PDF - Cunningham Memorial Library

Grarluaterl Series qf English Rearliug-Lesson Books. ,
cessarily wholesome food merely because they bear upon subjects
which arefamiliar to everyone; and that the question whether they
arc available in an educational point of view, must always depend on
the form and style in whieh they are presented to the intellect, and
on the relation in which t1\ey stand to antecedent !{uowledgc. Again,
the ran.g-e of thought to which abstract and rhetorical extracts apr-eal
is g-enerally wider and deeper than a youth cau compass. It is ob.
vious that· the pupil SllOUld be made to read of things which awaken
his sympathy, not of things which lie beyond the sphere of his sYm ..
pathy. In short, the joint elements of intelligibility and attractive"
ness aTe indispensabIe in every readin~ lesson.
The cllarge of encDnrag-ing desnltory and immethodical thinldul{
is frequentl}* anu with justice preferred a~ainst the employment of
booksof miscellaneous extracts for educational purposes. A strenuous
endeavonr has been made hy the Editor of the G1'aduated Series
to obviate this charge. He has by no means attempted to exhaust
suujects systematically: but he has strh'en so to select and arrange,
that cnch lesson will either prepare the way for something which
follows, or throw additional light on something which goes hefore.
In other ,Yords, he has throughout aimed at a certain continuity in
the treatment of topics. Beginning with sketches, which ronEe
rather than gratify the appetite, he has emlet\\'oul'ed to lead the
pupil, by gradations as imperceptible as possible, to a some,,,bat
deliberate and special survey of the great departments of human
l.;:nowlcdge, and to an approximate estimate of their relations and
proportions.
While most of the selections have been carefully abridged, and
otherwise adapted for tlle present series, the peculiarities of thongllt
and expression of the originals have been l"etain~d; and, for obvious
reasons, any effort to originate directions for emphasis, modulation,
&c., has been considered superfluous. In this stng-e of advancement,
such directions at once uiscourag-e individual effort 011 the part of the
reader, and deprive the teacher of a valuable test for measuring the
compnratiye capacities of his pupils; they arc therefore diametrically
opposed to th~ aim and object ofreading.
It is intended that the FmsT .BOOK should be pnt into the hands
of cllildren who have goone through tlmt rudimentar}' stage in which
tlle pronunciation of single words or the enunciation of simple sen~
tences is commonly taug"ht. The lessons which it contains arc all of
so colloqnial and homely a cast that it is.believed they present no
obstacles which snch children will not surmount with alacrity. In
London: LONGMAN, GREEN, and CO. Paternoster Row.
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