Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE READING OF COMPLETE ENGLISH CLASSICS IN THE COMMON SCHOOL SPECIAL METHOD IN THE READING OF COMPLETE ENGLISH CLASSICS IN THE GRADES OF THE COMMON SCHOOL BY CHARLES McMURRY, PH.D. New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1903 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped October, 1902. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LITERATURE 1 CHAPTER II THE USE OF MASTERPIECES AS WHOLES 41 CHAPTER III LITERARY MATERIALS FOR THE FIVE UPPER GRADES 67 CHAPTER IV CLASS-ROOM METHOD IN READING 102 CHAPTER V METHOD FURTHER DISCUSSED AND ILLUSTRATED 135 CHAPTER VI THE VALUE OF CLASSICS TO THE TEACHER 176 CHAPTER VII LIST OF BOOKS 205 SPECIAL METHOD OF CLASSICS CHAPTER I EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF LITERATURE The gradual introduction of the choicer products of literature into the grades of the common school has been going on for several years. Bringing the school children face to face with the thoughts of the masters has had often a thrilling effect, and the feeling has spread among teachers that a new door has been opened into what Ruskin calls "The King's Gardens." As we stand at this open portal to the Elysian Fields of literature, there may fall upon us something of the beauty, something even of the solemn stillness, of the arched cathedral with its golden windows. But how inadequate is the Gothic cathedral, or the Greek temple, to symbolize the temple of literature. Within less than a score of years there has been such reading of varied literary masterpieces by children as to bring us face to face with a problem of prime significance in education, the place and importance of literature in the education of American children.