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FOREWORD

THE presentation of a collection of special literature such as that contained in the Home and Country Readers would be opportune at any time; it is doubly opportune just now. The need of educating and intensifying an appreciation of the home as a universal institution absolutely essential to the well-being of individuals and the soundness of our national life; the need of a re-birth of devotion, of resolute determination such as once enveloped and established at untold sacrifice those principles of liberty, equality, justice, fraternity, and human progress which are the very foundation of our democracy; these needs are more clearly and adequately recognized to-day than they have been at any time in a generation. To meet these needs the Home and Country Readers are admirably adapted.

Appreciation of Home and Country requires the education of the heart. The feelings must be aroused, the emotions must be stirred, the will must be challenged, in support of the ideals of Home and Country. Such is the peculiar function of the literature of inspiration that these books present. This literature, which forms the larger part of the collection, finds appropriate accompaniment in the highest book of the series in several selections of practical information by foremost authorities on the building, furnishing, managing, and hygiene of the home.

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I foresee a double service that these books may render. They may be used advantageously in grammar grades, in intermediate or junior high schools; in prevocational and vocational schools; in short, in any type of school enrolling boys and girls of ten to sixteen years of age but they may also be used with equal advantage in schools and classes whose function it is to instruct adult foreigners. It is, indeed, important that our adult foreign residents acquire literacy; but it is far more important that they be taught to appreciate, to espouse, to support loyally the ideals of the nation that is affording them a livelihood, protection, and priceless advantages and opportunities.

The long, varied, and always eminently successful experience that the author of the collection and compiler of the literature of these Readers has enjoyed; her own keen and loyal appreciation of Home and Country that she here presents; her pedagogic wisdom and instructional skill, give ample assurance concerning all important details of gradation, arrangement, and presentation.

-FRANK E. SPAULDING.

CLEVELAND, OHIO, APRIL, 1918.

PREFACE

THE Home and Country Readers are textbooks in patriotism.

The purpose of the Home and Country Readers is to quicken and intensify love and appreciation of Home and of America by presenting to pupils:

(a) Literature that describes home life and home friends with charm and distinction;

(b) Inspiring stories and poems upon American Ideals as they are symbolized in the American Flag and as they influence daily life;

(c) Dramatizations: Scenes that suggest the good home as the institution upon which civilization is based. (d) Interesting and significant stories and poems of Outdoor Life.

One of the most hopeful signs of modern times is the quickening of an American spirit that is intensely loyal, having abounding hope and faith in American institutions, and that yet is very humble, in view of the tremendous opportunities and responsibilities of America in the great World Family.

The strongest of America's bulwarks is the American Home. It is the Home, also, that is a beacon light, shining serenely and steadily in the midst of the fog

and vapors caused by doubts, perplexities and questionings.

It is the hope of the compiler of this series of Home and Country Readers that by presenting Home and America through the word pictures of writers who can charm and stimulate, American boys and girls may be led to feel a greater reverence for their home and country and a greater desire to render them good service.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

GRATEFUL acknowledgment for encouragement and help in preparing this series is given to Dr. Frank E. Spaulding, Superintendent of Schools at Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. James R. McDonald, Educational Manager for Messrs. Little, Brown, and Company, and Miss Mabel C. Bragg, Assistant Superintendent of Schools at Newton, Massachusetts.

The selections from Whittier, Longfellow, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Edna Dean Proctor and Anna Hempstead Branch are used by permission of and special arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company. "The Boy and the Flag", John Clair Minot, is used through the courtesy of the author and The Youth's Companion; "True Bravery", by Charles F. Dole, of D. C. Heath Company; "Sing for Your Own Valley", Kate Douglas Wiggin, of Good Housekeeping; "A Brave Lady", from "Two and One", of Thomas Y. Crowell and Company, and "An Indian Victory", from "Teepee Neighbors", of The Four Seas Company.

The following copyrighted selections contained in this book are used through special arrangement with Little, Brown, and Company: "Banner of America", from "Heart Songs and Home Songs", Denis A. McCarthy; "A Timely Jack-o'-Lantern", from "The American History StoryBook", Albert F. Blaisdell and Francis K. Ball; "The Lights", from "The Child's Harvest of Verse", John Joy Bell; "A Book" from "Poems by Emily Dickinson"; "An Indian Boy's Training", from "Indian Child Life", Charles A. Eastman; "The County Fair", from "Fire

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