The Elson Readers, book 5 | Page 3

The Pulpit Clara Smith
TIMES AND SEASONS
September Helen Hunt Jackson October's Bright Blue Weather Helen Hunt Jackson November Alice Cary Today Thomas Carlyle The Night Has A Thousand Eyes Francis Bourdillon
A Backward Look
STORIES IN LIGHTER VEIN
A Forward Look
Adventures of Munchausen R. E. Raspe The Blind Men and the Elephant John G. Saxe Darius Green John T. Trowbridge Birthday Greetings Lewis Carroll The Wind and The Moon George Macdonald
A Backward Look
HOME AND COUNTRY
A Forward Look
HOME AND ITS FESTIVALS
Home, Sweet Home John Howard Payne The Grapevine Swing Samuel Minturn Peck Lullaby of an Infant Chief Sir Walter Scott The First Thanksgiving Day Margaret Junkin Preston A Visit from St. Nicholas Clement C. Moore
OUR COUNTRY AND ITS FLAG
The Land of Liberty (Author Unknown) The Flag of Our Country Charles Sumner The Name of Old Glory James Whitcomb Riley The Star-Spangled Banner Francis Scott Key The Boyhood of Lincoln Elbridge S. Brooks Washington with Braddock Elbridge S. Brooks
SERVICE
Somebody's Mother (Author Unknown) The Leak in the Dike Phoebe Cary Casablanca Felicia Hemans Tubal Cain Charles Mackay The Inchcape Rock Robert Southey My Boyhood on the Prairie Hamlin Garland Woodman, Spare That Tree George P. Morris The American Boy Theodore Roosevelt
A Backward Look

PART II
STORIES OF ADVENTURE
A Forward Look
STORIES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
Aladdin, or The Wonderful Lamp Ali Baba and the Open Sesame Sindbad The Sailor
Robin Hood Joseph Walker McSpadden Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
A Backward Look

PART III
GREAT AMERICAN AUTHORS
A Forward Look
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Biography The Whistle An Ax to Grind
WILLIAM GULLEN BRYANT
Biography The Yellow Violet The Gladness of Nature
JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
Biography The Huskers The Corn-Song
WASHINGTON IRVING
Biography Capturing the Wild Horse The Adventure of the Mason
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Biography The Arrow and the Song The Children's Hour The Song of Hiawatha
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Biography The Paradise of Children The Golden Touch
A Backward Look

SUGGESTIONS FOR AN ORDER OF READING
In The Elson Readers selections are grouped according to theme or authorship. Such an arrangement enables the pupil to see the dominant ideas of the book as a whole. This purpose is further aided by A Forward Look, or introduction, and A Backward Look, or review, for each main group. The book, therefore, emphasizes certain fundamental ideals, making them stand out clearly in the mind of the pupil. This result can best be accomplished by reading all the selections of a group in the order given, before taking up those of a different group. The order of the groups, however, may be varied to suit school conditions or preferences.
It goes without saying that selections particularly suited to the celebration of special days will be read in connection with such festival occasions. For example, "The First Thanksgiving Day," page 92, will be read immediately before the Thanksgiving holiday, even if the class at that particular time is in the midst of some other main part of the Reader. Before assigning a selection out of order, however, the teacher should scrutinize the notes and questions, to make certain that no references are made within these notes to a discussion in A Forward Look or to other selections in the group that pupils have not yet read. In case such references are found the teacher may well conduct a brief class discussion to make these questions significant to the pupils.
It is the belief of the authors that the longer selections, such as those found in
Part II, should be read silently and reported on in
class. In this way the monotony incident to the reading of such selections aloud in class will be avoided. However, the class will wish to read aloud certain passages from these longer units because of their beauty, their dramatic quality, or the forceful way in which the author has expressed his thoughts. Class readings are frequently suggested for this purpose. In this way reading aloud is given purposefulness.

THE CRYSTAL GLASS
Once upon a time, as the fairy tale has it, there was a mighty magician named Merlin. He was the teacher of the young Prince Arthur, who was one day to become the British King. Merlin was old and wise, and he had the power of prophecy. One of his most wonderful possessions was a magic glass, a globe of crystal, into which one might gaze and see distant places as if they were near at hand, and see the events of past and future as if they were happening right before his eyes.
No one knows now the whereabouts of this wonder-working crystal, or what was its appearance. Very likely it seemed ordinary enough, though a glass of curious shape. Only those who knew how to use it could learn its secrets; for all others it had no power. But the magic that once lay in it has been given to certain books, which, like Merlin's globe, are filled with mysterious power. Such a book you now hold in your hands. If you do