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Page 2
[Different Editions]
For half a century the present writer has had personal knowledge of the
readers. At first, as a teacher, using them daily in the class room; but
soon, as an editor, directing the literary work of the publishers and
owners. It therefore falls to him to narrate a story "quorum pars minima
fui."
For more than seventy years the McGuffey Readers have held high rank as
text-books for use in the elementary schools, especially throughout the
West and South. But during this time these books have been revised five
times and adjusted to the changed conditions in the schools. In each one
of these revisions the marked characteristics of the original series
have been most scrupulously retained, and the continued success of the
series is doubtless owing to this fact. There has been a continuity of
spirit.
[Contents of the Books]
The First and Second Readers were first published in 1836. In 1837 the
Third and Fourth Readers were printed. For reasons elsewhere explained
these books were "improved and enlarged" in 1838. In 1841 a higher
reader was added to the series which was then named McGuffey's
Rhetorical Guide. In the years 1843 and 1844 the four books then
constituting the series were thoroughly remodeled and on the title pages
were placed the words "Newly Revised" and the Rhetorical Guide was
annexed as the Fifth Reader. Ten years later the entire series was made
over and issued in six books. These were then called the New Readers.
From 1853 until 1878 the books remained substantially unchanged; but in
the latter year they were renewed largely in substance and improved in
form. These readers as copyrighted in 1879 were extensively used for
more than a quarter of a century. Changing conditions in the school room
called for another revision in 1901. This latest form now in extensive
use is called The New McGuffey Readers.
Each of these revisions has constituted practically a new series
although the changes have never included the entire contents. In the
higher readers will be found today many selections which appeared in the
original books. The reason for retaining such selections is clear. No
one has been able to write in the English language selections that are
better for school use than some written by Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon,
and other early writers. The literature of the English language has not
all been written in the present decade nor in the last century.
As at first published, the lower books of the McGuffey Readers had no
trace of the modern methods now used in teaching the mastery of
words--even the alphabet was not given in orderly form; but the
alphabetic method of teaching the art of reading was then the only one
used. The pupil at first spelled each word by naming the letters and
then pronounced each syllable and then the word.
[First Editions]
The following stanza is copied from page 61 of the edition of 1844 to
illustrate the method of presenting words:
I like to see a lit-tle dog,
And pat him on the head;
So pret-ti-ly he wags his tail
When-ev-er he is fed.
The First Reader was mostly in words of one syllable. In this book we
find the story of the lame dog that, when cured, brought another lame
dog to be doctored: of the kind boy who freed his caged bird; of the
cruel boy who drowned the cat and pulled wings and legs from flies; of
Peter Pindar the story teller, and the "snow dog" of Mount St. Bernard;
of Mr. Post who adopted and reared Mary; of the boy who told a lie and
repented after he was found out; of the chimney sweep who was tempted to
steal a gold watch but put it back and was thereafter educated by its
owner; of the whisky boy; and of the mischievous boy who played ghost
and made another boy insane. Nearly every lesson has a moral clearly
stated in formal didactic words at its close.
In the Second Reader we find the story of the idle boy who talked with
the bees, dogs, and horses, and having found them all busy, reformed
himself; of the kind girl who shared her cake with a dog and an old man;
of the mischievous boys who tied the grass across the path and thus
upset not only the milk-maid but the messenger running for a doctor
to come to their father; of the wise lark who knew that the farmer's
grain would not be cut until he resolved to cut it himself; of the wild
and ravenous bear that treed a boy and hung suspended by his boot; and
of another bear that traveled as a passenger by night in a stage coach;
of the quarrelsome cocks, pictured in a clearly English farm yard, that
were both eaten up by the fox that had been brought in by the defeated
cock; of the honest boy and the thief who was judiciously kicked by the
horse that carried oranges in baskets; of George Washington and his
historic hatchet and the mutilated cherry-tree; and of the garden that
was planted with seeds in lines spelling Washington's name which removed
all doubt as to an intelligent Creator. There were also some lessons on
such animals as beavers, whales, peacocks and lions.
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