Page images
PDF
EPUB

EDUCATION DEPT.

By the same Author:

FIRST LESSONS IN COMPOSITION: In which the Principles of the Art are developed in connection with the Principles of Grammar. 12mo, pp. 182. 63 cts. ADVANCED COURSE OF COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC: A Series of Practical Lessons on the Origin, History, and Peculiarities of the English Language, Punctuation, Taste, Figures, Style and its Essential Properties, Criticism, and the various Departments of Prose and Poetical Composition. 12mo, pp. 451. $1.25. AN ENGLISH GRAMMAR: 12mo, pp. 288. 67 cts.

PRIMARY HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES: Made easy and interesting for Beginners. Child's Quarto, splendidly illustrated, pp. 192. 60 cts.

A NATURAL PHILOSOPHY: Embracing the most recent Discoveries in Physics. Adapted to use with or without Apparatus, and accompanied with Practical Exercises and 335 Illustrations. 12mo, pp. 450. $1.25.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
G. P. QUACKENBOS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the
Southern District of New York.

PREFACE.

FEw words are needed to introduce this volume. The Author haз aimed to be simple, that youth of lower as well as advanced classes may understand him; clear, that no indistinct or erroneous impressions may be conveyed; accurate in the recital of facts; and interesting as regards both matter and style. Avoiding fragmentary statements, he has gone into detail sufficiently to show events in their connections, convinced that a fairer idea of them is thus imparted, and that facts otherwise dry may in this way be made attractive and indelibly impressed on the mind. He has tried throughout to be fair and national. He has neither introduced offensive allusions, nor invidiously attempted to bias the minds of the young on controverted questions connected with politics or religion.

It is hoped that the plan of the work will be approved by teachers. While the accounts of particular settlements, colonies, and sections, are kept distinct, the order of events throughout the whole is as far as possible preserved. Some space is devoted to a consideration of the origin, customs, and character of the Red Men, whose prominence in our earlier annals, no less than the melancholy doom which is hurrying them to extinction, gives them a strong claim on the historian. Brief biographies of distinguished men, interspersed in connection with the events that made them famous, add to the interest of the volume, besides furnishing the pupil models of worth and patriotism. The progress of art, science, and invention, the state of society at different periods, and other matters essential to a complete view of a country's history, receive due attention. The questions at the bottom of the page will be found convenient; as will, also, the pronunciation given in brackets after foreign and difficult proper names. Appropriate illustrations prepared with great care, to instruct as well as please, have been liberally provided. Maps are as useful in history as in geography; and Plans are often essential to the lucid delineation of military movements. Both are here presented wherever it was thought they would be of service; and, to prevent their neglect by the student, questions on each have been introduced.

In conclusion, the author hopes that his efforts to invest the subject with interest have not proved altogether unsuccessful, and that the volume now offered to the young may be the means of inspiring them with a taste for general historical reading.

NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 1857.

M193182

« PreviousContinue »