McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader

Part 1

ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES.

McGUFFEY'S

FIFTH ECLECTIC READER.

REVISED EDITION.

McGuffey Editions and Colophon are Trademarks of

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York-Chichester-Weinheim-Brisbane-Singapore-Toronto

Copyright, 1879, by VAN ANTWERP, BRAGG & CO. Copyright, 1896, by AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. Copyright, 1907 and 1920, by H. H. VAIL. M'G. REV 5TH EC. EP 310

PREFACE.

The plan of the revision of McGUFFEY'S FIFTH READER is the same as that pursued in the other books of the REVISED SERIES. The book has been considerably enlarged, but the new pieces have been added or substituted only after the most careful consideration, and where the advantages to be derived were assured.

It has been the object to obtain as wide a range of leading authors as possible, to present the best specimens of style, to insure interest in the subjects, to impart valuable information, and to exert a decided and healthful moral influence. Thus the essential characteristics of McGUFFEY'S READERS have been carefully kept intact.

The preliminary exercises have been retained, and are amply sufficient for drill in articulation, inflection, etc. The additional exercises on these subjects, formerly inserted between the lessons, have been omitted to make room for other valuable features of the REVISED SERIES.

A full understanding of the text is necessary in order to read it properly. As all the books of reference required for this purpose are not within the reach of the majority of pupils, full explanatory notes have been given, which, it is believed, will add greatly not only to the interest of the reading lessons, but also to their usefulness from an instructive point of view.

The definitions of the more difficult words have been given, as formerly; and the pronunciation has been indicated by diacritical marks, in conformity with the preceding books of the REVISED SERIES.

Particular attention is invited to the notices of authors. Comparatively few pupils have the opportunity of making a separate study of English and American literature, and the carefully prepared notices in the REVISED SERIES are designed, therefore, to supply as much information in regard to the leading authors as is possible in the necessarily limited space assigned. The publishers have desired to illustrate McGUFFEY'S READERS in a manner worthy of the text and of the high favor in which they are held throughout the United States. The most celebrated designers and engravers of the country have been employed for this purpose.

It has been the privilege of the publishers to submit the REVISIED SERIES to numerous eminent educators in all parts of the country. To the careful reviews and criticisms of these gentlemen is due, in a large measure, the present form of McGUFFEY'S READERS. The value of these criticisms, coming from practical sources of the highest authority, can not well be overestimated, and the publishers take this occasion to express their thanks and their indebtedness to all who have thus kindly assisted them in this work.

Especial acknowledgment is due to Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co. for their permission to make liberal selections from their copyright editions of many of the foremost American authors whose works they publish.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY MATTER.

SUBJECT. I. PRELIMINARY REMARKS II. ARTICULATION III. INFLECTIONS IV. ACCENT V. EMPHASIS VI. MODULATION VII. POETIC PAUSES EXERCISES

SELECTIONS IN PROSE AND POETRY.

TITLE. AUTHOR. 1. The Good Reader 2. The Bluebell 3. The Gentle Hand T. S. Arthur. 4. The Grandfather C. G. Eastman. 5. A Boy on a Farm C. D. Warner. 6. The Singing Lesson Jean Ingelow. 7. Do not Meddle 8. Work Eliza Cook. 9. The Maniac 10. Robin Redbreast W. Allingham. 11. The Fish I Did n't Catch Whittier. 12. It Snows Mrs. S. J. Hale. 13. Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded 14. The Sands o' Dee Charles Kingsley. 15. Select Paragraphs Bible. 16. The Corn Song Whittier. 17. The Venomous Worm John Russell. 18. The Festal Board 19. How to Tell Bad News 20. The Battle of Blenheim Southey. 21. I Pity Them 22. An Elegy on Madam Blaize Goldsmith. 23. King Charles II. and William Penn Mason L. Weems. 24. What I Live For 25. The Righteous Never Forsaken 26. Abou Ben Adhem Leigh Hunt. 27. Lucy Forrester John Wilson. 28. The Reaper and the Flowers. Longfellow. 29. The Town Pump Hawthorne. 30. Good Night Peter Parley. 31. An Old-fashioned Girl Louisa M. Alcott. 32. My Mother's Hands 33. The Discontented Pendulum. Jane Taylor. 34. The Death of the Flowers Bryant. 35. The Thunderstorm Irving. 36. April Day Mrs. C. A. Southey. 37. The Tea Rose 38. The Cataract of Lodore Southey. 39. The Bobolink Irving. 40. Robert of Lincoln Bryant. 41. Rebellion in Massachusetts State Prison J. T. Buckingham. 42. Faithless Nelly Gray Hood. 43. The Generous Russian Peasant Nikolai Karamzin. 44. Forty Years Ago 45. Mrs. Caudle's Lecture Douglas Jerrold. 46. The Village Blacksmith Longfellow. 47. The Relief of Lucknow "London Times." 48. The Snowstorm Thomson. 49. Behind Time 50. The Old Sampler Mrs. M. E. Sangster. 51. The Goodness of God Bible. 52. My Mother 53. The Hour of Prayer Mrs. F. D. Hemans. 54. The Will 55. The Nose and the Eyes Cowper. 56. An Iceberg L. L. Noble. 57. About Quail W. P. Hawes. 58. The Blue and the Gray F. M. Finch. 59. The Machinist's Return Washington "Capital." 60. Make Way for Liberty James Montgomery. 61. The English Skylark Elihu Burritt. 62. How Sleep the Brave William Collins. 63. The Rainbow John Keble. 64. Supposed Speech of John Adams Daniel Webster. 65. The Rising T. R. Read. 66. Control your Temper Dr. John Todd. 67. William Tell Sheridan Knowles. 68. William Tell Sheridan Knowles. 69. The Crazy Engineer 70. The Heritage Lowell. 71. No Excellence without Labor William Wirt. 72. The Old House Clock 73. The Examination. D. P. Thompson. 74. The Isle of Long Ago B. F. Taylor. 75. The Boston Massacre Bancroft. 76. Death of the Beautiful Mrs. E. L. Follen. 77. Snow Falling J. J. Piatt. 78. Squeers's Method Dickens. 79. The Gift of Empty Hands Mrs. S. M. B. Piatt. 80. Capturing the Wild Horse Irving. 81. Sowing and Reaping Adelaide Anne Procter. 82. Taking Comfort Whittier. 83. Calling the Roll Shepherd. 84. Turtle Soup C. F. Briggs. 85. The Best Kind of Revenge 86. The Soldier of the Rhine Mrs. C. E. S. Norton. 87. The Winged Worshipers Charles Sprague. 88. The Peevish Wife Maria Edgeworth. 89. The Rainy Day Longfellow. 90. Break, Break, Break Tennyson. 91. Transportation and Planting of Seeds H. D. Thoreau. 92. Spring Again Mrs. Celia Thaxter. 93. Religion the only Basis of Society W. E. Channing. 94. Rock Me to Sleep Mrs. E. A. Allen. 95. Man and the Inferior Animals Jane Taylor. 96. The Blind Men and the Elephant J. G. Saxe. 97. A Home Scene D. G. Mitchell. 98. The Light of Other Days Moore. 99. A Chase in the English Channel Cooper. 100. Burial of Sir John Moore Charles Wolfe. 101. Little Victories Harriet Martineau. 102. The Character of a Happy Life Sir Henry Wotton. 103. The Art of Discouragement Arthur Helps. 104. The Mariner's Dream William Dimond. 105. The Passenger Pigeon Audubon. 106. The Country Life R. H. Stoddard. 107. The Virginians Thackeray. 108. Minot's Ledge Fitz-James O'Brien. 109. Hamlet. Shakespeare. 110. Dissertation on Roast Pig Charles Lamb. 111. A Pen Picture William Black. 112. The Great Voices C. T. Brooks. 113. A Picture of Human Life Samuel Johnson. 114. A Summer Longing George Arnold. 115. Fate Bret Harte. 116. The Bible the Best of Classics T. S. Grimke. 117. My Mother's Bible G. P. Morris.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

SUBJECT. ARTIST.

The Good Reader H. F. Farny. The Fish I Did n't Catch H. F. Farny. The Corn Song E. K. Foote. I Pity Them. W. L. Sheppard. The Town Pump Howard Pyle. Good Night J. A. Knapp. The Tea Rose C. S. Reinhart. Forty Years Ago H. Fenn. The Old Sampler Mary Hallock Foote. The Old Sampler Mary Hallock Foote. About Quail Alexander Pope. The Crazy Engineer H. F. Farny. Squeers's Method Howard Pyle. Turtle Soup W. L. Sheppard. Hamlet Alfred Fredericks.

INTRODUCTION.

1. PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The great object to be accomplished in reading, as a rhetorical exercise, is to convey to the hearer, fully and clearly, the ideas and feelings of the writer.

In order to do this, it is necessary that a selection should be carefully studied by the pupil before he attempts to read it. In accordance with this view, a preliminary rule of importance is the following:

RULE 1.--Before attempting to read a lesson, the learner should make himself fully acquainted with the subject as treated of in that lesson, and endeavor to make the thought and feeling and sentiments of the writer his own.

REMARK.--When he has thus identified himself with the author, he has the substance of all rules in his own mind. It is by going to nature that we find rules. The child or the savage orator never mistakes in inflection or emphasis or modulation. The best speakers and readers are those who follow the impulse of nature, or most closely imitate it as observed in others.

II. ARTICULATION.

Articulation is the utterance of the elementary sounds of a language, and of their combinations.

An Elementary Sound is a simple, distinct sound made by the organs of speech.

The Elementary Sounds of the English language are divided into Vocals, Subvocals, and Aspirates.

ELEMENTARY SOUNDS.--VOCALS.

Vocals are sounds which consist of pure tone only. A diphthong is a union of two vocals, commencing with one and ending with the other.

DIRECTION.--Put the lips, teeth, tongue, and palate in their proper position; pronounce the word in the chart forcibly, and with the falling inflection, several times in succession; then drop the subvocal or aspirate sounds which precede or follow the vocal, and repeat the vocals alone.

Table of Vocals.

Long Vocals. Vocal as in Vocal as in ----- ----- ----- ----- a hate e err a hare i pine a far o no a pass u tube a fall u burn e eve oo cool

Short Vocals Vocal as in Vocal as in ----- ----- ----- ----- a mat o hot e met u us i it oo book

Diphthongs. Vocal as in ------ -------- oi, oy oil, boy ou, ow out,now

REMARK 1.--In this table, the short sounds, except u, are nearly or quite the same in quality as certain of the long sounds. The difference consists chiefly in quantity.

REMARK 2. The vocals are often represented by other letters or combinations of letters than those used in the table; for instance, a is represented by ai in hail, ea in steak, etc.

REMARK 3.--As a general rule, the long vocals and the diphthongs should be articulated with a full, clear utterance; but the short vocals have a sharp, distinct, and almost explosive utterance.

SUBVOCALS AND ASPIRATES.

Subvocals are those sounds in which the vocalized breath is more or less obstructed.

Aspirates consist of breath only, modified by the vocal organs.

Words ending with subvocal sounds should be selected for practice on the subvocals; words beginning or ending with aspirate sounds may be used for practice on the aspirates. Pronounce these words forcibly and distinctly several times in succession; then drop the other sounds, and repeat the subvocals and aspirates alone. Let the class repeat the words and elements at first in concert, then separately.

Table of Subvocals and Aspirates. Subvocal as in Subvocal as in -------- ----- -------- ----- b babe p rap d bad t at g nag k book j judge ch rich v move f life th with th Smith z buzz s hiss z azure(azh'ure) sh rush

REMARK.--These sixteen sounds make eight pairs of cognates. In articulating the aspirates, the vocal organs are put in the position required in the articulation of the corresponding subvocals; but the breath is expelled with some force without the utterance of any vocal sound. The pupil should first verify this by experiment, and then practice on these cognates.

The following subvocals and aspirates have no cognates.

SUBVOCALS.

Subvocal as in Subvocal as in -------- ----- -------- ----- l mill r rule m rim r car n run w win ng sing y yet

ASPIRATES

Aspirate as in -------- ----- h hat wh when

SUBSTITUTES.

Substitutes are characters used to represent sounds ordinarily represented by other characters.

TABLE OF SUBSTITUTES.

Substitute for as in Substitute for as in ---------- --- ----- ---------- --- ----- a o what y i hymn e a there c s cite e a freight c k cap i e police ch sh machine i e sir ch k chaos o u son g j cage o oo to n ng rink o oo would s z rose o a corn s ah sure o u work x gz examine u oo pull gh f laugh u oo rude ph f sylph y i my qu k pique qu kw quick

FAULTS TO BE REMEDIED.

DIRECTION.--Give to each sound, to each syllable, and to each word its full, distinct, and appropriate utterance.

For the purpose of avoiding the more common errors under this head, observe the following rules:

RULE II.--Avoid the omission of unaccented vowels.

EXAMPLES.

Incorrect Correct Incorrect Correct --------- ----------- ---------- --------- Sep'rate sep-a-rate Ev'dent ev-i-dent met-ric'l met-ric-al mem'ry mem-o-ry 'pear ap-pear 'pin-ion o-pin-ion com-p'tent com-pe-tent pr'pose pro-pose pr'cede pre-cede gran'lar gran-u-lar 'spe-cial es-pe-cial par-tic'lar par-tic-u-lar

RULE III.--Avoid sounding incorrectly the unaccented vowels.

EXAMPLES.

Incorrect Correct Incorrect Correct ---------- ----------- ------------ ------------ Sep-er-ate sep-a-rate Mem-er-ry mem-o-ry met-ric-ul met-ric-al up-pin-ion o-pin-ion up-pear ap-pear prup-ose pro-pose com-per-tent com-pe-tent gran-ny-lar gran-u-lar dum-mand de-mand par-tic-e-lar par-tic-u-lar ob-stur-nate ob-sti-nate ev-er-dent ev-i-dent

REMARK I.--In correcting errors of this kind in words of more than one syllable, it is very important to avoid a fault which is the natural consequence of an effort to articulate correctly. Thus, in endeavoring to sound correctly the a in met'ric-al, the pupil is very apt to say met-ric-al'. accenting the last syllable instead of the first.

REMARK 2.--The teacher should bear it in mind that in correcting a fault there is always danger of erring in the opposite extreme. Properly speaking, there is no danger of learning to articulate too distinctly, but there is danger of making the obscure sounds too prominent, and of reading in a slow, measured, and unnatural manner.

RULE IV.--Utter distinctly the terminating subvocals and aspirates.

EXAMPLES.

Incorrect Correct Incorrect Correct --------- ------- --------- ------- An' and Mos' mosque ban' band near-es' near-est moun' mound wep' wept mor-nin' morn-ing ob-jec' ob-ject des' desk sub-jec sub-ject

REMARK 1.--This omission is still more likely to occur when several consonants come together.

EXAMPLES.

Incorrect Correct Incorrect Correct --------- -------- --------- ---------- Thrus' thrusts Harms' harm'st beace beasts wrongs' wrong'st thinks' thinkst twinkles' twinkl'dst weps' weptst black'ns black'n'dst

REMARK 2.--In all cases of this kind these sounds are omitted, in the first instance, merely because they are difficult, and require care and attention for their utterance, although after a while it becomes a habit. The only remedy is to devote that care and attention which may be necessary. There is no other difficulty, unless there should be a defect in the organs of speech, which is not often the case.

RULE V.--A void blending syllables which belong to different words.

EXAMPLES.

INCORRECT. CORRECT. ---------- ------------ He ga-zdupon. He gazed upon. Here res tsis sed. Here rests his head. Whattis sis sname? What is his name? For ranninstantush. For an instant hush. Ther ris sa calm, There is a calm. For tho stha tweep. For those that weep. God sglorou simage. God's glorious image.