Educ T759.08. $10 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF GINN & COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY LEONARD LEMMON. PREFACE This, the Third Book of OUR COUNTRY'S READERS, is carefully graded to succeed the Second Book, both in the kind of material and in the language and form in which the material is presented. All of the kinds of reading introduced in the Second Book appear here, but with different stress; some of the features prominent in the Second Book are less so here, while some fields have been extended and developed. "The Queen Bee" and "Why the Sea is Salt " may be classed as fairy stories. The selection from "Through the Looking Glass," though a modern story, is more charming and equally as irresponsible as the best of the classic fairy stories. Fables are more freely used here than in the preceding book. As to sources, some are from the Greek, some from legends, and one is from Andersen and one, from Mr. Harris. Sketches with an historical basis and setting are prominent and all are from the history of our own country. In the modern story world, we have examples from Malory, Thomas Nelson Page and Eugene Field. Poetry, some of it narrative, some of it fanciful, appears in greater quantity and in more perfect form. All of it is simple in conception and is easily within the range of the child of the third year in school. Children get a distaste for poetry of involved form and didactic purpose, but they yield readily to verse of simple structure and conception. One of the purposes of this series, to introduce children to classic literature, has been constantly in mind in selecting the material for the book. There are many selections from well-known authors. And, in the main, the material is from American Sources. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons by special arrangement grant the use of "Rodolph and His King," by Eugene Field. "Nancy Pansy" is by permission of the firm named above, and of the author, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page. By permission of and special arrangement with Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. we use the selections from the "Poems" of Phoebe Cary and "The Old Clock on the Stairs," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. and the author, Mr. Joel Chandler Harris, permit the version here given of one of the stories from "Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings." |