This book supplies material in such generous quantity as to provide in one volume a complete one-year course of literature. There is material suited to all the purposes that a collection of literature for this grade should supply: reading for the story element, silent reading, reading for expression, intensive reading, memorizing, dramatization, public reading and recitation, plot study, etc. Moreover, the book offers a wide variety of literature, representing various types: ballads, lyrics, short stories, tales, biographies, and the rest. The selections comprise not only those that have stood the test of time, but also some of the choicest treasures of the modern creative period. They are given in complete units, not mere excerpts or garbled “cross-sections.” The helps to study are more than mere notes; they take into account the larger purposes of the literature. Especially illuminating are the selection “The Three Joys of Reading,” pages 9-14, and the Introductions to Parts II, III, and IV; these should be read by pupils before beginning the study of the selections in the several groups, for they interpret and give greater significance to the units. The biographical and historical notes provide helpful data for interpreting the stories and poems. A comprehensive glossary, pages 592-626, contains the words and phrases of the text that offer valuable vocabulary training, either of pronunciation or meaning. An additional feature that will appeal to many teachers is the list of common words frequently mispronounced given in connection with the helps to study. See pages 14, 26, etc. The Authors. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE iii THE THREE JOYS OF READING ix PART I STORIES AND POEMS OF NATURE ANIMALS THE BUFFALO _Francis Parkman_ 1 OLD EPHRAIM, THE GRIZZLY BEAR _Theodore Roosevelt_ 15 MOTI GUJ—MUTINEER _Rudyard Kipling_ 27 THE ELEPHANTS THAT STRUCK _Samuel White Baker_ 35 BIRDS ROBERT OF LINCOLN _William Cullen Bryant_ 39 THE MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT _Henry van Dyke_ 43 THE BELFRY PIGEON _Nathaniel Parker Willis_ 45 THE SANDPIPER _Celia Thaxter_ 47 THE THROSTLE _Alfred, Lord Tennyson_ 49 TO THE CUCKOO _William Wordsworth_ 50 THE BIRDS’ ORCHESTRA _Celia Thaxter_ 52 FLOWERS AND TREES TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN _William Cullen Bryant_ 53