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Show READER P, sr 1 LESSON XIII. I (kAV J A 'Wii AMERICAS BOOK COMPANY, fo3 . l4lCr7 " -i HI - a cfer iy said steal kir.es words flow'era p :- " t " " i W I ' 1 1 him to lus aur.ii. ln,S' 4 - v 1 Z By ELMO SCOTT WATCOM C- Zfe 3, Haste thee, school-boy, hate away F J tr i Vt" -i Far too long has been thy stay; "'n .J- - C--S-Z'' Often you have tardy been, 1 .j, " 'x Ji' t "" Many a lesson you've not seen; r" " " , v jf V If Haste thee, school-boy, haste away, ' ,ir xt ' A- ' LuSSOn LX. Far too long has been thy stay. V 'vV" . - . -McGuffeys Third Header. ff llVCf "tYT" gM'-'j- LL over the United States during the wi' 4 r I ;V x i last two or three wseks there ha3 k VJ , J 1 gf) ,y v 3 Jl I vL 8 been a constant repetition of that 6. But, instead of minding her, he went (ASrO St -!vvit',"f& II "haste thee, school-boy, haste away" 1 : 1 f l 7S. Wlrc Vx!T B,W1 scene, as the army of Young Amer- . . i V"" i' -V ' lA-i-l lea has marched schoohvards. And f,0" ln 1'ennsylvama, and there came under l Pf IMA it " the elders watched them go, have le influence of Dr Andrew Wylie, president of f;4fe.. Sraill their minds turned back to their the co.lege. He S Hdted Latin Greek and Hebrew A,' il,- ( i- own youth and did there come to f 3 ? as ? and graduated with honors Sf" 4SQ' , ' their minds the verse printed above? ln 6. rece.ving the bachelor of arts degree. M $ fygh tT 3f 1 But if the elders should quote the While attending Washington college he sup- ;4 Jj4Ufer above verse to their juniors, would Portetl blmseC ' He taught UiL the name of McGuffey mean anything to Young a pioneer school in Kentucky, his work being J America? Probably not! And yet there are obser;'e ,bf .tnf ,first trident of M'ami unl- h fi o mno .k versity that had been founded at Oxford, Ohio, musi Slgia ledrn 1 uib those who say that it is the name of a man who , " m, . ' , ' v , was the most popular American of the Nineteenth ' 1S09- Thls ma"' ev- Robert a?"lton Bls?,p front talks MMr century, the man who had the largest influence at ouce recognized the power and devotion of the l , H t By ELMO SCOTT WATC3N Haste thee, school-boy, ha-te auay Far too long has been thy stay; Often you have tardy been, Many a lesson you've not seen; Haste thee, school-boy, haste away, Far too long has been thy stay. McGuffey's Third Header. gMVM-Tira LL over the United States during the a i a3' 'w0 or three weeks there has 8 8 been a constant repetition of that B S "haste thee, school-boy, haste away" RwvjgJ scenei as the army of Young Amer-I Amer-I & n'&'m lea has marched schoohvards. And 8 i as the elders watched them go, have 1 W their minds turned back to their fe2iiJK,8 own J0111'1 and did there come to their minds the verse printed above? But if the elders should quote the wpsn& above verse to their juniors, would the name of McGuffey mean anything to Young America? Probably not! And yet there are those who say that it is the name of a man who was the most popular American of the Nineteenth century, the man who had the largest influence ln determining the thoughts and ideals of the American people during that period and the man to whose work many great Americans of the present day pay tribute as being the fountain of their inspiration to aspire and to achieve. Even though a recent popular American encyclopedia gives only 15 lines to this man and the Encyclopedia Encyclo-pedia Brittanica doesn't mention him at all, there are thousands of Americans to whom the name of William Holmes McGuffey will bring a reminiscent gleam to the eye. For he was "the schoolmaster to a nation" and anyone who attended at-tended a public school in America from 1838 down to the end of the century can remember something which they learned in one of the McGuffey Readers. Herbert Quick in writing of his childhood In rural Iowa in his book, "One Man's Life," says : "I had a burning thirst for books. On those farms a boy or girl with my appetite for literature was a frog in a desert. The thirst was satisfied and, more important, was stimulated to aspiration aspira-tion for further satisfaction by an old dog-eared volume of McGuffey's, the standard school readers read-ers of my day. My mastery of the first and second sec-ond readers just the opening of the marvels of the printed page was a poignant delight and gave me a sort of ecstasy. Those text-books constitute the most influential volumes ever published pub-lished In America." Nor is he the only notable to offer such testa-mony. testa-mony. Newton D. Baker declares that an especially inelonclioly poem contained in the fifth reader made an impression on him that still remains, and the late Justice John II. Clarke said that the language he used in handing down decisions of the United States Supreme court not Infrequently was colored by the readers he had studied 50 years before. Ida M. Tarbell, the late Albert J. Beveridge, former Senator Charles S. Thomas of Colorado, Senator Simeon D. Fess and Senator Frank L. Greene are among others who credit McGuffey with having had a large share In shaping their minds. To get the proper perspective on this important impor-tant individual, let us go back to the days before the Revolution. In August, 1774, William and Anne (MeKUtrk-k) McGuffey emigrated to this country from Scotland. Landing at Philadelphia, they journeyed to the southern border of York county, Pennsylvania, where they sol tied. During Dur-ing the days of the Revolutionary war George Washington often stopped at their home. This Scotch family had one son, Alexander, who was six years old wheu they arrived In America. Alexander grew up to be a scout and Indian fighter, serving in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania under Gen. Arthur St. Clair and Anthony Wayne. At the end of this campaign In 1704 he married Miss Anna Holmes of Washington county, coun-ty, Pennsylvania, and settled as a fanner In that county. Here. William Holmes MoGniYoy was born. September -o, 1S00. When the lad was two years old, the MoGnf-feys MoGnf-feys removed to Trumbull county, Ohio, where Alexander MeGufToy purchased a farm of lr acres in Cortsville village, (Vrtsvi'.le township. In the Connecticut Western Reserve. One day Rev. Thomas Hughes, Preshyter'an minister, was riding by the lonely McGuTey cabin, lie overheard the mother praying that her young son. William, might have the opportunity oppor-tunity to secure an education that wou'd fit him for life and for the ministry. Reverend Ilrghes arranged to have the boy attend school at the "Old Stone academy" whVli he had opened at Darlington, Pa. The tuition was a year and board 7o cents a week. Here Williani'reeeive 1 his academic training and by t!,0 ti,;..-. -, was eighteen was ready for a collegiate course. He went te the nearest college, Washington college, in Pennsylvania, and there came under the influence of Dr. Andrew Wylie, president o the college. He studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew as well as English and graduated with honors ln 1S26, receiving the bachelor of arts degree. While attending Washington college he supported sup-ported himself in part by teaching. He taught a pioneer school in Kentucky, his work being observed by the first president of Miami university uni-versity that had been founded at Oxford, Ohio, in 1S09. This man, Rev. Robert Hamilton Bishop, at ouce recognized the power and devotion of the young undergraduate student and offered him a position at Miami, to begin in the autumn of 1826. The minutes of the board of trustees show that he was employed as professor of languages. Miami tradition tells that he rode into Oxford with his little brother Alexander with his personal per-sonal copies of Livy, Horace, Memorabilia and the Greek and Hebrew texts of the Bible in his saddle bags. Soon after coming to Oxford he met Harriet Spining, daughter of Judge Isaac Spining of Dayton, Day-ton, who was visiting her uncle in Oxford. They became engaged and were married April 3, 1S27. In 1S28 Professor McGuffey built as their home the house that still stands in the shadow of the campus. In this home three children, Mary, Henrietta and Charles, were born. While at Miami, McGuffey wrote the first and second of the graded set of readers. The third and fourth readers were written later at Cincinnati. Cin-cinnati. His brother, Alexander, as he grew to manhood became an attorney in Cincinnati. He aided Professor McGuffey in the revision of the readers and collected much of the material for the fifth and sixth readers. After some time at Miami, Professor McGuffey, McGuf-fey, whose interest lay In the field of literature and philosophy, was tendered a professorship of mental philosophy. He carried on theological studies privately and on March 29, 1829, he received re-ceived his ordination into the ministry of the Presbyterian church, with the degree of doctor of divinity. He never held a regular charge, but filled many pulpits on Sundays. McGuffey recognized the dearth of reading material in the common schools of the time. He had keen literary sense and was able to select much that appealed to young minds. It was this selection of lessons from a wide range of authors that caused him to name the readers McGuffey Eclectic Readers. The first reader was issued In 1S3R, the second sec-ond in 1S-17, and the third and fourth in 1S3S. The qualities that made the readers so popular pop-ular are the basic principles of life, honesty, justice and truth behind the lessons. In finding find-ing application of moral principles he selected the best in British and American literature. He takes in every phase of life with the home as the foundation of it all. The first reader Is all play, but In the second he begins to get a little more responsibility, holding to the home and stressing kindness to the family and to animals. The third reader Is a character builder. Every lesson has a moral. The fourth reader begins be-gins to give a bigger and broader vision of lire with lessons of travel, religion and statesmanship. In lSSfi Doctor MeGuffey left Oxford to accept the presidency of Cincinnati college. In l?'in he became president of Ohio university at Athens. In IS!! he returned to Cincinnati and served as professor at Woodward college, afterward known as Woodward high school. In )S!o McGuffey went to the University of Virginia as professor of natural and moral philosophy. He remained at this Institution, designed and built by Thomas Jefferson. . until his death on May 4, 17:!. Even the most casual survey of the MeGufey Readers reveals the stern reality of life in the century before this one. There is not a speck of humor in them, from McGuffey's New First Eclectic Reader, from which the wee chiiren learned their ARC'S and gazed with fascinated eyes nt the quaint woodcuts of birds and beasts, to M.-Gurfeys New Sixth Eclectic Reader, an iiunosing volume containing 4"fi pages of solid ami forbidding type described en th flyleaf as 'Exercises of Rhetorical Reading With Introductory Intro-ductory Rules and Examples." The stories always end with a moral, and some of the verses set to music and sung. Tha book ends with the ten commandments In verse and an exhortation : "With all thy soul love God above, And as thyself thy neighbor love." Every little girl and boy in the eighties has been told more than once by his fond but strict parents: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again !" This poem in its entirety appears ln McGuffey's New Fourth Eclectic Reader. "Waste not, want not" was a good old proverb of those days, and we who were taught at an early age that it was a sin to abstain from "licking the plate clean" did not know then that this was the title of a little drama in McGuffey's Fourth Reader. "Lazy Ned," "Meddlesome Matty," "A Mother's Gift, the Bible," "Extract from the 'Sermon on the Mount' " are some of the other well remembered titles. The Fifth Reader boasts the title: "McGuffey's "McGuf-fey's New Fifth Eclectic Reader: Selected and Original Exercises for Schools." Here we find old friends ; "Maud Muller," "Shylock, or the Pound of Flesh," "Effects of Gambling," which begins: "The love of gambling steals, perhaps more often than any other sin, with an imperceptible Influence on its victim. Its first pretext is Inconsiderable, In-considerable, and falsely termed innocent play, with no more than the gentle excitement necessary neces-sary to amusement. This plea, once indulged, is but too often 'as the letting out of water.' The Interest imperceptibly grows. Pride of superior skill, opportunity, avarice, and all the overwhelming over-whelming passions of depraved natures, ally themselves with the incipient and growing fondness. fond-ness. Dam and dike are swept away. The victim vic-tim struggles In vain, and is borne down by the uncontrolled current." "The Bible, the best of Classics," "Religion the only basis of society," "The Intemperate Husband," are the titles of other lessons, and many of these articles are honored by the name of the author ln the index. That familiar poem, "The Spider and the Ely," is given in this reader. read-er. "Directions for Reading" are expounded and rules for proper diction are stressed. It remains for the Sixth Reader to begin with "Principles of Education," which Is considered con-sidered under six heads: 1. Articulation. 2. Inflection. 3. Accent and Emphasis. 4. Reading verse. 5. The voice. 6. Gesture. All faults to be remedied are meticulously listed. Indeed, lessons In articulation start with the second reader, and proper emphasis and correct pronunciation are stressed all through the series. Of the McGuffey Readers, adults are probably prob-ably most familiar with the Sixth Readers. To millions who live today, that work meant tha literary peak. It contained Hamlet's soliliqny and "The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey," from "Henry "Hen-ry VIII;" Scott's "I.ochinvnr" and "Marnuon and Douglas"; Gray's Elegy; Macauley on "The Irrpeaelrae;:t of Warren Ilastirgs"; Tennyson's "Enoch Arden"; Pot-'s "The Raven"; Longfellow's Longfel-low's "Evangeline." and "A Psalrn of Life." TI. e Vefluffey Readers have bad a wide influence. in-fluence. They have b"( n tran. lated into many lansua .-, even the Their serious pur pose, their kindly spirit, their high moral tone doubtless made children of an older day hotter men and women In ear own lime. The sal" of them has made a formne for their pub lishers. who o.-:h::ate that THAV-fW) copk-s of the re-dors have heon sold. S by V.'.s'.rrn Newrpa-per UilI&jilJ |