READING-LITERATURE SEVENTH READER ADAPTED AND GRADED BY THOMAS H. BRIGGS, PH. D. ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, [H.T. Tread Wel 11] PREFACE This volume is offered as the basic reader for the seventh grade of the elementary school. As such it includes a large number of masterpieces that have been approved by years of use in our best systems of schools and, for reasons that should be obvious, a few selections from more recent literature. Together they should prove a satisfactory preparation for the work in the high school or for further independent reading. The writings of many different authors, mostly American, are represented. When for any reason a cutting has been made, the omissions are indicated. As the mechanics of reading have been mastered and the study of detail in the high school has not yet begun, the grammar grades seem peculiarly the place for establishing the habit of reading rapidly and widely for pleasure in the field of good literature. Consequently the pupils should be acquainted with a variety of authors and types of writing, and the classroom instruction should center upon the principal themes of each selection rather than on the details. With few exceptions, the choice of the material was determined by the manifested interests of the children. There has been a frank attempt in the book to cause children to love the beautiful and the noble, and thus to acquire ideals that should have on them a permanent influence. The selections for the most part fall into groups centering upon some common topic or looking toward some common aim. The sequence of the groups as well as of the selections within the groups is determined by pedagogic reasons; but inasmuch as out of the abundant material some teachers will doubtless find it necessary to select and rearrange, no division into formal parts has been indicated. |