University of Virginia Library

Preface

THE second volume of Source-Readers is, like the first, wholly made up of pieces written at the time of the events and incidents here described. The language is modernized wherever necessary, and many unfamiliar words have been replaced by such as are more familiar to children; the spelling also has been brought to the reader's standard, except in a few cases where the old form seemed quaint and not likely to affect a child's-habits of writing. Nothing has anywhere been added for spice or for the sake of making a good story. From a careful reading of these extracts, and of many more for which room could not be found, I feel sure that the actual deeds, experiences, and life of our ancestors were in themselves so interesting, often so romantic, that the records of them need no recasting. The pieces are, of course, not all of equal literary merit; but I have tried to exclude all writers who did not express themselves in good, reasonably straightforward English, such as cannot harm the growing style of children.

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