COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY

A. J. DEMAREST AND W. M. VAN SICKLE.

Entered at STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON.

NEW ED. READ. BK. IV.

W. P. 5

EDUCATIO

PREFACE.

THIS book, which is intended for the use of pupils in the third year, is a practical application of the principles developed in the former books.

The selections cover a wide field, embracing history and biography, myths and fables, famous tales and stories, lessons on plant and animal life, character sketches, and descriptions of the customs and manners of people in other lands. Through this wide range of subjects an effort has been made to introduce the pupils to good literature and to lead them into right habits of thinking and reading.

The new words, except such as require phonetic spelling to indicate their correct pronunciation, are printed at the head of the lesson in which they first occur and are marked with the usual diacritical marks. In this way the pupil is introduced to the key to the pronunciation of words in the English language. The teaching of consonants and vowel sounds, and also of the vowel families, terminals, and initials, as employed in the former books, makes this transition from the unmarked notation of words to the marked both easy and practical.

The more difficult words will be found on pages 174, 175, and 176, arranged in alphabetical order, and marked as in the latest edition of Webster's Dictionary. These lists will serve for drill work in enunciation, pronunciation, and spelling, and will aid in teaching pupils how to use the dictionary intelligently.

The reading matter, owing to the extensive vocabulary developed by this new method of reading, is of a higher grade than is usual in Third Readers. Pupils using this series of Readers are able to attain in three years as much knowledge on the subject of reading as was formerly acquired in four years, thereby securing a gain of one year in the progress of the child's life in school work.

In the choice of selections scrupulous efforts have been made to keep the reading matter absolutely clean in thought, elevating in character, and ennobling in the desires for the highest and best things of earth.

3