Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-02-26
REVIEW OF BOOKS.

knowledge to be a procedure from the
knoacn to the unlnoacn, and showed that
the New American Spoilers were made
to accord with that "method." And
we now present the New American
Readers as a graduated series of read
ers on the same plan, beginning with
what the beginner knows and leading
him by graduated advancement into
the beautiful fields of the hitherto un-
known. This series of readers, like
the spoilers, was compiled and publish.
ed for this age, out of fresh and cur
rent matter adapted to Ibis generation,
and not for a past age, nor out of obso-
lete matter. The best farmers of our
country seek the best and latest i'm
proved farm implements and hence
you never see one of them blowing
with the "plow of the daddies," but
with the best approved patterns OF to-
day, Shall the teacher be behind the
plowman? If it be necessary in cult.
waiting the soil that the latest and best
methods should be employed, is it not
more so in the cultivation of mind ?
Who will doubt this ?
In addition to the usual directions
tor reading according to the old method,
these Readers, by means of the read
ing chart, teach the method of qoord
reading by beginning with the begin
ner to teach him to read, Just where
the mother left off teaching him to
speak. She taught him to speak by
giving him whole words, not syllables
first and then the word entire in like
manner these Readers present him the
picture of the object, and then its
name as 'cord. For example: The
picture of dog is presented and the
name given as word to be read as q
,cOrd, dog. It's analysis into the letters
d, o, 6, is a subsequent step. These
Readers begin with the word dog as a
word because the learner knows more
about the acord than he does the letters
required to represent it, and proceeding
from what he knows about the word to
its combinations in a sentence and then
its resolution into the three letters
d., o, G, they lead him with his consent
into knowledge Of much that he
did not know before. Let us now take
the word cat. The learner finds here
picture and the name of an object
that he has known from his first recol-
lections now associate with this the
two words l and see, both of which he
already knows, and you then require
him to read these words thus | see cat
Then thus: Cat sees me. He is now
talking these words on paper in the
same way he learned to talk them from
his mothers lips. If this is not natu-
raj and easy, and consequently the ,cay,
then let mothers change the
method. The learner is now using
what little he knows and in such way
as to know moie.
After he has mastered these ,conls,
then let him look into the words and
see what they are made Of Thus cat
is made of the letters C, a, t, sounded
K, a, t. Now, when he has learned
the sound of "a" in this word, give
him a number of other words in which
has the same sound as man, ran
rat, &C., thus adding knowledge to the
kno,vn till his stock is sufficient to com
mence business for himself.
This is the plan of the New Ameri
can Readers until the chronological
Reader is reached, which is the sixth
and last book in the series and it is
in deed and in truth finishing, as wei
as finished, Reader. In addition tc
the most select and choice pieces in oul
literature as reading lessons, it presents
the Principles of EIocution," trea
i. tise on "Etymology," "Prefxes and
Sufixes Of English words" "Saxor
Roots with English Derivatives,
"Latin Roots with English Deriva
tives," "Greek Roots with Englisl
Derivatives" Directions to Teachers,
and Biographical Index of Author
from whom selections have been made
If "all is well that ends WE'LL" thi
series of Readers is certainly the best
for no book published answers its pur
pose any better as finishing book of
= series than the New American EtymC
: logical Reader, which is compendium
e of literature itself
Thnsn hnnks nan hn bod Of infrodnn