A Third Reader of a Grade Between the Second and Third Readers of the School and Family Series

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York..

EDUCATION' DEFT:

PREFACE.

THIS Reader is designed to be used between the Second and Third Readers of the School and Family Series, by those who wish additional reading matter, of this intermediate grade, for their pupils.

While the present work aims to furnish a great variety of reading exercises-much of it emotional, with numerous lessons on character, duty, etc.-it nevertheless adheres to the general principles on which the other Readers were written. Thus, although much the larger portion of the work consists of what may be called miscellaneous reading matter, yet a few easy lessons upon the metamorphoses, uses, habits, etc., of Insects, have been introduced, designed as introductory to the general subject of the INSECT WORLD, which is set apart for a higher Reader. By this means, those pupils who do not progress so far as a Sixth Reader, may obtain some little elementary knowledge of some very interesting subjects in Natural History, which, at this early stage, could not be treated in detail.

A feature of this Reader, to which we would call the special attention of teachers, is the series of brief Notes throughout the work, explanatory of the lessons. The ob ject is to make prominent the character, design, and tendency of each lesson, in addition to its rhetorical use, and thereby to aid the teacher in questioning the pupils, and in enforcing upon them the truths designed to be taught, and the principles to be inculcated. The reading of every lesson should be followed by questions to the pupils, and explanations by the teacher, which should not be limited to what is actually contained in the lesson, but should be extended to what is appropriately suggested by it also.