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degree of facility in the use of language, and to developing the power to appreciate and produce quality in language. Gaining facility and developing the language-sense are the two language constants, and they should form the basis of all language work, whether in the elementary or the secondary school.

Language work deals with three distinct considerations: the subject-matter as a body of information, the subjectmatter applied, and the development of the individual; and each should receive its due proportion of attention. It has been the purpose in preparing this book to provide such subject-matter as the pupil needs at this stage of his language growth, and to give opportunities, through the use of carefully selected examples and types, for its application in a manner that will exercise the language judgment of the pupil and not merely appeal to his memory. An effort has been made to present the subject in such a manner as to secure and maintain a real interest and pleasure in its consideration and thus contribute directly to the pupil's growth in the appreciation and use of language. It has not been the intention to write a treatise upon rhetoric; but rather to teach the means by which thought may be expressed with clearness and accuracy, to cultivate a feeling for literature, and to present a series of discussions and practical exercises which, it is hoped, will prove a help to teachers in their efforts to interest their pupils in the study of English.

It is believed that the way to gain an understanding of the best methods to be employed in thought expression is to go direct to literature, and make a study of it rather than to study about it. For this reason a course in the reading and study of literature is given to be used in connection with the text and the composition work. If it is judiciously

used and the suggestions followed, the authors venture to hope that pupils will not only acquire a taste for the best in literature, but that through the study of the methods employed in creating these perfect examples they may be able to give quality to their own composition.

A person acquires the ability to use correct and effective English only through using it and making it the language of habit; for no matter how thoroughly one may understand the laws that govern language, and the methods employed by others for effective thought expression, this knowledge will be useless to him unless he apply it in his own composition. To suggest to the pupil how he may do this and to lead him to use the best English, exercises are given at points where it is thought they will prove helpful. While these may generally be used as given, they are intended to be suggestive of the work that may be done, and can be modified and added to at the discretion of the teacher to suit individual cases.

The selections from Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lowell, Thoreau, and Warner are used by special arrangement with, and permission of, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., authorized publishers of their works. Acknowledgments are due Harper and Brothers for selection from Curtis; to Little, Brown and Co. for selection from Parkman; to D. Appleton and Co. for selection from Bancroft; and to Balch Brothers Co. for selection from Lectures of John L. Stoddard.

PASSAIC, N. J.
May, 1906.

THE AUTHORS.

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