The Royal Readers IV. [antikvár]

PREFACE.Good reading is more readily acquired by practice than by precept. The more young people read, they will read the more fluently, intelligently, and gracefully; and they can be induced to read much only by giving them interesting subjects to read about, and by treating tli em attractively.It is with special reference to this principle, as regards both matter and style, that the Eeading-Books in this Series have been prepared. The lessons aim not only at teaching the art of reading, but at training the pupils to a love of reading. They avoid as much as possible that dull solidity which tends so much to make school hours a weariness to the young.The numerous Illustrations afford an important aid in this respect. The interest of young people is quickened more readily through the eye than in any other way; indeed it is through the eye that the understanding itself is most quickly reached.As great variety as possible has been given to the contents of the present volume. Young people cannot be expected to dwell long on one subject, or even on one class of subjects. In the case of the mind, as of the body, judicious change is one of the best means of keeping up its vigour. In the. following pages, accordingly, lessons on Natural History are intermingled with interesting Narratives, both in prose and in verse, with lessons having a more directly didactic tendency, and with Historical Summaries.