Produced by Don Kostuch

[Transcriber’s Note: 

Welcome to the schoolroom of 1900.  The moral tone is plain.  “She is kind to the old blind man.”

The exercises are still suitable, and perhaps more helpful than some contemporary alternatives.  Much is left to the teacher.  Explanations given in the text are enough to get started teaching a child to read and write.  Counting in Roman numerals is included as a bonus in the form of lesson numbers.

The form of contractions includes a space.  The contemporary word “don’t” was rendered as “do n’t”.

The author, not listed in the text, is William Holmes McGuffey.

Passages using non-asci characters are approximately rendered in this text version.  See the PDF or Doc versions for the original images.

The section numbers are decimal in the Table of Contents but are in Roman Numerals in the body.

Page headings are removed, but section titles are followed by the page on which they appear.

Don Kostuch
end transcriber’s note]

ECLECTIC EDUCATIONAL SERIES.

MCGUFFEY’S (Registered)
fourth Eclectic reader.

Revised edition.

McGuffey Edition and Colophon are Trademarks of

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New York-Chichester-Weinheim-Brisbane-Toronto

In revising the fourth reader, the aim has been—­as it has with the other books of the Series—­to preserve unimpaired all the essential characteristics of MCGUFFEY’S readers.  New articles have been substituted for old ones only where the advantage was manifest.

The book has been considerably enlarged, and has been liberally illustrated by the first artists of the country.

It can not be presumed that every pupil has at hand all the works of reference necessary for the proper preparation of each lesson; hence all the aids that seem requisite to this purpose have been given.  Brief notices concerning the various authors represented have been inserted; the more difficult words have been defined, and their pronunciation has been indicated by diacritical marks; and short explanatory notes have been given wherever required for a full understanding of the text.

Especial acknowledgment is due to Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co. for their permission to make liberal selections from their copyright editions of many of the foremost American author whose works they publish.

Copyright, 1879, by van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. 
Copyright, 1896, by American book company. 
Copyright, 1907 and 1920, by H. H. Vail.

M’G 4th Rev. 
Ep 309

INTRODUCTORY MATTER.  SUBJECT.  PAGE