PREFACE. THE extracts in the present volume-the SIXTH of the IMPROVED ILLUSTRATED READERS—are drawn from Standard Authors, in accordance with the requirements. of the Education Code. Care has been taken, however, to make the selection both varied and interesting to an extent likely to be attractive to the pupil. The Poetry has been chosen, also, with the object of providing effective pieces for either reading or recitation. The spelling difficulties have been again simplified by a careful process of classification and revision. The various lists of words, which are placed at the beginning and end of each lesson, ought to form the subject of very careful and continued study, while those at the end of the book should receive a similar amount of attention. The "Summary" of each lesson presents the reader with an epitome which can be used for dictation, transcription, or memory work, in the way of composition. It is intended also as a model which the pupils might be called upon to copy, by reproducing in their own words the substance of either the whole lesson or of a selected paragraph. The "Exercises" in Parsing and Composition ought to receive careful attention; while the "Questions," which are comparatively few in number, ought also to be utilised in familiarising the pupils with the art of putting words together in correct grammatical form. As a rule, they are so arranged as to suggest to the pupil a simple outline of the passages to which they are appended. A course of lessons on English, Latin, and Greek Prefixes, and their use in the formation of words, has been included among the Exercises, while a copious and carefully prepared Etymological Supplement provides further materials for the study of this subject. In order to impress upon the young reader the desirability of continuing the pursuit of knowledge after school days are over, a special series of lessons has been selected from the admirable work on Self-Help, by Dr. Samuel Smiles, with a supplementary chapter in the form of some parting words by the Editor of this series. The Editor has to return his most grateful thanks to the following publishers for their kindness in giving permission to use extracts from books published by them: Mr. John Murray, for the extracts from SelfHelp (a book which ought to be in every school library); Messrs. Chapman & Hall, for extracts from the works of Charles Dickens; Messrs. Macmillan & Co., for extracts from Sir Samuel Baker's Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia; and to the representatives of the late Mrs. Barrett Browning, for an extract from one of her poems. |