Brumbaugh, Martin Grove. The standard fifth reader. Philadelphia : Christopher Sower Company, 1899.

Preface

A Fifth Reader is essentially a book of literary models. Every form of literary excellence should find representation within its pages. For the pupil it is the first extended outlook upon the rich heritage of English literature. Our language in its present form dates from the days of Shakespeare and Spenser. The field is large; the scope of this volume is necessarily restricted. Only typical selections can be given; but these, rightly studied, will be ample to fix the reading habit, to acquaint the pupil with the scope of our literature, and to create proper standards of taste.

No selection has been incorporated because it is new; and no selection has been omitted because it is old. Art is dateless. Good literature is forever current, as is good art in any form. The poetry of Shakespeare and Milton is as new and as valuable as the painting of Raphael. The sole concern has been as to the excellence of the language and the richness of thought. As great variety as possible has been chosen.

The pupil will find in this reader standard selections from the master writers of the language. The so-called “good old selections” have not been overlooked: and many of the more recent selections have been incorporated, to enable the pupil to judge of present-day literary work, and to appreciate the fact that the possibilities of language are by no means exhausted.

As a guide to the personality of authors and to a more extended study of their works, a brief biography is inserted in each case immediately following the first selection form the author. These sketches should be studied with care. They should also be read at the beginning of the recitation. It is well to have in connection with this work some standard treatise on literary biography accessible to the pupils.

Among the many virtues made prominent in the selections here given none is more fully, more carefully, more eloquently set forth than the love of our country. Ample material is given to inculcate love of our history and, through it, love of our country. Emphasis is placed especially on those attributes of a free people so essential to a right appreciation of free institutions. In this way it is believed that this reader will be an effective means of setting high and just ideals in the minds of the young. Vivid description, eloquent exhortation, logical argumentation, and poetic fervor have been invoked to enforce adequately this vital lesson.

Unless the schools of a people foster and inculcate reverence and love for the institutions of that people, the schools are untrue to their mission.

More than one at first suspects he reads himself into the style of the language he uses, into the forms of thought he entertains, and into the sort of life he lives. Reading not only informs, it also forms the mind. As between a number of selections might have been chosen that one has found its place here to which the pupil may turn time and time again, -- finding with each new reading more subtle, more far-reaching truths, and realizing from each reading a clearer, truer grasp on the noblest thoughts of the noblest minds.

Casual and careless reading always dwarfs the mind of the reader. It is well to study a selection; study it thoroughly and in detail, study it until the pupil feels keenly and comprehends vividly its purport.

The highest service the reading of these selections can promote is the inculcation of the reading-habit. To have the pupil turn from these selections to authors and read widely and thoughtfully is the end devoutly wished for. May the aim of the teacher be to have this reader so studied that by means of it the pupil becomes a reader and a lover of the choicest, noblest, the best that literature affords.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for copyright selections used by permission of and arrangement with Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Little, Brown & Co., J. B. Lippincott Co., and Harper Bros.

Table of Contents (2 pages; jpg files)