Part 1 (1/2)

The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886

by Ministry of Education

PREFACE

The selections in the HIGH SCHOOL READER have been chosen with the belief that to pupils of such advanceiate Institutes, oral reading should be taught from the best literature, inasht and sentiment, but it also demands for its appropriate vocal interpretation such powers of sympathy and appreciation as are developed only by culture; and it is to i have been established

Experience has shown that it is fro books that pupils obtain their chief practical acquaintance with literature, and the selections here presented have been made with this in res of authors of acknowledged representative character; and they have been arranged for the ically, so that pupils ht into the history of the development of the literary art They have also been so chosen as to convey a somewhat fair idea of the relative value and productivity of authorshi+p in the three great English-speaking cohbours' country, and our own

While a li else, prevents the collection here y, yet it does pretend to represent the authors selected in characteristic moods, and (in so far as is possible in a school book, and a reading text-book) to present a somewhat fair perspective of the world of authorshi+p It may be said that, if this be so, some names are conspicuously absent: McGee, Canada's poet-orator; Parkiven to our country a place in the portraiture of nations; William Morris, the chief of the modern school of romanticism; Tyndall, who of the literature of science has made an art; Laht,” as Swinburne says, ”was the highest of his generation” Either from lack of space, or froht otherwise have been made, it was found impossible to represent these names worthily; but as they are all more or less adequately represented in the _Fourth Reader_, the teacher who may wish to correct the perspective here presented iven It may be added, too, that the body of recent literature is so enormous, that no adequate representation of it (at any rate as regards quantity) is possible within the limits of one book

The selections in poetry, with but three necessary exceptions, are cole pieces can, the respective merits and styles of their authors The selections in prose cannot, of course, lay claim to this excellence; but they are all complete in themselves, or have been made so by short introductions; and it is hoped that they too are not unfairly representative of their authors In th; by this, however, they gain in interest and in representative character

In soes have occasionally been omitted, either because they interfered with theto it, to oain of space In most cases these omissions are indicated by small asterisks

All the selections, both in prose and in verse, have been made with constant reference to their suitableness for the teaching of reading

They are fitted to exemplify every mode of expression, except, perhaps, that appropriate to a few of the stronger passions It is not pretended that they are all simple and easy Many of them will require much study and preparation before they can be read with that precision of expression which is necessary to perfect intelligibility The chronological arrange; the teacher will decide in what order the selections are to be read

The introductory chapter isto his pupils a so Of course the teacher will choose for hi with the chapter, but it has been written with the thought that he should use it as a convenient series of texts, which he ht expand and illustrate in accordance with his opportunities and judgment

Examples for illustration are indispensable to the successful study of the principles described, and they should be sought for and obtained by the teacher and pupils together (whenever possible they should be taken from the READER), and should be kept labeled for reference and practice

If the application of these principles be thus practically made by the pupils the i and value than if the exaht or search on their part

To the teacher it is recommended that he should not be contented with the short and necessarily iiven The more familiar he is with the scientific principles the more successfully will he be able to direct the studies and practices of his pupils Works on elocution are numerous and accessible

Dr Rush's _Philosophy of the Voice_ is perhaps the foundation of all subsequent good work in the exposition of voice culture Professor Murdoch's _analytic Elocution_ is an exhaustive and scholarly treatise based upon it, and to the plan of treatment therein fully developed the practical part of the introductory chapter has largely confor those authors who have so kindly responded to requests for permission to use selections fro Wild Roses_, and for _Our Ideal_; to Mr Charles Sangster, for two sonnets from _Hesperus_; to Mr

John Reade, for two poems from _The Prophecy of Merlin_; to Mr Charles Mair, for the scenes from _Tecumseh_; and to Professor C G D Roberts, for _To Winter_

To Miss A T Jones, thanks are due for perail Becker_, recently published in the _Century Magazine_ The heroic acts described in this poeth, even to huth and endurance, to accomplish, that were it possible to doubt its truthfulness, doubt one certainly would

Nevertheless the poem is not only strictly in accordance with the facts, it is even within and below them

INTRODUCTORY

The ability to read well cannot be attained without much pains and study For even atwo requirements are essential: (1) A cultivated hts which the words to be read logically express, and equally quick in its power sympathetically to appreciate the senti, eest 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 beand force of all the ideas and sentiments formally expressed by the words or latent in them Of these two requirements the first is undeniably thein 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 ive that readiness of ood reader The ability quickly to recognize word-forms and to utter them with ease, to catch the drift of ideas, and to feel ready sye and flow in senti course of wide and varied reading No one can becoh, notext-books ed to read for theuided 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 forhtfully and with precision, they can never beco, 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 aart, and in mental culture,--it is equally beneficial as a physical exercise It will, however, be ood, 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 s 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 ; 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 utterance of words so as impressively to portray their latent sentiment,--all this is possible with those alone to whom difficult word-forms, complex sentence-structures, and the infinite variety and play of thought and ee of reading as only the silent prosecution of it h not so generally needful as silent reading, is still of great importance to everyone in respect of its practical utility sih few of those whose duty it is to read aloud in public, do so either with accuracy or grace; as an accoive pleasure to others, it is, when perfectly possessed, not excelled by any other; so that as an acquisition which puts one in a position of vantage either for benefitting one's self or for bestowing delight or benefit upon others, it is worth every necessary struggle for its attain when systematically pursued as a school study, is the effect which it has in i the tones of the voice for ordinary conversation and discourse, and in securing some measure of orthoepy as a fixed habit of utterance