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PREFACE

The chief aim in preparing this basal reader for use in the upper grades of grammar schools has been to make a collection of standard literature which shall appeal to the interest of the pupils. Oral reading, to be most effective, should have this constant stimulus. A large proportion, therefore, of the selections included in this volume have that dramatic or narrative quality which best holds the attention of boys and girls.

On the other hand, there are certain masterpieces of literary art which, while they may arouse no immediate response from young people, ought to be familiar to them. A judicious selection of such pieces will be found in the following pages.

An effort has also been made to present typical extracts from the work of foreign writers, and to establish the proper perspective in regard to literature in general. History, biography, essays, travels, and scientific works, as well as poetry and fiction, have all been drawn upon for suitable material. The range of authorship here represented will inevitably broaden and educate the perception of literary values.

It has been deemed wise, especially in the earlier pages of the book, to introduce occasionally lessons which offer few difficulties of any kind. These are not to be regarded as below grade, but as the natural resting places of a long ascent-legitimate relaxation after effort.

The selections from Thomas Bailey Aldrich, John Burroughs, Margaret Deland, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sarah Orne Jewett, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, George Herbert Palmer, Edward Rowland Sill, Henry D. Thoreau, and John Greenleaf Whittier are

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used by the kind permission of, and by special arrangement with, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin Company, the publishers of the writings of these authors.

Grateful acknowledgment is also made to the publishing houses named below for the use of the following copyright material: "The Typhoon," by Joseph Conrad, "The Way to Wealth," by Benjamin Franklin, "A Japanese Village," by Isabella L. Bird, "The Beginnings of Tennessee" and "The Surprise of Kaskaskia," by Theodore Roosevelt (G. P. Putnam's Sons); "In the Ice Pack," by Norman Duncan (Doubleday, Page & Co.); "The Growth of a Nation," by John Fiske, "Comets," by Sir Robert Stawell Ball, "Lost in the Storm," "The Old Wolf's Challenge," and a full-page cut from Northern Trails, by William J. Long (Ginn and Company); "Life's Torch" from Admirals All, by Henry Newbolt (John Lane Company); "Ribaut's First Expedition," by Francis Parkman, and "The Flag," by Denis A. McCarthy (Little, Brown & Co.); "The Way to Arcady," by Henry C. Bunner, "The Robin," by Sidney Lanier, "The Lantern Bearers," "The Castaway," and "A Night among the Pines," by Robert Louis Stevenson (Charles Scribner's Sons); "A Dream of the South Wind," by Paul Hamilton Hayne (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.); "The Doors of Opportunity," by Hamilton Wright Mabie (Hall & Locke Company, publishers of The Young Folks' Library); "Hatto the Hermit," by Selma Lagerlöf (Ess Ess Publishing Company); "The Things that Count," by Clarence Urmy (The Outlook Company); "The Price of War" from The Human Harvest, by David Starr Jordan (American Unitarian Association); and "The Parting of the Ways," by Joseph B. Gilder (Harper & Bros.).

THE AUTHORS

FUNDAMENTALS OF READING

There are two phases to be considered in oral reading: first, the mechanical phase, which consists of correct pronunciation and clear enunciation, and second, the artistic or interpretative side of such reading.

In the first place it must be insisted upon that the reader shall speak slowly, clearly, and distinctly, giving each vowel and consonant its correct value.

Careful attention to these details, together with continued practice, will soon develop good pronunciation. Then the child is ready for the second phase, the proper interpretation, which means something more than merely saying words. It means the bringing out of the real meaning behind the printed words.

The image, the idea, or the emotion contained in the sentence to be read must be absorbed and fully measured by the reader before it can be given orally for the entertainment or instruction of those who hear.

For the benefit of teachers it is well to consider briefly a few of the technical principles to be relied upon in teaching reading.

Emphasis may be defined as the particular stress of voice placed upon one or more of the words of a sentence, and is the main principle used to bring out the proper expression in oral reading; but to secure this no formal rule can be given. It must come from the effort of the reader to make the meaning clear to his hearers. For example, the first sentence in this book (page 1) will be read correctly thus: The bishop of D- was a man of such saintly life and self-sacrificing charity that he became known as Monseigneur Bienvenu, or Welcome.

Inflection is the upward or downward slide of the voice. It is of two kinds, rising and falling. These may be illustrated by

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