SEQUEL

TO THE

ANALYTICAL READER:

IN WHICH

THE ORIGINAL DESIGN IS EXTENDED,

SO AS TO EMBRACE AN

EXPLANATION OF PHRASES

AND

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.

BY SAMUEL PUTNAM.

STANFORD LAR

NEW YORK:

FRENCH & ADLARD.

1836.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-ninth day of November, A. D. 1830, and in the fifty-fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, ELI FRENCH, of the said District, has deposited in this office the title of a ook, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following,

wit:

"Sequel to the Analytical Reader: in which the original design is extended, 80 as to embrace an explanation of phrases and figurative language. By Samuel Putnam. Second edition.”

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."

CHARLES W. CUTTER, for the District of New Hampshire.
Clerk of the Dist. Court of the U. States,

A true copy of Record.

Attest,

C. W. CUTTER, Clerk.

STEREOTYPED AT THE

BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

IN presenting to the public the SEQUEL to the "Analytical Reader," the Compiler wishes to state, somewhat at large, the objects which he has attempted to accomplish in the following pages, both as a preparation for using the book, and that the advantages, if any, which it possesses over Reading Lessons, constructed on the usual plan, may be fairly apprehended. Experience has abundantly confirmed him in the belief, that a mere compilation of Lessons, however well selected or judiciously arranged, does, in some important respects, fail of accomplishing its intended effect-the strengthening and enlargement of the youthful mind.

Miss Edgeworth, throughout her books, maintains this fundamental principle" that ideas should always be clearly connected with words; that the advancement from the known to the unknown should be in an obvious and intelligible connection; and that the most exact conformity should be preserved, between the knowledge which the mind acquires, and the vocabulary which expresses that knowledge." Some of the selections of Reading Lessons which have been presented to the public, are of a character altogether above the reach of the young scholar. They contain facts above his power to understand, and allusions of which he never formed an idea. Didactic essays form the great mass of two or three of our most popular reading books. They may convey much profit to a mature mind; but, to promote the intellectual growth of young persons, or to make them good readers, these selections essentially fail. In other instances, a composition may be on a level with the reader's comprehension, but being unsupplied with any thing to direct him in further inquiries, or by which he may indulge in new associations, after two or three perusals, he loses all interest-the piece becomes dry and unprofitable. The Instructer, in his multiplied labors, if he has the ability, has not always the time to supply new sources of interest, or add explanations and comments. It ought not to be, as we conceive, the main design of a reading book, to furnish a manual by which to pronounce words accurately, to learn the difference between a comma and a colon, or to measure sentences with the proper rise and fall of the voice. The grand object should be, to give the scholar a permanent interest in the exercise to inspire him with a relish for understanding what he reads.

But, if a composition becomes insipid after two or three perusals, or, if the meaning of any of its parts cannot be apprehended without great difficulty, the progress of the scholar is retarded, and his mind may even receive an influence, whose bad effects shall last through life. But, if he goes through the exercise rationally and with interest, many of the minor excellencies of a good reader will be attained. Children are usually led to employ bad inflections, by being compelled to read what they do not understand. If they take that interest in the exercise, which is the result of thoroughly understanding it, the tones are almost invariably well modulated and natural.

Entertaining these views, the Compiler has attempted, in the Analytical Reader, but more especially in the Sequel, to present some Reading Lessons, which will not lie open to the objections that have been pointed out.