1886 printing of the 1870 copyrighted text. The author is credited as a Doctor of Laws in English, and as Late Professor of Rhetoric and of the English Language and Literature in the College of New Jersey, as the former principal of the New Jersey State Normal School, and as the author of a series of textbooks. The author expresses the conviction that composition teaching should happen much earlier than the typical age of twelve to fourteen and requires regular practice. The book focuses on exercises; the author states practice should come before theory. The chapters cover simple words, derivative words, simple sentences, complex sentences, change of arrangement, change of structure, figurative expression (simile, metaphor, metonymy, etc.), style, letter writing, and an appendix on punctuation. The text contains examples and directions for exercises and compositions. The Schultz Archive copy is roughly the complete text.
No printing date given. Copyrighted 1888. The author is credited as Principal of the George S. Meade Grammar School Philadelphia. The book purports to train young students to use their own simply vocabulary to compose properly-expressed sentences, as well as oral and written stories and descriptions, while also gradually expanding their vocabularies. Questions accompany detailed pictorial illustrations or short textual examples, some of which are abridged versions of Aesop's fables, to encourage thought and prompt elaboration or storytelling. There are 82 lessons in all. The Schultz Archive is roughly the complete text.