fettered the more he fetters, and +further outcast as he more and more misleads, till at last the bars of +the iron cage close upon him, and as 'the golden opes, the iron shuts +amain.' + +"We have got something out of the lines, I think, and much more is yet +to be found in them; but we have done enough by way of example of the +kind of word-by-word examination of your author which is rightly called +'reading,' watching every accent and expression, and putting ourselves +always in the author's place, annihilating our own personality, and +seeking to enter into his, so as to be able assuredly to say, 'Thus +Milton thought,' not 'Thus I thought, in misreading Milton.'" + +3. In reading successive poems and prose selections from different +authors, strong resemblances in thought or language are frequently +detected. It is a thought-provoking process to bring such similar +passages to a definite comparison. Even where the same topic is treated +differently by two authors, the different or contrasted points of view +are suggestive. Calling such familiar passages to mind is in itself a +good practice, and it is well to cultivate this mode of turning previous +knowledge into use. + +To illustrate this point, let us call to mind some familiar passages, +touching the winter snow-storm and the fireside comforts, from Whittier, +Emerson, and Lowell. + +Whittier's description of a snow-storm in "Snow-Bound" is well known:-- + + "Unwarmed by any sunset light + The gray day darkened into night, + A night made hoary with the swarm + And whirl-dance of the blinding storm, + As zigzag wavering to and fro + Crossed and recrossed the winged snow: + And ere the early bedtime came + The white drift piled the window-frame, + And through the glass the clothes-line posts + Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts. + + "So all night long the storm roared on: + The morning broke without a sun; + In tiny spherule traced with lines + Of Nature's geometric signs, + In starry flake and pellicle + All day the hoary meteor fell; + And, when the second morning shone, + We looked upon a world unknown, + On nothing we could call our own. + Around the glistening wonder bent + The blue walls of the firmament, + No cloud above, no earth below,-- + A universe of sky and snow! + The old familiar sights of ours + Took marvellous shapes; strange domes and towers + Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood, + Or garden-wall, or belt of wood; + A smooth white mound the brush-pile showed, + A fenceless drift what once was road; + The bridle-post an old man sat + With loose-flung coat and high cocked hat; + The well-curb had a Chinese roof; + And even the long sweep, high aloof, + In its slant splendor, seemed to tell + Of Pisa's leaning miracle." + +Again the fireside joy is expressed:-- + + "Shut in from all the world without, + We sat the clean-winged hearth about, + Content to let the north-wind roar + In baffled rage at pane and door, + While the red logs before us beat + The frost-line back with tropic heat; + And ever, when a louder blast + Shook beam and rafter as it passed, + The merrier up its roaring draught + The great throat of the chimney laughed, + The house-dog on his paws outspread + Laid to the fire his drowsy head, + The cat's dark silhouette on the wall + A couchant tiger's seemed to fall; + And, for the winter fireside meet, + Between the andirons' straddling feet, + The mug of cider simmered slow, + The apples sputtered in a row, + And, close at hand, the basket stood + With nuts from brown October's wood. + + "What matter how the night behaved? + What matter how the north-wind raved? + Blow high, blow low, not all its snow + Could quench our hearth-fire's ruddy glow." + +If these passages and others in "Snow-Bound" are familiar to the +children in previous study, the reading of Emerson's "The Snow-Storm," +might set them to recalling a whole series of pictures from Whittier:-- + + "Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, + Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields, + Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air + Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven, + And veils the farmhouse at the garden's end. + The sled and traveller stopped, the courier's feet + Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit + Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed + In a tumultuous privacy of storm. + + "Come see the north wind's masonry. + Out of an unseen quarry evermore, + Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer + Curves his white bastions with projected roof + Round every windward stake, or tree, or door. + Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work + So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he + For number or proportion. Mockingly, + On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths; + A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn; + Fills up the farmer's lane from wall to wall, + Maugre the farmer's sighs; and at the gate + A tapering turret overtops the work. + And when his hours are numbered, and the world + Is all his own, retiring, as he were not, + Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art + To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone, + Built in an age, the mad wind's night-work, + The frolic architecture of the snow." + +The architecture of the snow can be compared point by point in both +authors, in the objects about the farmhouse, while the picture of the +snug comforts of the fireplace is in both. + +Of a somewhat different, yet closely related, character is the +description in the Prelude to Part Second, in the "Vision of Sir +Launfal":-- + + "Down swept the chill wind from the mountain peak, + From the snow five thousand summers old; + On open wold and hill-top bleak + It had gathered all the cold, + And whirled it like sleet on the wanderer's cheek; + It carried a shiver everywhere + From the unleafed boughs and pastures bare; + The little brook heard it and built a roof + 'Neath which he could house him, winter-proof; + All night by the white stars' frosty gleams + He groined his arches and matched his beams; + Slender and clear were his crystal spars + As the lashes of light that trim the stars; + He sculptured every summer delight + In his halls and chambers out of sight; + Sometimes his tinkling waters slipt + Down through a frost-leaved forest-crypt, + Long, sparkling aisles of steel-stemmed trees + Bending to counterfeit a breeze; + Sometimes the roof no fretwork knew + But silvery mosses that downward grew; + Sometimes it was carved in sharp relief + With quaint arabesques of ice-fern leaf; + Sometimes it was simply smooth and clear + For the gladness of heaven to shine through, and here + He had caught the nodding bulrush-tops + And hung them thickly with diamond drops, + Which crystalled the beams of moon and sun, + And made a star of every one: + No mortal builder's most rare device + Could match this winter-palace of ice; + 'Twas as if every image that mirrored lay + In his depths serene through the summer day, + Each flitting shadow of earth and sky, + Lest the happy model should be lost, + Had been mimicked in fairy masonry + By the elfin builders of the frost. + + "Within the hall are the song and laughter, + The cheeks of Christmas glow red and jolly, + And sprouting is every corbel and rafter + With the lightsome green of ivy and holly; + Through the deep gulf of the chimney wide + Wallows the Yule-log's roaring tide; + The broad flame-pennons droop and flap + And belly and tug as a flag in the wind; + Like a locust shrills the imprisoned sap, + Hunted to death in its galleries blind; + And swift little troops of silent sparks, + Now pausing, now scattering away as in fear, + Go threading the soot-forest's tangled darks + Like herds of startled deer." + +The elfin builders of the frost have raised even more delicate +structures than the snow. The descriptive power of the poets in +picturing nature's handiwork cannot be better seen than in these +passages. It is hardly worth while to suggest the points of resemblance +which children will quickly detect in these passages, as the comparison +of-- + + "Through the deep gulf of the chimney wide + Wallows the Yule-log's roaring tide," + +with this,-- + + "The merrier up its roaring draught. + The great throat of the chimney laughed." + +Such passages, suggesting like thoughts in earlier studies, are very +frequent and spring up in unexpected quarters. + +For example, Emerson, in "Waldeinsamkeit," says:-- + + "I do not count the hours I spend + In wandering by the sea; + The forest is my loyal friend, + Like God it useth me." + +Again, in the "Apology," he says:-- + + "Think me not unkind and rude + That I walk alone in grove and glen; + I go to the god of the wood + To fetch his word to men." + +And Lowell, in "The Bobolink":-- + + "As long, long years ago I wandered, + I seem to wander even yet. + The hours the idle schoolboy squandered, + The man would die ere he'd forget. + O hours that frosty eld deemed wasted, + Nodding his gray head toward my books, + I dearer prize the lore I tasted + With you, among the trees and brooks, + Than all that I have gained since then + From learned books or study-withered men." + +And Whittier says:-- + + "Our uncle, innocent of books, + Was rich in lore of fields and brooks, + The ancient teachers never dumb + Of Nature's unhoused lyceum." + +It would not be difficult to recall other passages from Bryant, +Shakespeare, Byron, and many others, expressing this love of solitude in +woods or on the seashore, and the wisdom to be gained from such +communion with nature. This active retrospect to gather up kindred +thoughts out of previous studies and mingle them with the newer influx +of radiant ideas from master minds is a fruitful mode of assimilating +and compounding knowledge. It may be advisable at times for the teacher +to bring together a few additional passages from still wider sources, +expressive of a thought kindred to that worked out in the class. Such +study leads to a self-reliant, enthusiastic companionship with the +thoughts of great men, and is most profitable. + +4. There is a pronounced value in dramatic representation of literary +selections. The impersonating of characters gives an intensity and +realism to the thought that cannot be effected in any other way. In some +cases it is possible to provide a stage and some degree of costuming, to +lend more complete realization of the scenes. + +In favor of such dramatic efforts it may be said that children, even in +the earlier grades, are naturally dramatic, and enjoy greatly both +seeing and participating in them. It gives scope to their natural +tendency toward action, rather than repose, and proper verbal expression +is more easily secured in conjunction with action than without it. In +this connection it may be said that acting lends greater freedom and +spontaneity to the reading. + +Schlegel, in his description of dramatic art, says:-- + +"Even in a lively oral narration, it is not unusual to introduce persons +in conversation with each other, and to give a corresponding variety to +the tone and the expression. But the gaps, which these conversations +leave in the story, the narrator fills up in his own name with a +description of the accompanying circumstances, and other particulars. +The dramatic poet must renounce all such expedients; but for this he is +richly recompensed in the following invention. He requires each of the +characters in his story to be personated by a living individual; that +this individual should, in sex, age, and figure, meet as near as may be +the prevalent conceptions of his fictitious original, nay, assume his +entire personality; that every speech should be delivered in a suitable +tone of voice, and accompanied by appropriate action and gesture; and +that those external circumstances should be added which are necessary to +give the hearers a clear idea of what is going forward. Moreover, these +representatives of the creatures of his imagination must appear in the +costume belonging to their assumed rank, and to their age and country; +partly for the sake of greater resemblance, and partly because, even in +dress, there is something characteristic. Lastly, he must see them +placed in a locality which, in some degree, resembles that where, +according to his fable, the action took place, because this also +contributes to the resemblance: he places them, _i.e._, on a scene. All +this brings us to the idea of the theatre. It is evident that the very +form of dramatic poetry, that is, the exhibition of an action by +dialogue without the aid of narrative, implies the theatre as its +necessary complement." + +"The invention of dramatic art, and of the theatre, seems a very obvious +and natural one. Man has a great disposition to mimicry; when he enters +vividly into the situation, sentiments, and passions of others, he +involuntarily puts on a resemblance to them in his gestures. Children +are perpetually going out of themselves; it is one of their chief +amusements to represent those grown people whom they have had an +opportunity of observing, or whatever strikes their fancy; and with the +happy pliancy of their imagination, they can exhibit all the +characteristics of any dignity they may choose to assume, be it that of +a father, a schoolmaster, or a king." + +In his book, "Imagination and Dramatic Instinct," S. S. Curry says:-- + +"Since dramatic instinct is so important, the question naturally arises +respecting the use of dialogues for its education. There are those who +think that all histrionic art is useless; that it is even deleterious to +character to assume a part. + +"The best answer to this is the study of the little child. The very +first means a child adopts to get out of itself, or to realize the great +world about it, is by dramatic action and instinct. No child was ever +born with any mind at all, that had not some of this instinct; and the +more promising the child, the more is it dramatic and imaginative. +Dramatic instinct is universal. It is the secret of all success; it is +the instinct by which man sees things from different points of view, by +which he realizes the ideal in character in contrast to that which is +not ideal." + +"Professor Monroe was once asked by a clergyman for private lessons. He +told him that was impossible. 'Well,' said the minister, 'what can I do +then?' 'Go home and read Shakespeare dramatically.' Why was such advice +given? Because the struggle to read Shakespeare would get the minister +out of himself. The struggle to realize how men of different types of +character would speak certain things would make him conscious whether +he, himself, spoke naturally. He would, in short, become aware of his +mannerisms, of his narrow gamut of emotions, his sameness of point of +view; he would be brought into direct contact with the process of his +own mind in thinking." + +The supreme value of a vivid and versatile imagination in giving full +and rich development to the whole mind is now a vital part of our +confession of faith. The question is how to cultivate such a resourceful +imagination. The literature of the creative imagination is felt to be +the chief means, and the dramatic instinct toward interpreting, +assimilating and expressing human thought and feeling opens the avenue +of growth. + +Dr. Curry says:-- + +"Dramatic instinct should be trained because it is a part of the +imagination, because it gives us practical steps toward the development +of the imagination, because it is the means of securing discipline and +power over feeling. Dramatic instinct should be trained because it is +the insight of one mind into another. The man who has killed his +dramatic instinct has become unsympathetic, and can never appreciate any +one's point of view but his own. Dramatic instinct endows us with broad +conceptions of the idiosyncrasies, beliefs, and convictions of men. It +trains us to unconscious reasoning, to a deep insight into the motives +of man. It is universally felt that one's power to 'other himself' is +the measure of the greatness of his personality. All sympathy, all union +of ourselves with the ideals and struggles of our race, are traceable to +imagination and dramatic instinct." + +He further emphasizes the idea that dramatic instinct has two +elements--imagination and sympathy. "Imagination affords insight into +character; sympathy enables us to identify ourselves with it." "Together +they form the chief elements of altruism. They redeem the mind from +narrowness and selfishness; they enable the individual to appreciate the +point of view, the feelings, motives, and characters of his fellow-men; +they open his eyes to read the various languages of human art; they +enable him to commune with his kind on a higher plane than that of +commonplace facts; they lift him into communion with the art and spirit +of every age and nation. Without their development man is excluded from +the highest enjoyment, the highest communion with his kind, and from the +highest success in every walk of life." + +Dramatization is the only means by which we can bring the reading work +of the school to its full and natural expression. The action involved in +it predisposes the mind to full and natural utterance. The fulfilment of +all the dramatic conditions lends an impetus and genuineness to every +word that is spoken. It has been often observed that boys and girls +whose reading is somewhat expressionless become direct and forcible when +taking a part in a dialogue or dramatic action. It would be almost +farcical not to put force and meaning into the words when all the other +elements of action and realism are present. + +Educational progress is everywhere exerting a distinct pressure at those +points where greater realism, deeper absorption in actualities, is +possible. This is the significance of outdoor excursions, of +experiments, laboratories, and object work in nature study. In geography +and history it is the purpose of pictures, vivid descriptions, +biographical stories, and the accounts of eye-witnesses and real +travellers, etc. + +In literature we possess, embodied in striking concrete personalities, +many of the most forcible ideas that men have conceived and dealt with +in the history of the world. It is very desirable that children should +become themselves the vehicles for the expression of these ideas. The +school is the place where children should become the embodiment of +ideas. It would be a grand and not impractical scheme of education to +propose to make the school a place where each child, in a well-chosen +succession, should be allowed to impersonate and become the embodiment +of the constructive ideas of our civilization. + +We reason much concerning the educative value of carpentry, of the +various forms of manual skill in wood and iron, of weaving, gardening, +and cooking, of the work of shoemaker, basket-maker, and potter, and of +the educative value of these constructive activities; for the purposes +of universal education, is it not of equal importance that children +become skilled in the histrionic art, in the apt interpretation and +expression of good manners, in that deeper social insight and versatile +tact which are the constructive elements in conduct? Or, putting it in +a more obvious form, is it any more important for a person to know how +to construct a bookcase or even a steam-engine, than to shape his speech +or conduct skilfully in meeting a board of education or a business +manager. + +It is not the purpose of the school to educate players or public +readers, any more than to train carpenters or machinists. But the +reading exercises in school should culminate in the ability to +sympathetically interpret a considerable variety of human life and +character as presented in our best literature. Modern educators, +however, are not satisfied, in any important study, with theoretical +knowledge derived from books. They demand that knowledge shall pass over +into some sort of practice and use. Reading passes naturally and without +a break from the interpretation of life to its embodiment in conduct. In +this important respect it is the most practical of all studies. Its +subject matter, derived from literature, consists largely of an +interesting variety of typical and artistically beautiful character +delineations from the hands of the supreme master of this art. Dramatic +representation is the last and indispensable step in the art of reading; +and the interest that naturally attaches to it, from early childhood up +through all the stages of growth, removes one chief obstacle to its +introduction. + +Keeping in mind that wisdom, skill, and versatility in conduct are the +natural and appropriate outcome of successful dramatic representation, +it is not at all extravagant to say that the average child will have far +more use for this result, both now and in all the vicissitudes of later +life, than for skill in carpentry, or ironwork, or weaving, etc. + +Nor have we any disposition to detract from the value usually attributed +to manual training in its various forms by its advocates. + +It is not uncommon for teachers generally to employ the dialogue form +when the selection admits of it, and to assign the parts to different +children. Our purpose, however, in the fuller discussion and emphasis of +the dramatic element is to suggest a more liberal employment of dramatic +selections, and to provide for a much fuller dramatic representation, +using simple, inexpensive costumes and stage surroundings where +possible. + +When we examine in detail the number of dramatic selections in a set of +readers, or among the masterpieces sometimes read in the classes below +the high school, we shall find a number of purely dramatic works. "The +Merchant of Venice" and "Julius Caesar" are well adapted to seventh and +eighth grades, and there are many selections in which the dialogue is an +important feature, as in "The Cricket on the Hearth," "King of the +Golden River," "Tanglewood Tales," "Lady of the Lake," "Marmion," +"Pilgrim's Progress," "Grandfather's Chair," and many others. + +"The Courtship of Miles Standish" has been published in a form +specially adapted for school exhibitions by Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. +Longfellow's "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms," in the "Riverside +Series," is a drama well suited to sixth grade. The story of "William +Tell," derived from Schiller's drama, is adapted to sixth and possibly +to fifth grade. + +Some of the ballads are cast in the form of the dialogue, and can be +easily treated so in the school, as "Proud Lady Margaret," "Robin Hood +and the Widow's Sons," "King John and the Abbot of Canterbury," and many +others. The Robin Hood stories are full of dialogue and could be easily +dramatized, and so with "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and others. + +An examination of our literature from this point of view will discover a +strong dramatic element in a large portion of it, and the cultivation of +this spirit will qualify the children for a better appreciation of many +of the great works. + +5. Treatment of the "Odyssey." + +The "Odyssey" is probably as well known as any masterpiece in the +world's literature. For the sake of illustration, therefore, we will +enter upon a brief discussion of the mode of handling it as a unit in +the school. + +There are abundant sources in English from which the teacher can get an +adequate knowledge of this great poem without using the original Greek. +A few of the leading books which the teacher may consult are as follows: +"The Story of Ulysses" (Cook). A very simple, abbreviated narrative of +Ulysses' wanderings, sometimes used as a reading book in fourth or fifth +grade. (Public School Publishing Co.)--"Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses." A +pleasing prose rendering of the chief incidents of the story, more +difficult than the preceding. Sometimes used as a reader. (Ginn & +Co.)--"Church's Stories of the Old World," in which "The Adventures of +Ulysses" forms a chapter. A good short treatment of the story in simple +language. (Ginn & Co.)--"Ulysses among the Phaeacians," consisting of +selections from five books of the "Odyssey" as translated into verse by +Bryant. This seems well adapted for use as a reading-book in fourth or +fifth grade, and will be discussed more fully as such. (Houghton, +Mifflin, & Co.)--"The Odyssey of Homer" by Palmer, is an excellent +prose-poetic rendering of the whole poem, and is of great service to the +teacher. (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)--Another excellent prose +translation, by Butcher and Lang, has been much used. (The Macmillan +Co.)--Bryant's "Homer's 'Odyssey,'" a complete poetic rendering of the +whole twenty-four books of the poem, is probably the best basis for +school reference and study of the poem.--"National Epics," by Rabb, has +a good narrative and introduction for the "Odyssey," and a list of +critical references. (A. C. McClurg & Co.)--"Art and Humanity in Homer," +by Lawton, has an interesting discussion of the "Odyssey." Other famous +translations of the whole "Odyssey" were made by Alexander Pope, William +Cowper, George Chapman, and others. + +It is not unusual in schools for teachers to give children of the third +or fourth grade an oral introduction to the whole story in a series of +lessons. This requires skill in presenting and discussing the episodes, +and should be attended by good oral reproductions by the children. Such +oral work should be done in distinct lessons apart from the regular +reading. Later, in fourth or fifth grade, the story is sometimes read in +class from one of the simple prose narratives of Miss Cook, or Lamb, or +Church. In the fifth or sixth grade, "Ulysses among the Phaeacians" forms +an interesting reading-book, with which to acquaint the children more +fully with the poetic beauty and descriptive detail of the original, so +far as it can be secured in English. In connection with such reading it +may be interesting to choose from Bryant's complete translation other +selected parts of the story, and encourage the children to read them, if +books from the library or homes can be provided. + +We may dwell for a moment upon those qualities of Homer's story which +have commanded the admiration of the great poets in different ages and +countries. The peculiar poetic charm and power of the original Greek are +probably untranslatable, although several eminent poets have attempted +it. But we have at least both prose and verse renderings of it that are +beautiful and poetic. + +Some of the critics have said that the whole poem is a perfect unit in +thought,--much more so than the "Iliad,"--centring in the person of +Ulysses. His wanderings and his final return constitute the thread of +the narrative. In the main it is a story of peace, with descriptions of +cities, islands, palaces, strange lands, and peaceful arts and manners. +After their return from Troy we meet Nestor and Menelaus, dwelling +happily in their palaces and surrounded with home comforts. Ulysses, +himself, the great sufferer, is tossed about the world, or held captive +on sea-girt, far-away islands. He passes through a series of wonderful +adventures, keeping his alertness and balance of mind so completely that +his name has become a synonym in all lands for shrewdness and far-seeing +wisdom. And it is not only a wise perception, but a self-control in the +midst of old and new temptations which is most remarkable. This +over-mastering shrewdness or calculation even overdoes itself and +becomes amusing, when he tries, for example, to deceive his guardian +goddess as to who he is. The descriptions of women and of domestic life +are famous and delightful. The constancy of Penelope, her industry and +shrewdness in outwitting the suitors, have given her a supreme place +among the women of story. The descriptions of peaceful manners and +customs, of public games, of feasting and music, of palace halls and +ornament, are among the great literary pictures of the world. + +The particular adventures through which Ulysses passed with Circe, with +the Sirens, with Polyphemus, with Eolus, with the lotus-eaters, and +others, are plainly suggestive of the dangers which threaten the +thoughtless minded, those who plunge headlong into danger without +forethought. Ulysses does not give way to folly or passion, is bold and +skilful in danger, and persevering to the last extreme. + +In the treatment of the "Odyssey," the teacher will need a general +knowledge of Greek mythology, which can be easily derived from "Greek +Gods, Heroes, and Men" (Scott, Foresman, & Co.), and from several other +of the reference books. Some study of Greek architecture, sculpture, and +modes of life will be instructive and helpful, as given in Smith's +"History of Greece" and other histories. Pictures of Greek temples and +ruins, sculpture, and palaces will be pleasing and attractive to +children. (See Luebke's "History of Art," Vol. I, Dodd, Mead, & Co.) Some +of the children's books also contain good pictures. + +A good map, indicating the supposed wanderings of Ulysses in the +Mediterranean, is given in several of the books, _e.g._ in Palmer's +"Odyssey," and fixes many of the most interesting events of the story. +The teacher should not overlook the geography of the story and its +relation to this and later studies in history, literature, and +geography. + +In using "Ulysses among the Phaeacians" as a reader in fourth or fifth +grade, the first unit of study is the voyage of Ulysses on his raft, +from the time of leaving Calypso till he is wrecked by the storm and +driven upon the island of Scheria, the home of the Phaeacians. We will +suggest a few points in the treatment. The supposed places and the route +of the voyage can be traced on the map. Let the teacher sketch it on the +board in assigning the lesson. Suggest that the children locate in the +sky the stars and constellations by which Ulysses is to direct his +course. The story of the construction of the raft on which Ulysses is to +make this journey, just preceding this part of the story, could be read +to the class by the teacher, as it is not contained in these extracts. +In length of time how does this voyage compare with a voyage across the +Atlantic to-day? Why is it said, in line 329, that the Great Bear "alone +dips not into the waters of the deep"? + +From previous studies, the children may be able to tell of Ulysses' stay +upon the island with Calypso. What may the children know of Neptune? Why +is he angered with Ulysses? A picture of Neptune with the trident is in +place. Explain the expression "while from above the night fell +suddenly." Was Ulysses justified in saying, "Now must I die a miserable +death"? In spite of the desperate storm, in what ways does Ulysses +struggle to save his life? How do the gods assist him? In what way does +this experience of Ulysses remind us of Robinson Crusoe's shipwreck and +escape? + +With how many men had Ulysses started on his way to Troy? Now he alone +escapes after great suffering and hopeless buffetings. In what way +during this voyage and shipwreck did Ulysses display his accustomed +shrewdness and foresight? After landing, what dangers did he still fear? + +The nearly three hundred lines of Book V, which give this account of +Ulysses' voyage and shipwreck, will require several lessons, and the +above questions are but a few of those raised in its reading and +discussion. When Neptune, Ulysses, or Ino speak, let the speaker be +impersonated so as to give greater force and reality. In the next book +(VI), there is more of dialogue and better opportunity for variety of +manner and voice. + +It would be tedious to enter into further detail suggesting questions. +But we may believe that a spirited treatment of this part of the story +of Ulysses in reading lessons, including his stay and treatment among +the Phaeacians, will give the children much appreciation of the beauty +and power of this old story. By means of occasional readings of other +selected parts of the "Odyssey," from Bryant or Palmer, some of the most +striking pictures in the story of his wanderings can be presented. Even +the children may find time for some of this additional, outside reading. +In any event the story of Ulysses, as a piece of great literature, can +thus be brought home to the understandings and hearts of children, and +will constitute henceforward a part of that rich furniture of the mind +which we call culture. + + +SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT POINTS IN READING + +1. The teacher's effort is first directed to a vivid interpretation of +the author's thought and feeling, and later to an expressive rendering +of the thought. + +2. Every exertion should be made to lead the children to an absorbed and +interested attention in the selections. + +3. The author's leading motive in the whole selection should be firmly +grasped by the teacher. By centring all discussion toward this motive, +unnecessary digressions will be avoided. + +4. The teacher will hardly teach well unless he has saturated himself +with the spirit of the selection, and enjoys it. To this end he needs +not only to study the selection, but also the historical, geographical, +biographical, and other side-lights. + +5. The teacher needs great freedom and versatility in the use of his +materials. Warmth, animation, and freedom of manner are necessary. + +6. Children often do not know how to study a reading lesson. In the +assignment and in the way of handling the lesson they should be taught +how to get at it, how to understand and enjoy it. + +7. In the assignment of the lesson the thought of the piece should be +opened up in an interesting way, and such difficulties as children are +not likely to grapple with and master for themselves pointed out and +approached. Difficult words need to be pronounced and hard passages +explained. + +8. The assignment should be unmistakably clear and definite, so as to +insure a good seat study. + +9. The seat study should be chiefly on parts already discussed in class. + +10. During the recitation proper, strong class attention by all the +members of the class is a first necessity. Much knowledge, alertness, +and skill are necessary to secure this. One must keep all the members of +the class in the eye constantly, and distribute the questions and work +among them promptly and judiciously, so as to secure concentrated +effort. + +11. The teacher can often judge a recitation better without looking at +the book while the class is reading. + +12. Skill in questioning is very useful in reading lessons. + + (_a_) Questions to arouse the thought should appeal to the experience + of children. + + (_b_) Questions to bring out the meaning of words or passages, or + to expose errors or to develop thought, should be clear and + specific, not long and ambiguous. + +13. Let the teacher be satisfied with reasonable answers, and not insist +on the precise verbal form present to his own mind. + +14. The teacher needs to awaken strongly the imagination in picturing +scenes, in interpreting poetic images and figures, and in impersonating +characters. The picture-forming power is stimulated by apt questions, by +suggestion of the teacher, by interpretation, by appeal to experience, +by dramatic action. + +15. The use of the dialogue and dramatic representation is among the +best means of awakening interest and producing freedom and +self-forgetfulness. + +16. The pupil should give his own interpretation, subject to correction, +and interpret parts in relation to the whole. + +17. Without too much loss of time children should learn to help +themselves in overcoming difficulties in solving problems. + +18. Sometimes it is well for children to come prepared to ask definite +questions on parts they do not understand. + +19. The tendency to more independent and mature thinking is encouraged +by comparing similar ideas, figures of speech, and language in different +poems and from different authors. + +20. There should be much effective reading and not much mere oral +reproduction. The paraphrase may be used at times to give the pupil a +larger view of the content of the piece. + +21. Let the pupil reading feel responsible for giving to the class the +content of the printed page. Often it is best to face the class. + +22. The teacher should occasionally read a passage in the best style for +the pupils, not for direct imitation, but to suggest the higher ideals +and spirit of good reading. A high standard is thus set up. + +23. Children should be encouraged to learn by heart the passages they +like. In the midst of the recitation it is well occasionally to memorize +a passage. + +24. The teacher must drill himself in clear-cut enunciation of short +vowels, final consonants, and pure vowel sounds. Cultivate also a quick +ear for accurate enunciation in the pupils and for pleasing tones. +Frequent drill exercise, singly and in concert, is necessary. + +25. Use ingenuity by indirect methods to overcome nasality, stuttering, +nervously rapid reading, slovenly and careless expression, monotone, and +singsong. + +26. By means of physical training, deep breathing, vigorous thought +work, encourage to self-reliant manner and good physical position. + +27. Give variety to each lesson; avoid monotony and humdrum. + +28. Each lesson should emphasize a particular aim, determined by the +nature of the selection or by the previous bad habits and faults of the +children in reading. It is impossible to give proper emphasis to all +things in each lesson, and indefiniteness and monotony are the result. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE VALUE OF CLASSICS TO THE TEACHER + + +In discussing the value and fruitfulness of this field of study to +children, it is impossible to forbear the suggestion of its scope and +significance for teachers. If the masters of song and expression are +able to work so strongly upon the immature minds of children, how much +deeper the influence upon the mature and thoughtful minds of teachable +teachers! They above all others should have dispositions receptive of +the best educational influences. The duties and experiences of their +daily work predispose them toward an earnest and teachable spirit. In +very many cases, therefore, their minds are wide open to the reception +of the best. And how deep and wide and many-sided is this +enfranchisement of the soul through literature! + +It is a gateway to history; not, however, that castaway shell which our +text-books, in the form of a dull recital of facts, call history; but +its heart and soul, the living, breathing men and women, the source and +incentive of great movements and struggles toward the light. Literature +does not make the study of history superfluous, but it puts a purpose +into history which lies deeper than the facts, it sifts out the wheat +from the chaff, casts aside the superficial and accidental, and gets +down into the deep current of events where living causes are at work. + +The "Courtship of Miles Standish," for example, is deeper and stronger +than history because it idealizes the stern and rigid qualities of the +Puritan, while John Alden and Priscilla touch a deeper universal +sympathy, and body forth in forms of beauty that pulsing human love +which antedates the Puritan and underlies all forms of religion and +society. + +Illustrative cases have been given in sufficient abundance to show that +literature, among other things, has a strong political side. It grasps +with a master hand those questions which involve true patriotism. It +exalts them into ideals, and fires the hearts of the people to devotion +and sacrifice for their fulfilment. + +Burke's "Oration on the American War" is, to one who has studied +American history, an astonishing confirmation of how righteous and +far-sighted were the principles for which Samuel Adams and the other +patriots struggled at the opening of the Revolution. Webster's speech at +Bunker Hill is a graphic and fervent retrospect on the past of a great +struggle, and a prophetic view of the swelling tide of individual, +social, and national well-being. + +If the teacher is to interpret history to school children, he must learn +to grasp what is essential and vital; he must be able to discriminate +between those events which are trivial and those of lasting concern. The +study of our best American literature will reveal to him this +distinction, and make him a keen and comprehensive critic of political +affairs. + +Barnett, in his "Common Sense in Education and Teaching" (p. 170), +says:-- + +"In the second place, literature provides us with historical landmarks. +We cannot be said to understand the general 'history' of a particular +time unless we know something of the thought that stirred its most +subtle thinkers, and interpreted and made articulate the spirit of the +times in which they lived. The most notable facts in the history of the +times of Edward III, of Elizabeth, and of Victoria are that Chaucer and +Shakespeare and Tennyson and their contemporaries lived and wrote. +Political history, social history, economic history, even ecclesiastical +history, are all reflected, illustrated, and interpreted by what we find +in the great works of contemporary literature." + +Charles Kingsley, in his "Literary and General Essays" (p. 249), holds a +like opinion:-- + +"I said that the ages of history were analogous to the ages of man, and +that each age of literature was the truest picture of the history of its +day, and for this very reason English literature is the best, perhaps +the only, teacher of English history, to women especially. For it seems +to me that it is principally by the help of such an extended literary +course that we can cultivate a just and enlarged taste which will +connect education with the deepest feelings of the heart." + +Literature is also a mirror that reflects many sides of social life and +usage. There is no part of a teacher's education that is so vital to his +practical success as social culture. John Locke's "Thoughts on +Education" are, in the main, an inquiry into the methods and means by +which an English gentleman can be formed. The aim of the tutor who has +this difficult task is not chiefly to give learning, to fill the mind +with information, to develop mentality, but to train the practical +judgment in harmony with gentlemanly conduct. The tutor, himself a +scholar, is to know the world, its ins and outs, its varieties of social +distinction and usage, its snares and pitfalls, its wise men and fools. +The child is to learn to look the world in the face and understand it, +to know himself and to be master of himself and of his conduct, to +appreciate other people in their moods and characters, and to adapt +himself prudently and with tact to the practical needs. The gentleman +whom Locke sets up as his ideal is not a fashion-plate figure, not a +drawing-room gallant, but a clear-headed man who understands other +people and himself, and has been led by insensible degrees to so shape +his habitual conduct as most wisely to answer his needs in the real +world. Emerson, with all his lofty idealism and unconventionalism, has +an ideal of education nearly akin to that of Locke. This social ideal +of Locke and Emerson is one that American teachers can well afford to +ponder. As a nation, we have been accustomed to think that a certain +amount of roughness and boorishness was necessary as a veil to cover the +strongest manly qualities. Smoothness and tact and polish, however +successful they may be in real life, are, theoretically at least, at a +discount. The Adamses, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Thoreau, were men +who did violence in a good many ways to social usages, and we may admire +their faults overmuch. + +To the teacher who stands in the presence of thirty or fifty distinct +species of incipient men and women, social insight and culture, the +ability to appreciate each in his individual traits, his strength or +weakness, are a prime essential to good educative work. + +Now, there are two avenues through which social culture is +attainable,--contact with men and women in the social environment which +envelops us all, and literature. Literature is, first of all, a +hundred-sided revelation of human conduct as springing from motive. +Irving, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Holmes, and Lowell are revealers of +humanity. Still more so are Dickens and Eliot and Shakespeare and +Goethe. To study these authors is not simply to enjoy the graphic power +of an artist, but to look into the lives of so many varieties of men and +women. They lay bare the heart and its inward promptings. Our +appreciation for many forms of life under widely differing conditions +is awakened. We come in touch with those typical varieties of men and +women whom we shall daily meet if we will but notice. It broadens one's +perceptions and sympathies, it reveals the many-sidedness of human life. +It suggests to a teacher that the forty varieties of humanity in her +schoolroom are not after one pattern, nor to be manipulated according to +a single device. + +The social life that surrounds each one of us is small and limited. Our +intimate companionships are few, and we can see deeply into the inner +life of but a small portion even of those about us. The deeper life of +thought and feeling is largely covered up with conventionalities and +externalities. But in the works of the best novelists, dramatists, and +poets, we may look abroad into the whole world of time and place, upon +an infinite variety of social conditions, and we are permitted to see +directly into the inner thought and motive, the very soul of the actors. +Yet fidelity to human nature and real life is claimed to be the peculiar +merit of these great writers. By the common consent of critics, +Shakespeare is the prince of character delineators. Schlegel says of +him:-- + +"Shakespeare's knowledge of mankind has become proverbial; in this his +superiority is so great that he has justly been called the master of the +human heart. A readiness to remark the mind's fainter and involuntary +utterances, and the power to express with certainty the meaning of these +signs, as determined by experience and reflection, constitute 'the +observer of men.'" + +"After all, a man acts so because he is so. And what each man is, that +Shakespeare reveals to us most immediately; he demands and obtains our +belief, even for what is singular and deviates from the ordinary course +of nature. Never perhaps was there so comprehensive a talent for +characterization as Shakespeare. It not only grasps every diversity of +rank, age, and sex, down to the lispings of infancy; not only do the +king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the +idiot, speak and act with equal truthfulness; not only does he transport +himself to distant ages and foreign nations, and portray with the +greatest accuracy (a few apparent violations of costume excepted) the +spirit of the ancient Romans, of the French in the wars with the +English, of the English themselves during a great part of their history, +of the Southern Europeans (in the serious part of many comedies), the +cultivated society of the day, and the rude barbarism of a Norman +foretime; his human characters have not only such depth and +individuality that they do not admit of being classed under common +names, and are inexhaustible even in conception,--no, this Prometheus +not merely forms men, he opens the gates of the magical world of +spirits." + +What is true of Shakespeare in a preeminent degree is true to a marked +extent of all the great novelists and poets. + +The teacher needs to possess great versatility and tact in social +situations. A quick insight, social ease, freedom, and self-possession +are of the first importance to him. The power of sympathy, of +appreciation for others' feelings and difficulties, is wholly dependent +upon such social cultivation. Otherwise the teacher will be rude, even +uncouth and boorish in manner, producing friction and ill-will where +tact and gentleness would bring sympathy and confidence. Many people +absorb this refinement of thought and manner from the social circles +with which they mingle, and it is, of course, a smiling fortune that has +placed a teacher's early life in a happy and cultured atmosphere, where +the social sympathies and graces are absorbed almost unconsciously. But +even where the earlier conditions have been less favorable, the +opportunity for rapid social development and culture is most promising. +The numberless cases in our country in which young people, by the +strength of their energetic purpose and desire for improvement, have +raised themselves not only to superior knowledge and scholarship, but +also to that far greater refinement of social life and manner which we +call true culture,--the numberless instances of this sort are a +surprising indication of the power of education. Literature has been a +potent agent in this direction. It emancipates, it sets free, the spirit +of man. It lifts him above what is sordid and material, and gives him +those true standards of worth with which to measure all things. It +contains within itself the refining elements, the aesthetic and ethical +ideals, and, best of all, it portrays human life in all its thought, +feeling, and passion with such intensity and realistic fidelity that its +teaching power is unparalleled. + +This potentiality of the better literature to produce such noble results +in the higher range of culture is dependent upon conditions. No one will +understand literature who does not study and understand ordinary life as +it surrounds him; who does not constantly draw upon his own experience +in interpreting the characters portrayed in books. No stupid or +unobservant person will be made wise through books, be they never so +choice. Even the student who works laboriously at his text-books, but +has no eye nor care for the people or doings about him, is getting only +the mechanical side of education, and is losing the better part. He who +will draw riches out of books must put his intellect and sympathy, his +whole enthusiastic better self, into them. + +The indwelling virtue of great books is that they demand this intense +awakening, this complete absorption of the whole self. The mind of a +child and of a man or woman has to stretch itself to the utmost limit to +take in the message of a great writer. One feels the old barriers giving +way and the mind expanding to the conception of larger things. Speaking +of the ancient drama at Athens, Shelley says, "The imagination is +enlarged by a sympathy with pains and passions so mighty that they +distend in their conception the capacity of that by which they are +conceived." + +Those who have received into the inner self the expansive energy of +noble thought and social culture, are the better qualified, from the +rich variety of the inner life, to act effectively upon the complex +conditions and forces of the outer world. The teacher whose inner life +is teeming with these rich sympathies and potent ideals will react with +greater prudence and tact upon the kaleidoscopic conditions of a school. + +Practical social life and literature are not distinct modes of culture. +They are one, they interact upon each other in scores of ways. Give a +teacher social opportunities, give him the best of our literature, let +these two work their full influence upon him,--then, if he cannot become +a teacher, it is a hopeless case. Let him go to the shop, to the farm, +to the legislature; there is no place for him in the schoolroom. + +Literature is also a sharp and caustic critic of his own follies or +foibles, to one who can reflect. It has a multitude of surprises by +which we are able, as Burns wished,-- + + "To see oursels as ithers see us." + +Even the schoolmaster finds an occasional apt description of himself in +literature which it is often interesting and entertaining for him to +ponder. One of the most familiar is that of Goldsmith in "The Deserted +Village":-- + + "Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way + With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, + There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, + The village master taught his little school. + A man severe he was, and stern to view; + I knew him well, and every truant knew: + Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace + The day's disasters in his morning face; + Full well they laugh'd, with counterfeited glee, + At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; + Full well the busy whisper, circling round, + Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd. + Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, + The love he bore to learning was in fault. + The village all declar'd how much he knew; + 'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; + Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, + And even the story ran that he could gauge; + In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill, + For even though vanquish'd he could argue still; + While words of learned length and thundering sound + Amaz'd the gazing rustics ranged around; + And still they gaz'd, and still the wonder grew + That one small head could carry all he knew." + +A like entertainment and suggestion of what the schoolmaster may be, as +seen by others, are furnished by Irving's Ichabod Crane. William +Shenstone's description of the schoolmistress and the school near two +hundred years ago in his native village, is very diverting. Charles +Dickens's description of schools and schoolmasters is important in the +history of England, and, like his portrayals of child life generally, of +deep pedagogical worth to teachers. + +In his book, "The Schoolmaster in Literature," Mr. Skinner has done a +real service to the teaching world in bringing together, into a +convenient compilation from many sources, the literature bearing +directly upon the schoolmaster. Even the comic representations and +caricatures are valuable in calling attention to common foibles and +mannerisms, to say nothing of the more serious faults of teachers. + +It is in literature, also, and in those lives and scenes from history +which literary artists have worked up, that the teacher can best develop +his own moral ideals and strengthen the groundwork of his own moral +character. The stream will not rise above its source, and a teacher's +moral influence in a school will not reach above the inspirations from +high sources which he himself has felt. Those teachers who have devoted +themselves solely to the mastery of the texts they teach, who have read +little from our best writers, are drawing upon a slender capital of +moral resource. Not even if home influences have laid a sound basis of +moral habits are these sufficient reserves for the exigencies of +teaching. The moral nature of the teacher needs constant stimulus to +upward growing, and the children need examples, ideal illustrations, +life and blood impersonations of the virtues; and literature is the +chief and only safe reservoir from which to draw them. + +We have already discussed the moral value of the right books for +children. The lessons of the great works are so profound in this respect +that they offer a still wider range of study to the teacher. Even the +foremost thinkers and philosophers have found therein an inexhaustible +source of truth and wisdom. + +In the Foreword to his "Great Books as Life Teachers," Newell Dwight +Hillis says, "For some reason our generation has closed its text-books +on ethics and morals, and opened the great poems, essays, and novels." +This is a remarkable statement and is the key-note to a silent but +sweeping change in education. He adds, "Doubtless for thoughtful persons +this fact argues, not a decline of interest in the fundamental +principles of right living, but a desire to study these principles as +they are made flesh and embodied in living persons." Again, "It seems +important to remember that the great novelists are consciously or +unconsciously teachers of morals, while the most fascinating essays and +poems are essentially books of aspiration and spiritual culture." + +It is suggestive to note that this fundamental text is worked out in his +book by chapters on Ruskin's "Seven Lamps of Architecture," George +Eliot's "Romola," Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter," Victor Hugo's "Les +Miserables," Tennyson's "Idylls of the King," and Browning's "Saul." +This suggests a fruitful line of studies for every teacher. + +Among modern essayists, Emerson, Carlyle, Ruskin, and Matthew Arnold +stand preeminent, and they are already well established among the +mightiest teachers of our age, and it may be, of many to come. Sure it +is that teachers could not do better than put themselves within earshot +of these resonant voices. Their heart-strings will vibrate and their +intellects will be stretched to a full tension, not simply by the music, +but by the truth which surges up and bursts into utterance. It is +scarcely a figure of speech to say that the lightning flashes across +their pages. The stinging rebuke of wrong, the noble ideals of +righteousness, place them among the prophets whose tongues have been +touched with fire from the altar. + +Besides the historical, social, and moral tuition for teachers in +literature, there are several other important culture effects in it. The +deepest religious incentives are touched, nature in her myriad phases is +observed with the eye of the poet and scientist, and the aesthetic side +of poetry and rhythmic prose, its charm and graces of style, its music +and eloquence, work their influence upon the reader. Literature is a +harp of many strings, and happy is that teacher who has learned to +detect its tones and overtones, who has listened with pleasure to its +varied raptures, and has felt that expansion of soul which it produces. + +Literature, in the sense in which we have been using it, has been called +the literature of power, the literature of the spirit. That is, it has +generative, spiritual life. It is not simple knowledge, it is knowledge +energized, charged with potency. It is knowledge into which the poet has +breathed the breath of life. The difference between bare knowledge and +the literature of power is like the difference between a perfect statue +in stone and a living, pulsing, human form. + +One of the virtues of literature, therefore, is the mental stimulus, the +joy, the awakening, the intensity of thought it spontaneously calls +forth. Textbooks are usually a bore, but literature is a natural +resource even in hours of weariness. Who would dream of enlivening +leisure hours or vacation rest with text-books of grammar, or +arithmetic, or history, or science? But the poet soothes with music, +solemn or gay, according to our choice. If we go to the woods or lakes +to escape our friends, we take one of the masters of song with us. After +a day of toil and weariness, we can turn to "Evangeline," or "Lady of +the Lake," or the "Vision of Sir Launfal," and soon we are listening +to-- + + "The murmuring pines and the hemlocks," + +or the echo of the hunter's horn,-- + + "The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay + Resounded up the rocky way, + And faint, from farther distance borne, + Were heard the clanging hoof and horn." + +At a time when we are not fit for the irksome and perfunctory +preparation of text-book lessons, we are still capable of receiving +abundant entertainment or hearty inspiration from Warner's "How I killed +a Bear," or Tennyson's "Enoch Arden," or "Sleepy Hollow." Literature is +recreation in its double sense. It gives rest and relief, and it builds +up. + +Teachers should shake themselves free from the conviction that severe +disciplinary studies are the best part of education. They have their +well-merited place. But there are higher spiritual fountains from which +to draw. Read the lives of Scott, Macaulay, Irving, Hawthorne, and +Emerson, and discover that the things we do with the greatest inward +spontaneity and pleasure and ease are often the best. + +Literature, both in prose and verse, is what the teacher needs, because +our best authors are our best teachers in their method of handling their +subjects. They know how to find access to the reader's mind by making +their ideas attractive, interesting, and beautiful. They seem to know +how to sharpen the edge of truth to render it more keen and incisive. +They drive truth deeper, so that it remains embedded in the life and +thought. Let a poet clothe an idea with strength and wing it with fancy, +and it will find its way straight to the heart. First of all, nearly +all our classic writers, especially those we use in the grades, handle +their subjects from the concrete, graphic, picturesque side. They not +only illustrate abundantly from nature and real things in life; they +nearly always individualize and personify their ideas. Virtue to a poet +is nothing unless it is impersonated. A true poet is never abstract or +dry or formal in his treatment of a subject. It is natural for a +literary artist, whether in verse or prose, to create pictures, to put +all his ideas into life forms and bring them close to the real ones in +nature. Homer's idea of wisdom is Minerva, war is Mars, strength is +Ajax, skill and prudence are Ulysses, faithfulness is Penelope. Dickens +does not talk about schoolmasters in general, but of Squeers. +Shakespeare's idea of jealousy is not a definition, not a formula, but +Othello. Those books which have enthralled the world, like "Robinson +Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," "Gulliver's Travels," "Arabian Nights," +"Evangeline," "Ivanhoe," "Merchant of Venice,"--they deal with no form +of classified or generalized knowledge; they give us no definitions, +they are scenes from real life. They stand among realities, and their +roots are down in the soil of things. They are persons hemmed in by the +close environment of facts. + +This realism, this objectifying of thought, this living form of +knowledge, is characteristic of all great writers in prose or verse. +The novelist, the romancer, the poet, the orator, and even the essayist, +will always put the breath of reality into his work by an infusion of +concreteness, of graphic personification. The poet's fancy, building out +of the abundant materials of sense-experience, is what gives color and +warmth to all his thoughts. Strong writers make incessant use of figures +of speech. Their thought must clothe itself with the whole panoply of +imagery and graphic representation in order to be efficient in the +warfare for truth. + +What a lesson for the teacher! What models upon which to develop his +style of thinking! If the teaching profession and its work could be +weighed in the balance, the scale would fall on the side of the abstract +with a heavy thud. Not that object lessons will save us. They only +parody the truth. For the object lesson as a separate thing we have no +use at all. But to ground every idea and every study in realism, to pass +up steadily through real objects and experience to a perception of +truths which have wide application, to science--this is the true +philosophy of teaching. + +The classic writers lead us even one grand step beyond realism. The +fancy builds better than the cold reason. It adorns and ennobles thought +till it becomes full-fledged for the flight toward the ideal. + +As the poet, standing by the sea-shore, ponders the life that has been +in the now empty shell washed up from the deep, his fancy discovers in +the shell a resemblance to human life and destiny, and he cries:-- + + "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, + As the swift seasons roll! + Leave thy low-vaulted past! + Let each new temple, nobler than the last, + Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, + Till thou at length art free, + Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!" + +Is it possible that one could fall under the sway of the poets and +artists, appropriate their images and fruitful style of thought, be +wrought upon by their fancies, and still remain dull and lifeless and +prosaic in the class-room? No wonder that true literature has been +called the literature of power, as distinguished from the literature of +knowledge (supplementary readers, pure science, information books, +etc.). The lives and works of our best writers contain an expansive +spiritual energy, which, working into the mind of a teacher, breaks the +shell of mechanism and formality. The artist gives bright tints and +colors to ideas which would otherwise be faded and bleached. + +The study of the best literature adapted to children in each age is a +fruitful form of psychology and child study. The series of books +selected for the different grades is supposed to be adapted to the +children at each period. The books which suit the temper and taste of +children in primary grades are peculiar in quality, and fit those pupils +better than older ones. In intermediate classes the boyhood spirit, +which delights in myth, physical deeds of prowess, etc., shows itself, +and many of the stories, ballads, and longer poems breathe this spirit. +In grammar grades the expanding, maturing minds of children leap forward +to the appreciation of more complex and extended forms of literature +which deal with some of the great problems of life more seriously, as +"Snow-Bound," "Evangeline," "Roger de Coverley," "Merchant of Venice," +etc. + +Any poem or story which is suited to pupils of the common school may +generally be used in several grades. Hawthorne's "Wonder Book," for +instance, may be used anywhere from the third to the eighth grade by a +skilful teacher. But for us the important question is, to what age of +children is it best adapted? Where does its style of thought best fit +the temper of the children? The eighth grade may read it and get +pleasure and good from it, but it does not come up to the full measure +of their needs. Children of the third grade cannot master it with +sufficient ease, but in the latter part of the fourth or first part of +the fifth grade it seems to exactly suit the wants, that is, the +spiritual wants, of the children. It will vary, of course, in different +schools and classes. Now, it is a problem for our serious consideration +to determine what stories to use and just where each belongs, within +reasonable limits. Let us inquire where the best culture effect can be +realized from each book used, where it is calculated to work its best +and strongest influence. To accomplish this result it is necessary to +study equally the temper of the children and the quality of the books, +to seek the proper food for the growing mind at its different stages. +This is not chiefly a matter of simplicity or complexity of language. +Our readers are largely graded by the difficulty of language. But +literature should be distributed through the school grades according to +its power to arouse thought and interest. Language will have to be +regarded, but as secondary. Look first to the thought material which is +to engage children's minds, and then force the language into subservice +to that end. The final test to determine the place of a selection in the +school course must be the experiment of the class-room. We may exercise +our best judgment beforehand, and later find that a classic belongs one +or two grades higher or lower than we thought. + +We really need some comprehensive principle upon which to make the +selection of materials as adapted to the nature (psychology) of +children. The theory of the culture epochs of race history as parallel +to child development offers at least a suggestion. A few of the great +periods of history seem to correspond fairly well to certain epochs of +child growth. The age of folk-lore and the fairy tale is often called +the childhood of the race; the predominance of the imagination and of +the childlike interpretation of things in nature reminds us strikingly +of the fancies of children. We find also that the literary remains of +this epoch in the world's history, the fairy tales, are the peculiar +delight of children from four to six. In like manner the heroic age and +its literary products seem to fascinate the children of nine to eleven +years. In connection with this theory it is observed that the greatest +poets of the world in different countries are those who have given +poetic form and expression to the typical ideas and characters of +certain epochs of history. So Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton, Scott. The +best literature is, much of it, the precipitate of the thought and life +of historical epochs in race development. Experiment has shown that much +of this literature is peculiarly adapted to exert strong culture +influence upon children. Emerson, in his "Essay on History," says: "What +is the foundation of that interest all men feel in Greek history, +letters, art, and poetry, in all its periods, from the Heroic or Homeric +age down to the domestic life of the Athenians and Spartans, four or +five centuries later? What but this, that every man passes personally +through a Grecian period?" And again: "The student interprets the age of +chivalry by his own age of chivalry, and the days of maritime adventure +and circumnavigation by quite parallel miniature experiences of his own. +To the sacred history of the world, he has the same key. When the voice +of a prophet out of the deeps of antiquity merely echoes to him a +sentiment of his infancy, a prayer of his youth, he then pierces to the +truth through all the confusion of tradition and the caricature of +institutions." The literary heritage of the chief culture epochs is +destined therefore to enter as a powerful agent in the education of +children in our schools, and the place of a piece of literature in +history suggests at least its place in child culture. + +The study of these literary masterpieces, the choicest of the world, +while it offers a broad perspective of history, also enters deep into +the psychology of children and their periods of growth and change. What +a study for the teacher! + +Suppose now that a wise selection of the best products for school use +had been made. The books for each grade would respond not only to the +ability but to the characteristic temper and mental status of children +at that age. The books would arouse the full compass of the children's +mental power, their emotional as well as intellectual capacities, their +sympathy, interest, and feeling. The teacher who is about to undertake +the training of these children may not know much about children of that +age. How can she best put herself into an attitude by which she can meet +and understand the children on their own ground? Not simply their +intellectual ability and standing, but, better still, their impulses and +sympathies, their motives and hearts? Most people, as they reach +maturity and advance in years, have a tendency to grow away from their +childhood. Their purposes have changed from those of childhood to those +of mature life. They are no longer interested in the things that +interest children. Such things seem trivial and even incomprehensible to +them. + +Now the person who is preparing to be a teacher should grow back into +his childhood. Without losing the dignity or purpose of mature life, he +should allow the memories and sympathies of childhood to revive. The +insight which comes from companionship and sympathy with children he +needs in order to guide them with tact and wisdom. + +The literature which belongs to any age of childhood is perhaps the best +key to the spirit and disposition of that period. The fact that it is of +permanent worth makes it a fit instrument with which the teacher may +reawaken the dormant experiences and memories of that period in his own +life. The teacher who finds it impossible to reawaken his interest in +the literature that goes home to the hearts of children has _prima +facie_ evidence that he is not qualified to stimulate and guide their +mental movements. The human element in letters is the source of its deep +and lasting power; the human element in children is the centre of their +educative life, and he who disregards this and thinks only of +intellectual exercises is a poor machine. The literature which children +appreciate and love is the key to their soul life. It has power to +stimulate teacher and pupil alike, and is therefore a common ground +where they may both stand and look into each other's faces with +sympathy. + +This is not so much the statement of a theory as a direct inference from +many observations. It has been observed repeatedly, in different schools +under many teachers, that the "Lady of the Lake," "Vision of Sir +Launfal," "Sleepy Hollow," or "Merchant of Venice" have had an +astonishing power to bring teacher and children into near and cherished +companionship. It is not possible to express the profound lessons of +life that children get from the poets. In the prelude to Whittier's +"Among the Hills," what a picture is drawn of the coarse, hard lot of +parents and children in an ungarnished home, "so pinched and bare and +comfortless," while the poem itself, a view of that home among the hills +which thrift and taste and love have made,-- + + "Invites the eye to see and heart to feel + The beauty and the joy within their reach; + Home and home loves and the beatitudes + Of nature free to all." + +To study such poetry in its effect upon children is a monopoly of the +rich educational opportunity which falls naturally into the hands of +teachers. Psychology, as derived from text-books, is apt to be cold and +formal; that which springs from the contact of young minds with the +fountains of song lives and breathes. If a teacher desires to fit +herself for primary instruction, she can do nothing so well calculated +to bring herself _en rapport_ with little children as to read the +nursery rhymes, the fairy tales, fables, and early myths. They bring her +along a charming road into the realm of childlike fancies and +sympathies, which were almost faded from her memory. The same door is +opened through well-selected literature to the hearts of children in +intermediate and grammar grades. + +The sense of humor is cultivated in literature better than elsewhere. In +fact, no other study contains much material of humorous quality. A quick +sense of it is deemed by many of the best judges an indispensable +quality in teachers. Not that a teacher needs to be a diverting +story-teller or entertainer, if only he has an indulgent patience and +kindly sympathy for those who enjoy telling stories. There is a certain +hearty, wholesome social spirit in the enjoyment of humor which diffuses +itself like sunlight through a school. It contains an element of +kindliness, humanity, and good fellowship which lubricates all the +machinery and takes away unnecessary stiffness and gravity in conduct. +Best of all it is a sort of mental balance-wheel for the teacher, which +enables him to see the ludicrous phases of his own behavior, should he +be inclined to run to foolish extremes in various directions. Much of +our best literature abounds in humorous elements. Lowell, Holmes, +Shakespeare, and Irving are spontaneously rich in this quality of ore, +and it is just as well perhaps to cultivate our appreciation in these +richer veins as in shallow and unproductive ones elsewhere. + +Schlegel says of Shakespeare, his "comic talent is equally wonderful +with that he has shown in the pathetic and tragic; it stands at an equal +elevation and possesses equal extent and profundity.... Not only has he +delineated many kinds of folly, but even of sheer stupidity he has +contrived to give a most diverting and entertaining picture." + +The inability to appreciate the ludicrous and farcical, and especially +of witty conceits, is felt to be a mark of dulness and heaviness, and in +dealing with children and young people a versatile perception of the +humorous is very helpful. Many of the pupils possess this quality of +humor in a marked degree, and the teacher should at least have +sufficient insight to appreciate this peculiar bent of mind and turn of +wit. + +A brief retrospect will make plain the profitableness of classics to the +teacher. They show a deep perspective into the spirit and inner workings +of history. The social life and insight developed by the study of +literature give tact and judgment to understand and respect the +many-sided individualities found in every school. The teacher's own +moral and aesthetic and religious ideals are constantly lifted and +strengthened by the study of classics. Such reading is a recreation and +relief even in hours of weariness and solitude. It is an expansive +spiritual power rather than a burden. Literary artists are also a +standing illustration of the graphic, spirited manner of handling +subjects. Finally, this rich and varied realm of classic thought and +expression is the doorway by which we enter again into the moods and +impulses and fancies of childhood. We thus revive our own youth and fit +ourselves for a quick and appreciative perception of children's needs. +It is the best kind of child study. + + * * * * * + +A few of the books which are suggestive, and illustrate the value of +literature for teachers, and in some cases even lay out lines of +profitable and stimulative reading, are as follows:-- + + Newell Dwight Hillis. Great Books and Life Teachers. (Fleming H. + Revell Co.) + + George Willis Cooke. Poets and Problems. (Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.) + + The Schoolmaster in Literature. (The American Book Co.) + + Representative Essays. (G. P. Putnam's Sons.) + + Hamilton Wright Mabie. Books and Culture. (Dodd, Mead, & Co.) + + James Baldwin. The Book Lover. (A. C. McClurg & Co.) + + The Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire. (The American Book Co.) + + Emerson's Essays. + + Schlegel's Dramatic Art and Literature. (Bohn's Libraries.) + + Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, and Seven Lamps of Architecture. + + Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Book and Heart. (Harper & Brothers.) + + Carlyle's Heroes and Hero-Worship. + + Counsel upon the Reading of Books. Van Dyke. (Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co.) + + Literary and General Essays. Charles Kingsley. (Macmillan & Co.) + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LIST OF BOOKS + + +The following list of books, arranged according to grades, is designed +to supply the children of the five grades, from the fourth to the eighth +inclusive, with excellent reading matter in the form of complete +masterpieces of American and English literature. It includes, besides +the books for regular reading lessons, a large list of collateral and +closely related works for the children and also for teachers. + +The books of these lists contain a rich and varied fund of finest +culture material, first of all for the teacher, and, through her spirit +and enthusiasm, for the children. + +Besides the general discussions of these books in the preceding +chapters, a few additional explanations are necessary to make plain the +grounds upon which this particular selection and arrangement of books is +based. The whole purpose of the preceding chapters is to throw light +upon this list, and to qualify the teacher for an intelligent and +efficient use of these books as school readers. + +1. The books apportioned to each grade or year are divided into three +series. The first series is carefully selected to serve as regular +reading-books for that grade. Almost without exception they are complete +works, or collections of complete poems, stories, etc. Many of them are +very familiar and have been much used in the schools. The number of +books for each grade is large, so as to have room for choice and +adaptation to each class. + +The second series consists of closely related collateral readings +derived from a much wider range of books in literature, history, and +science. Many of these books of the second list are not so strictly +masterpieces of literature, but of a secondary rank as prose renderings +of the great poems, myths, and stories of other languages, also American +and European history stories. These materials are well adapted for the +reference studies and home readings of children. They all deal with +interesting and worthy subjects of thought in a superior style. Many of +these books, however, are great and permanent works of literature. They +are materials, also, which the teacher should be familiar with. They +should be constantly referred to and discussed in connection with the +first series. It is quite probable that some teachers will prefer books +of the second series for regular reading in the place of some suggested +in the first series. + +The third series consists of books for teachers, including great works +of literature, history, and science, which will enrich the teacher's +knowledge and contribute to a broader enthusiasm and culture. The +writings of some of the great essayists, as Ruskin, Carlyle, Emerson, +Kingsley, Motley, Lowell, Huxley, Macaulay, and others, are peculiarly +fit to broaden the teacher's horizon and ennoble his purpose. Some of +the best poems and novels suitable for advanced study are mentioned. +There are also books which deal in a comprehensive and critical, but +sympathetic, way with important literary topics, as the myths and great +epics, the age of chivalry, and the lives of the most eminent writers. +Some of the best works of biography and history are also suggested for +teachers, and a number of the best professional and pedagogical books +for teachers, dealing with literature, reading, and child study. + +2. This list of books is of course tentative. There are other literary +works as good, perhaps, but not a few difficulties stand in the way of +the best selection. A few of the best materials are scattered in books +not available for school purposes. Some of the finest of our longer +classics have not been tested much in school use. There is, however, an +abundance of choice English works, complete, well printed and bound, in +cheap, schoolbook form. The chief difficulty, after all, is in selecting +and arranging the best of an abundant and varied collection of excellent +literature. This inspiring problem lies but partly solved at the +threshold of every teacher's work. It requires extensive knowledge of +literature and experience in its use in classes. A masterpiece may be +read in several grades, and teachers will differ in judging its true +place. Schools and classes differ also in their capacity and previous +preparation for classic readings, so that no course of reading will fit +all schools, or, perhaps, any two schools. Many principals will prefer +to use the books one or two grades lower, or higher, than here +indicated. Every teacher should use such a list according to his best +individual judgment as based upon the needs of his school. This list was +discussed and partly made out in conference with a number of experienced +superintendents, and much variety of opinion was expressed as to the +best grade for the use of a number of the selections. + +3. The books chosen for each grade are designed to be a suitable +combination of prose and poetry, of short and long selections from +history, science, and letters. Variety in subject-matter and style is +required in each grade, although certain strong individual +characteristics are expected to appear in the literature of each year's +work. Many of the shorter poems fit in well with longer masterpieces in +prose and verse. Some of the epics, myths, and historical episodes are +told in both prose and verse. The children may well meet and study them +in both forms. If from four to six larger masterpieces could be read +each year, and these could bring out the style and quality of so many +authors, if a number of suitable shorter pieces could be read and +related to the former, the many-sided influence of literature would +prove each year effective. Literature is the broadest of all subjects, +both as a basis of culture and for the unification of the varied +studies. It touches every phase of experience and knowledge along its +higher levels, and overlooks the whole field of life from the standpoint +of the seer and poet. The classic readings should aim at the +completeness, variety, and elevation of thought which literature alone +can give. Every year's literature should open the gates to meadow and +woodland, to park and fruitful fields, into rich and shaded valleys, and +up to free and sunny hilltops and mountains. + +4. The list of books for each year includes two or three books of +miscellaneous collections of classics in prose and verse. Many of the +selections are short and some fragmentary. Such are the three volumes of +"Open Sesame," the "Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics," "Children's +Treasury of English Song," and "Book of Golden Deeds." In each of the +books named is found a variety of material suited perhaps to two or +three grades. In most of the books just named it is not intended in our +plan that all the selections should be read through in succession. It +will be better for the teacher to select from those collections such +choice poems, stories, etc., as will enrich and supplement the longer +classics, and give that added variety so needful. Many of the finest +poems in our language are short, and should not be omitted from our +school course. They should be read and some of them memorized by the +children. It would be well if the teacher had in each grade one or two +sets of such books of choice miscellaneous materials from which to +select occasional reading. The regular readers used by the children +would consist of the longer masterpieces, which would be supplemented by +the shorter selections. In this way greater unity and variety might be +achieved within the limits of each grade. + +5. Information books and supplementary readers in history, geography, +and natural science have been excluded, in the main, from our lists. The +test of literary excellence has been applied to most of the books +chosen. De Quincey's distinction between the literature of knowledge and +that of power is our line of demarkation. It seems to us probable that +the future will call for a still more stringent adherence to this +principle of selection. Information readers are good and necessary in +their place in geography, history, and natural science; but they are not +good enough to take the place of classics in reading lessons. The only +exceptions to the rule of classics are the prose renderings of the old +classics, as the "Story of the Odyssey," and the biographical stories +from history. Both these have so much of interest and stimulus for the +young that they seem to harmonize with our plan. But criticism may yet +expose their inadequacy. + +It is our plan, in brief, to limit the reading work mainly to the choice +masterpieces of the best authors, and to render these studies as +fruitful as possible in spiritual power. If supplementary readings are +used at all, let them be those which will strengthen the influence of +the classics. + +It has been our plan to collect in the Special Method Books devoted to +geography, history, and natural science, a full list of the +supplementary readers and information books in those subjects. + +6. In our list, however, is included quite a number of classic +renderings of science and nature topics. Such are "Wake Robin," "Birds +and Bees," "A Hunting of the Deer," etc., "Sharp Eyes" etc., "Succession +of Forest Trees," "Up and Down the Brooks," "Water Babies," "The +Foot-path Way," "Madam How and Lady Why," "Wilderness Ways," "In Bird +Land," and many others. + +These books, however, belong to the literature of power. They look at +nature through the eyes of poet and artist and enthusiast. They are not +cold, matter-of-fact delineations. They unfold the aesthetic and human +side of nature, the divinity of flower and tree. These books are the +communings of the soul with nature, and are closely related in spirit to +the poems of nature in Bryant, Wordsworth, Tennyson, and other poets. +There has been a chasm between them and our text-books in science which +needs bridging over. Now that science is beginning to be taught +objectively, experimentally, and inductively, there will be much less of +a hiatus at this stage, because there is so much that is powerfully +stimulating in nature study. + +7. Some books are named twice in the lists, first as books of reference, +or in the teacher's lists, and in a later grade for the use of children +in regular reading. We have been especially careful in selecting +appropriate books in the first list for each grade adapted to the age of +the children. These books for regular reading must be used by every +child, so that they should be fitted to the average ability. The +reference books for collateral reading in the second series of each +grade may be more difficult in some cases, as they will be used, in +part, only by the stronger pupils. + +There are certain groups of kindred books, like the Greek myths, that +are distributed through three or more grades. It is not expected that +any child will use all of these books, as several of them may deal with +the same story, like the "Iliad" or "Odyssey." It seemed best to include +all the important renderings of these stories, and leave the teacher to +choose among them for his class. + +8. To give more specific aid to teachers, most of the books are briefly +described, and some notion of their special worth and fitness indicated. +It is hoped that these short descriptions will be of considerable help +to young teachers in making selections for their classes. + +9. Many of the best and most commonly used books are published by +several companies. In such cases the names of the different publishers +are indicated in connection with each book. + +10. By an examination of these lists the teacher of any grade will +discover that, in order to teach well, she must be acquainted with the +books used in one or two grades, both above and below her own. All the +chief groups of books in literature run through three or four grades, +and the teacher in any grade needs to get a comprehensive view of the +important groups of books used in her classes. In addition to this, the +books recommended for teachers give a still more definite and +comprehensive grasp of large classes of literary material. The books +recommended for teachers could be indefinitely extended, but it is hoped +that enough are mentioned to give definiteness to their wider studies, +and to serve as an introduction to some of the larger fields of +literature, science, and history. + +11. There are certain peculiar difficulties connected with the reading +of longer classics which are much less frequently met with in the usual +school readers. These difficulties are of such a real and serious kind +that many teachers are apt to be discouraged before success is attained. +Complete classics like Webster's speeches, "Julius Caesar," "Snow-Bound," +"Marmion," and "Evangeline" have been regarded as too long and difficult +for school purposes. We have found, however, that the greater length, +if rightly utilized, only intensifies the effect of a masterpiece. The +chief objection is the greater language difficulty (hard and unusual +words, proper names, etc.) of the longer classics. This is a real +obstacle and must be fairly met. It is impossible to grade down the +language and thought of a great writer. It is necessary to bring the +class up to his level rather than bring him down to theirs. This +requires time and skill and perseverance on the teacher's part, and +labor and thought in the children. It may require a week or a month to +get a class well under way in "Lady of the Lake," "King of the Golden +River," or the "Sketch-Book." But when well done it is a conquest of no +mean importance. The language, style, and characteristics of the author +are strange and difficult. The scales must drop from children's eyes +before they will appreciate Ruskin or Tennyson or Emerson. The wings of +fancy, the aesthetic sense, do not unfold in a single day. But if these +initial difficulties can be overcome, we shall emerge soon into the +sunlight of interest and success. It takes a degree of faith in good +things and patience under difficulties to attain success in classic +readings. Even when the teacher thinks he is doing fairly well, the +parents sometimes say the work is too hard and the verbal difficulties +too great. Generally, however, parents are satisfied when children work +hard and are interested. + +Again, children whose reading in the lower grades has been of the +information order lack the imaginative power that is essential to the +grasp and enjoyment of any masterpiece. The sleeping or dulled fancy +must be awakened. The power to image things, so natural to the poet, +must be aroused and exercised. The lack of training in vivid and poetic +thought in early years is sure to make itself felt in deficient and +languid thought and feeling in the higher grades. But we cannot afford +to give up the struggle. We may be forced to begin lower down in the +series of books, but anything less than a classic is not fit for the +children. + +12. The leading publishing houses are now competing vigorously in +bringing out the best complete classics in cheap, durable, well-printed +form for school use. In our list the names of the publishers are given. +Most of the companies can be addressed in Boston, Chicago, New York, or +San Francisco. Most of the books bound in boards or cloth range in price +from twenty-five to fifty cents. The pamphlet editions are from ten to +fifteen cents. The larger books of miscellaneous collections and some of +the science classics range from seventy-five cents to a dollar and a +quarter. A few of the books are priced as high as two dollars. + +13. Before final publication, the following lists of books have been +submitted to the criticism of a number of able superintendents and to +the leading publishing houses. In consequence considerable changes and +additions have been made. The chief criticism offered was that the +books, in a number of cases, are too difficult for the grades indicated. +To meet this objection a few changes were made, while in several cases +books are described as suitable for two or three grades. + +For the sake of quick and easy reference in finding any book, an +alphabetical list of the titles of all the books is given at the close, +and the page indicated where each book may be found in the descriptive +list. + + +FOURTH GRADE + +1. BOOKS FOR REGULAR READING LESSONS + + Hawthorne's Wonder Book. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Educational + Publishing Co. + + Has been very extensively used in fourth and fifth grades, + and even in sixth. A book of standard excellence. + + Kingsley's Greek Heroes. Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + Much used. Excellent. Covers much the same ground as the + Wonder Book and is preferred by some to it. + + Stories from the Arabian Nights. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Excellent. It contains some of the most familiar stories, + as Aladdin, in simple form. + + Whittier's Child Life in Poetry and Prose. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + An excellent selection of poems and stories of child life by + Whittier. It has many simple poems and stories, as Barefoot + Boy, John Gilpin, etc. Also for fifth grade. + + Fanciful Tales (Stockton). Scribner's Sons. + + Very pleasing and well-told stories for children. It has not + been extensively used for reading as yet. + + Book of Tales. American Book Co. + + A good collection of old fairy tales, stories, and poems. It + has been extensively used. + + Old Testament Stories in Scripture Language. Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and others. + + The patriarchal stories in familiar Bible language. It may + be a little difficult for the first part of the year. + + Round the Year in Myth and Song (Holbrook). American Book Co. + + A fine collection of nature poems for occasional use throughout + the year. + + Bird-World (Stickney-Hoffman). Ginn & Co. + + An interesting collection of bird stories and descriptions. + Simple. A good book to encourage observation of birds. + + Nature in Verse (Lovejoy). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + An excellent collection of nature poems arranged by the + seasons. + + Book of Legends (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Andersen's Fairy Tales. First and Second Series. Ginn & Co. + + Grimm's Household Tales. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Four Great Americans (Baldwin). Werner School Book Co. + + Hans Andersen Tales. The Macmillan Co. + + Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Very entertaining, but somewhat difficult in language. Use + toward the end of the year, and in fifth grade. + + Peabody's Old Greek Folk Stories. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Simple and well written. It supplements the Wonder Book. + + King Arthur and his Court (Greene). Ginn & Co. + + A recent book. Simple in style and pleasing to children. + + The Howells Story Book. Scribner's Sons. + + +2. SUPPLEMENTARY AND REFERENCE BOOKS + + Stories of Our Country (Johonnot). American Book Co. + + Good American stories for children to read at home or school. + + Tales from the "Faerie Queene." The Macmillan Co. + + For reference and library. + + Bimbi (De la Ramee). Ginn & Co. + + The Nuernberg Stove and other good stories. Good for home + reading and for school work. + + The Nuernberg Stove. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Gods and Heroes (Francillon). Ginn & Co. + + Suitable to late fourth and fifth grades for collateral reading. + Simple in style. + + Waste Not, Want Not (Edgeworth). Ginn & Co.; D. C. Heath, & Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Practical stories for children, illustrating foresight, + economy, etc. + + A Ballad Book (Bates). Sibley & Ducker. + + A good collection of the older, simpler ballads. These ballads + should be distributed through the year. Good for supplementary + reading, also for drill in reading. + + The Story of Ulysses (Cook). Public School Publishing Co. + + An excellent rendering, sometimes used as a reader. + + Friends and Helpers (Eddy). Ginn & Co. + + Stories of animals and birds. Instructive. + + Hans Andersen Stories. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts (Wright). The Macmillan Co. + + First Book of Birds (Miller). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Very simple and interesting descriptions and accounts of + common birds. Will help to interest the children in nature. + + The Little Lame Prince. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co. + + A story for home reading. + + The Dog of Flanders. Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co.; Educational Publishing Co. + + An excellent story for children to read at home or in school. + Pathetic. + + Old Stories of the East (Baldwin). American Book Co. + + A pleasing treatment of the old Bible stories, not in Bible + language. Well written. + + Fairy Tales in Prose and Verse (Rolfe). American Book Co. + + A choice collection of stories and poems. + + Heroes of Asgard. The Macmillan Co. + + A good simple treatment of the Norse myths. Suitable for + supplementary and sight reading. + + Tales of Troy (De Garmo). Public School Publishing Co. + + A simple narrative of the Trojan war. Supplementary. + + Our Feathered Friends (Grinnell). D. C. Heath & Co. + + Instructive book on birds. + + Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll). The Macmillan Co.; + Educational Publishing Co. + + Very suitable for home and family reading. Younger children + enjoy it much. Entertaining. + + Jackanapes, The Brownies (Mrs. Ewing). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Through the Looking Glass (Carroll). The Macmillan Co.; Educational + Publishing Co. + + The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle). Scribner's Sons. + + An expensive book (about three dollars). Excellent stories + to read to children. Full of humor and adventure. Finely + illustrated. A good book for school and home library. + + Open Sesame, Vol. I and Vol. II. Ginn & Co. + + A fine collection of the best poems of nature, heroism, + Christmas time, etc. Ballads and stories. They are + adapted to children in several grades, and should be used + for reading, memory work, and for recitation. + + Stories of the Old World (Church). Ginn & Co. + + Good reading matter for fourth and fifth grades. Interesting + for supplementary reading. + + Stories of American Life and Adventure (Eggleston). American + Book Co. + + Black Beauty. Educational Publishing Co.; University Pub. Co. + + Children's Treasury of English Song. The Macmillan Co. + + A collection of poems for occasional use. + + Little Lord Fauntleroy. Scribner's Sons. + + A famous story for home reading. A book for libraries. + + Heroes of the Middle West (Catherwood). Ginn & Co. + + Stories for later fourth and fifth grades. A good book for + supplementary reading. Also for sixth grade. + + Old Norse Stories (Bradish). American Book Co. + + Stories for reference reading and sight reading. + + Stories from Plato (Burt). Ginn & Co. + + Simple myths and stories for home reading. + + The Eugene Field Book. Scribner's Sons. + + Pleasing and entertaining for younger children. Prose and + verse, humorous and pathetic. + + Stories from Old Germany (Pratt). Educational Publishing Co. + + A simple, interesting rendering of the story of Siegfried. + + Secrets of the Woods. Ginn & Co. + + Norse Stories (Mabie). Dodd, Mead, & Co. + + An excellent rendering of the Norse stories. Simple. + + Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Baldwin). American Book Co. + + Simple and well told. + + Pioneers of the Revolution. Public School Publishing Co. + + A simple narrative of pioneer life and conflict in the + South-west during the Revolution. + + +3. TEACHERS' BOOKS + + Story of the Iliad (Church). The Macmillan Co. + + A reference book for outside reading. + + Emerson's Essays. Second Series. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Essays on the poet, manners, character, etc. Inspiring + reading for the teacher. + + Myths of the Northern Lands (Guerber). American Book Co. + + Readings in Folklore (Skinner). American Book Co. + + Good general introduction to the folklore of modern European + countries. + + History and Literature (Rice). A. Flanagan. + + A discussion of books and materials for teachers. + + Being a Boy (Warner). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + David Copperfield (Charles Dickens). + + Talks to Teachers (James). + + Sesame and Lilies (Ruskin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan + Co. + + Tales of a Traveler (Irving). American Book Co.; Maynard, Merrill, + & Co. + + Poetry for Children (Eliot). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A good collection for miscellaneous uses in the school. + + California and Oregon Trail (Parkman). Hurst & Co.; Little, Brown, & + Co. + + Interesting descriptions of Indian and Western life. + + Story of the Odyssey (Church). The Macmillan Co. + + Good for reference and general reading. + + Literature in Schools (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A series of three excellent papers on the use and value of + literature in schools. Especially valuable for teachers. + + Children's Stories of American Literature (Wright). Scribner's. + + Short biographies of American writers in two small volumes. + + The Age of Fable (Bulfinch). Lee & Shepard. + + One of the best general treatises on mythology. + + National Epics (Rabb). A. C. McClurg. + + A good introduction and extracts from the great epic poems + of all nations. + + In Bird Land (Keyser). A. C. McClurg. + + Delightful reading and suggestive to teachers. + + The Ways of Wood Folk (Long). Ginn & Co. + + Very pleasing stories of animal life for children and teachers. + + Nature Pictures by American Poets (Marble). The Macmillan Co. + + La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (Parkman). Little, Brown, + & Co. + + Very interesting account of the exploration of the Great + Lakes and the Mississippi River. + + The Discovery of America, two volumes (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co. + + Valuable account of Columbus and other explorers. + + The Beginnings of New England (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Excellent. + + The Story-Teller's Art (Dye). Ginn & Co. + + A book designed for high school teachers, but good also + for teachers in the grades. + + The Winning of the West (Roosevelt). Putnam. + + Leonard and Gertrude (Pestalozzi). D. C. Heath & Co. + + Jean Mitchell's School. Public School Publishing Co. + + The Pilot (Cooper). American Book Co.; University Pub. Co. + + +FIFTH GRADE + +1. BOOKS FOR REGULAR READING LESSONS + + Hiawatha. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Educational + Publishing Co.; University Pub. Co. + + Well suited for reading. Used in several grades. + + Lays of Ancient Rome (Macaulay). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Educational Publishing Co.; + American Book Co. + + The four ballad poems. Good school reading for children. + Names somewhat hard at first. Very stimulating and heroic. + Used also in sixth grade. + + King of the Golden River (Ruskin). Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Much used. Excellent story and reading. + + Tanglewood Tales (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Companion book to the Wonder Book. Excellent matter for reading. + + Water Babies (Kingsley). Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Educational + Publishing Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Interesting story. Good also for home reading. Better, + perhaps, for sixth grade. + + Ulysses among the Phaeacians (Bryant). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Simple and easy. Poetic in its rendering. Better for sixth + grade in some classes. + + Tales from English History (prose and verse). American Book Company. + + Stories and ballads of the leading periods of English history + from the best authors. Illustrated. + + Gulliver's Travels. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Ginn & Co.; The + Macmillan Co.; Educational Publishing Co. + + Somewhat difficult in spots. Very interesting to boys and + girls. For some classes use in sixth grade. + + Adventures of Ulysses (Lamb). Ginn & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co. + + Well told, giving complete outline of the whole story. + + Heroic Ballads. Ginn & Co. + + Scotch and English and many later and American ballads. + + The Pied Piper and Other Poems (Browning). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Also other poems and ballads of Browning. + + Tales from Scottish History (Rolfe). American Book Co. + + Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (Pyle). Scribner's Sons. Shorter + School Edition. + + Humorous and entertaining. + + Little Daffydowndilly and Biographical Stories (Hawthorne). Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. The latter for sixth grade. + + Stories of American Life and Adventure (Eggleston). American Book Co. + + The Ways of Wood Folk (Long). Ginn & Co. + + An excellent nature book for children, entertaining, + instructive, and well written. + + Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput (Swift). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + The Children's Hour (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + +2. SUPPLEMENTARY AND REFERENCE BOOKS + + Arabian Nights (Hale). Ginn & Co. + + Many of the best stories of the collection, including a number + of the less familiar ones. Also for regular reading. + + Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago. Ginn & Co. + + A book interesting and much used. Good for reading in fourth, + fifth, and sixth grades. Also for sight reading. + + Robinson Crusoe. Ginn & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; American Book Co.; + University Publishing Co. + + Much reduced and simplified from the original. A complete + and more difficult edition is published by Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co. + + The Odyssey of Homer (Palmer). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A complete prose translation of the entire Odyssey. Probably + the best. Good for fifth and sixth grades. + + Bryant's Odyssey. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A simple, poetic rendering of the whole Odyssey. A good + teacher's book. Use parts in class. + + Bryant's Iliad. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Complete poetic translation. One of the best. + + Heroes of the Middle West (Catherwood). Ginn & Co. + + Good stories of the early French explorers of the Great + Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. Somewhat difficult. + + Pope's Iliad. The Macmillan Co.; Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; + Silver, Burdett, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co. + + A famous rendering of the old Greek story. Still better + for sixth grade. + + A Story of the Golden Age (Baldwin). Scribner's Sons. + + Secrets of the Woods (Long). Ginn & Co. + + Old Greek Story (Baldwin). American Book Co. + + Arabian Nights (Clarke). American Book Co. + + Colonial Children (Hart). The Macmillan Co. + + Simple and well-chosen source material. Excellent. + + Krag and Johnny Bear (Seton). Scribner's Sons. + + Poems of American Patriotism (Matthews). Scribner's Sons. + + Ballads and Lyrics. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Stories from Herodotus. Maynard, Merrill & Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + Simple and interesting stories. Good also for sixth grade. + + Jason's Quest. Sibley & Ducker. + + The story of Jason told in full. Interesting and well written. + + Book of Golden Deeds. The Macmillan Co. + + A fine collection of historical and famous stories. For sixth + grade also. + + Historical Tales, American (Morris). J. B. Lippincott. + + One of the best collections of American stories. + + Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men. Scott, Foresman, & Co. + + A collection of Greek stories, both mythical and historical. + + The Story of the English (Guerber). American Book Co. + + A complete series of English history stories arranged + chronologically, good for fifth and sixth grades. + + Tales of Chivalry (Rolfe). American Book Co. + + Good stories from Scott, mostly from Ivanhoe. Also the + early life of Scott. Good for fifth and sixth grades. + + Boy's King Arthur (Lanier). Scribner's Sons. + + A very interesting story for boys and girls. A good library + book ($2.00). + + The Story of Siegfried (Baldwin). Scribner's Sons. + + A full and attractive story of Siegfried's adventures. A good + library book ($2.00). + + Pioneer History Stories (McMurry). Three volumes. The Macmillan Co. + Also for sixth year. + + Early pioneer stories of the Eastern states, of the Mississippi + Valley, and of the Rocky Mountains. + + Open Sesame. Part II. Ginn & Co. + + A good collection of poems arranged in important classes. + + The Story of the Greeks (Guerber). American Book Co. + + Leading stories of Greek myth and history. For fifth and + sixth grades. + + The Story of Troy. American Book Co. + + A short narrative of the Trojan War. + + Story of the Odyssey (Church). The Macmillan Co. + + Library book for general reading. Simple. + + The Story of Roland (Baldwin). Scribner's Sons. + + Large book for library. Good. + + The Hoosier School Boy (Eggleston). Scribner's Sons. + + American Explorers (Higginson). Lee & Shepard. + + Excellent descriptions of early explorations. Good source + material for pupils and teachers. Also for sixth grade. + + The Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln (Putnam). A. C. McClurg. Also + for sixth and seventh grades. + + Four American Naval Heroes (Beebe). Werner School Book Company. Sixth + grade also. + + A simple narrative of great naval conflicts. + + Lobo, Rag, and Vixen (Seton). Scribner's Sons. + + +3. TEACHERS' BOOKS + + Beginnings of New England and Discovery of America, two + volumes (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Good library books for teacher. + + Sesame and Lilies (Ruskin). The Macmillan Co. + + A very stimulating and suggestive book for teachers. + + The Golden Age (Kenneth and Grahame). John Lane. + + Moral Instruction of Children (Adler). D. Appleton & Co. + + Childhood in Literature and Art (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + An instructive book for teachers. + + Readings in Folk Lore (Skinner). American Book Co. + + Valuable source book. + + Wilderness Ways (Long). Ginn & Co. + + Entertaining to both teachers and pupils. + + The Story of Our Continent (Shaler). Ginn & Co. + + An interesting geological history of North America. + + Historical Tales, English (Morris). J. B. Lippincott. + + Excellent materials for reference work. + + Westward Ho! (Kingsley). The Macmillan Co.; University Publishing Co. + + A good story of the time of Elizabeth, Drake, and Raleigh. + + Samuel de Champlain (Sedgwick). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A short and interesting biography. Other books of the + same Riverside Biographical Series are, William Penn, + Lewis and Clark, George Rogers Clark, and Paul Jones. + + History and Literature (Rice). Flanagan. + + A brief pedagogical treatment of the whole subject of + literature and history for the elementary school. + + Ivanhoe (Scott). Ginn & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co.; American Book Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + The Deerslayer (Cooper). The Macmillan Co. + + House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Drake and his Yeomen (Barnes). The Macmillan Co. + + Hard Times (Charles Dickens). + + Mechanical methods in education described. + + Wake Robin (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A book of pleasing nature observation and study. + + Pioneers of France in the New World, and La Salle and the Discovery + of the Great West (Parkman). Little, Brown, & Co. + + Excellent and interesting historical material for the teacher. + + The Men Who Made the Nation (Sparks). The Macmillan Co. + + Interesting biographical material. + + The Age of Chivalry (Bulfinch). Lee & Shepard. + + An important treatise on this subject. Library book. + + The Foot-path Way (Torrey). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Attractive and inspiring nature study. + + Birddom (Keyser). Lothrop & Co. + + Excellent style and treatment of bird life. + + News from the Birds (Keyser). D. Appleton & Co. + + Very pleasing studies and stimulating to teachers. + + Greek Life and Story (Church). G. P. Putnam's Sons. + + A good series of pictures from the chief episodes of Greek + history. + + Counsel upon the Reading of Books (Van Dyke). Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co. Excellent. + + The Odyssey (Butcher and Lang). The Macmillan Co. + + +SIXTH GRADE + +1. BOOKS FOR REGULAR READING LESSONS + + The Sketch-Book (Irving). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co.; Macmillan Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Educational + Pub. Co.; University Pub. Co. + + Rip Van Winkle and other American essays. One of the best + books for sixth grade. Used also in fifth and seventh grades. + + The Courtship of Miles Standish (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Excellent in many ways for sixth-grade children. A dramatized + edition is also published. Used sometimes in seventh grade. + + The Christmas Carol (Dickens). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co.; Educational Publishing Co. + + Excellent as literature and for variety of style in class work. + Used also in seventh grade. + + Hunting of the Deer (Warner). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Including also How I Killed a Bear, and other admirable stories, + in which the humor and sentiment are fine. Used also in seventh + grade. + + Snow-Bound and Songs of Labor (Whittier). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + One of the best American poems for children. Used also + in seventh and eighth grades. + + Coming of Arthur and Passing of Arthur. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + In the fine, poetic style of Tennyson, but simple. Suited + also for seventh grade. + + The Gentle Boy and Other Tales (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A pathetic story of the Quaker persecutions in New England. + + Tales of the White Hills and Sketches (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co. + + The Great Stone Face in this series is one of the choicest + stories for children in English. + + Plutarch's Alexander the Great. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A good biography for children and serves well as an introduction + to Plutarch. + + Grandfather's Chair (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + The best stories we have of early and colonial New England + history. Good also for seventh grade. + + Children's Hour, Paul Revere, and other papers (Longfellow). Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. + + This contains also the Birds of Killingworth, and other + of Longfellow's best short poems. + + Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and other papers (Burroughs). Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. Also for seventh grade. + + These are among the best of Burroughs's books for children. + Classic in style and choice in matter. + + Hawthorne's Biographical Stories. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Seven American Classics (Swinton). American Book Co. + + A good collection of American classics suited to this grade. + + Three Outdoor Papers (Higginson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Interesting studies of nature in choice style. + + Giles Corey (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A drama of the Salem witchcraft, with directions for its + representation on the stage. + + The Building of the Ship, The Masque of Pandora, and other poems + (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Excellent. The Masque of Pandora could be rendered in + dramatic form by children. Also for seventh grade. + + Mabel Martin and other poems (Whittier). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A choice collection of poems from Whittier. A good picture + of New England life. Used also in seventh and eighth grades. + + Baby Bell, The Little Violinist, and other prose and verse + (Aldrich). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Very choice poems and stories. + + Open Sesame, Vol. II, and Vol. III. Ginn & Co. + + Poems and ballads. A collection well arranged for various + school use, for reading, recitation, and memorizing. + + +2. SUPPLEMENTARY AND REFERENCE BOOKS + + Ten Great Events in History (Johonnot). D. Appleton & Co. + + Good collateral reading in this grade. + + Lanier's Froissart. Scribner's Sons. + + A fine story for library ($2.00). + + Child's History of England (Dickens). Hurst & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co.; American Book Co. + + A book much used. Should be in a school library. + + Tales from Shakespeare (Lamb). American Book Co.; Macmillan Co.; + Educational Publishing Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co. + + Designed as an introduction to the plays of Shakespeare. + Language and style superior. Used also in seventh grade. + + Pilgrim's Progress (Bunyan). Macmillan Co.; Ginn & Co.; Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co.; University Publishing Co. + + The famous old story which all children should read. A + book for the library and the home. + + Story of Caesar (Clarke). American Book Co. + + Heroes and Patriots of the Revolution (Hart). The Macmillan Co. + + Swiss Family Robinson. Ginn & Co.; Educational Publishing Co. + + A library book for children. University Publishing Co. + + Stories from Old English Poetry (Richardson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + An excellent series of stories from Chaucer and others. + + Historical Tales, English (Morris). J. B. Lippincott. + + A good collection of English history stories. + + Selections from Irving. Sibley & Ducker. + + A variety of interesting selections from Irving's works. + + The Conquest of Mexico (Prescott). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + The story of Cortes and his adventures told by a master. + + William Tell (McMurry). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + The drama of Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, translated into simple + English. Adapted for representation. + + Source Book of American History (Hart). Macmillan Co. + + The parts bearing on the colonial history. Original sources, + letters, etc. + + Story of a Bad Boy (Aldrich). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A good narrative of boy life, humorous and entertaining. + + Lay of the Last Minstrel (Scott). The Macmillan Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co.; Ginn & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + One of the best descriptions of the old minstrelsy. Suitable + for sixth and seventh grades. + + Choice English Lyrics (Baldwin). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + A great variety of choice poems, ballads, lyrics, and + sonnets. + + Poetry of the Seasons (Lovejoy). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + A choice collection of nature poems. + + Wilderness Ways (Long). Ginn & Co. + + An interesting study of wild animals, birds, etc. + + Famous Allegories (Baldwin). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + A good selection for reference reading and for teachers. + + Rab and His Friends (Brown). Educational Publishing Co.; D. C. Heath + & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Interesting stories of dogs for children. + + Story of Oliver Twist (Dickens). D. Appleton & Co. + + Suitable for introducing children to Dickens. + + Undine (Fouque). Ginn & Co. + + Nine Worlds (Litchfield). Ginn & Co. + + Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates (Mary Mapes Dodge). Century Co. + + Don Quixote (De la Mancha). Scribner's Sons; Ginn & Co. + + Tales of a Traveller (Irving). American Book Co.; Maynard, Merrill, + & Co. + + Various interesting stories of adventure. + + Pilgrims and Puritans (Moore). Ginn & Co. + + One of the best books on the early history of Plymouth and + Boston. Very simple and well told. + + Stories from Waverley (Gassiot). The Macmillan Co. + + For reference reading. Stories from Scott. + + Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics (Palgrave). The Macmillan Co. + + A collection of the best songs and lyrical poems. + + The Rose and the Ring (Thackeray). D. C. Heath & Co. + + Knickerbocker Stories. University Publishing Co. + + Boys of '76 (Coffin). Harper Brothers. + + A realistic account of Revolutionary scenes. + + Stories of Bird Life (Pearson). B. F. Johnson Publishing Co. + + Simple descriptions by a close observer of birds. + + Our Country in Prose and Verse. American Book Co. + + Excellent collection for children's use. + + Stories of Animal Life (Holden). American Book Co. + + Stories from English History (Church). The Macmillan Co. + + In two volumes. The second part is especially suited to + sixth grade. Parts also of Part One. + + Children's Stories of American Literature (Wright). 1660-1860. + Scribner's Sons. + + Short biographies of the chief American writers. + + Golden Arrow (Hall). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + +3. TEACHERS' BOOKS + + Peter the Great (Motley). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + A very interesting essay for teachers and for older pupils. + + Frederick the Great (Macaulay). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + For teachers only. Interesting in style and content. + + Life Histories of American Insects (Weed). The Macmillan Co. + + An interesting scientific treatment. + + Vicar of Wakefield (Goldsmith). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; D. C. + Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; The + University Publishing Co. + + The Talisman (Scott). American Book Co.; Ginn & Co. + + Introduction to Literature (Lewis). The Macmillan Co. + + Good selections. + + Source Book of English History (Kendall). The Macmillan Co. + + Good selections for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. + + Twice Told Tales (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Old Virginia and Her Neighbors, two volumes (Fiske). Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. + + The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, two volumes (Fiske). + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + These four volumes are excellent for the treatment of colonial + history. + + An Introduction to Ruskin. Sibley & Ducker. + + Extracts from Ruskin's principal writings. + + Essay on Milton (Macaulay). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; American Book + Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + A good example of Macaulay's style. + + History of England (Macaulay). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + A brief history of England from the earliest times to 1660. + + The Iliad (Bryant). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Books and Libraries (Lowell). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A valuable and interesting essay on libraries and books. + Also other essays. + + The Red Cross Story Book (Lang). Longmans & Co. + + Montcalm and Wolfe (Parkman). Little, Brown, & Co. + + Washington Irving (Warner). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Of the American Men of Letters Series. + + Conspiracy of Pontiac (Parkman). Little, Brown, & Co. + + The Fortune of the Republic (Emerson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Nature Pictures by American Poets (Marble). The Macmillan Co. + + A choice collection of nature poems. + + Poetic Interpretation of Nature (Shairp). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + An interesting treatise on the sources of poetry in nature. + + Westward Ho! (Kingsley). The Macmillan Co.; The University Publishing + Co. + + A story of the time of Elizabeth. + + The Schoolmaster in Literature. American Book Co. + + Also its companion book, The Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire. + American Book Co. + + Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne). + + Last of the Mohicans (Cooper). D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co.; Macmillan Co.; University Pub. Co. + + Henry Esmond (Thackeray). Houghton, Mifflin; Macmillan. + + Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens). + + +SEVENTH GRADE + +1. BOOKS FOR REGULAR READING LESSONS + + Evangeline (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; + The University Publishing Co. + + This has been much used in seventh and eighth grades. + + Sella, Thanatopsis, and Other Poems (Bryant). Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Some of Bryant's best poetic productions. Or eighth grade. + + Sohrab and Rustum (Arnold). American Book Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co.; Maynard & Merrill; Werner School Book Co.; Educational Publishing + Co. + + Style simple but highly poetic. Used also in eighth grade. + + Cricket on the Hearth (Dickens). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co. + + Enoch Arden and the Lotus Eaters (Tennyson). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; University Publishing Co. + + Used in seventh and eighth grades and high schools. + + Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare). American Book Co.; Ginn & Co.; The + Macmillan Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard & + Merrill; Educational Publishing Co.; University Publishing Co. + + The best of Shakespeare's for this grade. Parts of it are + often dramatized and presented. Much liked by the children. + + Tales of a Grandfather (Scott). Ginn & Co.; Educational Publishing + Co.; University Publishing Co. + + Stories of Wallace, Bruce, Douglas, and other Scotch heroes. + Should be read only in parts in class. Library book. + + Poems of Emerson. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Historical and nature poems, with a good introduction. A + small but important collection of poems for older children. + + The Cotter's Saturday Night (Burns). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Contains also Tam O'Shanter and other poems of Burns's best. + + Bunker Hill, Adams, and Jefferson (Webster). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + American Book Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Historical, patriotic, and simple in style. The best of Webster's + speeches for seventh and eighth grades. + + Poor Richard's Almanac (Franklin). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + This contains also interesting papers and letters by Franklin. + The proverbs of Franklin are well deserving the study of + children. + + Scudder's Life of Washington. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Best life of Washington for grammar grades. + + Source Book of American History (Hart). The Macmillan Co. + + Excellent reading selections for sixth, seventh, and eighth + grades. + + Grandmother's Story and Other Poems (Holmes). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Some of Holmes's best patriotic and humorous poems. + + The Plant World (Vincent). D. Appleton & Co. + + A superior collection of extracts from great scientific writers. + One of the best science readers for upper grades. + + Poetry of the Seasons (Lovejoy). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + Good collection for reading and various uses. + + William Tell (McMurry). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + Suitable for seventh-grade reading. A drama. + + Golden Treasury of Best Songs and Lyrical Poems (Palgrave). The + Macmillan Co. + + +2. SUPPLEMENTARY AND REFERENCE BOOKS + + Rules of Conduct (Washington). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Containing also his letters, farewell address, and other + important papers. + + Shakespeare's Tragedies (Lamb). American Book Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + Companion book to the Comedies. + + Natural History of Selborne (White). Ginn & Co. + + A famous old book, interesting both in style and content. + One of the first books of real nature study. + + Letters (Chesterfield). Ginn & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. The + Macmillan Co. + + Entertaining and unique. Valuable for reading extracts to + the school. + + Plutarch's Lives. Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Educational + Publishing Co. + + A book that all grammar school children should be encouraged + to read. + + The Two Great Retreats (Grote-Segur). Ginn & Co. + + Retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, and Napoleon's retreat + from Russia. + + The Alhambra (Irving). Ginn & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. The + Macmillan Co. + + Most attractive descriptions and legends connected with + the Alhambra. + + Peter Schlemihl (Chamisso). Ginn & Co. + + Picciola (Saintine). Ginn & Co. + + Hatim Tai (from the Persian). Ginn & Co. + + Life of Nelson (Southey). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; The Macmillan + Co. + + Camps and Firesides of the Revolution (Hart). The Macmillan Co. + + Interesting source material. + + The Crofton Boys (Martineau). D. C. Heath & Co. + + Orations on Washington and Landing of the Pilgrims (Webster). American + Book Co. + + A few children may be encouraged to read these great speeches, + among the best in our history. Somewhat difficult. + + Silas Marner (Eliot). The Macmillan Co.; Sibley & Ducker; American + Book Co.; Ginn & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + Educational Publishing Co. + + A good introduction for children to George Eliot's writings. + Used in eighth grade and high school. + + Vicar of Wakefield (Goldsmith). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; D. C. + Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co.; Univ. Pub. Co. + + One of the great books, permeated with Goldsmith's fine + style and humor. + + Two Years Before the Mast (Dana). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A book of real power for boys and girls. + + A Bunch of Herbs (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Good nature study for pupils and teachers. Also for regular + reading. + + Samuel Adams (Morse). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + One of the best of American biographies. One of the best + descriptions of scenes in Boston just preceding the + Revolution. + + Tom Brown's School Days (Hughes). The Macmillan Co.; Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co.; Ginn & Co.; Educational Publishing Co. + + A story for boys. Vigorous and true to life. + + Last of the Mohicans (Cooper). The Macmillan Co.; Maynard, Merrill, + & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; University + Publishing Co. + + A good book with which to introduce young people to + Cooper's famous stories. + + Franklin's Autobiography. Ginn & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; American Book Co.; The Macmillan Co.; The + Educational Publishing Co. + + A book that all young people should read. Valuable in + many ways. + + Uncle Tom's Cabin (Stowe). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A library book for home reading. + + From Colony to Commonwealth (Moore). Ginn & Co. + + Simple account of the early events of the Revolution about + Boston. + + Stories from the Classic Literature of Many Nations (Palmer). + The Macmillan Co. + + The Gold Bug and Other Tales (Poe). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + American War Ballads and Lyrics (Eggleston). G. P. Putnam's Sons. + + The Siege of Leyden (Motley). D. C. Heath & Co. + + Twelve Naval Captains. Scribner's Sons. + + Short biographies of naval heroes. + + Open Sesame, Volume III. Ginn & Co. + + A collection for various uses, prose and verse. Patriotism, + sentiment, humor, and nature. + + Birddom (Keyser). D. Lothrop & Co. + + Good for regular reading. Written in the fine style of a + true lover of nature. + + Town Geology (Kingsley). The Macmillan Co. + + An interesting book for those predisposed to science. + + Children's Stories of American Literature (1860-1896) (Wright). + Scribner's Sons. + + Short biographies of recent American writers. + + Prince and Pauper (Clemens). Harper & Bros. + + +3. TEACHERS' BOOKS + + Education and the Larger Life (Henderson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A book of great value to teachers for thoughtful study. + + Critical Period of American History (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A very superior and interesting book of the period just after + the Revolution. + + The Beginnings of New England (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Valuable for sixth and seventh grade teachers. + + Birds in the Bush (Torrey). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Entertaining nature study by a master. + + Nestlings in Forest and Marsh (Wheelock). A. C. McClurg. + + A suggestive book for teachers and older pupils. + + Madam How and Lady Why (Kingsley). The Macmillan Co. + + Interesting style and content. + + Brave Little Holland (Griffis). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A historical study of the Dutch in Holland and in this + country. + + Familiar Flowers of Field and Garden (Matthews). D. Appleton & Co. + + An easy study of common plants and flowers according to + the seasons. + + Guy Mannering (Scott). Ginn & Co. + + Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (Holmes). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Tale of Two Cities (Dickens). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co. + + Life of Pestalozzi (de Guimps). D. Appleton & Co. + + First Bunker Hill Oration (Webster). D. C Heath & Co. + + Mill on the Floss (George Eliot). + + Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker (Mitchell). Century Co. + + The Fortune of the Republic (Emerson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Very stimulating to teachers. + + Masterpieces of American Literature (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co. + + One of the best collections of classical masterpieces. + + Life of Samuel Johnson (Macaulay). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. + + Very fine, in Macaulay's superior style. + + Modern Painters (Ruskin). Various publishers. + + For teachers, a good study in Ruskin. + + Essay on Burns (Carlyle). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Educational Publishing + Co. + + An interesting subject and an able treatment. + + Readings from the Spectator. Educational Publishing Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co. + + Roger de Coverley and other selected parts of essays from + Addison. + + Six Centuries of English Poetry (Baldwin). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + Valuable for reference and occasional study. + + Fiske's Washington and His Country (Irving). Ginn & Co. + + Good life of Washington and history of the Revolution. + + The War of Independence (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Poetic Interpretation of Nature (Shairp). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Mere Literature (Woodrow Wilson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + An interesting series of essays for teachers. + + The Life of Alexander Hamilton (Lodge). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + The Study and Teaching of English (Chubb). The Macmillan Co. + + Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. D. C. Heath & Co.; + American Book Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + +EIGHTH GRADE + +1. BOOKS FOR REGULAR READING LESSONS + + Vision of Sir Launfal (Lowell). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The + Macmillan Co. + + One of the best poems in English for school use. + + Julius Caesar (Shakespeare). American Book Co.; The Macmillan Co.; + Silver, Burdett, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; University + Publishing Co. + + Well suited for eighth grade study and presentation. Used + also in high schools. + + Tales of a Wayside Inn (Longfellow). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Bunker Hill, Adams, and Jefferson (Webster). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Roger de Coverley (Addison). The Macmillan Co.; American Book Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; Silver, + Burdett, & Co.; Sibley & Ducker; D. C. Heath & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, + & Co. + + An excellent study for children in eighth grade. Also used + in high schools. + + In Bird Land (Keyser). A. C. McClurg & Co. + + A book adapted to awaken the children to a sympathetic + observation of birds. + + Lady of the Lake (Scott). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; American Book Co.; + Ginn & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; D. C. Heath + & Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; University Publishing Co. + + An attractive study. Somewhat difficult. + + Marmion (Scott). Ginn & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; The Macmillan + Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; + American Book Co. + + A great historical picture, full of interest. + + The Great Debate (Hayne-Webster). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co. + + A fine study of forensic debate. Incidentally a deeper + appreciation of history. Somewhat difficult for eighth + grade. + + A Bunch of Herbs (Burroughs). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A very suggestive study of common plants, trees, weather, etc. + + Burke on Conciliation. Sibley & Ducker; Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; + Silver, Burdett, & Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; American Book Co.; + D. C. Heath & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. Used also in high school. + + A great study both as literature and as history. One of the + best studies in American history before the Revolution. + + The Gettysburg Speech (Lincoln). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + The inaugurals, an essay by Lowell on Lincoln and other + papers. + + The Deserted Village, and The Traveller (Goldsmith). The Macmillan + Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + The best of Goldsmith's poems. Also shorter poems. + + Franklin's Autobiography. The Macmillan Co.; Ginn & Co.; Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; American Book Co.; The + Educational Publishing Co. + + Partly for class use and partly for reference reading. + + Plutarch's Lives. Ginn & Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; The + Macmillan Co. + + A few for class reading. Others for reference. + + Translation of Homer's Odyssey (Palmer). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Abraham Lincoln (Schurz). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Two Great Retreats (Grote-Segur). Ginn & Co. + + Good sight reading, and for reference. + + Peter the Great (Motley). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + A very interesting essay in superior style. + + The Succession of Forest Trees, Wild Apples, and Sounds (Thoreau). + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A very attractive nature study. + + +2. SUPPLEMENTARY AND REFERENCE BOOKS + + Ruskin's Selections. Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + Longer selections from Ruskin. Excellent also for regular + reading. + + My Hunt after the Captain, etc. (Holmes). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A very entertaining description of scenes during war times. + + Don Quixote (Cervantes). Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Scribner's + Sons. + + A book that children should be encouraged to read. Its satire + and humor they should learn to appreciate. + + Ivanhoe (Scott). The Macmillan Co.; Ginn & Co.; American Book Co.; + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co. + + The best introduction to Scott's novels, in connection with + school studies. + + The Abbot (Scott). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co. + + One of Scott's best stories. + + Yesterdays with Authors (James T. Fields). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Rob Roy, and Quentin Durward (Scott). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co. + + Good library books. + + The House of Seven Gables (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A New England story in Hawthorne's style. A good home + study for children and teachers. + + The Boy's Browning. Dana, Estes, & Co. + + A good collection of the simpler poems adapted to younger + readers. + + Tale of Two Cities (Dickens). Ginn & Co.; American Book Co. + + Jean Valjean (from Les Miserables). Ginn & Co.; Educational + Publishing Co. + + The Talisman (Scott). American Book Co.; Ginn & Co. + + Treasure Island (Stevenson). Scribner's Sons. + + Life of Washington (Statesmen Series). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Life of Nelson (Southey). The Macmillan Co.; Ginn & Co.; American Book + Co. + + The Foot-path Way (Torrey). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + One of the best books for cultivating an appreciation for + nature. + + In Bird Land (Keyser). A. C. McClurg & Co. + + A very interesting bird study. + + The Old Manse, and A Few Mosses (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A pleasing account of the old house and its associations. + + News from the Birds (Keyser). D. Appleton & Co. + + Excellent study and observation. + + Peasant and Prince (Martineau). Ginn & Co.; Univ. Pub. Co. + + An interesting narrative of French life just before the + Revolution. + + A Book of Famous Verse (Repplier). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A superior collection of poems. + + Nature Pictures by American Poets (Marble). The Macmillan Co. + + Choice poems descriptive of nature. + + Seven British Classics. American Book Co. + + A good collection of English masterpieces. Adapted also + for regular reading in seventh and eighth grades. + + Star Land (Ball). Ginn & Co. + + A very interesting and well-written introduction to astronomy. + + Life of John Quincy Adams (Morse). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + The Statesmen Series. + + Poems of American Patriotism (Matthews). Scribner's Sons. + + +3. TEACHERS' BOOKS + + Culture and Anarchy (Arnold). Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + It illustrates well Arnold's thought and style. + + Elaine (Tennyson). Maynard, Merrill, & Co.; The Macmillan Co. + + A beautiful poem, simple and musical, from the Idylls of the + King. + + Great Words of Great Americans (Putnam). + + Papers and addresses of Washington and Lincoln. + + Literature in Schools (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A stimulating book for teachers of all grades. + + The Princess (Tennyson). Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; Maynard, + Merrill, & Co.; American Book Co. + + Biblical Masterpieces (Moulton). The Macmillan Co. + + The Book Lover (Baldwin). A. C. McClurg & Co. + + A discussion of books and reading with lists of books and + suggestions. + + The Story of the Birds (Baskett). D. Appleton & Co. + + One of the superior books of nature study. + + Frail Children of the Air (Scudder). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A scientific but simple treatise on butterflies. + + Books and Culture (Mabie). Dodd, Mead, & Co. + + An attractive and valuable book on literature for teachers. + + Science Sketches (Jordan). A. C. McClurg & Co. + + A very attractive style in the treatment of scientific topics. + + Birds through an Opera Glass (Merriam). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Good outdoor study. + + Up and Down the Brooks (Bramford). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + A study of insect life in the streams. + + Essays, first series (Emerson). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Essays on history, self-reliance, compensation, and others. + Teachers should study Emerson's essays. + + Heroes and Hero-Worship (Carlyle). A. C. McClurg & Co.; The Macmillan + Co. + + A great book and a good specimen of Carlyle's style and + thought. + + Introductory Lessons in English (McNeil and Lynch). American Book Co. + + A series of masterpieces with questions and discussions as + to treatment in high schools. + + How to Teach Reading (Clark). Scott, Forsman, & Co. + + A pedagogical treatment of reading. + + Counsel upon the Reading of Books (Van Dyke). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Strong essays on books and reading from different points + of view by strong writers. + + Romola (George Eliot). Various publishers. + + One of the great novels. Valuable in many ways. + + Macbeth (Shakespeare). Silver, Burdett, & Co.; D. C. Heath & Co.; + The Macmillan Co.; American Book Co.; The Educational Publishing Co.; + University Publishing Co. + + This and other great plays of Shakespeare should be read + by teachers. + + Life of Hamilton (Statesmen Series). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Emerson's Self-Reliance. Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + Life of Webster (Lodge), also John Quincy Adams (Morse). Houghton, + Mifflin, & Co. + + From the Statesmen Series. Excellent reading for the teacher. + + Literary Study of the Bible (Moulton). D. C. Heath & Co. + + A valuable introduction to the literary appreciation of the + Bible. + + The Marble Faun (Hawthorne). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Plutarch's Lives. Ginn & Co.; The Macmillan Co.; The Educational + Publishing Co. + + Locke's Thoughts on Education. The Macmillan Co. + + Spencer's Education. D. Appleton & Co. + + Daniel Deronda (George Eliot). + + Dombey and Son (Charles Dickens). + + The Autobiography of John Stuart Mill. + + The Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire (Skinner). The American Book Co. + + Emerson's American Scholar. American Book Co.; Houghton, Mifflin, & + Co.; Maynard, Merrill, & Co. + + The Judgment of Socrates. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Poets and Problems (Cooke). Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + Introduction to Tennyson, Ruskin, and Browning. + + A Century of Science and other Essays (Fiske). Houghton, Mifflin, + & Co. + + American Writers of To-day (Vedder). Silver, Burdett, & Co. + + Ralph Waldo Emerson (Holmes). American Men of Letters Series. + Houghton, Mifflin, & Co. + + + + +ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TITLES + + + Abbot, The, 242 + + Abraham Lincoln, 242 + + Adams, Bunker Hill, and Jefferson, 235, 240 + + Adams, Life of John Quincy, 244 + + Adams, Samuel, 237 + + Adventures of Ulysses, 223 + + Age of Chivalry, 227 + + Age of Fable, 221 + + Alexander the Great, 229 + + Alhambra, 236 + + Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 219 + + American Explorers, 226 + + American Scholar, 246 + + American War Ballads and Lyrics, 238 + + American Writers of To-day, 246 + + Andersen's Fairy Tales, 217 + + Arabian Nights (Clarke), 224 + + Arabian Nights (Hale), 224 + + Arabian Nights, Stories from the, 216 + + Autobiography (Franklin), 237, 241 + + Autobiography of John Stuart Mill, 246 + + Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, 239 + + + Baby Bell, the Little Violinist, and other prose and verse, 229 + + Ballad Book, 218 + + Ballads and Lyrics, 225 + + Beginnings of New England, 222, 238 + + Beginnings of New England, and Discovery of America, 226 + + Being a Boy, 220 + + Biblical Masterpieces, 244 + + Bimbi, 218 + + Biographical Stories (Hawthorne), 223, 229 + + Birddom, 227, 238 + + Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes, and other papers, 229 + + Birds in the Bush, 238 + + Birds through an Opera Glass, 244 + + Bird-World, 217 + + Black Beauty, 219 + + Book Lover, 244 + + Book of Famous Verse, 243 + + Book of Golden Deeds, 225 + + Book of Legends, 217 + + Book of Tales, 217 + + Books and Culture, 244 + + Books and Libraries, 233 + + Boy's Browning, 243 + + Boy's King Arthur, 225 + + Boys of '76, 232 + + Brave Little Holland, 239 + + Brownies, The, 219 + + Browning, Boy's, 243 + + Browning, Introduction to Tennyson, Ruskin, and, 246 + + Building of the Ship, 229 + + Bunch of Herbs, 237, 241 + + Bunker Hill, Adams, and Jefferson, 235, 240 + + Burke on Conciliation, 241 + + Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America, 240 + + Burns, Essay on, 239 + + + Caesar, Story of, 230 + + California and Oregon Trail, 221 + + Camps and Firesides of the Revolution, 236 + + Century of Science, and other essays, 246 + + Champlain, Samuel de, 227 + + Chesterfield, Letters of, 236 + + Childhood in Literature and Art, 226 + + Child Life in Poetry and Prose, 216 + + Children's Hour, 223, 229 + + Children's Hour, Paul Revere, and other papers, 229 + + Children's Life of Abraham Lincoln, 226 + + Children's Stories of American Literature, 221 + + Children's Stories of American Literature, 1660-1860, 232 + + Children's Stories of American Literature, 1860-1896, 238 + + Children's Treasury of English Song, 219 + + Child's History of England, 230 + + Choice English Lyrics, 231 + + Christmas Carol, 228 + + Colonial Children, 224 + + Coming of Arthur and Passing of Arthur, 228 + + Conquest of Mexico, 230 + + Conspiracy of Pontiac, 233 + + Cotter's Saturday Night, 235 + + Counsel upon the Reading of Books, 227, 245 + + Courtship of Miles Standish, 228 + + Cricket on the Hearth, 234 + + Critical Period of American History, 238 + + Crofton Boys, 236 + + Culture and Anarchy, 244 + + + Daniel Deronda, 246 + + David Copperfield, 221 + + Deerslayer, 227 + + Deserted Village, and the Traveller, 241 + + Discovery of America, 221 + + Discovery of America, Beginnings of New England, and, 226 + + Dog of Flanders, 218 + + Dombey and Son, 246 + + Don Quixote, 231, 242 + + Drake and his Yeomen, 227 + + Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, 233 + + + Education, 246 + + Education and the Larger Life, 238 + + Elaine, 244 + + Emerson, Poems of, 234 + + Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 246 + + Emerson's Essays, 220 + + Emerson's Essays, First Series, 245 + + Enoch Arden and the Lotus Eaters, 234 + + Essay on Burns, 239 + + Essay on Milton, 233 + + Essays (Emerson), 220 + + Essays (Emerson), First Series, 245 + + Eugene Field Book, 220 + + Evangeline, 234 + + + Faerie Queen, Tales from the, 218 + + Fairy Tales (Andersen), 217 + + Fairy Tales in Prose and Verse, 219 + + Familiar Flowers of Field and Garden, 239 + + Famous Allegories, 231 + + Fanciful Tales, 216 + + Fifty Famous Stories Retold, 220 + + First Book of Birds, 218 + + First Bunker Hill Oration, 239 + + Foot-path Way, 227, 243 + + Fortune of the Republic, 233, 239 + + Four American Naval Heroes, 226 + + Four Great Americans, 217 + + Frail Children of the Air, 244 + + Franklin's Autobiography, 237, 241 + + Frederick the Great, 232 + + Friends and Helpers, 218 + + Froissart, 230 + + From Colony to Commonwealth, 237 + + + Gentle Boy, and other tales, 228 + + Gettysburg Speech, 241 + + Giles Corey, 229 + + Gods and Heroes, 218 + + Gold Bug, and other tales, 237 + + Golden Age, 226 + + Golden Arrow, 232 + + Golden Treasury of Best Songs and Lyrical Poems, 235 + + Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics, 231 + + Grandfather's Chair, 229 + + Grandmother's Story, and other poems, 235 + + Great Debate (Hayne-Webster), 241 + + Great Words of Great Americans, 244 + + Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men, 225 + + Greek Heroes, 216 + + Greek Life and Story, 227 + + Grimm's Household Tales, 217 + + Gulliver's Travels, 223 + + Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput, 223 + + Guy Mannering, 239 + + + Hamilton, Life of, 245 + + Hamilton, Life of Alexander, 240 + + Hans Andersen Stories, 218 + + Hans Andersen Tales, 217 + + Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates, 231 + + Hard Times, 227 + + Hatim Tai, 236 + + Henry Esmond, 233 + + Heroes and Hero Worship, 245 + + Heroes and Patriots of the Revolution, 230 + + Heroes of Asgard, 219 + + Heroes of the Middle West, 220, 224 + + Heroic Ballads, 223 + + Hiawatha, 222 + + Historical Tales, American, 225 + + Historical Tales, English, 226, 230 + + History and Literature, 220, 227 + + History of England, 233 + + Hoosier School Boy, 226 + + Household Tales (Grimm), 217 + + House of Seven Gables, 227, 243 + + How to Teach Reading, 245 + + Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker, 239 + + Hunting of the Deer, 228 + + + Iliad (Bryant), 224, 233 + + Iliad (Pope), 224 + + In Bird Land, 221, 241, 243 + + Introduction to Literature, 232 + + Introduction to Ruskin, 233 + + Introduction to Tennyson, Ruskin, and Browning, 246 + + Introductory Lessons in English, 245 + + Irving, Selections from, 230 + + Ivanhoe, 227, 242 + + + Jackanapes, 219 + + Jason's Quest, 225 + + Jean Mitchell's School, 222 + + Jean Valjean, 243 + + Jefferson, Bunker Hill, Adams and, 235, 240 + + Johnson, Life of Samuel, 239 + + Judgment of Socrates, 246 + + Julius Caesar, 240 + + + King Arthur and his Court, 217 + + King of the Golden River, 222 + + Krag and Johnny Bear, 224 + + + Lady of the Lake, 241 + + Landing of the Pilgrims, Orations on Washington and, 236 + + La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 221 + + Last of the Mohicans, 233, 237 + + Lay of the Last Minstrel, 231 + + Lays of Ancient Rome, 222 + + Leonard and Gertrude, 222 + + Letters (Chesterfield), 236 + + Life Histories of American Insects, 232 + + Life of Alexander Hamilton, 240 + + Life of Hamilton, 245 + + Life of John Quincy Adams, 244 + + Life of Nelson, 236, 243 + + Life of Pestalozzi, 239 + + Life of Samuel Johnson, 239 + + Life of Washington, 235, 243 + + Life of Webster, 245 + + Lincoln, Abraham, 242 + + Lincoln, Children's Life of Abraham, 226 + + Literary Study of the Bible, 245 + + Literature in Schools, 221, 244 + + Little Daffydowndilly and Biographical Stories, 223 + + Little Lame Prince, 218 + + Little Lord Fauntleroy, 220 + + Little Violinist, 229 + + Lobo, Rag, and Vixen, 226 + + Lotus Eaters, Enoch Arden and the, 234 + + + Mabel Martin, and other poems, 229 + + Macbeth, 245 + + Madam How and Lady Why, 238 + + Marble Faun, 245 + + Marmion, 241 + + Masterpieces of American Literature, 239 + + Men who made the Nation, 227 + + Merchant of Venice, 234 + + Mere Literature, 240 + + Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, 219, 223 + + Mill on the Floss, 239 + + Milton, Essay on, 233 + + Modern Painters, 239 + + Montcalm and Wolfe, 233 + + Moral Instruction of Children, 226 + + My Hunt after the Captain, 242 + + Myths of the Northern Lands, 220 + + + National Epics, 221 + + Natural History of Selborne, 236 + + Nature in Verse, 217 + + Nature Pictures by American Poets, 221, 233, 243 + + Nelson, Life of, 236, 243 + + Nestlings in Forest and Marsh, 238 + + News from the Birds, 227, 243 + + Nicholas Nickleby, 233 + + Nine Worlds, 231 + + Norse Stories, 220 + + Nuernberg Stove, 218 + + + Odyssey (Bryant), 224 + + Odyssey (Butcher and Lang), 227 + + Odyssey (Church), 225 + + Odyssey of Homer (Palmer), 224 + + Odyssey, Translation of Homer's (Palmer), 242 + + Old Greek Folk Stories, 217 + + Old Greek Story, 224 + + Old Manse, and a Few Mosses, 243 + + Old Norse Stories, 220 + + Old Stories of the East, 218 + + Old Testament Stories in Scripture Language, 217 + + Old Virginia and her Neighbors, 232 + + Oliver Twist, Story of, 231 + + Open Sesame, 219, 225, 229, 238 + + Orations on Washington and Landing of the Pilgrims, 236 + + Our Country in Prose and Verse, 232 + + Our Feathered Friends, 219 + + + Paul Revere, 229 + + Peasant and Prince, 243 + + Pestalozzi, Life of, 239 + + Peter Schlemihl, 236 + + Peter the Great, 232, 242 + + Picciola, 236 + + Pied Piper, and other poems, 223 + + Pilgrims and Puritans, 231 + + Pilgrim's Progress, 230 + + Pilot, 222 + + Pioneer History Stories, 225 + + Pioneers of France in the New World, and La Salle and the Discovery + of the Great West, 227 + + Pioneers of the Revolution, 220 + + Plant World, 235 + + Plutarch's Lives, 236, 242, 245 + + Poems of American Patriotism, 224, 244 + + Poems of Emerson, 234 + + Poetic Interpretation of Nature, 233, 240 + + Poetry for Children, 221 + + Poetry of the Seasons, 231, 235 + + Poets and Problems, 246 + + Poor Richard's Almanac, 235 + + Prince and Pauper, 238 + + Princess, 244 + + + Quentin Durward, 242 + + + Rab and his Friends, 231 + + Ralph Waldo Emerson, 246 + + Readings from the Spectator, 239 + + Readings in Folklore, 220, 226 + + Red Cross Story Book, 233 + + Rob Roy, and Quentin Durward, 242 + + Robinson Crusoe, 224 + + Roger de Coverley, 240 + + Romola, 245 + + Rose and the Ring, 231 + + Round the Year in Myth and Song, 217 + + Rules of Conduct, 235 + + Ruskin, Introduction to, 233 + + Ruskin, Introduction to Tennyson, Browning, and, 246 + + Ruskin (Selections), 242 + + + Samuel Adams, 237 + + Samuel de Champlain, 227 + + Samuel Johnson, Life of, 239 + + Scarlet Letter, 233 + + Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire, 246 + + Schoolmaster in Literature, 233 + + Science Sketches, 244 + + Secrets of the Woods, 220, 224 + + Selections (Ruskin), 242 + + Selections from Irving, 230 + + Self-reliance, 245 + + Sella, Thanatopsis, and other poems, 234 + + Sesame and Lilies, 221, 226 + + Seven American Classics, 229 + + Seven British Classics, 243 + + Shakespeare's Tragedies, 235 + + Sharp Eyes, Birds and Bees, and other papers, 229 + + Siege of Leyden, 238 + + Silas Marner, 236 + + Six Centuries of English Poetry, 239 + + Sketch Book, 228 + + Snow-Bound, and Songs of Labor, 228 + + Sohrab and Rustum, 234 + + Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, 223 + + Songs of Labor, Snow-Bound and, 228 + + Sounds, Succession of Forest Trees, Wild Apples, and, 242 + + Source Book of American History, 230, 235 + + Source Book of English History, 232 + + Spectator, Readings from the, 239 + + Squirrels and Other Fur-bearers, 217, 223 + + Star Land, 244 + + Stories from English History, 232 + + Stories from Herodotus, 225 + + Stories from Old English Poetry, 230 + + Stories from Old German, 220 + + Stories from Plato, 220 + + Stories from the Arabian Nights, 216 + + Stories from the Classic Literature of Many Nations, 237 + + Stories from Waverley, 231 + + Stories, Hans Andersen, 218 + + Stories of American Life and Adventure, 219, 223 + + Stories of Animal Life, 232 + + Stories of Bird Life, 232 + + Stories of Our Country, 217 + + Stories of the Old World, 219 + + Story of a Bad Boy, 231 + + Story of Caesar, 230 + + Story of Oliver Twist, 231 + + Story of Our Continent, 226 + + Story of Roland, 226 + + Story of Siegfried, 225 + + Story of the Birds, 244 + + Story of the English, 225 + + Story of the Golden Age, 224 + + Story of the Greeks, 225 + + Story of the Iliad, 220 + + Story of the Odyssey (Church), 221, 225 + + Story of Troy, 225 + + Story of Ulysses, 218 + + Story-teller's Art, 222 + + Study and Teaching of English, 240 + + Succession of Forest Trees, Wild Apples, and Sounds, 242 + + Swiss Family Robinson, 230 + + + Tale of Two Cities, 239, 243 + + Tales from English History, 223 + + Tales from Scottish History, 223 + + Tales from Shakespeare, 230 + + Tales from the Faerie Queen, 218 + + Tales, Hans Andersen, 217 + + Tales of a Grandfather, 234 + + Tales of a Traveler, 221, 231 + + Tales of a Wayside Inn, 240 + + Tales of Chivalry, 225 + + Tales of the White Hills, and Sketches, 228 + + Tales of Troy, 219 + + Talisman, 232, 243 + + Talks to Teachers, 221 + + Tanglewood Tales, 222 + + Ten Boys on the Road from Long Ago, 224 + + Ten Great Events in History, 230 + + Tennyson, Introduction to, Ruskin, and Browning, 246 + + Thanatopsis, Sella, and other poems, 234 + + Thoughts on Education, 245 + + Three Outdoor Papers, 229 + + Through the Looking Glass, 219 + + Tom Brown's School Days, 237 + + Tommy-Anne and the Three Hearts, 218 + + Town Geology, 238 + + Translation of Homer's Odyssey (Palmer), 242 + + Traveller, Deserted Village and the, 241 + + Treasure Island, 243 + + Twelve Naval Captains, 238 + + Twice Told Tales, 232 + + Two Great Retreats, 236, 242 + + Two Years before the Mast, 237 + + + Ulysses among the Phaeacians, 223 + + Ulysses, Story of, 218 + + Uncle Tom's Cabin, 237 + + Undine, 231 + + Up and down the Brooks, 244 + + + Vicar of Wakefield, 232, 237 + + Vision of Sir Launfal, 240 + + + Wake Robin, 227 + + War of Independence, 240 + + Washington and his Country, 240 + + Washington, and Landing of the Pilgrims, Orations on, 236 + + Washington Irving, 233 + + Washington, Life of, 235, 243 + + Waste Not, Want Not, 218 + + Water Babies, 222 + + Waverley, Stories from, 231 + + Ways of Wood Folk, 221, 223 + + Webster, Life of, 245 + + Westward Ho!, 226, 233 + + Wild Apples, Succession of Forest Trees, and Sounds, 242 + + Wilderness Ways, 226, 231 + + William Tell, 230, 235 + + Winning of the West, 222 + + Wonder Book, 216 + + + Yesterdays with Authors, 242 + + + * * * * * + + + + +Tarr and McMurry's Geographies + + +COMMENTS + + North Plainfield, N.J. + + "I think it the best Geography that I have seen." + + --H. J. WIGHTMAN, _Superintendent_. + + Boston, Mass. + + "I have been teaching the subject in the Boston Normal School + for over twenty years, and Book I is the book I have been looking + for for the last ten years. It comes nearer to what I have been + working for than anything in the geography line that I have yet + seen. I congratulate you on the good work." + + --MISS L. T. MOSES, _Normal School_. + + Detroit, Mich. + + "I am much pleased with it and have had enthusiastic praise + for it from all the teachers to whom I have shown it. It seems to + me to be scientific, artistic, and convenient to a marked degree. + The maps are a perfect joy to any teacher who has been using + the complicated affairs given in most books of the kind." + + --AGNES MCRAE. + + De Kalb, Ill. + + "I have just finished examining the first book of Tarr and + McMurry's Geographies. I have read the book with care from cover to + cover. To say that I am pleased with it is expressing it mildly. + It seems to me just what a geography should be. It is correctly + conceived and admirably executed. The subject is approached from + the right direction and is developed in the right proportions. + And those maps--how could they be any better? Surely authors and + publishers have achieved a triumph in text-book making. I shall + watch with interest for the appearance of the other two volumes." + + --Professor EDWARD C. PAGE, _Northern Illinois State Normal School_. + + Asbury Park, N.J. + + "I do not hesitate at all to say that I think the Tarr and + McMurry's Geography the best in the market." + + --F. S. SHEPARD, _Superintendent of Schools_. + + Ithaca, N.Y. + + "I am immensely pleased with Tarr and McMurry's Geography." + + --CHARLES DE GARMO, _Professor of Pedagogy, Cornell University_. + + + + +Tarr and McMurry's Geographies + +A NEW SERIES OF GEOGRAPHIES IN THREE OR FIVE VOLUMES + +Size of Books 51/2 x 71/2 inches. Half-Leather + + By RALPH S. TARR, B.S., F.G.S.A. + CORNELL UNIVERSITY + + AND + + FRANK M. 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