صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

CONTAINING A

SELECTION OF LESSONS,

EXCLUSIVELY FROM

AMERICAN AUTHORS.

[ocr errors]

By SALEM TOWN, A. M.,

AUTHOR OF TOWN'S SPELLER AND DEFINER; ANALYSIS OF COMPOUND
AND DERIVATIVE WORDS; AND TOWN'S SERIES OF

SCHOOL READERS.

"Knowledge is Power."

CINCINNATI:

DERBY, BRADLEY & CO., 113 MAIN-ST.

....

1845.

ENTERED according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by SALEM TOWN,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of New-York.

Gift

F. F. Warner

THE selections in the Second and Third Readers in this Series, are taken both from British and American authors. Those contained in this, Fourth Reader, are exclusively American productions. It was the design of the compiler to give as great a variety of specimens, both of style and language, from some of the best writers of our own country, as the limits of the work would allow. He has moreover endeavored to make such selections and abstracts as contain valuable instruction, both as to matters of fact, correct sentiment, and commonly received opinions.

Nothing more effectually secures interest in any class of readers than the perusal of such articles as abound with rich thought clearly and forcibly expressed. The mere verbiage. of a sentence may flow smoothly and fall in harmonious accents on the ear, but aside from that living imagery of ideas which feasts the intellect, such productions afford the reader little pleasure and less profit.

Reading lessons for the use of schools should be selected with special reference to style, sentiment, and instruction. The style should be chaste, elevated, and attractive; the sentiment correct and the instruction substantially beneficial. The scholar requires no more time to read a well written article, abounding with such ideas as are involved in the topic, than an equal amount of language compara

tively barren.

402

(RECAP

PREFACE.

116.

70408

We are all imitative beings, and our habits of thought, mcdes of expression, moral sentiments, and intellectual character, are no less influenced by the books we read, than our social habits and common deportment are by the company we keep. Both exert a powerful influence over the young. The one on the embellishments of the mind; the other, on the urbanity of manners.

The rules and observations designed to promote correct reading are the same as found in Reader No. 3. In addition to these however, are a few very concise Rules, for the benefit of young writers in their first efforts in composition. These should be committed to memory and rendered entirely familiar.

In the latter part of this Reader are a few selections suitable for declamation, or rhetorical reading. Speaking is an important exercise, and is becoming somewhat common in the primary schools generally.

At the close of the Reader are ORIGINAL RULES, by which the true place of accent may be determined in most words in the language. Eleven of these Rules designate the accented syllable in entire classes of words, without even a single exception.

CONTENTS.

Rules for Reading,·
Rules in aid of Composition,

LESSONS FOR READING.

Pre-eminence of our National Institutions. Bancroft,......
Fate of the Indians. Story,
Western Movements of Civilization.
The Pilgrims. Mrs. Sigourney,
Ancient Rome, Pompeii and Herculaneum,
Ancient Rome, &c., concluded,
Westminster Abbey. Lester,.
Falls of Niagara. Beecher,
Rural Life in England. Irving,
To a Star. Miss Davidson,..
Eulogy on Washington. Otis,

Natural Bridge in Virginia. Simple Sketches,
Western Emigration. Humphreys,
Wier's Cave in Virginia. Simple Sketches,
Unwritten Music. Willis,.

Molley,

A Summer Shower. Norton,.
Life in Sweden. Longfellow,
The Sea. Greenwood,.
Song of the Stars. Bryant,
St. Peter's Church at Rome. Dewey,
Cultivation of taste for Beauty. Channing,,
The Spirit of Beauty. Dawes,..
The Bereaved Sister. Unknown,
Advantages of Temperance. Hitchcock..
Our Own Country. Every Body's Book,
Our Country. Pubodie,

The Mammoth Cave, Ky., Unknown,
Mammoth Cave, concluded,...

Home. Unknown,
Mount Monadnock.

The Last Night of the Voyage. Shaw,
Return and Reception of Columbus. Irving,
The Leaf. Goodrich,

The Wife.

Irving, ....

Peabody,

Exalted Character of Poetry. Channing,.

Mental Discipline. Todd,..

The Indian as he was, and as he is. Sprague,

The closing of the Year. Prentice,..

McClellan,

The Death of Napoleon.

Sorrow for the Dead. Irving,.

Integrity. Unknown,

A Scene at Sea. Leggett,

Melancholy. Unknown,.

Eruption of a Volcano. Coan,

« السابقةمتابعة »