"The literature of a people should be the record of its joys and sorrows, its aspirations and its shortcomings, its wisdom and its folly, the confidant of its soul."

- JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

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1

PREFACE

BOOK EIGHT of the Everyday Classics is an introduction to literature. In carrying out this purpose it completes the aim of the series, to put before the pupil selections which are both excellent and familiar, which form a valued part of the heritage of the nation and the race. In the earlier books, however, it has often seemed advisable to direct the attention to the heroes described, the stories told, and the morals enforced, rather than to a study of literary excellence. This book, more distinctly than any of its predecessors, is devoted to the study of literature. It seeks to encourage a knowledge and appreciation of the best that has been thought and imagined.

The Seventh Book offered an account of the history and ideals of our own country as set forth by its chief authors. In the Eighth Book we go to the great masters of the world, and especially to those authors who from Shakespeare to Tennyson have been the glory of the English language. These two books thus complete the basic course in reading on the plan of the Everyday Classics, and they prepare the way for the more thorough study and appreciation of both American and English literature. They are especially adapted for use in Junior High Schools.

The Helps to Study and the lists For Study with the Glossary have been continued in the Eighth Book as in the