PREFACE. THE present short compilation is an attempt to supply a want felt by all those who have had the charge of evening schools in country parishes. Reading books for day schools are, for the most part, too childish for the use of older lads, and, since attendance at evening schools is apt to be desultory, it is difficult to keep up interest in a book on one continuous subject. It is seldom possible in such schools to do more than give greater fluency in reading, greater ease in writing, and impart some knowledge of the simple arithmetical rules. The time which can be allotted is too short, the lads are too tired for any studies beyond these. It has not, therefore, been the purpose of this book to teach anything other than reading. |