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1Author:  Hawthorne Nathaniel 1804-1864Add
 Title:  Twice-told Tales  
 Published:  1997 
 Subjects:  University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | University of Virginia Library, Early American Fiction, 1789-1875 | UVA-LIB-EarlyAmFict1789-1875 
 Description: There was once a time when New England groaned under the actual pressure of heavier wrongs, than those threatened ones which brought on the Revolution. James II., the bigoted successor of Charles the Voluptuous, had annulled the charters of all the colonies, and sent a harsh and unprincipled soldier to take away our liberties and endanger our religion. The administration of Sir Edmund Andros lacked scarcely a single characteristic of tyranny: a Governor and Council, holding office from the King, and wholly independent of the country; laws made and taxes levied without concurrence of the people, immediate or by their representatives; the rights of private citizens violated, and the titles of all landed property declared void; the voice of complaint stifled by restrictions on the press; and finally, disaffection overawed by the first band of mercenary troops that ever marched on our free soil. For two years our ancestors were kept in sullen submission, by that filial love which had invariably secured their allegiance to the mother country, whether its head chanced to be a Parliament, Protector, or popish Monarch. Till these evil times, however, such allegiance had been merely nominal, and the colonists had ruled themselves, enjoying far more freedom, than is even yet the privilege of the native subjects of Great Britain. —I have received the First and Second Parts of your North American Arithmetic, and am highly pleased with the plan of the work, and the manner of its execution thus far. It unites simplicity with fulness. and will thus be sure to interest the beginner, whilst it furnishes, at the same time. an ample guide to the more advanced pupil. —I have examined the Third Part of Mr. Emerson's Arithmetic with great pleasure. The perspicuity of its arrangement, and the clearness and brevity of its explanations, combined with its happy adaptation to the purposes of practical business, are its great recommendations. I hope it will soon be introduced into all our schools, and take the place of ill-digested treatises, to which our instructors have hitherto been compelled to resort. [Conclusion of a letter to the Author.] I should think it hardly possible that a child could be faithfully conducted through these two works [First and Second Parts] without being vastly better acquainted with the subject than children formerly were. Being judiciously compelled in some measure to invent their own rules, they can scarcely fail of being able to assign a proper reason for the process, as well as to recollect it for future use. Indeed, I do not know any one particular in which, for the use of very young pupils, they could be improved. I have carefully examined the Third Part of the North American Arithmetic, by Mr. Emerson; and am so well satisfied that it is the best treatise on the subject with which I am acquainted, that I have determined to introduce it as a text-book into my school. Notwithstanding the obvious improvements of the study, both in a practical point of view and as an intellectual exercise, arithmetic is perhaps the science which is most negligently taught in common schools, and the true principles of which are left in the greatest obscurity in the minds of scholars. One reason of this is the imperfection of the common treatises used in our schools. The Arithmetic of Dr. Adams was a decided improvement upon its predecessors in the way of lucid explanations, and, as might be expected, others followed which went still farther in the track of inductive illustration. The North American Arithmetic, by Frederick Emerson, appears to me to exhibit the science in a manner more clear, simple and practical, better adapted to the use of schools and the benefit of teachers, who may not themselves be thoroughly conversant with arithmetic, than any book I have seen. The doctrine of Ratio and Proportion is treated in the way in which it can alone be rendered perfectly intelligible to the pupil, and far more satisfactory than in any English or American Arithmetic that has fallen under my notice. —Having examined your North American Arithmetic with much care, and made some use of it as a text-book in my classes, I do not hesitate to regard it as better adapted than any other, to the schools of the United States. It has long been objected to the books on this subject in common use, that they are deficient in explanation, and unscientific in arrangement; more apt to check than develop the powers of reasoning and calculation. To your work, certainly, these objections are inapplicable. No pupil, it seems to me, can go through Parts First, Second, and Third, with ordinary attention, without acquiring a facility of analysis, a readiness both of rule and reason, and a dexterity of practice, not easily to be derived from any other books yet published. —I have examined the First Class Reader, by B. D. Emerson; and, in my view, the selections are judiciously made, and characterized by great purity and elegance of style, and yet are not so elevated as to be unintelligible by those for whose use it is designed. The work is throughout, so far as I have discovered, unexceptionable in the sentiment with which it is fraught. It is introduced by some very useful “Suggestions to Teachers,” with regard to the examination of their pupils on the lessons read. On the whole, I know not of a reading book of higher merit, for the more advanced classes in our schools. —Allow me to express my cordial approbation of the selection of pieces introduced into the First Class Reader. In correctness of sentiment, manliness of style, and elegance of diction, this approaches more nearly than any of the previous compilations with which I am acquainted, to what a book should be, which is designed to be a reading manual for youth. I have carefully examined the Reading Books prepared by Mr. B. D. Emerson, and cordially bear testimony to the merits of the work. I am much pleased with the character of the selections, and highly approve of the system of instruction recommended by Mr. E. in his “Suggestions to Teachers.” I hope these books will gain the extensive circulation to which they are justly entitled. Having examined the series of School Reading Books, entitled the “First Class Reader,” the “Second Class Reader,” and the “Third Class Reader,” by B. D. Emerson, the undersigned regard them as having very high claims to the notice and approbation of the public. The books form a regular series, carefully graduated according to the advancement of classes in good English Schools. The selections are very judiciously made, both in matter and style. Each piece is adapted to the comprehension of the scholar, and conveys some useful truth, either moral or scientific. Specimens are presented of the best writers in the English language, and throughout the series is given a very great deal of historical and general information. Having examined the First and Second Class Readers, compiled by Mr. B. D. Emerson, I take great pleasure in recommending them to the public, as highly deserving their patronage. I consider these works a decided improvement upon those of a similar character now in use. The selections are made with much taste and judgment, and are peculiarly adapted to the capacities and wants of those for whose use they are intended. I shall introduce them into the series of reading books used by my pupils. —I have attentively examined your series of Readers. The lessons are selected with much taste, and are well calculated to produce a good moral influence. It is desirable that these works should be extensively used in our High Schools and Academies. Your Third Class Reader is used in all our District Schools and highly approved. Emerson's Class Readers. * * * * The selections are made with reference to purity of sentiment, and to moral impression; and are, on that account, worthy of all commendation. * * * * In short, we can say of these Readers, that we know of no books, which, for beauty of selection, purity of sentiment, and for variety of expression, will compare with them. The sooner they are introduced into our schools the better. The First Class Reader and The Second Class Reader.— * * We are pleased with these selections, for we think they are executed on the plan proposed; that “each extract should contain some useful truth— something of more importance than the mere amusement of a passing hour.” —Having given Mr. Emerson's Reading Books a careful examination, I feel confident that they possess merits equal to those of any other Readers now in use. The experience of many years in school-keeping has convinced me that a change of books is of primary importance in acquiring an art so much neglected, yet so ornamental and useful as good reading. It is not to be supposed that children can profit much by reading again and again what has, from their earliest recollections, been sounded over and over in their ears, till every section and almost every word are as familiar to them as the walls of their school-room. To make ready readers there is need of some novelty. We not unfrequently meet with those who can read fluently and well the worn pages of a school book, but yet who hesitate and blunder over the columns of a newspaper, or the pages of a strange book. I am, therefore, glad to see your Readers, and it will give me pleasure to encourage their introduction into our schools. —Having received and examined, with some attention, a copy of your “American Universal Geography.” I have no hesitation in giving it the preference to other works intended for School Geographies, and for the following reason, viz.: Your Geography contains the copperplate Maps in the same volume with the text; it embraces matter far greater in quantity, and in my opinion superior in quality; it unites History with Geography as History and Geography should be united; and, finally, its value is much enhanced by the stereotype Maps. From a cursory examination, we feel no hesitation in expressing our decided approbation of Blake's New American School Geography. The form of the volume being such as to admit the insertion of the Maps, together with the minuteness of detail presented by the author, we think, gives the work a decided superiority over those of the kind now in use. We have used “Bailey's First Lessons in Algebra,” in the Public Writing Schools of Boston, respectively committed to our instruction, and can testify with confidence to its high value. The peculiar excellence of the work consists in its serving not only as a text-book, but in a great measure as a teacher. The plainness, simplicity, and fulness with which the subject is treated, enable the scholar to proceed in the exercises understandingly, with little or no aid, other than that which is to be found on the pages of the book. I have, with much attention and satisfaction, examined “Bailey's First Lessons in Algebra.” As a first course of lessons in this very interesting science, this book, I do not hesitate to say, far exceeds any other that I have seen. No scholar will consider Algebra a dry study while attending to this system. I am very glad to find that Algebra has been introduced into many of our town schools; and am positive that there is no better way to make scholars understand Arithmetic well, than that they should devote part of their time to the study of Algebra. I most cordially recommend the work to the attention of School Committees and Teachers.
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