ANALYTICAL FIFTH READER: CONTAINING AN INTRODUCTORY ARTICLE ON THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE THOUGHT AND EMOTION; A CRITICAL AND A LARGE NUMBER OF NEW AND VALUABLE SELECTIONS FOR EXERCISES IN READING AND ELOCUTION: SUPPLEMENTED BY NUMEROUS HISTORICAL, BIOGRAPHICAL, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY RICHARD EDWARDS, LL. D., PRESIDENT OF THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY. DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF CLASSES IN COMMON SCHOOLS. CHICAGO: GEO. & C. W.SHERWOOD. 1867. .355 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, BY GEO. & C. W. SHERWOOD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of Illinois. PREFACE. THE feeling is very general that the pupils of our schools ought to be taught to read understandingly and effectively; and this feeling we consider reasonable and just. But it is the almost universal conviction that this very desirable result is seldom attained by the methods that have been most commonly employed in the schools. This book has been prepared with the single design of furnishing the pupils of our common schools with such help as will enable them to attain this result. It does not aim to present a compendium of English literature, nor to disclose the facts and principles of any other science or art. Its sole purpose is to teach young persons to appreciate and to read good English. Reading is not only the key to all knowledge; it is also, when properly taught, a direct means of the most thorough mental discipline, bringing the mind, as it does, into contact with the noblest thoughts uttered in the language. It is assumed by the compiler that the thought and emotion contained in every selection read in school should be thoroughly mastered by the pupils: First, because thus only can the amount of mental discipline be secured which the reading exercise ought to afford; Secondly, because such a mastery is essential to a proper rendering of the piece by the voice. This end is sought to be accomplished by a careful analysis of the selections by means of questions. These questions may be considered as of three kinds: 1. Questions on the general scope of the piece and on the meaning of clauses and sentences; 2. Questions on the etymology and meaning of words; |