SARGENT'S STANDARD SERIES. - No. 3. THE STANDARD THIRD READER FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS. CONTAINING EXERCISES IN THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS; RULES FOR ELOCUTION, &c.; AND AN EXPLANATORY INDEX. BY EPES SARGENT, AUTHOR OF "THE STANDARD SPEAKER,' The Standard Fifth, or FIRST CLASS READER. The Standard Fourth Reader. The Standard Third Reader. The Standard Second Reader. (Illustrated) Also Ready: (Illustrated). Sargent's Six Primary School Charts. These Charts are twenty-two inches by thirty in size; got up in a new and attractive style, with large type, for beginners in reading, &c. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and fifty-five, by EPES SARGENT, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Massachusetts. Many of the single pieces in this collection are protected by ty copyright PREFACE. A READER which is true to its name should be composed of such exercises as are best adapted to its specific purpose. In the attempt to make it at the same time a Reader and a didactic or scientific manual, neither object is likely to be gained. This is the testimony of our most experienced teachers; and, under a conviction of its truth, it has been my aim in this collection to present, for the most part, such pieces as convey, in a concrete and attractive form, some salutary moral, or are fitted to inspire that affection for the beautiful in nature, which is so elevating in its influence, and which cannot be cultivated too early in life. It has also been my endeavor to reconcile simplicity with sound literary taste and an accurate style. Too many writers for the young, in striving to be simple, have been merely feeble or insipid; and let it not be supposed that their mistake is not detected by the class to whom they address themselves. Could they hear some of the comments of their juvenile critics, they would not so undervalue the discernment of the young. The system of references, which has been so much approved in the author's Fourth and Fifth Readers, has been introduced into this on a scale sufficiently comprehensive to direct the attention both of pupil and teacher to besetting faults in elocution, and to lead to a habit of referring to a dictionary for words, the meaning or pronunciation of which may not be known with certainty. The introductory exercises on the elementary vowel sounds will be found unusually complete, and, in practice, very efficacious in supplying the pupil with a good stock of formulas in pronunciation, and initiating him into accurate habits of articulation. To render these exercises more convenient for reference, the representative words have been arranged in alphabetical order, so that the pupil can at once satisfy himself whether a word, the vowel or consonant sound of which he would verify, is in the list. The marks of reference in the reading lessons supersede the necessity of any further examples under the elementary sounds than are given in the selected words themselves; but, should it be thought desirable, examples may be easily multiplied on the black-board or slate, according to the suggestions offered on page 47 of the Standard Fourth Reader. A list of the consonant combinations of the English language is given; and as the same consonant letters (with a few exceptions) always represent the same sounds, it has been deemed unnecessary to cumber the page with repetitions of examples. A single example perfectly enunciated is obviously sufficient. The author is persuaded that the exercises in this volume, on the elementary vowel sounds and consonant combinations, present, in a compact form, all that is essential to practice, in the attainment of a good articulation. Questions on the reading exercises have been dispensed with, for the simple reason that every intelligent teacher can propose them far better, because more aptly, himself. The opportunities for them are so numerous, and so readily suggested, that, what with applying the interrogative system to the words of the text, the grammatical sense, the subject-matter and the implied moral, the questions might be multiplied indefinitely, and made to occupy more space than the lessons themselves. Here, as in other cases, it is a good rule to do one thing at a time; to make the reading lesson a reading lesson simply, and reserve for other departments of instruction such questions as may not be strictly relevant to the one object of teaching to read. In conclusion, the author would express his acknowledgments to those teachers who have aided him by their counsel and encouragement. His thanks are also due to his ever-esteemed friend, Washington Irving, for an unpublished extract from his Life of Washington, now in the press of Messrs. Putnam & Co. CONTENTS. * The names of authors, alphabetically arranged, will be found in the Es- Where the names of authors are Italicized in the following Table, or at the end |