PREFACE. THE THIRD BOOK of the IMPROVED ILLUSTRATED READERS has been compiled on the same principles as the FIRST and SECOND of the Series. The object is to provide such lessons as are most likely to interest the young reader, while the words in which the ideas are expressed are quite easy of comprehension. The The spelling difficulties have been again simplified by a careful process of classification and revision. various lists of words, which are placed at the begin. ning and the end of each lesson, ought to form the subject of very careful and continued study, while those at either 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 or transcription. It is intended also as a model which, even at this stage of progress, 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 "Systematic Exercises in Short Division" are not intended for rote work. Each column contains a different carrying figure; and by using the numbers, first in succession as they stand, and then in mixed order, a complete mastery of this important rule can be very soon obtained. |