The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 | Page 4

WILLIAM EWART 367
GOLDSMITH, OLIVER 127
GOSSE, EDMUND WILLIAM 437
GRAY, THOMAS 111
HALIBURTON, THOMAS CHANDLER 239
HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL 262
HEAVYSEGE, CHARLES 349
HERRICK, ROBERT 55
HOLMES, OLIVER WENDELL 364
HOOD, THOMAS 234, 237
HOUGHTON, LORD (RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES) 320
HUME, DAVID 102
HUNT, LEIGH 217
HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY 412
JONES, AMANDA T. 412

JOWETT, BENJAMIN 384
KEATS, JOHN 222
KEBLE, JOHN 233
KINGSLEY, CHARLES 354
LEVER, CHARLES JAMES 284
LOCKER, FREDERICK 400
LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH 336
LOVELACE, RICHARD 55, 61
LOVER, SAMUEL 246
LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL 397, 411
LYTTON, LORD (EDWARD BULWER) 294
MACAULAY, LORD (THOMAS BABINGTON) 247
MAIR, CHARLES 426
MILTON, JOHN 67
MOORE, THOMAS 214, 215, 216
NAIRN, BARONESS (CAROLINA OLIPHANT) 177
NEWMAN, CARDINAL (JOHN HENRY) 299
POE, EDGAR ALLAN 258
POPE, ALEXANDER 96
PRAED, WINTHROP MACKWORTH 246

READE, JOHN 420, 421
ROBERTS, CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS 440
ROBINSON, A. MARY F. 438, 439
ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA GEORGINA 417
ROSSETTI, DANTE GABRIEL 293, 359
RUSKIN, JOHN 390
SANGSTER, CHARLES 408
SCOTT, SIR WALTER 179
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM 40
SHELLEY, PERCY BYSSHE 218, 219
SHERIDAN, RICHARD BRINSLEY 159
SMITH, GOLDWIN 409
SOUTHEY, ROBERT 209
STANLEY, DEAN (ARTHUR PENRHYN) 350
STEDMAN, EDMUND CLARENCE 418
STEELE, SIR RICHARD 83
SWIFT, JONATHAN 93
SWINBURNE, ALGERNON CHARLES 422
TAYLOR, BISHOP (JEREMY) 56
TENNYSON, LORD (ALFRED) 366, 370, 373, 377, 407

THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE 306, 308
THOMSON, JAMES 101
WALTON, IZAAK 62
WHITTIER, JOHN GREENLEAF 361, 372
WILSON, PRESIDENT (DANIEL) 383
WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM 202

INTRODUCTORY.
The ability to read well cannot be attained without much pains and
study. For even a moderate proficiency in the art of reading two
requirements are essential: (1) A cultivated mind quick to perceive the
sequence of thoughts which the words to be read logically express, and
equally quick in its power sympathetically to appreciate the sentiment
with which the words are informed--the feeling, emotion, passion,
which pervades them--but which they suggest rather than actually
portray; and (2) a voice so perfected that its utterances fall upon the ear
of the listener with pleasing effect, and so flexible that it can be
managed skilfully to convey to him the full meaning and force of all
the ideas and sentiments formally expressed by the words or latent in
them. Of these two requirements the first is undeniably the more
important; and that training in the art of reading in which the close,
persistent, and liberal study of literature for its own sake has not
proceeded pari passu with the requisite exercises for the development
of the powers of the voice and with the study of the principles of vocal
interpretation, has resulted in a meretricious accomplishment of very
illusive value.
Nor will the special study and accurate mastery of a number of
individual selections give that readiness of mental apprehension which
is indispensable to a good reader. The ability quickly to recognize
word-forms and to utter them with ease, to catch the drift of ideas, and

to feel ready sympathy with change and flow in sentiment, is not to be
had without a long course of wide and varied reading. No one can
become a good reader by passing through, no matter how carefully, a
set of reading text-books merely. Pupils should be encouraged to read
for themselves. They should, of course, be guided in their selection of
reading matter, and they should be helped to acquire a taste for that
which is purest and most helpful in literature; but unless they form a
habit of reading, and of reading thoughtfully and with precision, they
can never become good readers.
In oral reading, readiness and accuracy depend largely upon the
alertness and flexibility of the vocal organs, and to secure ease and
excellence in the working of their delicate mechanism much practice is
necessary. The pupil should persistently read aloud. A practice of this
sort, watchfully pursued, with a reasonable degree of self-discipline in
the correction or avoidance of errors, is helpful not alone in obtaining a
mastery of the reading art, and in mental culture,--it is equally
beneficial as a physical exercise. It will, however, be much more
efficacious of good, both of mind and of body, if pursued in accordance
with those principles of voice culture and of vocal interpretation, which
experience and special study have established.
But only a small proportion of all the reading that is done, is oral
reading. It is silent reading that is universally employed as an
instrument of study, of business, of amusement. As a rule, however,
very little provision is made for the acquirement of a facility in silent
reading; this, it is thought, will result as a by-product of the regular
training in oral reading. Almost the reverse of this is true. Ease and
flexibility of articulation, quickness in catching the drift of ideas, and
readiness in varying the tones of the voice in the