tailieunhanh - A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

The experience of all teachers testifies to the lamentable deficiency in historical knowledge among their pupils; not that children dislike the incidents and events of history, for, indeed, they prefer them to the improbable tales which now form the bulk of their reading, but because the books are "dry." Those which are interesting are apt to be lengthy, and the mind consequently becomes confused by the multitude of details, while the brief ones often contain merely the dry bones of fact, uninviting and unreal. An attractive book which can be mastered in a single term, is the necessity of. | A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Illustration PLYMOUTH ROCK PREFACE. The experience of all teachers testifies to the lamentable deficiency in historical knowledge among their pupils not that children dislike the incidents and events of history for indeed they prefer them to the improbable tales which now form the bulk of their reading but because the books are dry. Those which are interesting are apt to be lengthy and the mind consequently becomes confused by the multitude of details while the brief ones often contain merely the dry bones of fact uninviting and unreal. An attractive book which can be mastered in a single term is the necessity of our schools. The present work is an attempt to meet this want in American histories. In its preparation there has been an endeavor to develop the following principles 1. To precede each Epoch by questions and a map so that the pupil may become familiar with the location of the places named in the history he is about to study. 2. To select only the most important events for the body of the text and then by footnotes to give explanations illustrations minor events anecdotes c. 3. To classify the events under general topics which are given in distinct type at the beginning of each paragraph thus impressing the leading idea on the mind of the pupil enabling him to see at a glance the prominent points of the lesson and especially adapting the book to that large and constantly increasing class of teachers who require topical recitations. 4. To select in the description of each battle some characteristic in which it differs from all other battles its key-note by which it can be recollected thus not only preventing a sameness but giving to the pupil a point around which he may group information obtained from fuller descriptions and larger histories. 5. To give only leading dates and as far as possible to associate them with each other and thus assist the memory in their permanent retention experience having proved the .