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SECOND CLASS READER;

CONSISTING OF EXTRACTS,

IN PROSE AND VERSE.

FOR THE USE OF THE

SECOND CLASSES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

WITH AN INTRODUCTORY TREATISE ON

READING AND THE TRAINING OF THE VOCAL ORGANS.

BY G. S. HILLARD.

BOSTON:

HICKLING, SWAN AND BREWER.

CLEVELAND: INGHAM & BRAGG.

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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by

GEORGE S. HILLARD,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ELECTROTYPED AT THE
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

1

PREFACE.

THE compiler of "The First Class Reader," encouraged by the favor with which that work has been received, has prepared a similar collection, adapted to the capacity of young persons forming the second classes in our public schools. His aim has been to include no picce which would not be level to the capacity of an intelligent boy or girl of from eleven to thirteen years of age. Care has been taken to admit nothing to which the moral sense or the taste could take the least exception. The compiler has also borne in mind that young persons, of the age for which this selection is intended, are impatient of any thing dry, didactic, or heavy, and has regulated his choice with a view to that fact. He has taken nothing which an intelligent boy or girl would find it a task to read.

Descriptions of natural scenery and objects, sketches in natural history, anecdotes of animals, and such narratives as either awaken the sensibilities or convey some moral or practical lesson, form a considerable portion of the contents of the work. In early life the eye is active and restless, and the mind demands pictures. The compiler has endeavored to meet this want; and it will be a source of pleasant reflection to him, if he shall have thus helped to form habits of observation in the coming generation, and create a taste for natural history, which is one of the best remedies for that listless feebleness of mind which the constant reading of books of entertainment and excitement is sure to produce.

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As in the First Class Reader, omissions and changes have occasionally been made in order to adapt the extracts to the purposes for which they are intended. Brief introductory notices are generally prefixed, and the necessary explanations are made at the bottom of the page.

The introductory portion, on reading, enunciation, and the training of the vocal organs, has been prepared, expressly for this work, by Mr. James Jennison, teacher of elocution in Harvard University

G. S. HILLARD.

BOSTON, November, 1856.

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