Educe T759.03.510 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF GINN & COMPANY MARCH 17, 1927 COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY LEONARD LEMMON. NEW YORK PREFACE The Readers of this series have at least one important distinction: they are composed almost entirely of selections from our own authors. Of the thirty-four pieces in this reader, thirty-two are from American writers. One selection is from "The Pilgrim's Progress" and one is from the Bible. The proportion of foreign and of native literature in American readers has been usually just the reverse of this, giving the great part to foreign writers and a small part to our own writers. And the native selections included have most often been those on which the copyright had expired or that had never been copyrighted. Quite a different plan has been followed here. The first design has been to present our own authors. The ground of choice has been solely one of fitness. Each selection from our native authors has been made on the ground of its representative nature, or of its special application to phases of our own home life. The result is the embodiment of an expensive collection of copyrighted material; but we believe the character of this material justifies the expense and labor incurred. In view of the fact that the selections are from American authors, about American subjects, for American youths, it seemed appropriate to call the series "Our Country's Readers." The selections presented are from the latest authorized readings, and correspond to the author's approved editions. The grading has been made with the utmost care, both from principle and theory and from actual tests with pupils. Lists of words that may need pronunciation or explanation follow the selections. Short biographical sketches of our best known authors precede the readings. Nothing in the way of criticism is attempted, but the simple facts in the authors' lives and in the history of the books may be useful to teachers in inculcating, and to pupils in forming, a taste for literature. Finally, it may be seen that there is not an anonymous selection in this book. Nor is there an "adaptation." ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THE editor of this book begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to the publishers named below for the use of copyrighted matter from their publications. Messrs. Harper & Brothers permit the use of the following: "Texas Cowboys," from "The West from a Car Window," by Richard Harding Davis. 'Steamboats on the Mississippi," "Lookout Mountain," " Beauvoir," "Mardi Gras in New Orleans," from "Dixie," by Julian Ralph. "The Story of a Hired Boy," from "Strange Stories from History," by George Cary Eggleston. 'County Court Day in Kentucky," from "The Blue-Grass Region of Kentucky," by James Lane Allen. Messrs. Chas. Scribner's Sons grant the use of the following selections : "The Shooting Match," from "Robin Hood," by Howard Pyle. "The Boys' King Arthur," by Sidney Lanier. "Song of the Chattahoochee," by Sidney Lanier. "Battle of the Alamo," from " Retrospects and Prospects," by Sidney Lanier. By permission of, and special arrangement with, Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., we print the following: "The Minotaur," by Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Barclay of Ury," by John Greenleaf Whittier. "" Concord Hymn," by Ralph Waldo Emerson. "The Vision of Sir Launfal," by James Russell Lowell. "Snow-Bound," by John Greenleaf Whittier. |