MODEL READING-BOOKS Narrative and Descriplive, IN PROSE AND VERSE, 'FOR USE IN SCHOOLS. EDITED, WITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION, BY R. F. CHARLES, M.A., ASSISTANT-MASTER IN THE CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL. NO, III-FOR JUNIOR CLASSES. LONDON: The Editor begs to thank the Authors and Publishers for permission to use the following Extracts in this Volume. The Authoress of the Schönberg- For Extracts from Winifred Ber The COMMITTEE of the Religious Tract Society, for extracts from several of their publications, and especially for courteously placing a number of the Society's works at his disposal for reference. PREFACE. THESE Reading Books are designed to meet a want, often expressed by Teachers, of a series of books that shall interest the children. They consist of Stories in prose and verse-stories of fact and of fiction, of history and imagination. Some are grave, others amusing; but all, it is thought, are interesting. In order the better to attain the object in view, many of the extracts, especially those in prose, are longer than is usually the case in Readers. As a rule they are not mere extracts, but complete tales. Care has been taken that each extract should be of literary value. The books are arranged in order of difficulty, and are drawn up so as to meet the requirements of the various Codes issued by the Committees of Council on Education, each book being numbered after the Standard to which it corresponds. Most of the extracts are new to school literature; but the Editor has felt that he would not be justified in refusing to give the children some of their old-established favourites. No revolution can dispossess John Gilpin; no conscience-clause can eliminate The Spacious Firmament on High. Plenty of poems for learning by heart are inserted in cach Reader. No. III. consists of simple narratives in prose and verse. In the other books a few dramatic scenes will be found; for nothing holds the attention of a class so readily as a scene in which the little actors are distributed about the room. The Notes are very simple, and are simply expressed. They are put at the end of each volume for the purpose of teaching the children the art of turning quickly from one part of the book to another. The word or phrase annotated is shown by a number above it in the text. It is hoped that the Advanced Reading-Books, V. and VI., will meet another difficulty found by teachers in Schools where the study of English literature is seriously carried out. A single play or book is apt to prove somewhat tedious to both pupil and teacher before the term is over. In these books two or three longer extracts will be included that may serve together as materials for more detailed study than the rest, and so afford the change of subject that is needed. Reading-Book No. VI. is intended also to serve as a help to composition. Passages of very different styles will be set side by side. Purely narrative and purely descriptive passages will be distinguished. A series of Letters on interesting topics by good writers will form an important element; and a series of short model prose passages suitable for learning by heart will be found at the end of the volume. |