Produced by Robert Prince, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HISTORICAL SCENES]
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH ROCK]
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The experience of all teachers testifies to the lamentabledeficiency in historical knowledge among their pupils; not thatchildren dislike the incidents and events of history, for, indeed,they prefer them to the improbable tales which now form the bulk oftheir reading, but because the books are "dry." Those which areinteresting are apt to be lengthy, and the mind consequentlybecomes confused by the multitude of details, while the brief onesoften contain merely the dry bones of fact, uninviting and unreal.An attractive book which can be mastered in a single term, is thenecessity of our schools. The present work is an attempt to meetthis want in American histories. In its preparation there has beenan endeavor to develop the following principles:
1. To precede each Epoch by questions and a map, so that the pupilmay become familiar with the location of the places named in thehistory he is about to study.
2. To select only the most important events for the body of thetext, and then, by foot-notes, to give explanations, illustrations,minor events, anecdotes, &c.
3. To classify the events under general topics, which are given indistinct type at the beginning of each paragraph; thus impressingthe leading idea on the mind of the pupil, enabling him to see at aglance the prominent points of the lesson, and especially adaptingthe book to that large and constantly increasing class of teachers,who require topical recitations.
4. To select, in the description of each battle, somecharacteristic in which it differs from all other battles—itskey-note, by which it can be recollected; thus not only preventinga sameness, but giving to the pupil a point around which he maygroup information obtained from fuller descriptions and largerhistories.
5. To give only leading dates, and, as far as possible, toassociate them with each other, and thus assist the memory in theirpermanent retention; experience having proved the committing ofmany dates to be the most barren and profitless of all schoolattainments.
6. To give each campaign as a whole, rather than to mingle severalby presenting the events in chronological order. Whenever, by theoperations of one army being dependent on those of another, thisplan might fail to show the inter-relation of events, to preventsuch a result by so arranging the campaigns that the supportingevent shall precede the supported one.
7. To give something of the philosophy of history, the causes andeffects of events, and, in the case of great battles, the objectssought to be attained; thus leading pupils to a thoughtful study ofhistory, and to an appreciation of the fact that events hinge uponeach other.
8. To insert, in foot-notes, sketches of the more importantpersonages, especially the Presidents, and thereby enable thestudent to form some estimate of their characters.
9. To use language, a clause or sentence of which cannot beselected or committed as an answer to a question, but such as,giving the idea vividly, will yet compel the pupil to express it inhis own words....