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This is probably due to the fact that there is no series of readers weil adapted to the carrying on of this work. The compiler of this series has attempted to meet this want. The selections are carefully made and graded, and are believed to be those suited to the age and maturity of the pupils for whom they are intended. They are all good of their kind, and it is believed that the selection of trashy matter on the one hand, or matter beyond the comprehension of the pupils on the other, has been avoided.

Each volume of the series has been made with a definite purpose in view, and in each will appear a brief statement in regard to the selections made and the end aimed at. There will be such notes and explanations as seem to be necessary. This series can be used to an excellent advantage in teaching children how to read, but it should be borne in mind that the primary purpose of the series is to teach what to read, to create and foster a taste for good literature; therefore many selections, for which room cannot be found, will be suggested, to aid in directing the out-of-school reading of the pupils. It is hoped that teachers will encourage pupils to form little libraries of their own. Many suggestions will be made that

will aid in such work.

The selections from Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, Holmes, Warner, and Cary are made by arrangement with and permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., the authorized publishers of these authors. Thanks are due and are hereby extended to Harper & Brothers for selections from Curtis and Clemens; J. B. Lippincott Company for selection from Prescott; Fords, Howard, and Hulbert for selections from Beecher; Scott, Foresman & Co. for selection from B. F. Taylor; Dr. Everett for selection from Edward Everett; Lee & Shepard for selections from Wendell Phillips; D. Appleton & Co. for selections from Bryant.

TO THE READER

THIS volume introduces you to some of the best literature in the language. It comes at a time when your taste for reading is rapidly maturing. Your reading will largely control your thinking, and your thinking will control your life.

Exercise is the law of growth. This is true of mental and moral, as well as physical, growth. There can be no growth without exercise, nor can there be exercise without growth, and the character of the exercise will determine the character of the growth.

You can choose your reading as you will. You can determine the kind of life you will lead, though you may not be able to determine the degree of your success.

What you read as you go out into life will be very largely determined by the literary taste you have formed while in school. The following lines are worthy of being so fixed in your mind as to never be forgotten:

"Sow an act, and you reap a habit :

Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny."

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