SCHOOL READING BY GRADES

SIXTH YEAR

BY

JAMES BALDWIN

NEW YORK   ◇   CINCINNATI   ◇   CHICAGO

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

Copyright, 1897, by

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY.

SCH. READ. SIXTH YEAR.
W. P. 12

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PREFACE.

The pupil who is in his sixth year at school should be able to readquite well. He should be able to pronounce at sight and without hesitationall new or unusual words; and when reading aloud, his tones shouldbe so clear, his enunciation so faultless, and his manner so agreeablethat his hearers shall listen with pleasure and shall have a ready understandingof whatever is being read. He is now prepared to devote moreand more attention to literary criticism—that is, to the study of thepeculiarities of style which distinguish any selection, the passages whichare remarkable for their beauty, their truth, or their adaptation to theparticular purpose for which they were written. The habit should becultivated of looking for and enjoying the admirable qualities of anyliterary production, and particularly of such productions as are generallyrecognized as the classics of our language. While learning to distinguishbetween good literature and that sort of writing which, properly speaking,is not literature at all, the pupil's acquaintance with books is enlargedand extended. He learns to know what are the best books and whythey are so considered; and he acquires some knowledge of the lives ofthe best authors and of the circumstances under which certain of theirworks were produced.

The present volume is designed to aid the learner in the acquisition ofall these ends. The selections are of a highly interesting character, andillustrate almost every variety of English composition. To assist in theircomprehension, many of the selections are introduced or followed bybrief historical or bibliographical notes. Hints also are given as to collateral,or supplementary readings on a variety of subjects. To assist thepupil still further to enlarge his acquaintance with books and authors,additional notes, literary and biographical, are given in the appendix;here also may be found several pages of brief notes explanatory of difficultpassages, unusual expressions, and historical references, such asmight otherwise be stumbling stones in the way of the learner. Thenumerous portraits of authors is another important feature designed toadd to the interest and beauty of the book, and to assist the pupil to amore intimate acquaintance with the makers of our literature. Most ofthe full-page pictures are reproductions of famous paintings, and these,while serving as illustrations of the text which they accompany, aredesigned to introduce the learner to some of the masters of art also, andperform the more important office of cultivating and enlarging his æsthetictastes and sympathies.

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CONTENTS.