Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-20
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Booklorer

Eclectic Fourth Reader" The title
page describes 1t as containing Ele-
CANT Extracts in Prose and Poetry, with
Rules for Reading and Exercises in Ar
ticuiation. Defining, ETC." william H.
McOuffey, who. through his series of
Readers, had such an influence on the
elementary school education of the
ninteerlth century in the United states,
had some very definite educational
ideas. He knew nothing of modern
psychology in its relation to. education.
He thought that the chief object Of
education should be moral training and
that this was best accomplished through
the reading of selections from authors
who had something helpful to teach
So the selections In his readers are
ethical, religious, patriotic, oratorical,
social, In the narrower sense of the
word. and sometimes, but, not often,
purely literary. Secondarily, the selec-
tons we're designed to be used for
drill In grammar and Articulation" In
his prefaces McGuffev explained his
educational intent Nothing is so diff
ficult to be understood as nonsense.
Nothing Is so clear and easy to compre-
bend as the simplicity of wisdom :. i.
From no source has the author drawn
tstOAO NORA0NoAy oAtNAA AAOAAh Vic 0dCACu
Scriptures. For this certainly he APP
prehends no censure. In Christian
country, that man Is to be pitied who,
at this day, can honestly object to i'm
buing the minds of youth with the
language and spirit Of the word of God
-. To the present rernodeled and en-
larged edition are added an Introductory
article on reading; definitions of the
more difficult words in each lesson, in
which the proper pronunciation Is in
dicated and the part of speech denoted
by the usual authorizations: a notation,
to a considerable extent, OF the proper
infection and emphasis. together with
questions. and explanations of the
same: and grammatical questions" Con-
siderable might be said in favor Of
this grammatical grilling: McGuffey
seems to have had doubts about the in
fallibility Of the teachers who admin
istered his Readers. for he says: ut may
even happen that some Of the ques-
tons can not be answered by the in
structor. Still, there Is nothing which
an intelligent teacher of a common
school might not be expected to learn,
or easily acquire.
4 \ 4
The selections in McGuffey's "Eclec-
tic Fourth Reader" are divided into
Prose Lessons" and "Poetical Lessons"
In the first group few names of well
known authors appear, but Washington
Irving. Hawthorne, Addison, Jefferson,
DIR. johnson, Rousseau. Maria Edge
worth, Claiming and Daniel Webster
are represented. There are a number
Of anonymous selections and others
from the Ladies Magazine, Blackwood's
Magazine and various newspapers
Some Of the titles show the ethical ma
ture Of the lessons: Respect for the
Sabbath Rewarded" "The Just Judge, :"
True and False Philanthropy, Con
troll Your Temper" "A Mothers influ-
ence," THE Incorporate Husband"
THE Righteous Never Forsaken," De-
cisiye Integrity" Effects of Gambling"
''Criminality of Dueling" and An End
of all Projections" A terrible warm
ing against vanity Is contained in
Death at the Toilet" from the DIARY
Of Physician" A young lady named
ting at her toilet table, "grasping a
pair of curling irons" with q "showy
gilt bracelet" on each wrist. Her re-
Election In the mirror reveals with
frightful fidelity the clammy, fixed fea-
lures daubed with rouge and carmine,
the fallen lower jaw and the eyes di-
rected full into the glass with cold
stare" The physician continues, deter
mined to draw o moral from the death
of the unfortunate girl: ION examin-
ing the countenance more narrowly.
thought I detected the traces Of a
smirk of conceit and self-complacency.
which not even the palsying touch OF
death could wholly obliterate. :.
shocking spectacle. Poor creature!
struck dead in the very act Of sacrific-
ing at the shrine Of female vanity"
In. the second group, "Poetical Les
sons" Shakespeare. Bryant and Mrs.
Hemans are favorite authors, but.
strangely, Byron also furnishes several
selections One Of the poems Is Mary
Howitt's will You Walk Into My Par
lor? Said a Spider to Fly" Bryant's
THE Death Of the Flowers" Millions
"Apostrophe to Light" Byron's Battle
Among the Ruins Of Babylon" Camp
bells ..Lochiels Warning" Young's
Midnight Musings" and a number Of
extracts from Shakespeare and the
Bible are included. An ethical lesson
of the type especially approved by Nc
Guffey is contained In the poem, Pro
crastination," by Young. 1t begins:
"Be wise today: tits madness to defer:
Next day the. fatal precedent will plead:
Thus on. till wisdom is pushed out OF
life.
ProcraStination Is the thief Of time:
Year after year 1t steals, till all are ned,
And to the mercieS Of moment, leaves
The vast concerns OF an eternal scene"
4 ~
Paris of the Left Bank as 1t was in
the Middle Ages is described by D. B.
Wyndham Lewis IN his Francois VII
lon," which Is really as much a study Of
medieval Paris as biography Of the
vaaabond poet Of the fifteenth century.
From the end of the twelfth CEN
fury the town of the Left Bank, con-
sisting almost entirely of the university,
developed rapidly. Before the first half
of the thirteenth century sixty colleges
had risen on and around the sacred
Hill .. BY the end of the century the
university Sprawled over q great demi-
lune of territory, beginning on the
quay, where the Institut de France
now stands, taking wide sweep behind
the Hill of st. Genevieye and its now
vanished abbey, and meeting the Seine
again at the place occupied now by the
Halle aux Wins, but then by the Abbey
VA vkktOAA w ndt - pAGbuAC 10 given
by this list of buildings and busting
activitiesl 1.-THE map OF the University
in Villon's time shows q huge confused
agglomeration OF spires and colleges
and converts, lecture halls and hostels,
taverns and shops, houses for Uni
versity officials, beadles, macebearers,
apparitors, messengers, servants and
the fringes of the academic horde.
open-air bookstalls escyiptoires and the
shops Of those engaged in the academic
trades. the parchment makers, the bind
ers, the, writer's, the copyists, the book
sellers and the illuminers, whose repu-
tation had become. worldwide. by the
time of Dante"
*.* 4 r..
A trip to the Caribbean, or the Amer
lean Mediterranean" Is such a popular
Winter sport that books are now being
written to tell sportsmen how to arrange