OF

ELEMENTARY READING BOOKS.

THE

THIRD 'STANDARD' READER;

OR,

STORIES OF ANIMALS.

BY

J. S. LAURIE,

EDITOR OF THE GRADUATED SERIES OF READING-LESSON BOOKS," ETC.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN AND ROBERTS

1863.

MEMORANDUM.

Revised Code.

STANDARD III.

READING.

A short paragraph from an elementary reading book used in the school.

WRITING.

A sentence from the same paragraph, slowly read once, and then dictated in single words.

ARITHMETIC.

A sum in any simple rule as far as short division (inclusive).

PREFACE TO THE THIRD READER

As THE present volume does not, perhaps, speak for itself with the same clearness as the two preceding ones, a few words in explanation of its precise aim and object may be necessary. While it appeals to the general nature and universal sympathies of children, as the entire series attempts to do, it has this specialty, that it addresses itself to the cultivation of the observative faculties in particular. For this the material which the Editor has selected-Stories of Animals-appears eminently suitable The same subject, under the more ambitious title of Natural History, has of late years taken a conspicuous place in every elementary course of instruction. But the too technical form in which the written (no less than the oral) lessons on this branch have generally been cast, has greatly limited their usefulness. Apart from the question whether, in the rudimentary stage of his progress in a science such as Natural History, the pupil should be required at all to master minute classifications, &c., it seems clear that the first indispensable condition is the awakening of a vital interest in the subject. It is hoped that the present little volume will aid in fulfilling this condition. If it does more-if, besides exciting a spirit of curiosity and inquiry, it calls forth in children kindly feelings towards the brute creation, another result will have been attained, the importance of which will be undervalued by no one who appreciates the meaning and ultimate purpose of education.

* Among the various works to which the editor is indebted for materials for lessons, Schmid's 100 Tales, Translated by the Rev. F. B. Wells, (Bosworth and Harrison), merits special mention.