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AN

HISTORICAL READER

FOR THE USE OF

CLASSES IN ACADEMIES, HIGH SCHOOLS,
AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.

BY

HENRY E. SHEPHERD, M. A., LL. D.,

PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA; LATE SUPERINTENDENT
OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

NEW EDITION, ENLARGED,

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET.

1888.

627454

COPYRIGHT, 1881, 1884,

BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.

PREFACE.

IN my report to the Board of School Commissioners of Baltimore for the year 1878, in speaking of the study of history in our public schools, I used substantially the following language:

"The study of history in our schools is a subject demanding the gravest consideration as well as the most delicate treatment.

"The most serious error that prevails in connection with this subject is the defective and vicious method by which the teachers of history are fettered and embarrassed. I have long been convinced that epitomes or abridgments are comparatively valueless, except for those who have already acquired a knowledge of the subject which the epitome or abridgment professes to treat. The difficulty of condensing or abridging any historical narrative, without destroying its very life and spirit, is one long felt and recognized. The disadvantages of the compendium are commented upon by Bacon, in his great work upon The Advancement of Learning,' in which abridgments are styled 'the corruptions and moths of

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