SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK; 88. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the tenth day of April, in the fortieth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Paraclete Potter, of the said District, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: L. S. "The American Reader, consisting of Familiar, Instructive, and Entertaining_Stories. Selected for the use of Schools. By Herman Daggett, A. M. 66 -'Tis our design, "Instruction with amusement to combine." In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled " an Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act, for the encour agement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of suci copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, and etching historical and other prints." THERON RUDD. Cerk of the Southern District of New-York. HARVARD COLLEGE 6 1937 LIBRARY Duplicate money PREFACE. SUCH a book as the one which is now offered to the public, under the title of "THE AMERICAN READER," is in the opinion of the compiler, greatly needed in our schools. It was his original design to have comprised the work in two parts; adapting the first to the capacities of those children, who, by a thorough knowledge of their Spelling Book, were prepared to make their first attempts at reading without spelling. But after examining a small publication entitled THE CHILD'S INSTRUCTOR," which is already considerably used in schools, he finds it so well adapted to readers of the above description, that he takes the liberty to recommend it as a suitable introduction to the present work. It is obvious that a book, designed to facilitate the art of reading, should be calculated to engage the attention of children, as much as possible. To this end it should be composed of pieces which are adapted to their understandings, and interesting to their imaginations. Children with such a book in their hands, will advance in the art of reading, more in one week, than they otherwise would in four; and, with respect to most children, I might say, in ten. Thus the time and expense of their education would be greatly lessened. BUT this is not all. With such a book, they will learn to read more properly as well as more speedily. The principal reason why children contract a disagreeable and unmeaning pronunciation (which they often retain through life) is because reading is made too much, a disagreeable |