The present volume therefore differs from others in the same field. Many recent collections contain pieces too short and unrelated to satisfy the ideals suggested above--ideals which, the editors feel sure, are held by an increasing number of teachers. And older and newer collections alike have been constructed primarily with the purpose of illustrating the conventional categories,--description, narration, exposition. Teachers of composition everywhere are becoming distrustful of an arrangement which is frankly at variance with the actual practice of writing, and are of the opinion that it is better to set the student to the task of composition without confining him too narrowly to one form of discourse. The editors have deliberately avoided, however, the other extreme, which is reflected in one or two recent volumes, of choosing pieces of one type to the exclusion of all others. In collections of this kind variety in form and subject-matter is fully as important as richness of content. Instructors who believe in the use of the types of discourse as the most practicable means of instruction, will find all the types liberally represented in the present volume. And in order to meet their requirements even more adequately, the editors have included two short stories at the end, as examples of narration with a plot. Much attention has been given to the suggestions at the end of the volume with the aim of making them practically serviceable and, at the same time, as free as possible from duplication of class work. This aim, the editors came to believe, could best be attained by providing for each group of selections definite suggestions of theme-subjects to be derived by the student from supplementary readings closely related to that group. F.W.R. G.R.E. MADISON, WISCONSIN, May, 1913. CONTENTS I. THE PERSONAL LIFE. 1. Self-Reliance...............RALPH WALDO EMERSON 2. Early Education at Herne Hill.............JOHN RUSKIN 3. A Crisis in My Mental History............JOHN STUART MILL 4. Old China...................CHARLES LAMB II. EDUCATION. 5. What is Education?..........THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY 6. Knowledge Viewed in Relation to Learning .....JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 7. Literature and Science......MATTHEW ARNOLD 8. How to Read.................FREDERIC HARRISON III. RECREATION AND TRAVELS. 9. On Going a Journey..........WILLIAM HAZLITT 10. Regrets of a Mountaineer....LESLIE STEPHEN IV. SOCIAL LIFE AND MANNERS. 11. Behavior....................RALPH WALDO EMERSON 12. Manners and Fashion.........HERBERT SPENCER 13. Talk and Talkers............ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON V. PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 14. The Social Value of the College-bred.......WILLIAM JAMES 15. The Law of Human Progress............HENRY GEORGE 16. The Morals of Trade.........HERBERT SPENCER VI. SCIENCE.