ENGLISH
IN Tl!F.

PREPARATORY SCHOOLS

BY

ERNEST W. HUFFCUT
INST RUCT O R IN

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ENGLISH

JN C oRNnt .t.

BOSTON, U .S.A.

PUBLISHED BY D.

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ENGLISH

IN THE PREPARATORY

SCHOOLS.

HE changes that have taken place in recent years in the
methods of language study have done much to advance
the cause of good learning. Every teacher owes a lasting debt
to those who have wrought out, and to some extent perfected,
these new and practical methods. The debt of the teacher is,
"I .-" however, but a tithe of that due from those who have thus
1" j ;, ;:: been spared laborious and well-nigh fruitless gropings through
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the labyrinths of a complex grammar and the blind by-paths of
inexplicable idioms. Where the new methods have been wisely
held in check by a recognition of the legitimate functions of
grammatical study, the results have been in the main entirely
satisfactory. Languages are "tiow learned much more rapidly
and easily than was the case a few years ago, and are thus the
earlier brought into requisition as the means to some other and
better end. Parrot-like knowledge of inflections and rules has
ceased to be the goal of linguistic scholarship : the ability to
use a language as a medium between the possessor and something to be sought in literature or life, is now more generally
recognized as the purpose of such studies and the main reason
for them.
It is somewhat astonishing that, in view of all this, some
more practical and rational method has not been adopted in
the study of our own language as a vehicle of thought. In
many of the colleges and universities there is, to be sure, a
well-defined mania for philological research and an abnormal

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ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

ENGLISH IN TllE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

appetite for Anglo-Saxon roots. In our common schools this
tendency is to some extent imitated by an unwearying attention
to the minutire of grammatical structure and the puzzles of
syntactical forms. Of practice and humdrum drill in the use
of English, there is little, in either school or college, in comparison with the importance of the subject and the needs of
the students.
This lack of proper training in the use of English is due
largely to two causes ; first, the want of some efficient method
in the teaching of English ; and, second, the reluctance shown
by our best teachers to engaging in this branch of work. Possibly the second reason may be the result of the first; possibly
it is the result of some inherent prejudice, or some unconfessed
doubts as to the dignity of this kind of work. As to these
last reasons, it must be acknowledged that, under the existing
methods, the work is far from agreeable or inspiring to either
teacher or taught, and no teacher can justly be blamed for preferring to avoid it whenever possible. The question may well
be asked, however, whether this very reluctance is not one main
cause why this important branch of work has been so lonP"
neglected, and whether, if our best-equipped and most earnes~
teachers were to apply themselves to a solution of the problem,
it would not soon be solved as easily as were numerous other
knotty problems in educational methods.
The writer has had occasion to test at college entranceexaminations the familiarity of applicants with the forms and
use of their mother tongue. The results have been in the main
unsatisfactory, and at times discouraging. The commonest
grammatical forms seem entirely unfamiliar; a composition of a
dozen sentences exhibits the most utter disregard of the simplest
grammatical and rhetorical constructions. Students who construe Virgil with ease, who are on familiar terms with Homer
and see no serious difficulties in Euclid, stumble and hesitat~
and fail in the use of their own language. To illustrate. At

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a recent examination the students were asked to decline the
pronoun "thou." A large per cent of those examined failed
utterly. H ere are a few examples of how this inoffensive pronoun was treated : Thou,
Thou,
3. Thou,
4. Thou,
1.

2.

thine, thou ; their, theirs, them.
yours, thou; same.
thine, thy; they, theirs, they.
thine, thee; they, theirs, them.

These four are fair examples of the whole list of failures.
Nor m11st it be s11ppose<l that these yo1111g gentlemen harl not
been prepared in schools that stand fairly well. One was a
graduate of a Massachusetts high school ; one was a graduate
of the preparatory department of one of the largest colleges in
Ohio; two were prepared in New York high schools: the four
taken together represent the educational system of three of the
.wealthiest, most populous, and most progressive states in the
Union. In other simple grammatical forms a like ignorance
was displayed ; as, for instance, when one student declined
Moses thus : Moses, Moses, Mosaic.
Such examples might be multiplied indefinitely, but these will
suffice to prove how utterly inadequate is much of the preparatory instruction in the simple forms of our almost grammarless
tongue.
When the work of writing English is considered, the results
are almost equally barren. Scarcely an applicant for admission
can write the simple essay required at the examination, without
some blunder in orthography, pu11ctuation, capitalization, and,
what is worst of all, grammatical accuracy. I say noth_ing of
the faults in logical arrangement and rhetorical effectiveness.
These qualities might, and indeed should, be taught in the preparatory schools; but I am sure every teacher of English in

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ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS,

the colleges will be fully satisfied if students are sent np well
equipped for writing English with grammatical correctness and
some degree of ease. Such a foundation as this would enable
the teacher to begin at once the work of aiding the student to
acquire a clear and for cible style, instead of wasting time, as is
now necessary, in doing the work of the preparatory schools.
The trou.ble seems to be that the preparatory schools do riot,
~s ~ rule, give enough a;tention to the study of English. There
is .m the grammar schools a certain amount of grammatical
dnll a~1d of analyzing and parsing. Much of this is good;
much is worthless. So far as any useful encl is concerned, the
mere ability to analyze and parse an intricate English sentence
counts for little. The ability to write a simple English sentence
with accuracy and effectiveness would be of vastly greater
advantage to the student. When the student attempts to pass
an. examina.~ion in ~ny first.-class college, this fact is made clearly
evident. 1 he mam req mrements at such a time are three first, the ability to recognize the few grammatical inflecti~ns
that still persist in English, and to illustrate these, toge ther with
certain sentential constructions, by examples written at the
examination; second, th e ability to point out in sentences given
at the examination the examples of false syntax and of offences
against idiomatic English; third, the ability to write, on some
familiar subject, a short composition which shall prove that the
applicant possesses a reasonably full vocabulary, and is able to
construct grammatical and idiomatic sentences and to combine
them with ordinary skill. Of the three tests the last named is
by far the most important.
Thi: brings us to a consideration of the work necessary to be
done m the preparatory schools, in order to fit students for college entrance-examinations in English, and to sive those who
do not enter college a fair working knowledge of their mother
tongue. In sketching this I shall not attempt to be exhaustive
but simply to indicate the main lines on which preparator;
work ought to proceed.

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I.
THERE ought first to be a thorough grounding of pupils in the
inflections of English. This does not imply that pupils should
be put through a severe course of training in all the niceties of
grammar, but simply that the necessary inflections should be
made perfectly familiar. For the accomplishment of this end,
any one of the numerous "methods" of language study may
be profitably employed; hut it is my conviction that patient
drill, accompanied by constant practice in the use of the various grammatical forms, is the best and simplest method. It
cannot be too emphatically impressed upon the teacher that
there ought, under any method, to be constant illustration, in
actual work, of all difficult points in grammatical structure. It
is especially important that the student be thoroughly drilled in
the use of idiomatic English, and be taught to observe the distinction between closely related forms,-as, for instance," shall"
and "will," "may" and "can," and other forms which persons
ignorant of the idiom of the language are likely to confound.
It has become fashionable of late years for educators to decry
the study of English grammar, and to echo Jack Cade's indignation against men " that usually talk of a noun and a verb,
and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to
hear." Nor can it be denied that there has been much provo- .
cation for this reaction. The old senseless routine of nomenclature learning, the droning march of the parsing class through
Paradise Lost, the long and fierce conflicts waged between contending factions regarding the exact syntactical relation of some
disputed word or phrase, were indeed abominations calling for
invectives as fearless as those of Jack Cade. But after all, the
reaction may, perhaps, have gone too far or too much astray.
English has grown by revolution and evolution from a synthetic
and u111nixed language into a highly analytic and composite

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ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

one; but such remnants of grammar as persist have their roots
deep in the soil of the earlier and more synthetic tongue.
For most of the apparent absurdities and anomalies of modern English there are rcrisons, the discovery and discussion of
which would prove of the keenest interest to students. The
dry husks of grammar will, if properly examined, be found to
contain wholesome and pleas:i.nt food. A method of grammatical study, such as that at which Professor Gilmore has made a
' successful, lmt by no means final, attempt in his "Art of Expression," would prove of great interest and value to every bright
pupil in the secondary schools. A similar system, less dependent upon a knowledge of Latin and Greek, would do much for
the cause of English, and, it is to be hoped, will be soon supplied by some competent educator. In the meantime, however, teach ers of English can use the prevailing text-books to
better advantage by adapting them to a historical and logical
study of the language.
II.

THERE should be a reasonaule amount of instruction in the
simple intellectual qualities of English style. Dr. Abbott says,
"Almost any English boy can be taught to write clearly, so far
at least as clearness depends upon the arrangement of words.
[It] is a mere matter of adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and auxiliary verbs, placed and repeated according to
definite rules." 1 Clearness is simply an intellectual quality,
not rlepencling, like stre ngth and elegance, upon emotional or
resthetic gifts. Clearness, therefore, may easily be taught in
the preparatory schools, and the principles and rules upon
whic h it rests may be made a part of the intellectual equipment
of the student. Beyond this it is useless to go. The study of
rhetoric, in any proper sense of that term, is a waste of time, a
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ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

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source of confusion to students, and often an absolute hindrance to the acquisition of a good English style. It is a study
difficult to grasp, and should accordingly be taken up only after
the student has acquired a solid basis in the more elementary
subjects. It should, in fact, be postponed until late in a college course. Bacon perceived this truth when he said,
" Scholars come too soon and too unripe to logic and rhetoric,
arts fitter for graduates than children and novices." Every
teacher of English in our colleges has doubtless met a number
of students every year who have completed in a preparatory
school a course in some rhetorical text-book, and yet cannot put
together ten consecutive sentences without some flagrant violation of the laws of discourse. In no other subject is theory
unsupported by practice more utterly worthless.
"Half a dozen rules," says De Quincey, " for evading the
most frequently recurring forms of awkwardness, of obscurity,
of misproportion, and of double meaning, would do more to
assist a writer in practice, laid under some necessity of hurry,
than volumes of general <lisqui~it.!,?n."
..,,.p
To secure the
ry schools. The second
will result from continued practice and greater maturity of
thought; it can certainly never be acquired through the parrotting of a meaningless nomenclature and the conscious application of inflexible rules. The time spent in the preparatory I
schools in the study of rhetorical text-books could be more
profitably employed in the reading of good modern authors,
thereby enlarging the pupil's vocabulary and presentin to h.im
les of what is commendable in English style.

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college, they are certamly out of place in any of the classes of
our secondary schools.

school-room experience he is made to feel the importance and
responsibility of his own separate individuality. He has felt
L.
before the responsibility of his position as one unit in the
III.
aggregate of his class, but now he becomes a single, unattended
personality. Nor is this all. Heretofore he has rarely been
called upon to state his own views regarding any question, hut
Throughout the- enftre-€
.,
has simply been rec1uireLI to repeat from text-books the views of
from the time he can construct a simple sentence to the time
some author.
Tlrns, in class-room work in general, there is a double suphe leaves the highest gm<le, there should be constant and rigorport : first, the support of numbers; and second, the support of
ous drill in the writing of English. This part of the instrucauthority. \Vhen a student recites in mathematics, he states
tion is by far the most important, and is, at the same time, the ---.
part most frequently neglected .
_,... what every other member of his class must state. There is nothing new to awaken thought or challenge opposition. I le is responsible only for a fair interpretation of the author. In composition, however, the support of numbers and of the text-book is
a 1ema 1cs,
wanting. The student becomes individually responsible for
a -·1 · , aFe- · -p · . eel with more or less interwhat he writes. He is now John Smith or Thomas Brown
est and profit, and are found to be comparatively easy subjects
reciting from John Smith and Thomas Brown, and not simply
to teach. But when the hour for English composition arrives,
the teacher goes to the work with misgivings, and the pupils with
one boy in a class of fifteen or twenty reciting from Robinson's
dread. The work is hastily got through with,- perhaps a reci"Arithmetic " or J. Dorman Steele's "Physiology." It is this
feeling of indivillnal responsibility which first overwhelms the
tation in rhetoric occupying a large share of the hour, - and
is dismissed with inward relief by both instructor and instructed.
student when he begins his work in composi tion.
The wide difference which exists between composition and
The same unsatisfactory routine is repeated day after day until
the other branches usually t;night in om schools has been thus
the work becomes a terrible incubus to all concerned.
particularly emphasized, because it is, doubtless, a very imporWhy is it that there is such avidity shown in other subjects
and such reluctance in this ? The reason, though simple, is
tant element in explaining the difficulties in teaching composition, and may prove to be the key to some natural and logical
not, perhaps, generally understood. In all other subj ects the
method . It will be the aim of this paper to point out to teachstudent occupies the position of a receptacle into which a certain amount of information has been pumped by one process
ers some reasons why the methods whi ch have long been in
or another, and from which it is easy to draw forth what h:is
-vogue have not been more successful, a.ncl to outline, so far as
previously been put in. In English composition the student is,
possible, a system which is believed to be more in accord with
on the other hand, put for the first time in a constructive rather
the best methods of instruction. Such a paper must necessarily omit many things that it would be useful to mention, but
than a receptive attitude. He must now give information,
it is hoped that the experience and ingenuity of teachers will
instead of receiving it. For the first time, perhaps, in his
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supply all such deficiencies, and will adapt the methods here
suggested to the needs of their individual classes.
All teachers of composition have doubtless noticed that
students who recite easily and well in some text-book subjects,
can with difficulty be persuaded to read a composition in the
presence of a class. If called upon to give an account of the
muscular system or the circulation of the blood, the pupil will
do so in tolerably good English and with no apparent embarrassment.
Bnt why is it that an honr later he blushes and
stammers, pleads a sore throat, an uninteresting composition,
or, perhaps, openly rebels, when asked to read his essay on
, Honesty, or Heroism, or Charity, or some one of the other
'numerous virtues! Is it diffidence? Not at all. He was overheard, only yesterday, telling easily and naturally all the par~ j ticulars of the ball game between his club and the rival nine of
if a neighboring town. And isn't he by common consent one of
/ the freest talkers in the school? And doesn't he declaim without any hesitation? And doesn't he speak well in the debating club, and everywhere else save on this one trying occasion?
The simple truth is, that same bright student doesn't know
anything about honesty, or heroism, or charity, or any of the
other virtues, as abstractions; and being such an excellent
living example of honesty, he has the heroism to acknowledge
the fact.
Now let the perplexed and discouraged teacher put the
question frankly to himself, whether he has not been guilty of
a ·great folly, in asking the pupil to write a composition on
such a subject. Would he have asked him, when reciting in
arithmetic, to demonstrate that the square of the hypothen'lse
of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of
the other two sides? or, when reciting in plane geometry, to
solve a spherical triangle? He would as soon have asked him
to square a circle, or prove the existence of quadrimensional
space. Yet the teacher was guilty of just as great an absurdity

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ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

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in asking him to write on Honesty or ll c roi~m .
These
things are to him intangible and vague. To the wisest of us
they are, when unsupported by concrete examples, mere general
notions. ·what are they, then, to a boy of fifteen, or even
twenty! Which one of us would like to stake his literary skill
upon an essay on Honesty? Why demand so difficnlt a task
of a boy or girl, whose experiences have not yet led them to understand the nature or value of generalizations? The teacher
who asks this is guilty of requiring a student to tell something
about a thing of which he knows nothing. The result is, the
pupil writes words, words, words; and being withal an honest
youth, is heartily ashamed of his performance.
The first thing, then, to he learned in teaching English composition is, that there is no known process whereby a teacher
can draw out of a pupil's mind what is not in his mind. In
other words, the requirements must be adapted to the exp~ri­
ences and attainments of the pupil.
Here may be seen the application of the distinction with
which we began. The pupil is, in English composition, constructing, building np, - and it is unreasonable to expect him
to build without materials or to build anything for which his
materials are not adapted
Jnst here it may nut be amiss to speak of a widespread popular error with regard to composition in general. There is a
very general notion that it is possible to separate the matter of
composition from the manner. To a certain extent, and in a
restricted sense, this is true. The matter contained in any book
may be stated in a hundred different ways, but change the original work in any marked degree, and you find that, after all , you
have not the same matter. The matter contained in Shakespeare's "Julius C:esar" had all appeared before in one form
or another, and Shakespeare himself took it almost bodily from
a translation of "Plutarch's Lives" ; yet will anybody say that
the matter in the play could be separated from the immortal

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ENGLISH JN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

form into which the master moulded it, and be to all intents
and purposes. the same matter? This is taking altogether too
gross and material a view of a great art. It is as if one should
exclaim when a beautiful statue is demolished, "The form is
destroyed, but after all the matter remains." He is too dull to
see that the trne matter, that which gave the statue value, was
not the stone which could be seen and touched but the idea
and ideal which existed in the mind of the artis;, So in composition, it is impossible to separate the matter from the manner without destroying at the same time the idea which had
given the work value. Style ;nd matter are so interwoven one
is so ~ssent.ial to the other, that no separation is possible. '
It is plam, however, a pupil must have his materials at hand
and in the rough, before he can produce a composition which
shall at all represent his literary skill. If he have not such
matter, he must create his composition out of fictions out of
mere fancies and conceits. The result will be a work 'without
pnr~ose, - a string of generalities deliYered in a style utterly
foreign. to tl~ e pupil. <;ivc the same boy something tangible,
somethmg with a genuine, living interest, and he will make of it
a.composition \~orthy of himself, and valuable as an example of
his real style. fhe mere facts do not constitute the matter but
they ~re essential ~o it. It is after they have passed thr~ugh
th.e mmd of the writer, and received the stamp of his inc\ividu~lity'. that they come forth as the matter of which his composition is composed. But until they exist and form a part of his
knowledge, he can never hop<: to produce anything more valuable than vague nothings.
Having thus pointed out the true relation of composition to
other branches taught in our schools, and having shown,
m .~ general way, the necessity of adapting the work to the
abthty of the student, we have next to consider more specifically some of the methods to be employed in conducting an
~he

exercise in this subject. Let us start fairly at the beginning,
and take up, step by step, the processes of a teacher's share in
the preparation of an essay.
First, then, as to the choice of a subject. Many teachers
leave this entirely to the pupil, but not, I think, wisely. It is
sometimes wise to leave the choice to the pupil within certain
clearly defined limits, but even this should be the exception
rather than the rule. If the student be given the responsibility
too often, it will soon be found that he is either grappling with
subjects too strong for him, or else is quietly availing himself of some questionable assistance . . I remember, for instance,
a young student whose first essay of three octavo pages was
entitled "Prehistoric America." Other examples of this precocity in the choice of subjects might easily he given. It is to
be regretted that there is not an equal number of examples of
precocity in the treatment of subjects.
_-- The teacher, having convinced himself of the necessity of
selecting subjects for the class, has the less easy task of deciding what subjects to choose. Herc he must exercise great tact
and reasonable good sense, for a mistake at the outset may
prove fatal to the value of the whole exercise. From what has
!ready been said, teachers :-vill see the necessity of breaking
way from the traditions which have clung to this work for so
Jany years. Every schoolboy h:is written his essay on the
irtues, and every schoolgirl has filled her allotted number of
ages with vague generalities regarding Sunshine and Shadow.
onsign all such subjects to the limbo of Dr. Quackenbos'
'Rhetoric." If you doubt that that is the proper place for
1em, read his list of five hundred and sixty-six subjects for
ssays, among which one finds such as Spring, Peace, \Var,
1 eath, Life, Anger, Astronomy, Jealousy, Conscience and Law,
arth's Benefactors, The Stoic Philosophy, The Comparative
nfluence of Individuals and Learned Societies in Forming Litary Character in a Nation, and finally, as if neither this world

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nor the limits of time could confine the knowledge and imagination of a schoolboy, the learned doctor seriously announces
as a suitable subject for class-room use, The Immortality of the
Soul. \f
ittle
ing
somethin
' , 0 enc uac hism,
or Transcendental Physics ; bnt perhaps these omissions are
compensated for by the inclusion of the subjects, Mesmerism,
Psychology, and Spiritualism.
The teach er of composition sho_!!ld studiously avoid all such

majority of the subjects chosen for essays in t~e ele~entary
schools. Of the five hundred and sixty-six subjects given by
Dr. Quackenbos, over four hundred are expository subjects,
while those which are subj ects of narration are broad. enough
to call for a large volume, - such, for instance, as, Ancient and
] Modern Greece, The Reign of the Emperor Nero, and The
. Era of Haroun Al Raschid.
The easiest class of subjects is that embraced under narration. The child begins to talk in narrative, as, for instance,
when he gives an account of how he went out in the road. ~nd
made mud pies. It is an easy and natural form of compos1t10n.
Hence it follows that in the lower classes the subjects should be
those of narration. Ask the pupil to tell the incidents of his
morning walk to school, the incidents connected with the ball
game of yesterday, the incidents of a fishing excnrsion, or any
one of the events of his daily life. It will be found that he
has something to say, and will say it in an easy and natural
style. For many reasons it seems best to persist in this form
of composition throughout all the grades of om comm?n
schools. The subjects can, of course, he adapted to the mcreasing knowledge .of the student; and description, exposition,
and argumentation can be introduced as inciclental to the nar-

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something.
it be specific, concrete, not too
broad in its scope, and capable of simple and direct treatment.
As teachers have more trouble in selecting subjects than in
any other duty connected with this work, it may not be out of
place to consider briefly the precise nature of a good subject
for an elementary class. In order to make the remarks on this
poin_!_more intelli i}Jl~, it ~iJLbe nec e~ to remind the reader
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arra 1011, or the relating in language of some mc1 ent or
series of incidents.
2. Description, or the picturing in language of some object,
real or imaginary, or the characteristics of such object.
3. Exposition, or the defining, explaining, and illustrating of
some general notion or abstract idea.
4. Argumentation, or the establishing of the truth or falsity
of some proposition.
Now, of these four kinds of prose composition, that known
as exposition is by far the most difficult, and calls for the exercise of careful thought, and of trained discipline in the choice
and collocation of words. It is under this class that the extensive branch of knowledge known as metaphysics is included.
Yet exposition is the very class under which fall the great
1.

rative.
Perhaps, after the simplest and commonest experiences of
everyday life, the easiest subjects are those adapted from some
interesting story or poem. Paraphrase and mctaphrase should
. early form a part of the work in composition. Take, for
instance, a chapter from "Robinson Crusoe," or from o~e of
Miss Alcott's or Mrs. Whitney's books, and let the pupil tell
the same incidents in his own way, carefully avoiding the language of the author. With somewhat advanced classes, this
kind of work may be made profitable in more ways than one.
Fiction, history, biography, travels, may all be made to contribute to the usefulness and interest of the work.

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To illustrate. Suppose the teacher puts into the hands of a
right pupil Motley's masterly account of the siege of Leyden,
nd asks him to relate the same incidents in his own language
and with somewhat less of detail. What is the result? The
boy becomes intensely interested in the story; learns, perhaps
~or the first time, that history is more fascinating than fiction ;
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is eager to reproduce the story, and does so with good and
useful results. Nor is this all. He has probably dipped into
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ther portions of the story of the "Dutch Republic,'' and is
ager to paraphrase some other interesting chapter.
Now, how does this differ from the old methods? Dr. Quacknbos would, d oubtless, have assigned as a subj ect, The Dutch
Republic, or, possibly, William the Silent. The boy would
have gathered a few encyclopredic facts, strung them together
in a hurried and unnatural style, and then gladly dismissed the
whole matter from his mind.
Take another example. Suppose that instead of giving the
subject "Tennyson's Poetry," the teacher asks a class of bright
girls to make a metaphrase of" The Princess." The result will
be that the girls will read one poem of Tennyson's, instead of
reading some article about T ennyson, will invariably be charmed
by the poem, and will tell the story in natural and wholesome
prose .
Let the same plan be pursued with other authors, and the
teacher will soon find that he is no longer vexed with the sighs
and complaints of his composition class. There need be no limit
t.o this kind of work for want of material. The short stories of
H awthorne are admirably adapted to this purpose. Lowell's
"Vision of Sir Launfal" cannot fail to delight and interest an
advanced class. The story of young Marlow in "She Stoops to
Conquer," or of Portia in "The Merchant of Venice,'' or of
Evangeline, or of Miles Standish, will be certain to arouse enthusiasm .
I am aware that in the common schools, and especially in the
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;

country districts, some difficulty will be experienced in procuring the necessary books. Wherever it is po~sible the book
l should be put into the hands of the pupil, but where this can1 not be accomplished, one or two exercises may be devoted to
~j reading some short poe m or story which is to furnish the mate].· rial for an essay. There are, however, at the present time, so
many cheap editions of good authors that many excellent books
~
may be procured at a slight expense. It is not necessary that
\ all the pupils in a class should write upon the same subject
j during the same week. Let such books as may be had circulate
' among the class for one week, and at the end of that time effect
'.~ an exchange. This will give variety to the exercise, as well as
·' decrease the expense of the scheme.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to suggest a list of books, say
for a class of fifteen, and indicate the expense connected with
the experim ent. Suppose, for instance, the following books
were selected : -

l

f

Hawthorne's Twice-Tolcl Tales.
(Lovell's Edition.) Three at 20 els. . • . .
$0
2. Studies in Longfellow.
(Riverside Literature Series.) Three at 15 cts. .
3. Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer and The Good-Natured
Man.
( Cassel l.) Three at 10 cts. . . . .
4. L ongfe llow's Evangeline.
(Riverside Literature Series.) Three at I 5 cts.
5. Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.
( Cassell's National Library.) Three at 10 cts.
1.

·>

Total, fifteen books,

.

.

.

.

.

.6o
.45

.30
.45

.30

$2.IO

Or an average of 14 cents for each member of the class.

With such a list as this, the work could be carried on for a
term, or even two terms, without wearying the students or exhausting the material. At the end of that time, more fruitful
results would have been achieved than would have followed ten

1 '·

20

ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

years of writing on expository subjects. Of course the list is
merely suggested as a possible one. There are hundreds of
other books that might he secured at the same expense. The
"Riverside Literature Series, " and the school edition of the
"Modern Classics," both published by Houghton, Mifflin, &
Co.; "The Classics for Children," published by Ginn & Co.;
and the standard works published by Cassell & Co. in their
"National Library," all afford a wide range from which to
choose, at a very moderate price, some of the best works 111
our language.

oolhouse, or the
village, or some mechanical contrivance, or some form of farm
or household work. Anything with which he is familiar, or
may easily become so, will furnish an excellent subject for a
composition; but no subject in pure description should be
assigned that is outside of the range of his personal observa' tion. ln general, the rule ought strictly to be adhered to, that
no subject shall be announced which is beyond the reach of
the student's experience or reasonable inve~tigation.
Having disposed of the matter of a subject, the teacher has
devolved upon him another equally important duty. He must
give some plain and intelligible instructions as to the best
methods of putting together an ordinary class essay. Although
this duty is very generally neglected, a moment's thought will
convince any one of its importance. Until such directions are
given the pupil has only the vaguest notion of what is required
of him. This notion generally materializes into the unwelcome
thought that he must produce, on some fixed clay, and that an
alarmingly near one, a certain number of written pages on some
given subject. So he puts off his task until the last moment,

I

ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

21

and then sets about it blindly, and is as likely to build a windmill as anything else. What would be thought of a. mother
who should request her daughter of fifteen to go .mto the
kitchen and make a loaf of bread, without havmg first mductecl
her into the mysteries of that most precious art? or of a father
who should tell his boy to put together the newly purch~secl
reaper and binder, without supplying him wit~1 any direct10ns
regarding the parts and relations of the complicated maclrn~e?
or of a carpenter who should command his green apprentice
to build a house? Yet this is what nine teachers out of ten
do, when they tell a boy or girl to write a composition.
..
It cannot be too constantly borne in mind that co'.npos'.t10'.1
is constructive work, and as such is guidcll by certam pnnc1ples, easy of comprehension, but without which the ~tudent is
only experimenting, and is usually foredoomed to discouragem ent and possibly utter failure. The directions for the p~ep­
aration of an essay ought to be as few anLI as clear as .1~oss1~le,
and ought to be thoroughly impressed upon ~he. pupil~ m1~d
before he begins the work of composing. It 1s 1mposs1ble,_ 111
a paper of this character, to touch upon all the po111ts which
should be included in such directions, but a few may be mentioned as especially important.
.
.
In the first place, explicit directions should be given as. to
the methods of analyziug a subject, of gathering and arrangmg
material, and of amplifying and revising the mate rial thus arranged. In an essay of narration, th.e teacher should _pomt
out the necessity of narrating events Ill th e onl:r. of their o~­
currence, of selecting important events and om1ttmg sub~rch­
nate ones of avoiclincr needless descriptions, and of avo1clmg
altogethe/ the superfluous reflections anLl moralizing~ with
which so many compositions are disfigured. Upon thi s last
point the teacl;er cannot too much insist. The p.ractice 1~hich
has so long prevailed of requiring or encouragmg pupils to
write upon expository subjects, has led to methods of treat·

22

ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

ENGLI SH IN THE PHEPARATOl{Y S C HOOLS.

~ent that. are repugna.nt to the true spirit of literary work.

proposes to write. Dy examining this the teacher is able to see
whe ther the student has correctly gra~ p e d tho subj ect and can
make useful suggestions as to the order and scope of the treatment.
When the student is finally ready to begin the ac tual work of
writing, _tl1 t'.__teacher sl1ould give some dir ' ~
mel'hat is, he should re(1uire that all essays
Je written on the same kind of paper and with a margin wide
enough for corrections. A very convenient size is the qu;irto,
which can be had with a ruled margin of an inch or an inch
and a half. Students should be required to observe neatness
in the pre paration of the work. Space should be left between
the subject a nd the beginning of the essay. Paragraphs should
be pro perl y inde nted. Only one side of the paper should be
used . Wh en completed the essay should be fold ed lengthwise,
and th e name of the writer and the subject properly placed
on the oubidc.
These details may seem trivial, but the teacher will find that
by insisting upo n them he will be able to form in his pupils
habits of orderliness and neatness, and will, at the same time,
greatly lighten his own labors.

.I each pla111ly and persistently that a literary produc tion which
1s not so constructed as to carry its own "moral" without a
foot-.note or appendix by the author is a failure, a nd should be
re:vntten. Such stale platitudes are unworthy of any healthy111111ded l~oy or girl, and tend to encourage in them a species
of hypocnsy and cant. JJoys and girls are apt to take a health
y,
wholeso me, and even an optimistic view of li~e E
1· I
.
· ~ncourage
t 11s. >y all mea ns 111 yo ur power. no not dampen the ardor of
a v1~orous, manly boy of fifteen, by any sickly cant about his
r~l~~1ons to God or man. Teach him the sanctitv and respons1b.1hty of those relations, but do not force him t~ drag in his
pomt~ess moral as to these things at the encl of every school
exercise. Th~ best a nd noblest morals evade any attempt at
formal expression.

'I .

If ~he subj ect is one of <lescription, the teacher should give
, d1rect10ns somewhat as fo llows : 1. Select a point of view and
from
that point describe what can be .seen of the 0 1.uJ· ec t 111
· ques'
.
tion •. 2. Give first a general plan, by stating the form, outline,
m~g111tude , etc. 3. Select characteristic qualities, and omit
u1111nportant de tails. 4 • Enumerate
tlie nuali
' ti'es 111
· some
,
-1
atural order. (If, for example, the student is describing a
ree, show the necessity of proceeding logically, describing first
he trunk, then the bran~hes, then the leaves and fruit.)
.
5
lbl~1strate and make plam by comparisons with well-known
, 1ects.

By some such directions as these, and by illustrating the rules
. he t:acher will awaken in the pupils a desire for orderly anli
111telhgent . treatment: . When once a boy sees how he is to go to
work at ~1s compos1t10n, has his ma terial at hand, and has it
arranged 111 some systematic order, he soon discovers that the
supposed difficulties vanish. In order to encourage this habit
of careful analysis on the part of the student, it is often advisable to require him to present an outline of the essay which he

23

Having thus done his whole duty, previous to the preparation
of the essay, the teacher has one more, and perhaps the most
important duty of all. He must carefully read and correct the
work of the pupils. In this, more than in any other branch of
the work, the teacher needs to possess read y sympathy and a
large power of ;itbptability. Two e xtremes present thcmseh'cs,
somewhere between which lies the gold en mea n so earnestly to
be sought. The teacher may criticise very severely, and thereby
discourage the pupils, or he may criticise too leniently and
thereby confirm them in glaring faults.
Certain principles should be kept constantly in mind. In
the first place it is to be remembered that a style may be

ENGLI S H JN TIIF. PREPARATOR"
I

SCHOOL S.

ENGLISH IN T ll E PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

far re moved from the standard of which
approves and
b
the teacher most English without entering into the discussion of subjects which
other wo~ds, I ~'~ulde ~ ::~y excellent a~d .f~rcible style. In can in no way assist the student. Fortunately there have been
"Style " sa R1111011
er
.
a plea for mdividuality in style _i published in recent years some works which are admirably littcll
.
' 'ys
, " ic; the llla n himself "
p .
·
·
simple and na tural Sl)'le ti
ascal says that a · for this purpose . Dr. Abbott's " How to Write Clearly," l'ro- i-1e e1oquence of natur
·
J
,.
c·1
'
·
,
c 11ants us; for whi le we ar
e, Just y en- ~ 1essor
1 more's " O nt 1·mes o f t I1e Art of Expression," a nd
:1,~e md
Nichol's "English Compositio n," will all be found use ful aids
ilnp~ · in this branch of the work . In addition to these, Meiklejohn's
~~~~ii~~iE~ii;J "English L::uiguage " deserves special consideration . The hook
is a brief compendinrn of all that the ordinary pupil ought to
know regarding his mother tongue. It contains a good working
gr::unmar, a n interesting chapter on won I-building, a brief gnirle v
' ·
er, as condemning the
to composition-writing, a history of the langnagc, and a history
p11 pil 's style which are mani - 'j of the literatnrc . A student thoroughly prcp:m:d on this hook
would be amply equipped for beginning the work of the college
1 course.
These bookf are, however, guides rather than text..
t IS C ear that the nature - and ex tent 0 f . 1 crit1c1sm will ~ books, and should be used mainly for reference to principles
depend largely upon the , 1 f ·
grace o work tha t is d ·
1w
and rules viola ted in the compositions.
t I1e more youthful JJUjJils the .t.1 .
h
omg. "ith
c1s111
s
ould
not
t
I
en
H av ing, then, selected a book for class-room use, the teacher
b eyond the faults of the . d. .d
·
ex enc at first
m 1v 1 ua 1 sentence Th
t he unit of all composition Tl . :
·
e sentence is .J should prepare some simple system of abbreviations by which
·
ic arn i of the teacher th
r.
to re fe r to the different topics treated in it. If the work is
.
, ereiore,
sh ou 11
c be to make sure th t 1 .
a us pupils can first
I
struc t a sentence, and much time mi 'ht
proper.y con- l divided into sections plainly indicated, reference may be made
hy writing in the margin of the essay the nnmher of the section.
this work in the lower gra l . L g pro.fitably be given to
' c es.
et the child b
· d
If this plan is not feasible, a list of abbreviations could be
express the same idea in a
e reqmre to
.
, s many ways as h' ·
.
mvent
Th
I
· '
is mgenn1ty can . drawn up and furni shed to the pupils. The author, in his own
.
e resu t would be a co!lectio1 f
would furnish ample illustrations of fault 1 o sentences which . work , has fonnd the followin g list very useful if not en tirely
adequate:excel lences to be commended 0
; tlo be corrected and
then be expanded into a
.
ne o t 1e sentences might
A. Ambiguity.
Ex. Expand.
paragraph, and the same method fi
tiler pursued .
ur-

1

.~

t;
"t;
:~

<.

·~
}']
i"~
~

.

·-";

-"

( ;'

l

_
1

•:- "
.~

~

·',:

J

I

Jt is in. c riticising the completed tl1e1ne,
te I
ti
however, tha t the
ac ier w1 experience the most difficult
.
grade of work is reached there should b y. By ~he time t.his
of composition to whicl1 rer
.
e some simple outlme
ierence 1s to be m cl
Th
selected should be one which gives simple dire~i~~s for :r~~~~

Ac. Want of accuracy.
c. Condense.
Cap. Capitalization.
Cd . Confused statement.
Cl. 'Want of clearness.
Com. Incompleteness of statement.
D. Strike out.

Eq. Equivocal. ·
Gr. Bad grammar.
II. Inelegant.
Inc. Incongruous construction.
Ind. Indefinite.
Ir. Irrelevant.
K. Awkward construction.

) ·-

/

! :

_. --

....

-t

'

~:

·=
26
ENGLISH JN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

I. c.
0.
Ob.
P.

lower case (no capital).
Orthogrnphy.
Obscurity.
Punctuation.

Pr. Impropri ety in diction.
R. Repetition.
Red. Redunflancy.
S.
Sim.
St.
T.
Tr.

J

Change in Cons truction.
Want of simplicity.
Want of strength.
Bad taste.
Transpose.

Trans. Abrupt transition.
Trt. Trite.
U. Lack of Unity.
V. Vague.
X. Calls attention to some error
not specified.
fl. Paragraph required.
No"· No paragraph required.
? Questions the truth of a
statement.
MS. Manuscript badly prepared.

The teacher has next to read the compos1twn and place in
the margi n such criticisms as may be H]iJught best. When, for
instance, there is an offence against clearness, let Cl. be written
in the margin opposite the faulty sentence. If the offence is
the use of a hackneyed phrase, let Trt. be written, and so on.
If there is ample time, and the class is not too large, the teac her
should go over each essay with the writer, and point out those
inherent faults of his style which cannot be fully designated by
abbreviations. Especially should the method of transition from
sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph be examined and criticised. De Quincey declares that the two capital
secrets in the art of prose composition are, first, the philosophy
of transition and connection ; and second, the way in which
sentences are made to modify each other. Now these are
things that must be pointed out to members of a class individually. A paragraph must be taken up on the same principles
as a sentence, for it is, in fact, as necessary to study the mutual
interdependence of sentences in a paragraph as of. phrases and
clauses in a sentence. Unless the paragraph has unity of purpose and structure, and has a continuity of thought running
through it, there will be inevitable confusion and obscurity.
The corrected essay should be rewritten, and the corrections

= --

!•
i

i
j

I!
!

ENGLISH IN THE PREl'ARATOl{Y SCHOOLS.

27

The rewritten work should be exembodied in the new copy.cl the improvements in form noted
amined by the teacher, a:_ excellent practice is to copy a
and commented upon . r nlty sentences upon a blackboard,
f
iau
·
· o ther
number o rep rescntat1ve
·
the same 1·a eas 111
the class to express
I
and to cal upon
f
these faults.
· I ] II 1 e free rom
·
h
sentences whtc I s .rn 1
to remind teachers that t e
'Finally, in closing, allow me t t a l)llpil will be of compar1 . I1 they may tmpar o '
I
d
knowledge w uc
ble to express clear y an
.
.
.
una
.
atively little use to society if he
'forciuly the ideas w IIIC
· II a re his .
'
r-

ye

. ,

28

,.

.tr.",'

ENGLISH IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS.

~

is

.

GERMAN.

Slzeldon's Slzort Go-mmt Grammar.
F or those who

wi!~ h

(Price, 60 cents.)

to lcn rn quickly to rend German.

foynes-Jl1'et"ssner's c;crman Grammar.

(l'ricc, $1.12.)

A working grnmm ar for high school or college s ufficie ntly ele me ntary for the beginner,
and sufficiently compl e te for th e advanced !:.cholar.

. In conclusion, it is only just to say that the cha
.
, rge of neglectmg the pro1)cr .study of I''.ng 1·1s Ii c1oes not r
1 door of the
preparatory schools alone It .
I
. I~ at tie
th E
·
is on Y wt1h111 ver
at Jnglish has begun to rec .
fr .
y recent years
colleges and universities r e1ve l~l~~~r share of attention in the
·

l:OOKS FOR
llEGJNNERS.

iVfODERN LANGUAGES.

an.d insist upon their followin them
,
.
original and felicitous forn gf
. _Encourage m every way
1s o expression and
·
·
mg the natural style of a
·1 ·r.
' , avo1·d Iiamper~v.ent, insist always u1;o~u!~:1~1~Je1t l~e i_i~t ~tterly faulty; in any
idiomatic English.
' s ra1g 1t orward, strong, and

Joynes' r;erman R eader for B eginners.

(Price, 90 cents.)

An introducti on to th e readin g o( German , with notes :l.lul vocalrnl :uy.

Harris' Selections for German Composition.

(Price, 50 ce nts.)

Graded material for tra nslatio n into simpl e German, with notes and vocabulary.

. Deutsclt's S elect German R eader.

~l

1

egmning

nroor useful weapon in the 1 d.
seen n;tt
schol .
h
k nowledge of his own I ian s of any
.
ar is a t orough
anguage This co · ·
·

1

f

\Vith notes and vocabulary.

Ma y be used with or without n g rammar.

Boisen's Preparatory Gcn11an Prose.

(Price, 90 cents.)

Excellent selections of easy prose wi!h full suggestive notes.

Grimm's Jlfiirc11e11 and Schiller's Der Tauch er.

our colleges to better met! d . f
nv1ct1on is arousing
10 s o work in th· d
·
an d is, in consequence i11ak ·
is epartment,
·
' ' mg necessary b tt
m the secondary schools. Th.
. e er preparation
should provide.
is preparat1011 they can and

:.·

(Price, 90 cents.)

(Price, 7 5 cents.)

With fu11 notes and vocabnbry.

Faulhaber's One Y ear Course £n German.

(Price, 60 cents.'

A brie f synopsis of German Grammar with reading exercises.

, Heat/i's German Dictionary.

(Retail price, $1.50.)

Sufficien t for stud ents' use in school and college.

FRENCH.

Edgren's Co,,rpendio11s French Grammar.
Part I., th e esuntials of Fre nch Grammar. Price, 35 cents. Complete book (Parts I. and

II.)

Price,

f,1 . 12.

Super's Preparatory French R eader.

(Price, So cents.)

Graded cmd interest ing reading for beginners in school or college.

Houghton's Fnmclt by R eading.
For home anrl school use.
ordinary Fre nch.

Storrs' Hints

011

\Vith notes and \'OCab .

(In press. )

Contains aH that is ncccssilry to acquire facility in

Frcnc/1 Sy1tlax.

With exercises.

rcadin~,

(Price, 30 cents.)

Treats particularly those poi nts which give pupils th e most difficulty.

Heat/i's Frenc/1 Dictionary.

(Retail ·price, $1.50.)

Sufficient for students' use in school and college.

ITALIAN.

Grandgent's Italia1t Grnmmar.

(Price, So cents.)

SPANISH .

Edgren's Short Spa1tish Grammar. (In press.)
l '6arra's Practical M etliod in Spanish. (Retail price, f1.50.)

f

D. G. HEATH & CO., Publishers,
JIOSTON 0 NEW

YORK

AND

C HICAGO.

monographs on lEbucation.

H.!STORY.
Sheldon's General History. For high school and II
Iowmg
· the seminary" or laboratory plan
co ege. The only hist ory fo l.
11

Price, $1.6o.

Sheldon's Greek and Roman History.
a b ove book.

Price, $ r .oo.

Contains the first

Teacher's Manual to Sheldon's History.
,_

Key

to t 1le above system.

Price, So cen ts

250

pages of tl10

P uts into the instructor's hand the \
-

l

Sheldon's Aids to the T
h
eac Ing of General History. Gives list of esscn.
tial books for reference library. Price, io cents.
Brld,gman 's Ten Years of Massachusetts.

<.:

onunonwcalth as seen in its faws.

!'rice, 75 cents.

!

Pictures th<: de\ clopmcut of tho ~

Shumway's A D ay In Ancient R
.
.
I
ome. W>th 59 illustrations. Should find a •
~. a~e as a s11flf.lt.•mc11/ary n ·r1d,·r in every high sc hoo l cl:tss
I ac1tu s, etc.

Old South L eaflets on

u. s.

J

studying Cicero, Horace,

P rit.:c , 75 ce nt s.

History.

and hi s torical papers, accompanied by usefu l

dred, $3 .00.

Reproductions of important political
notes. Price, 5 ce n ts each. Per h
un-

of

~l:~:~u::~': ~~:', ~62~,

F,11ncllamental Orders of Connecticut, r63S,
I
.
.
,
''
s ung on s naugurals, Lincoln's I nau
Emancipation Proclamat ion The F d. I' . N
gura s and
'
e . era 1st,
OS J and 2 The 0 r
The Constitut ion of Ohio, \Vashington's Letter to ~ . . ,
n mauce o f r7 .9i7,
Circular Letter to the Governors.
en1anun Harrison, \V ashingto11'1

Allen's History Topics.

c overs Ancient, Modern

an excellent Jist of books of referen

ce.

p .
,
nee, 25 cen ts.

and A

I
te most essentia books for a Theologi cal s tuden't 11'"-ary.
1.41"

EDWARD

P.

MORRIS,

M .A., Professor of Latin, \Villiruns College.

Wilson 's the State. E lements of Historical and

By

TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD,

Ph.D., Professor of Astronomy in \Villiams College.

How to Teach Readi11g and T,Vltat to Read in tlte Schools.
Dy G.

By

STANLEY HALL,

President of Clark University, \Vorcestcr, Mass.

\V1LLIAM NoRTll

R1cK, Professor of Geology in 'Vcsleyan Univcr!iiity 1 Conn.

ERNEST

\V.

HuFFCUT,

Instru ctor in Rhetoric in Cornell University.

Practical Politics. A text-book
f or a d vanced classes in hi gh
I I
d
sc loo s an colleges on the organization and funct1' on1 ol
&overnments l1t Pr1Ss.

By F. C.

J

I

'

'VooowARD,

Professor of English

in

the University of South Carolina.

The Study of Rhetoric in t!te College Course.

1·

J

...:.

~

Mathematical Teaching and its Modem Methods.

Englt'sh in the Schools.

"It
II
• .
s exce ence and helpfulness ou1ht
Pnce, $I .Jo.

BOSTON, NEW VOHJ< AND CHICAGO.

of the J ohns Hopkins University,

Englt'sh in t!te Preparator_y S chools.

• An annotated list of
Price, 15 cents.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers

G1tonGR HuNTINGTON \V1LLIAMS,

Tlte Study of Latin in tlte Prefaratory Course.

By

.
mencan history, and gives

Hall 's Methods ot Teaching History
to secure it many renders " - Th N. 1 ·
·
u
n 1011.

Dy

Science T eaching in the Sc/tools.

Fisher's Select Bibllog. of Ecclesiastical History
ti

Modern Petrograplty.

By

q

This genera l series of Old Sout h Leaflets now includes the fo llo .
b'
Constituti on of the United States The At' I
f C
.
wrng su 1ects: The
'
r ic es o
onfeclemtton The n 1
.
lndcpcndc11cc, \V ashin gto n's Farewell i\ 11 ·
l\ l
.
,
cc aratlOn of ,
tion "Charter of 1H
I
< < icss,
agna Cliarta, Vane's u Healing Ques.

Fra~kJin': Plan

ANY contributions to the theory or th e practice of teaching are
yearly lost lo th e profession, hccau!IC th ey arc crnhodiccl in articles
which are too long, or loo profound, or too limile<l as to number of interested readers, for popular magazin e articles, and yet not sufficient in volume for books. We propose to publish from time to time, under the ahove
titfe, just such essays, prepared hy specialists, choice of matter, practical in
treatment, and of unquestionable value to teachers. Our plan is to furnish
the monographs in paper cove rs, and at low prices. \Ve shall continue the
series as Ion~ as teachers buy freely enough to allow th e publishers to recove r
merely the money invested. Of these series the following are now ready: -

M

now advocated by a ll leading teachers.

By

J, F.

GENUNG,

Professor of Rhetoric in Amherst College.

PH.ICE, :z3 CENTS EA.CH,

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,
BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

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English Literature.

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I

Englz~·h

Hawthorne anti Lcmmon's American
fur l11g h schoo l; a 11 ct academies
Literature .
A 111a11ual
Meiklejohn's History of E
r h.
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For hig h schools and cull~·~· is Language and Literature.
ment of the eS<e11t1'•(0 . • I :~ "': 1" ,coln~pact a11d re liable s tat cL
..
.. ... ' .. !'. () 111C LI ( Cl 111 M "kl . l t
. a~guage (see under E 11 gli s h Langu~ge)
. ci .eJo ": s Engli s h
Me1kleJohn_'s _H istory of English Literature.
IV. of Englis h Literature above

11

6 pages.

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Part

Hodgkins' Studies in Engl;sh Lite;atur~ ~.
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for la bo ra tory m e th od Scot t L
b
:!es full list s of aids
l3y ron,. Shelley, Keats: Macau.la aDi • · or ~worth, Coleridge,
llrown111g , Ill rs. llrow11in C I ' y,
ckens~ ! ha_c,k eray, Robert
setti, Arnold Rus kin I g'. ar 11c, George !<.hot, I ennyson, HosE mc rson, Whittier, frol~~~~g'anc?t"t: fia~horne, Longfellow,
0
on each author. Price ct'
separate pamphl e t
1• "e ·
5
pl e t'e in clo th (adjust able file~~~:~ $,~~d)er l~und~ed, f'.3.oo ;. comGeorge s Wordsworth's Pr I cl
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•
coll ege. Neve r Lefore pt~i~sl~~d a~~ :~~tate~ for high school and

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book I . For the lo wer grades. Contains exercises for re production, picture lessons, letter writing,
usu of parts of speech, etc. .
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$1.12

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II.
For Grammar schools.
Has enough t echnical grammar for correct use of language

.80

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II. with Supplement. Has
in addition t o the above, u8 pages of technical g rammar
Supplement bound alon e •

\v

Hyde's Derivation of Words
Buckbee's Primary Word Book

1

1

Georg:'s Selections from Wordsworth
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a vie w to illus trat e the growth of ti
· , 68. p oems chosen with
ie poets mind and art
George's Wordsworth's Prefaces and Es
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,
j>nss
says on Poetry. I1t

cGeorge's
,
orson s

Burke's American Orations. Board
s, 4oc. cloth .
Introduction to Bro
.
.
Browning's P oe try. Also h wnmg. A ~Uide to the study of
as 33 poems with notes
Carson's Introduction to the Stud 0 f
study of Sha kespeare's art with
Sh~ke~peare.
A critical
exammatton questions
'
Corson's Introduction to the Study of M 'lt
r
'
I on.
~" jwus.
Corson s Introduction to the Study of Chaucer.

Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language. llcing Part I. and
appcncli>< u t Sug:;cstive Lessons in Language and R eading .
Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons.
A cn111hination of objec t lessons with language work .50 Part I bound
separately

l.00

Meikle john's English Language . Trea ts s ali ent features with a
master's skill and with the utmost clearness and simplicity .

.

Meiklejohn's English Grammar. Also composition, versification,
paraphrasi ng, etc.
F or high schools and colleges
Meiklejohn's History of the English Language.
III. of English Lang uage, above .

. 6o

empl's Old English Grammar and Reader I. "
Cook' s Judith. The O ld En~Ji , h c i
. . . "rress.
Jati on, glossary and fac sim1'l pc poem, with rntroduction, transe page
.
.
Cook's English Pros e Style and the English B "bl
s·1mm:1 d s ' s·ir Thomas Wyatt and hi p
I
e. In P ress.
biography, a nd critical a nalysis of h~s p~:ms. 168 pages. With
H II' B
ms.
a s
eowulf.
A metrical tran slation. In Prus.

Strang's Exercises in English. Examples in Syntax, Accidence ,
and Style for crit icism a nd co rrecti on
Hempl's Old English Grammar and Rcatler.

~OSTON, N~~-YORK

& CHICAGO.

111 fress.

Huffcutt's English in the Preparatory School. Presents as practica ll y as possi ble some of the advanced methods of teaching EngLsh grammar and composition in the secondary schools

.2 5

Woodward's Study of English. Di scu sses English teaching Crom
primary school to high collegiate work

.25

Gei~ung's

Study of Rhetoric. Shows the most practical discipline
of students for the making of literature

·75

.25

In addition to the above we have text-books in English and American
Literature, and many texts edited for use in English Literature classes.

See also our lis t of books for th e study of the En ]' h L
g is
anguage.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS.

78 pages. Part

Williilms' Composition and Rhetoric by Practice . For high
school and college. Combines the smallest amount of theory with
an abund ance of practice. Revised edition .•

hp~.

H

Language.

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D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS.
BOSTON, NEW YORK & CHICAGO.

7h

TI

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rr J ry s/JOU

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1. Because

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the Literature
eachers ofRead
tbeir Profession?

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no man can stand high In any profession who Is not familiar
"Ith Its his tory and literature.

it saues time which might be wasted In trying experiments that
2. Because llaue
already been tr1ed and found useless.

Compa.yre's History of Pedagogy, "The best and most comprehensive
history of Educa ti on in Engli ~ h ." - lJr. G. S.

HALL.

#i 75

Compayre's Lectures on Teac hing. "The best book in existence on
th e th eo rynnd practice o{ Ed uca tion." - Sttpt. M AcA1. u sTnR, Philade lphia. •
Gill's System of Education. " It treats ably of th e Lancaster and Bell
movemen t in Ed uca tion - a ve ry important phase." - D r. \V. T. HARR I S.
•
Radestock's Habit in Education. "It will prove a rare 'find' to teachers who nro s:;:cking to s;round themselves in the philosophy of th eir art." E . H . Ru sSF. l~ L . \Vorccstcr N ormal. .
Rousseau's Emlle. 0 Pe rh aps the most influential book eve r written on the
subject of Erluc.1tion. " -- R. H. QurcK
Pesta.Iozzi 's Leonard a.nd Gertrude, "If we except 'Emile• only, no
more important cduc<ltional book has appeared, for a century and a half, than
1
L eo nard :.ml Gert rude. 1 " - Tht• Nation .
Richter's L eva.na.; or th e Doctrine of Education. "A spirited
an1 l !"d10larly book . ' ' -Prof. \ \!. M. PAVNll.
Rosmini's Method in Education. "The most important pedagogical
work eve r writt c n. " - T11 or.1As DAv1usoN.
Malleson 's Early Training of Chlldren. "The best book for moth ers
I eve r read." - E 1.t 7.A llRT 11 P . PFA1mnv .
Hall 's Bibliography of P e dagogical Literature. Covers eve ry
cl cpartmc ut Ct f Etluca tion.

1.75
1.25

0.90
1.40
1.50
0.75
1.50

Peabody's Home, Kinde rgarten and Primary School Education.

u

The best book ou tside of th e Bible I ever rcad."-A LEADING

TRACHER.

1.00

Newsholme ' s School Hygiene. Already in use in the leading training
colleges in England.

0 .75

DeGarmo 's Essentials of Method. "It has as much sound thought to
th e squa re inch :.s anything I kn ow of in pedagogics. " - Supt.
Springficlct, r.ta ss.
•

BALLJBT,

0.65

Hall's Methods of Teaching History. " Its excellence and helpfulness oug ht to secu re it many readers." -

Tiu Nn.ti'on.

1.50

Seidel's Industrla.l Education. "It answers tri umphantly all objections
to th e introduction of manual training to th e public schools." - CHARLES H.
HAM, C h ic.-.go.

0 .90

Badia.m's Suggestive Lessons on La.ngua.ge a.nd Rea.ding.
" Th e bnok is all th at it claims to be and more. It :lbo1111ds iu m:ltcrbl th at
will be of se rvice t11 lh e prn.crcss ivc h:achcr."-Supl. VuTTON, Nt!w Ha ve n.
Redway's T eachers' Ma.nua l of Geography. "Its hints to teachers
are invill uablc, while its chapt ers on ' 1\'lodc rn Facts and Ancient Fancies ' will
be a revela ti on to many." - A LEX. E. FRvn, Author of " TM Cld/d in

1.50

0.65

Nn.lure."

Nichols' Topics in Geography.

"Contains excellen t hints and suggestions of incalculable aid to st.: hool teachers.'' - Oakland (Cal.) Tribune.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,
BOST ON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO.

0.65

