THE ANALYTICAL READER, CONTAINING LESSONS IN SIMULTANEOUS READING AND DEFINING, WITH SPELLING FROM THE SAME. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, QUESTIONS, AND REFERENĈES TO AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING 'I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY E. FRENCH. 1838. Putnam PUBLIC LIBRARY ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 1903 DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, to wit: District Clerk's Office. BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the fifteenth day of December, A. D. 1826, and in the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United States of America, SAMUEL PUTNAM, of Portsmouth, in the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit: "The Analytical Reader, containing Lessons in simultaneous Reading and Defining, with Spelling from the same. To which are added, Questions, and References to an Appendix, containing Sketches of Characters, Persons, and Places, alluded to in the Work. By SAMUEL PUTNAM. 'I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."" In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." A true copy as of record. CHARLES W. CUTTER, Clerk of the District of New Hampshire. PREFACE. SCHOOL BOOKS, at the present day, are multiplied to such an extent, that it seems incumbent on the compiler of a new one to show clearly his reasons for adding to the number. The following work has consumed much time, and required no little labor: the compiler, therefore, in exhibiting what he considers its peculiar advantages, is, at the same time, discharging a duty to himself and to the public. A leading object of this work is to enable the scholar, while learning to read, to understand, at the same time, the meaning of the words he is reading. A little reflection will show, that, when these processes are going on at once, they will mutually assist each other; if, for example, when the pupil is taught to read, he is enabled, at the same time, to discover the meaning of the words he repeats, he will readily make use of the proper inflections, and place the emphasis where the sense demands it. The monotonous, sing-song mode of reading, which is common in schools, and which is often retained in after life, is acquired from the exercise of reading what is not understood; and from the same cause, it is believed, the scholar often carries from the school a permanent disrelish for books. That disgust with which he frequently thro vs aside his books, at the close of his school, is to be attributed, very much, to his habit of reading lessons above his comprehension. The bad effects resulting from this practice have led teachers to adopt one of the only two modes, which have as yet been invented for avoiding them. They either place in the hands of their pupils books reduced to the level of their capacities; or, if the compositions are more elevated, direct them to seek definitions from the pages of a common dictionary. |