ADAPTED TO THE STUDY OF AMERICAN CLASSICS. A Text-Book for High Schools and Academies. BY SARA E. HUSTED LOCKWOOD, TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN THE HILLHOUSE HIGH SCHOOL, BOSTON: GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 1888. EducT 758.88.530 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE ESTATE OF Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & Co., Boston. PRESSWORK BY GINN & Co., BOSTON. ΤΟ My faithful teachers, my kind co-workers, Mr. and Mrs. T. W. T. Curtis, with grateful appreciation of their unfailing kindness, helpfulness, and sympathy. Think for a moment of that great, silent, resistless power for good which might at this moment be lifting the youth of the country, were the hours for reading in school expended upon the undying, life-giving books! Think of the substantial growth of a generous Americanism, were the boys and girls to be fed from the fresh springs of American literature! It would be no narrow provincialism into which they would emerge. The windows in Longfellow's mind look to the east, and the children who have entered into possession of his wealth travel far. Bryant's flight carries one through upper air, over broad champaigns. The lover of Emerson has learned to get a far vision. The companion of Thoreau finds Concord suddenly become the centre of a very wide horizon. Irving has annexed Spain to America. Hawthorne has nationalized the gods of Greece and given an atmosphere to New England. Whittier has translated the Hebrew Scriptures into the American dialect. Lowell gives the American boy an academy without cutting down a stick of timber in the grove, or disturbing the birds. Holmes supplies that hickory which makes one careless of the crackling of thorns. What is all this but saying that the rich inheritance which we have is no local ten-acre lot, but a part of the undivided estate of humanity? HORACE E. SCUDDER, American Classics in School. PREFACE. THE interest recently awakened in the study of English is, doubtless, due, in a great measure, to the fact that the works of the best English and American authors are now published in convenient and attractive form, and at prices which bring them within the reach of all. It is almost universally conceded that the best teaching of English is that in which precept and example are most happily combined. The testimony of teachers who have long been striving to attain this end is that far better results are reached by the use of supplementary reading than were possible before the days of cheap editions. The pupil has constantly before him specimens of classic English, and is trained to test their excellence by applying the principles which he has learned. This method not only strengthens his mental grasp upon the abstract principles, but unconsciously develops a critical literary taste. Power of thought and facility of expression are acquired with comparatively little effort. More than this, the opening of so many lines of thought and investigation does much towards forming the basis of a broad, general culture. These are not simply theories. They have been tested by actual experience. The question is not, therefore, Shall we use these books in our high-school classes? but rather, How shall we use them to the best advantage? In attempting to solve this problem, the necessity for a simple but comprehensive text-book has become apparent to many teachers. There are good text-books on Rhetoric and excellent works on Composition; but most of them contain more than is needed for the lower classes in our |