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McGuffey’s Fifth Reader

1.  The good reader.

1.  It is told of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, that, as he was seated one day in his private room, a written petition was brought to him with the request that it should be immediately read.  The King had just returned from hunting, and the glare of the sun, or some other cause, had so dazzled his eyes that he found it difficult to make out a single word of the writing.

2.  His private secretary happened to be absent; and the soldier who brought the petition could not read.  There was a page, or favorite boy servant, waiting in the hall, and upon him the King called.  The page was a son of one of the noblemen of the court, but proved to be a very poor reader.

3.  In the first place, he did not articulate distinctly.  He huddled his words together in the utterance, as if they were syllables of one long word, which he must get through with as speedily as possible.  His pronunciation was bad, and he did not modulate his voice so as to bring out the meaning of what he read.  Every sentence was uttered with a dismal monotony of voice, as if it did not differ in any respect from that which preceded it.

4.  “Stop!” said the King, impatiently.  “Is it an auctioneer’s list of goods to be sold that you are hurrying over?  Send your companion to me.”  Another page who stood at the door now entered, and to him the King gave the petition.  The second page began by hemming and clearing his throat in such an affected manner that the King jokingly asked him whether he had not slept in the public garden, with the gate open, the night before.