A HISTORY OF THE McGUFFEY READERS. 

[Illustration: WILLIAM H. McGUFFEY]

A HISTORY

OF THE

McGUFFEY READERS

By

HENRY H. VAIL. 

WITH THREE PORTRAITS. 

THE BOOKISH BOOKS--IV. 

New Edition. 

 CLEVELAND THE BURROWS BROTHERS CO. 1911

Copyright, 1911, by Henry H. Vail. 

[Transcriber's Note: At the top of each page in the original is a headerline briefly describing the content on each page. In this document, these header lines have been placed inside square brackets and move tothe start of the paragraph which begins the content so described. ]

A History of the McGuffey Readers

THE BOOKS. 

Before me are four small books roughly bound in boards, the sidescovered with paper. On the reverse of the title pages, two bear acopyright entry in the year 1836; the others were entered in 1837. Theyare the earliest editions of McGuffey's Eclectic Readers that have beenfound in a search lasting forty years. 

They represent the first efforts in an educational and businessenterprise that has for three-quarters of a century called for the bestexertions of many skilled men, and in their several forms these bookshave taken a conspicuous part in the education of millions of thecitizens of this country. 

But what interest can the history of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers haveto those who did not use these books in their school career? Their storydiffers from that of other readers since in successive forms, adjustedmore or less perfectly to the changing demands of the schools, theyattained a wider and more prolonged use than has been accorded to anyother series. 

[The Function of Readers]

By custom and under sanction of law certain studies are pursued in thecommon schools of every state. Spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, grammar, civics and physiology are the subjectsusually taught. The school authorities select the textbooks which shallbe used in each subject. The readers are the only texts used in allschools affording opportunity for distinct ethical teaching. The historyof our country should give ideas of patriotism; the civics shouldcontain the primary notions of government; the physiologies shouldinstruct the pupils in the laws of health; but the reader should coverthe whole field of morals and manners and in language that will impresstheir teaching indelibly upon the mind of every pupil. While the chiefaim of the school readers must be to teach the child to apprehendthought from the printed page and convey this thought to the attentivelistener with precision, these efforts should be exerted upon thoughtsthat have permanent value. No other texts used in the school room beardirectly and positively upon the formation of character in the pupils. The school readers are the proper and indispensable texts for teachingtrue patriotism, integrity, honesty, industry, temperance, courage, politeness, and all other moral and intellectual virtues. In these booksevery lesson should have a distinct purpose in view, and the final aimshould be to establish in the pupils high moral principles which are atthe foundation of character. 

[Formers of Character]

The literature of the English language is rich in material suited tothis intent; no other language is better endowed. This material is freshto every pupil, no matter how familiar it may be to teacher or parent. Although some of it has been in print for three centuries, it is trueand beautiful today. 

President Eliot has said, "When we teach a child to read, our primaryaim is not to enable it to decipher a way-bill or a receipt, but tokindle its imagination, enlarge its vision and open for it the avenuesof knowledge. " Knowledge gives power, which may be exerted for good orfor evil. Character gives direction to power. Power is the engine whichmay force the steamer through the water, character is the helm whichrenders the power serviceable for good. 

Readers which have been recognized as formers of good habits of action, thought, and speech for three-quarters of a century, which have taughta sound morality to millions of children without giving offense to themost violent sectarian, which have opened the doors of pure literatureto all their users, are surely worthy of study as to their origin, theirsuccessive changes, and their subsequent career. 

The story of these readers is told in the specimens of the severaleditions, in the long treasured and time-worn contracts, in the books ofaccounts kept by the successive publishers, and in the traditions whichhave been passed down from white haired men who gossiped of the earlydays in the schoolbook business. Valuable information has also beenfurnished by descendants of the McGuffey family, and by the educationalinstitutions with which each of the authors of the readers wasconnected. 

[Different Editions]

For half a century the present writer has had personal knowledge of thereaders. At first, as a teacher, using them daily in the class room; butsoon, as an editor, directing the literary work of the publishers andowners. It therefore falls to him to narrate a story "quorum pars minimafui. "

For more than seventy years the McGuffey Readers have held high rank astext-books for use in the elementary schools, especially throughout theWest and South. But during this time these books have been revised fivetimes and adjusted to the changed conditions in the schools. In each oneof these revisions the marked characteristics of the original serieshave been most scrupulously retained, and the continued success of theseries is doubtless owing to this fact. There has been a continuity ofspirit. 

[Contents of the Books]

The First and Second Readers were first published in 1836. In 1837 theThird and Fourth Readers were printed. For reasons elsewhere explainedthese books were "improved and enlarged" in 1838. In 1841 a higherreader was added to the series which was then named McGuffey'sRhetorical Guide. In the years 1843 and 1844 the four books thenconstituting the series were thoroughly remodeled and on the title pageswere placed the words "Newly Revised" and the Rhetorical Guide wasannexed as the Fifth Reader. Ten years later the entire series was madeover and issued in six books. These were then called the New Readers. From 1853 until 1878 the books remained substantially unchanged; but inthe latter year they were renewed largely in substance and improved inform. These readers as copyrighted in 1879 were extensively used formore than a quarter of a century. Changing conditions in the school roomcalled for another revision in 1901. This latest form now in extensiveuse is called The New McGuffey Readers. 

Each of these revisions has constituted practically a new seriesalthough the changes have never included the entire contents. In thehigher readers will be found today many selections which appeared in theoriginal books. The reason for retaining such selections is clear. Noone has been able to write in the English language selections that arebetter for school use than some written by Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, and other early writers. The literature of the English language has notall been written in the present decade nor in the last century. 

As at first published, the lower books of the McGuffey Readers had notrace of the modern methods now used in teaching the mastery ofwords--even the alphabet was not given in orderly form; but thealphabetic method of teaching the art of reading was then the only oneused. The pupil at first spelled each word by naming the letters andthen pronounced each syllable and then the word. 

[First Editions]

The following stanza is copied from page 61 of the edition of 1844 toillustrate the method of presenting words:

 I like to see a lit-tle dog, And pat him on the head; So pret-ti-ly he wags his tail When-ev-er he is fed. 

The First Reader was mostly in words of one syllable. In this book wefind the story of the lame dog that, when cured, brought another lamedog to be doctored: of the kind boy who freed his caged bird; of thecruel boy who drowned the cat and pulled wings and legs from flies; ofPeter Pindar the story teller, and the "snow dog" of Mount St. Bernard;of Mr. Post who adopted and reared Mary; of the boy who told a lie andrepented after he was found out; of the chimney sweep who was tempted tosteal a gold watch but put it back and was thereafter educated by itsowner; of the whisky boy; and of the mischievous boy who played ghostand made another boy insane. Nearly every lesson has a moral clearlystated in formal didactic words at its close. 

In the Second Reader we find the story of the idle boy who talked withthe bees, dogs, and horses, and having found them all busy, reformedhimself; of the kind girl who shared her cake with a dog and an old man;of the mischievous boys who tied the grass across the path and thusupset not only the milk-maid but the messenger running for a doctorto come to their father; of the wise lark who knew that the farmer'sgrain would not be cut until he resolved to cut it himself; of the wildand ravenous bear that treed a boy and hung suspended by his boot; andof another bear that traveled as a passenger by night in a stage coach;of the quarrelsome cocks, pictured in a clearly English farm yard, thatwere both eaten up by the fox that had been brought in by the defeatedcock; of the honest boy and the thief who was judiciously kicked by thehorse that carried oranges in baskets; of George Washington and hishistoric hatchet and the mutilated cherry-tree; and of the garden thatwas planted with seeds in lines spelling Washington's name which removedall doubt as to an intelligent Creator. There were also some lessons onsuch animals as beavers, whales, peacocks and lions. 

[Favorite Selections]

The Third Reader will be remembered first because of the picture, onthe cover, of Napoleon on his rearing charger. This book contained fiveselections from the Bible; Croly's "Conflagration of the Ampitheatreat Rome;" "How a Fly Walks on the Ceiling;" "The Child's Inquiry;""How big was Alexander, Pa;" Irving's "Description of Pompey's Pillar;"Woodworth's "Old Oaken Bucket;" Miss Gould's "The Winter King;" andScott's "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps, " commencing "'Is the routepracticable?' said Bonaparte. 'It is barely possible to pass, ' repliedthe engineer. 'Let us set forward, then, ' said Napoleon. " The rearingsteed facing a precipitous slope in the picture gave emphasis to thewords. There were also in this reader several pieces about Indians andbears, which indicate that Dr. McGuffey never forgot the stories toldat the fireside by his father of his adventures as an Indian scout andhunter. 

In the Fourth Reader there were seventeen selections from the Bible;William Wirt's "Description of the Blind Preacher;" Phillip's "Characterof Napoleon Bonaparte;" Bacon's "Essay on Studies;" Nott's "Speech onthe Death of Alexander Hamilton;" Addison's "Westminster Abbey;"Irving's "Alhambra;" Rogers's "Genevra;" Willis's "Parrhasius;"Montgomery's "Make Way for Liberty;" two extracts from Milton and twofrom Shakespeare, and no less than fourteen selections from the writingsof the men and women who lectured before the College of Teachers inCincinnati. The story of the widow of the Pine Cottage sharing her lastsmoked herring with a strange traveler who revealed himself as herlong-lost son, returning rich from the Indies, was anonymous, but itwill be remembered by those who read it. 

These selections were the most noteworthy ones in the first editions ofthese readers. 

The First and Second Readers of the McGuffey Series were substantiallymade new at each revision. A comparison of the original Third Readerwith an edition copyrighted in 1847, shows that the latter book wasincreased about one-third in size. Of the sixty-six selections in theearly edition only forty-seven were retained, while thirty new ones wereinserted. Among the latter were "Harry and his Dog Frisk" that broughtto him, punished by being sent to bed, a Windsor pear; "Perseverance, " atale of kite-flying followed by the poem, "Try, try again;" the "LittlePhilosopher, " named Peter Hurdle, who caught Mr. Lenox's runaway horseand on examination seemed to lack nothing but an Eclectic spelling book, a reader and a Testament--which were promised him; "The Colonists, " inwhich men of various callings offered their services, and while even thedancing master was accepted as of some possible use, the gentleman wasscornfully rejected; "Things by Their Right Names, " in which a battlewas described as wholesale murder; "Little Victories, " in which Hugh'smother consoled him for the loss of a leg by telling him of the lives ofmen who became celebrated under even greater adversities; "The WonderfulInstrument, " which turned out to be the eye; "Metaphysics, " a ludicrousdescription of a colonial salt-box in affected terms of exactnessdesigned to ridicule some forms of reasoning. Those who used thisedition of the third reader will surely remember some of theseselections. 

[The Bible]

In the Fourth Reader printed in 1844 there were thirty newselections--less than one-third of the book; but some of these weresuch as will be remembered by those who read them in school. There was"Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded, " in which a barber of Bath had becomeso poor because he would not shave his customers on Sunday, that heborrowed a half-penny to buy a candle Saturday night to give light fora late customer, and was thus discovered to be the long-lost WilliamReed of Taunton, heir to many thousand pounds; "The Just Judge, " whodisguised himself as a miller and, obtaining a place on the jury, received only five guineas as a bribe when the others got ten, and whorevealed himself as Lord Chief Justice Hale and tried the case over inhis miller's clothing; Hawthorne's "The Town Pump;" Mrs. Southey's"April Day. "

 "All day the low-hung clouds have dropped Their garnered fullness down. All day a soft gray mist hath wrapped Hill, valley, grove and town. "

Bryant's "Death of the Flowers;" Campbell's "Lochiel's Warning;" and thetrial scene from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. All these becamefavorite reading exercises in later years. 

As late as 1840 the Bible was read daily in all the schools of theWest. Although sectarian or denominational teaching was not permitted, religious instruction was desired by the great majority of schoolpatrons. 

Even up to the opening of the Civil War, whatever the faith or thepractice of the adult inhabitants of the country, the Bible story andthe Bible diction were familiar to all. The speeches of the popularorators of that day were filled with distinct allusions to the Bibleand these were quickly and clearly apprehended by the people. It may bequestioned whether popular speeches of the present day would have equalforce if based on the assumption that everybody knows the Biblicalstories. Indeed it is a common remark made by professors of English inthe higher institutions of learning that pupils know little of theBible as a distinctly formative and conservative element in Englishliterature. In the texts authorized for the study of English classics, Biblical allusions are very common. These have little meaning to pupilswho have not read the Bible, unless the passage is pointed out andhunted up. 

[Dr. Swing's Opinion]

From the pages of these readers the pupils learned to master the printedword and obtain the thought of the authors. Without conscious effortthey received moral instruction and incentives toward right living. Without intent they treasured in their memories such extracts from theauthors of the best English Literature as gave them a desire to readmore. 

[Books as Teachers]

In one of his sermons Dr. David Swing of Chicago said: "Much as you mayhave studied the languages or the sciences, that which most affected youwas the moral lessons in the series of McGuffey. And yet the readingclass was filed out only once a day to read for a few moments, andthen we were all sent to our seats to spend two hours in learninghow to bound New Hampshire or Connecticut, or how long it would take agreyhound to overtake a fox or a hare if the spring of each was so andso, and the poor fugitive had such and such a start. That was perhapswell, but we have forgotten how to bound Connecticut, and how to solvethe equation of the field and thicket; but up out of the far-off yearscome all the blessed lessons in virtue and righteousness which thosereading books taught; and when we now remember, how even these moralmemories have faded I cannot but wish the teachers had made us bound theStates less, and solve fewer puzzles in 'position' and the 'cube root'and made us commit to memory the whole series of the McGuffey EclecticHeaders. The memory that comes from these far-away pages is full of thebest wisdom of time or the timeless land. In these books we were indeedled by a schoolmaster, from beautiful maxims for children up to thebest thoughts of a long line of sages, and poets, and naturalists. Therewe all first learned the awful weakness of the duel that took away aHamilton; there we saw the grandeur of the Blind Preacher of WilliamWirt; there we saw the emptiness of the ambition of Alexander, and therewe heard even the infidel say, 'Socrates died like a philosopher, butJesus Christ like a God. '"

This public recognition of the influence of these readers upon the mindand character of this great preacher is again noted in Rev. Joseph FortNewton's biography of David Swing in which the books which influencedthat life are named as "The Bible, Calvin's Institutes, Fox's Book ofMartyrs and the McGuffey Readers;" and the author quotes David Swing assaying that "The Institutes were rather large reading for a boy, but tothe end of his life he held that McGuffey's Sixth Reader was a greatbook. For Swing, as for many a boy in the older West, its varied andwise selections from the best English authors were the very gates ofliterature ajar. "

One of the most eminent political leaders of the present day attributeshis power in the use of English largely to the study of McGuffey's SixthReader in the common schools of Ohio. 

[How a Japanese Learned English]

At a dinner lately given in New York to Marquis Ito of Japan, themarquis responded to the toast of his health returning thanks inEnglish. He then continued his remarks in Japanese for some eightminutes. At its close Mr. Tsudjuki, who was then the minister ofEducation in Japan, traveling with Marquis Ito as his friend andcompanion, and who had taken shorthand notes of the Japanese speech, rose and translated the speech readily and fluently into good English. One of the guests asked how he had learned to speak English socorrectly. He replied that he had done so in the public schools of Japanand added, "I learned my English from McGuffey's Readers, with which youare no doubt familiar. "

[The Authorship]

It is not unusual to see in the literary columns of a daily newspaperinquiries as to where certain poems may be found of which a singlestanza is faintly recalled. Many of these prove to be fragments ofpieces that are found in the McGuffey Readers. Quite lately TheodoreRoosevelt made the public statement that he did not propose to become a"Meddlesome Matty. " This allusion was perfectly clear to the millions ofpeople who used the McGuffey Readers at any time after 1853. 

When the Fourth Reader was issued in 1837 it contained a preface ofthree closely printed pages setting forth and defending the plan ofMcGuffey's books. In this he said: "In conclusion, the author begs leaveto state, that the whole series of Eclectic Readers is his own. In thepreparation of the rules, etc. , for the present volume he has had theassistance of a very distinguished Teacher, whose judgment and zeal inpromoting the cause of education have often been commended by theAmerican people. In the arrangement of the series generally, he isindebted to many of his friends for valuable suggestions, and he takesthis opportunity of tendering them his thanks for the lively interestthey have manifested for the success of his undertaking. "

The sole author of the four readers first issued as the Eclectic Readerswas William Holmes McGuffey. He was responsible for the marked qualitiesin these books which met with such astonishing popular approval in allthese years. What these qualities are is well known to those who haveused the books and the users are numbered by millions. 

[The Rhetorical Guide]

The Rhetorical Guide was prepared by Mr. A. H. McGuffey, and his namealone was on the early editions. In 1844 the book was revised by theauthor and Dr. Pinneo, and was given the alternate title "or FifthReader of the Eclectic Series. " The work of revision occupied two years. The title page carried the name of its author until, for reasons of hisown, he asked to have it removed. 

As usual when revisions of schoolbooks are made, the older edition wascontinued in publication so long as a distinct demand for it existed. But the issuance of a revised edition always suggests the question ofchange, which competing publishers promptly seek to bring about. Thepublishers of the "Newly Revised McGuffey Readers, " therefore, soughtto replace the older edition wherever it was in use and to displacecompeting books wherever possible. The edition of 1843 acquired largesales over a very wide territory in the central West and South. It isthe edition generally known by the grandfathers of the school boys ofthe present day. 

It may be interesting to name some of the selections in this RhetoricalGuide issued in 1844 since in modified form the work has been thehighest reader of the series. 

[Selections of Value]

As a guide toward rhetorical reading the book contained a carefullyprepared collection of rules and directions with examples for practicein Articulation. Inflection, Accent and Emphasis, Reading Verse, for theManagement of the Voice and Gesture. These pages were intended for drillwork, and in those days the teachers were not content with the dullmonotonous utterance of the words or with mere mastery of thought, tobe tested by multitudinous questioning. If the pupil obtained from theprinted page the very thought the author intended to convey, the pupilwas expected to read orally so as to express that thought to allhearers. If the correct thought was thus heard, no questions wereneeded. The test of reading orally is the communication of thought bythe reader to the intelligent and attentive hearer, and the words of theauthor carry this message more accurately than can any other words thepupil may select. 

[Noted Selections]

The selections in the Rhetorical Guide were made, first of all, to teachthe art of reading. There was therefore great variety. Second, toinculcate a love for literature. Therefore the selections were takenfrom the great writers, --poets, orators, essayists, historians, andpreachers. The extracts are wonderfully complete in themselves, --onedoes not need to read the whole of Byron's Don Juan to appreciate thesix stanzas that describe the thunder-storm on the Alps. Of the poeticalextracts all the users of this book will remember Southey's "Cataractof Lodore" with its exacting drill on the ending, --"ing, " Longfellow's"Village Blacksmith" and the "Reaper and the Flowers;" Bryant's"Thanatopsis" and "Song of the Stars;" Wolfe's "Burial of Sir JohnMoore;" Gray's "Elegy;" Mrs. Hemans's "Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers;"Cowper's "My Mother's Picture;" Jones's "What Constitutes a State;"Scott's "Lochinvar;" Halleck's "Marco Bozzaris;" Drake's "AmericanFlag;" and Mrs. Thrale's "Three Warnings. " As an introduction to thethought, imagery and diction of Shakespeare, there were "Hamlet'sSoliloquy, " "Speech of Henry Fifth to his Troops, " "Othello's Apology, ""The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey" and his death, the "Quarrel of Brutus andCassius" (often committed to memory and spoken) and Antony's Orationover dead Caesar. The extracts from orations were chosen largely fortheir relation to great events in history. There were Patrick Henry's"Speech before the Virginia Convention, " Walpole's "Reproof of Mr. Pitt, " and Pitt's reply. Who cannot remember "The atrocious crime ofbeing a young man, " and go on with the context? There were extractsfrom Hayne's "Speech on South Carolina, " and Webster's reply defendingMassachusetts; a part of Burke's long speech on the Trial of WarrenHastings prefaced by Macaulay's description of the scene; Webster's"Speech on the Trial of a Murderer, " ending with "It must be confessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession;" Webster's speech on the Importance of theUnion with its concluding sentiment, "Liberty and Union, now andforever; one and inseparable. " There was also Fox's "Political Pause"with its wonderful requirements of inflection to express irony;Sprague's "American Indians, " "Not many generations ago, where you nowsit, encircled with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his holeunscared. " Did you not commit it to memory and speak it? Then there wasWebster's Speech in which he supplied John Adams from his own fervidimagination that favorite of all patriotic boys, "Sink or swim, liveor die, survive or perish; I give my hand and my heart to this vote. "At its close, "it is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence now, and independenceforever. "

[Literary Selections]

From the essayists there was Lamb's "Eulogy on Candle Light;" thatdelightful "Eulogy on Debt" from an unknown author; Addison's "Allegoryon Discontent, " and "Westminster Abbey;" and Jane Taylor's "DiscontentedPendulum. " Only seven selections were taken from the Bible; but one ofthese was Paul's Defense before Agrippa. There were, however, quite anumber of articles of strongly religious tendency, like Dr. Spring's"Observance of the Sabbath. "

The book contained two hundred and thirty-five selections and of thisnumber nearly one-half appeared in all subsequent revisions. 

This Rhetorical Guide or Fifth Reader is the book that by its carefulselection of specimens of the best English literature in prose and versecontributed most to the training of its readers toward the appreciationof true beauty in literature. It contained many pieces of solid andcontinuous worth, --many that relate closely to the great historical erasof the United States. 

[McGuffey's Ancestry]

In the latest revision of the highest reader, made in 1879, one hundredand thirty-eight selections composed the book. Of this number sixty-onewere in the original book as prepared by Mr. A. H. McGuffey. 

It was an admirable collection of much material that is still prized andwhich, when carefully read by pupils hungry for thoughtful language, made a deep and lasting impression. In many cases the inmost thought ofthe author may not have been at once fully apprehended by the youngreaders; but with advancing years and wider experience in life thestored words became instinct with thought and feeling. 

THE AUTHORS. 

Dr. William Holmes McGuffey was born September 28, 1800, on the southernborder of Washington county, Pa. The family descended from Williamand Anna (McKittrick) McGuffey who came from Scotland, and landed atPhiladelphia. They made a home in the southern part of York county, at which, during the Revolution, General Washington often stopped torefresh himself. In 1789 this family removed to Washington county, Pa. 

[The Indian Scouts]

Alexander McGuffey, the father of Dr. McGuffey, was six years old whenthe family came to America in August, 1774. In 1790, when he wastwenty-two years of age, he and his friend, Duncan McArthur, afterward agovernor of Ohio, were selected from five young men who volunteered toact as scouts against the Indians in Ohio who were then threatening thefrontier settlements in the western part of Virginia and Pennsylvania. These two young men were selected after tests by Samuel Brady to findwhich could run the fastest, shoot most accurately, and were leastafraid of Indians. Alexander McGuffey served in the army three years, venturing his life with small bodies of scouts in the Indian country. He took part in several fights with the Indians. When General St. Clairin 1792 marched north from Cincinnati to meet the Indians, this body ofscouts was one day concealed in a swamp near the spring of Castalia, Ohio. There they saw great numbers of Indians passing to meet GeneralSt. Clair, and three of the scouts hastened through the Indian countryto inform the general. They traveled only at night and hid during theday. One night they marched forty miles. They told General St. Clairwhat they had seen and again went out to watch the collecting Indians. Three days later St. Clair was defeated. These scouts were then twelvemiles away but the retreating soldiers soon overtook them and then the"woods were alive with Indians. " The scouts turned eastward and in duetime reached Logstown, near Wheeling. 

[Indian Warfare]

The next year McArthur, McGuffey and George Sutherland were again sentout by General Wayne to spy the Indians. When only seven or eight milesfrom Wheeling and west of the Ohio river, they came upon a trail whichled to a deer lick. Just at dusk McGuffey, who was leading the party, saw in the path the gaily decorated head-dress of an Indian. It had beenplaced there by the Indians who were in ambush close by and were readyto shoot any white man who should stop to pick it up. McGuffey sawthrough the stratagem instantly; without halting, he gave it a kick andshouted "Indians!" Several Indians fired at once and one of the ballssmashed McGuffey's powder horn, and passed through his clothing, but didnot wound him. The three scouts retreated in safety, and the Indians didnot follow them. 

The wars with the Indians in that region closed in 1794, and AlexanderMcGuffey then married Anna Holmes, of Washington county, and became asettler. His eldest son was William Holmes McGuffey. When this son wasbut two years old the family moved to Trumbull county, Ohio. Here, inthe care of a pious mother and father, he spent the years of childhoodand of early manhood, performing the labors falling upon the eldest sonin a large family of children dwelling in a log cabin on the frontier. From the heavy forest, fields were cleared, fenced and cultivated, roadswere made and bridges were built, and in all these labors the sturdy sonof the famous Indian scout took part. 

[A Frontier School]

During the first eighteen years of W. H. McGuffey's life he had noopportunities for education other than those afforded by the briefwinter schools supported by the voluntary subscriptions of the parentsin the neighborhood. 

In 1802 Rev. Thos. Hughes, a Presbyterian clergyman, built atDarlington, Pa. , the "Old Stone Academy" for the education of young men, having obtained the necessary funds by traveling on horseback throughoutPennsylvania and eastward even to Newburyport, Mass. 

This seminary of learning was conducted on lines of the utmost economyto meet the needs of the boys living on the frontier. The tuition wasonly three dollars a year and the charge for board was seventy-fivecents a week. The food was simple. For breakfast, bread, butter, andcoffee; for dinner, bread, meat, and sauce; for supper, bread and milk. The only variation allowed in this bill of fare was the occasionalomission of sauce or coffee. 

[The Old Stone Academy]

At the close of a summer day in 1818, Thomas Hughes was riding horsebackthrough Trumbull county. The dust on the highway deadened the sound ofhis horse's feet. While passing a log cabin, half hidden from the roadby intervening trees and shrubs, he heard the plaintive voice of a womanwho was in the garden, out of sight. The clergyman stopped his horse andlistened. He heard the woman earnestly praying that some way might beopened for her children to obtain such education as should fit them forthe duties of life. Riding on, the clergyman inquired at the next houseregarding the inmates of the log cabin. He was informed that a Mr. McGuffey lived there. Turning back he sought the prayerful mother andlearned from her the circumstances of the family. The doors of the "OldStone Academy" were opened to William H. McGuffey and he there obtainedhis first start in a preparation for college. But his labor could not bewholly spared on the farm so lately won from the surrounding forest. Heworked in the fields in summer, continuing his studies and walked manymiles once a week to recite his lessons to a kindly clergyman. 

W. H. McGuffey's father was too poor to aid his son in obtaining acollegiate education, and the latter soon turned to teaching as a meansof obtaining money to support himself in college. When prepared forcollege he went back to his native county and entered WashingtonCollege. He was in his twenty-sixth year when he graduated withdistinguished honors from that institution. 

It was at Washington College that W. H. McGuffey first met with a greatteacher and former of character, --Dr. Andrew Wylie, then the president. It was considered by Dr. McGuffey one of the most fortunate events ofhis life that he came at that time under the influence of Dr. Wylie'sforceful mind and elevated character. 

[A College Professor]

Dr. McGuffey was obliged to suspend his collegiate course for a year toearn more money for his support. He taught a private school at Paris, Ky. , in 1823 and 1824. There he met Dr. Robert H. Bishop, the presidentof Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Dr. Bishop was so impressed withthe character and mental power of the young teacher that on March 29, 1826, even before McGuffey received his bachelor's degree fromWashington College, he received his appointment as professor of AncientLanguages at Miami University. 

He graduated in 1826 and began his labor at Oxford, Ohio, at the openingof the fall session. He at once took high rank in a faculty consistingof strong men, and, young as he was, won the respect and homage of thestudents. In 1832 he was transferred to the chair of Mental Philosophy. To make this subject interesting and valuable to beginners requires, onthe part of the teacher, wide reading, clearness of thought, andsimplicity and directness of speech. These qualities Dr. McGuffey had. He had become well read in philosophy, especially of the Scottishschool, Brown being his favorite author. But he had fully assimilatedthe matter and had thought independently. He also had a fund of freshand suggestive illustrations coming within the daily experience of men, which brought his lectures close to the minds of the students. Whateverpositions of honor or of trust his pupils held in their later careers, they never ceased to feel the impulse which came from Dr. McGuffey as ateacher. 

On March 29, 1829, he was licensed as a preacher in the Presbyterianchurch, and from that date he became a frequent public speaker. He neverhad charge of a parish as minister, but usually preached on Sunday inthe college chapel to the students and to such of the public as couldobtain space to sit or to stand. The preacher's unassuming manner, theclearness of his thought, and the simplicity of his language producedimpressions that were enduring. He never wrote his sermons. He simplythought them out rigorously, and his mind worked so logically and insuch definite lines that he could repeat on request a sermon, preachedyears before, in a form recognized by his hearers as substantially thesame. 

[Cincinnati College]

After ten years spent in teaching and preaching at Miami University, Dr. McGuffey resigned, August 26, 1836, and accepted the presidency ofCincinnati College. 

This institution was chartered in the winter of 1818-1819 by thelegislature of Ohio, largely at the solicitation of Dr. Daniel Drake. Itwas partially endowed by the gifts of the public-spirited citizens ofCincinnati. But its collegiate functions had been allowed to drop, although a school on the Lancastrian system was maintained. 

The election of Dr. McGuffey as president of this college was a resultof renewed activity on the part of the leading men in the city to founda genuine college of high character in that city. They believed that ifwell conducted such an institution would bring to its doors studentsenough to support the college by their fees. 

A medical department was organized in June, 1835, with eight competentprofessors, a law department with three professors, and a faculty ofarts with seven teachers. In this faculty, William H. McGuffey waspresident and professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, O. M. Mitchell was professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, and Edward D. Mansfield was professor of Constitutional Law and History. Dr. McGuffeyaccepted the presidency with a full knowledge that the work wasexperimental. A trial of three years demonstrated that a college couldnot be sustained without an invested endowment. Cincinnati College "wasendowed with genius, and nothing else. "

[Ohio University]

In 1839, Dr. McGuffey accepted the presidency of the Ohio University atAthens, Ohio, which office he held for four years. During these yearshis faculties were at their fullest development. He had become anexperienced, scholarly teacher and a popular speaker on religious andeducational subjects. The students at Athens held him in the highestesteem, and the influence of his teaching became deeper as years rolledby and experience emphasized his lessons. 

In 1839 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws conferred uponhim by the Indiana University, of which his former teacher and friend, Dr. Wylie, was then president. 

The income of the Ohio University came chiefly from the rents of twoentire townships of land which had been given it for an endowment. Thisland was lawfully revalued at the end of ten years. The revaluation wascontested in the courts by the tenants. The Supreme Court decided infavor of the university; but the farmers induced the legislature in 1843to pass a law which fixed the income of the university from these landsat a sum so low as to cause the doors of the institution to be closedfor five years. 

Dr. McGuffey returned to Cincinnati and was for two years a professor inWoodward College, now Woodward High School. 

[University of Virginia]

In 1845 he was appointed professor of Natural and Moral Philosophy inthe University of Virginia. This position he filled with credit tohimself and with great acceptance to the students in that institutionfor more than a quarter of a century and until his death on May 4, 1873. 

Dr. McGuffey's classes in the University of Virginia were well attended. His lectures were delivered extempore, in language exactly expressinghis thoughts. His illustrations were most apt. He taught "with thesimplicity of a child, with the precision of a mathematician, and withthe authority of truth. "

[Method of Teaching]

A portion of the lecture hour was given to questioning the members ofthe class. In this he used the Socratic method, leading the pupil by aseries of questions to the discovery of the incorrectness of hisreasoning or the falsity of his grounds. By this process the studentswere led to question their own reasoning, to think clearly and toexpress their thoughts accurately. 

Dr. McGuffey once told a pupil that he had preached three thousandsermons and had never written one. Until late in life he had neverwritten his lectures. Shortly before his death he began the preparationof a book on Mental Philosophy. This was never completed. 

Dr. McGuffey was twice married. By his first wife. Miss Harriet Spinningof Dayton, he had several children. One daughter, Mary, married Dr. William W. Stewart of Dayton; another, Henrietta, married Professor A. D. Hepburn who was for a time president of Miami University. ProfessorHepburn's son, in turn inheriting his grandfather's faculty of teaching, is a professor in the University of Indiana. 

[Interest in Public Schools]

In 1837 Professor Calvin E. Stowe went to Europe to investigate theorganization and method of elementary schools. On his return hepublished, in 1838, his report on the Prussian system. Subsequently Dr. McGuffey labored in Ohio with Samuel Lewis and other public-spirited menfor the passage of the general school law under which the common schoolsof Ohio were first organized. He carried to Virginia the same zeal forthe education of all the children of the state to prepare them for theduties of life. One of his first acts on assuming the duties of hisprofessorship in the university was to make a tour of the stateadvocating the introduction of a public school system in Virginia. To this first appeal for common schools, open alike to rich and poor, there was then but a feeble response; but, twenty-five years later, Dr. McGuffey had the satisfaction of seeing the public schools organizedwith one of his own friends and a former pupil at its head, --Hon. W. H. Ruffner. 

Dr. McGuffey was a man of medium stature and compact figure. Hisforehead was broad and full; his eyes clear and expressive. His featureswere of the strongly marked rugged Scotch type. He was a ready speaker, a popular lecturer on educational topics, and an able preacher. He wasadmirable in conversation. His observation of men was accurate, and hisstudy of character close. 

[Trip Through the South]

After the Civil War and while the reconstruction was in progress itwas extremely difficult in the North to obtain a correct view of thesituation in the South. State governments had been established in which"carpet-baggers" had more or less control. Nearly all the whites in theSouth had taken part in the war. They were largely disfranchised andtheir former servants often became the legal rulers. The Klu Klux Klanhad begun their unlawful work, of which the papers gave contradictoryreports. 

As business men, the publishers of McGuffey's Readers desired to learnthe truth about the situation of the South and its probable future. They asked Dr. McGuffey to take a trip through the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and make report to them at Cincinnati. This hedid, visiting all the larger towns where he was usually the honoredguest of some graduate of the university. He saw the legislatures insession, met the governors, and studied the whole situation. He thencame to Cincinnati and told his story. He had made no notes, but henever hesitated for a name. He repeated conversations with unquestionedaccuracy and described with humor the gross ignorance and brutality ofsome of the southern legislators, the looting of the capitol at the endof the session, the indirect robbery that was under way, the reversal ofall the conditions of life, and the growing unrest of the men who hadheretofore been the rulers. 

It was such a picture as at that time no Northern paper would have daredto print--it was the truth. For days he held his listeners captive withthe story--the writer never heard a more interesting one. 

[College of Teachers]

While Dr. McGuffey was still at Oxford, Ohio, he took part in theformation of probably the first extended Teachers' Association formed inthe West. There had been a previous association of Cincinnati teachersorganized for mutual aid and improvement. This was about to be givenup; but at their first anniversary on June 20, 1831, Mr. Albert Pickett, principal of a private school in Cincinnati, proposed a plan fororganizing in one body the instructors in public and private schools andthe friends of education. Circulars were sent out and the first meetingof the College of Teachers was held October 3, 1832. A great number ofteachers from many states of the West and South attended these meetingsand took part in the proceedings. Throughout its continuance Dr. McGuffey took an active part in the work. In the years 1832-1836fifty-seven addresses were delivered to the College by thirty-ninespeakers. Of this number Dr. McGuffey prepared and delivered three. 

[Topics Discussed]

The proceedings of the College of Teachers were published in annualpamphlets which together formed two large octavo volumes. The topicswhich were then under discussion are best shown by the titles of a fewof the addresses, with the name of the speaker and the year of delivery:

On Introducing the Bible into Schools, Rev. B. P. Aydelott, 1836;Importance of making the business of Teaching a Profession, LymanBeecher, D. D. , 1833; The Kind of Education Adapted to the West, Professor Bradford, 1833; Qualifications of Teachers, Mr. Mann Butler, 1832; Physical Education, Dr. Daniel Drake, 1833; On Popular Education, John P. Harrison, M. D. , 1836; On the Study and Nature of AncientLanguages, A. Kinmont, 1832; On Common Schools, Samuel Lewis, Esq. , 1835; On the Qualifications of Teachers, E. D. Mansfield, Esq. , 1836;Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Teachers, Rev. W. H. McGuffey, A. M. , 1835; General Duties of Teachers, Albert Pickett, 1835; Philosophy ofthe Human Mind, Bishop Purcell, 1836; Utility of Cabinets of NaturalScience, Joseph Ray, 1836; Agriculture as a Branch of Education, Rev. E. Slack, 1836; Education of Emigrants, Professor Calvin Stowe, 1835; BestMethod of Teaching Composition, D. L. Talbott, 1835; Manual Labor in theSchools, Milo G. Williams. 

Some of these topics are still engrossing the attention of teachers attheir annual meetings for the discussion of live educational questions. 

While Dr. McGuffey was at Oxford, teaching mental philosophy to thepupils in Miami University, he prepared the manuscript for the two lowerreaders of the graded series which bore his name. To test his work whilein progress, he collected in his own house a number of small childrenwhom he taught to read by the use of his lessons. 

It is evident that these readers were prepared at the solicitation ofthe publishers and on such a general plan as to number and size as wasdesired by the publishers. Dr. McGuffey was selected by them as the mostcompetent teacher known to them for the preparation of successful books. He did not prepare the manuscripts and search for a publisher. 

[The Copyright Contract]

On April 28, 1836, he made a contract with Truman & Smith, publishers ofCincinnati, for the preparation and publication of a graded series ofreaders to consist of four books. The First and Second readers were thenin manuscript, the Third and Fourth readers were to be completed withineighteen months. They were both issued in 1837. Dr. Benjamin Chidlaw, then a student in college, aided the author by copying the indicatedselections and preparing them for the printer. He received for this workfive dollars and thought himself well paid. 

These four books constituted the original series of the Eclectic Readersby W. H. McGuffey which in all the subsequent revisions have borne hisname and retained the impress of his mind. 

The First Reader made a thin 18mo book of seventy-two pages, havinggreen paper covered sides; the Second Reader contained one hundred andsixty-four pages of the same size. The Third Reader had a larger pageand was printed as a duodecimo of one hundred and sixty-five pages. Thefourth Reader ranked in size with the Third and contained three hundredand twenty-four printed pages. Each was printed from the type, which wasdistributed when the required number for the edition came from thepress. 

By the terms of the contract the publishers paid a royalty of ten percent on all copies sold until the copyright should reach the sum of onethousand dollars, after which the Readers became the absolute propertyof the publishers. It must be remembered that in those days this sum ofmoney seemed much larger than it would at the present time, and it maybe questioned whether this newly organized firm of publishers commandedas much as a thousand dollars in their entire business. At any ratethe contract was mutually satisfactory and remained so to the end ofthe author's life. Right here it seems proper to remark that althoughthe McGuffey readers became the property of the publishers when theroyalties reached one thousand dollars. Dr. McGuffey was employed by thepublishers in connection with important revisions so long as he livedand the contracts specify a "satisfactory consideration" in each case. 

[Later Contracts]

When, after the Civil War, these readers attained a sale which becamevery profitable to the firm then owning the copyrights, the partners, without suggestion or solicitation, fixed upon an annuity which was paidDr. McGuffey each year so long as he lived. This was a voluntaryrecognition of their esteem for the man and of the continued value ofhis work. 

[The Beecher Family]

Before Dr. McGuffey completed the manuscripts of the Third and Fourthreaders he left Oxford and went to Cincinnati. Here he found himself inclose touch with a community fully alive to the claims of education. Cincinnati, in 1837, was the largest city in the West excepting NewOrleans and was the great educational center of the West. The earlysettlers of Cincinnati were generally well educated men and they had akeen sense of the value of learning. The public schools of Cincinnatiwere then more highly developed than those of any other city in theWest. Woodward High School had been endowed and Dr. Joseph Ray, theauthor of the well known arithmetics, was the professor of mathematicsthere. The Cincinnati College was then bright with the promise of futureusefulness. Lane Seminary was founded and Dr. Lyman Beecher was inductedprofessor of Theology on December 26, 1832, and became the firstpresident. He went to Cincinnati with his brilliant family. His eldestdaughter, Catherine, had already won a high reputation as a teacher, acting as principal of the Hartford (Conn. ) Female Institute. Hisyounger daughter, Harriet, married, in January, 1836, Calvin E. Stowe, then one of the professors in Lane Seminary. It was while in Cincinnatithat she gathered material and formed opinions which she later embodiedin "Uncle Tom's Cabin. " In 1834 Henry Ward Beecher graduated at AmherstCollege. He and his brother, Charles, then went to Cincinnati to studytheology under their father. While pursuing his studies Henry WardBeecher devoted his surplus energies to editorial work on the CincinnatiDaily Journal. These were some of the people of Cincinnati interested inthe problem of education who took part with Dr. McGuffey in thediscussions of the College of Teachers and labored zealously for thepromotion of education in every department. While president of LaneSeminary. Dr. Beecher was also the pastor of the Second PresbyterianChurch in Cincinnati where W. B. Smith was an attendant. 

[Alexander H. McGuffey]

Dr. McGuffey left Cincinnati in 1839, and when the publisher, Mr. Winthrop B. Smith, found it necessary to add to the four McGuffey'sReaders another more advanced book, he employed for its preparation, Mr. Alexander H. McGuffey, a younger brother of Dr. McGuffey. Mr. AlexanderH. McGuffey had, in 1837, prepared for Messrs. Truman & Smith themanuscript of McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book, and although the natureof this task was very different from the preparation of a reader for thehighest grades in the elementary schools, the result showed that thepublishers judged wisely in selecting a man competent to prepare aselection from English literature. 

[Illustration: ALEXANDER H. McGUFFEY]

Mr. Alexander Hamilton McGuffey was born August 13, 1816, in TrumbullCounty, Ohio. He was sixteen years younger than his brother, William, and when only ten years of age was placed under charge of his brotherat Oxford, Ohio. There he studied Hebrew before he had any knowledgeof the grammar of his mother tongue. He was a brilliant student, andhe graduated from Miami University at the age of sixteen. Soon aftergraduation he was appointed Professor of Belles Lettres at WoodwardCollege. In this field of labor his knowledge of English literature wasbroadened and he acquired a love for the classic English writers thatlasted through life. But Mr. McGuffey determined to become a lawyer and, while still teaching English literature in Woodward College, he readlaw. He was admitted to the bar as soon as he reached his twenty-firstyear, and became a noted and wise counsellor. His labor for his clientswas in keeping them out of the courts by clearly expressed contracts andprudent action. He was seldom engaged in jury trials; but was expert incases involving contracts and wills. In such suits his knowledge of theprinciples of law and his power of close reasoning were valuable. He wasoften placed in positions of trust, and was for more than fifty yearsthe watchful guardian of the interests of the Cincinnati College. 

[The Rhetorical Guide]

He prepared the manuscript of the Rhetorical Guide after the close ofhis labor as a teacher. The work probably occupied his leisure time in alaw office before he acquired remunerative practice in his profession. 

[McGuffey's Sixth Reader]

The contract between Mr. A. H. McGuffey and W. B. Smith, dated September30, 1841, provided for the preparation within eighteen months, of themanuscript of a book to be called McGuffey's Rhetorical Reader, or byany other appropriate name which Mr. Smith might select. It was tocontain not less than three hundred and twenty-four duodecimo pages normore than four hundred and eighty. Mr. Smith paid five hundred dollarsfor it, in three notes payable in three, twelve, and eighteen monthsafter the delivery of the manuscript. The book was issued in 1844 asMcGuffey's Rhetorical Guide. Its material, revised by its author, laterbecame, in modified form, the Fifth Reader in the five-book series, andagain much of the same material was used in the Sixth Reader publishedfirst in 1855. 

Mr. A. H. McGuffey died at his home on Mt. Auburn, Cincinnati, on June 3, 1896. He was twice married. His first wife, married in 1839, was MissElizabeth M. Drake, daughter of the eminent Dr. Daniel Drake. After herdeath he married Miss Caroline V. Rich of Boston. He had a large family. A son, Charles D. McGuffey. Esq. , lives at Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Mr. A. H. McGuffey was a noteworthy figure in any assemblage of men. Hewas tall, slender and erect. His manner was urbane and reserved. Heserved on many charitable and educational boards and was attentive tohis trusts. He was an active member of the Episcopalian Church, beingmany years a warden in his parish, and frequently a delegate to theDiocesan Convention, where he was a recognized authority onEcclesiastical Law. 

In a life of nearly eighty years in which he was active in manyeducational and beneficent enterprises his early work in the preparationof the Rhetorical Guide probably exercised the widest, the best, andthe most enduring influence. Many of the newspapers in all parts of thecountry published notices of his death, recognizing in kindly terms theservice that had been rendered the writers by the schoolbook of which hewas the author. 

THE PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS. 

Since the McGuffey Readers became at an early day the absolute propertyof their publishers, they became responsible for all subsequentrevisions and corrections of the books. 

[Truman & Smith]

The firm of Truman & Smith was organized about 1834 by William B. Trumanand Winthrop B. Smith. Both had had some experience in the business ofselling books. It is highly probable that this firm became for a shorttime the Western agent for some schoolbooks made in the East. But Mr. Smith soon perceived a distinct demand for a series adapted to theWestern market and supplied near at hand. He had the courage to followhis convictions. 

Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was born in Stamford, Conn. , September 28, 1808, the son of Anthony and Rebecca (Clarke) Smith. He was, in his youth, anemployee in a book-house in New Haven. At the age of eighteen he went toCincinnati, declaring that he would not return to his home until he wasindependent. He labored there fourteen years before he returned, notrich, but established in an independent career. He often declared thatuntil 1840, he was "insolvent, but no one knew it. "

Before entering business, Mr. Smith received a sound common schooleducation. This, grounded on a nature well endowed with common sense, great energy, and strong determination, qualified him for success inbusiness. He became a man of great originality, clear-headed andfar-sighted. Toward his employees he was just, but exacting. He was agood judge of the character and qualities of other men, and was thusable to bring to his aid competent assistants who were loyal andeffective. 

Mr. Smith married in Cincinnati on November 4th, 1834, Mary Sargent. Hedied in Philadelphia, December 5th, 1885, in his 78th year. Of hisfamily, one son is a banker in Philadelphia. 

[Their First Publications]

The firm of Truman & Smith published several miscellaneous books, mostlyreprints of standard works likely to have a steady sale. Their firstventure in a copyrighted book was "The Child's Bible with Plates; by alady of Cincinnati, " which was entered on June 2, 1834. On June 21st ofthe same year the firm entered the titles of three books: "Mason'sSacred Harp, " a collection of church music by Lowell Mason of Boston, and Timothy B. Mason of Cincinnati; "Introduction to Ray's EclecticArithmetic, " by Dr. Joseph Ray; and "English Grammar on the ProductiveSystem, " by Roswell C. Smith. Of these four books the arithmetic wasissued on July 4, 1834. It was the firm's first schoolbook. In revisedand enlarged form it later became the first book in the successfulseries of "Ray's Arithmetics. "

But even in those early days, books would not sell themselves unlesstheir qualities were made known to the public. Agents had to beemployed--and at first Mr. Smith was his own best agent. There wereexpenses for travel and for sample books, for advertising, as well asfor printing and binding. 

[Illustration: W. B. Smith]

The Truman and Smith team did not always pull together. Mr. Truman wasnot versed in the schoolbook business. Mr. Smith was. 

[The Dissolution]

It is said that Mr. Smith went early one morning to their humble shop onthe second floor of No. 150 Main street, and made two piles of samplebooks. In one he put all the miscellaneous publications of the firm, bigand little--the Child's Bible and Sacred Harp among them--and on top ofthe pile placed all the cash the firm possessed; in the other, were halfa dozen small text books, including the four McGuffey Readers. WhenMr. Truman arrived, Mr. Smith expressed the desire to dissolve thepartnership, showed the two piles and offered Mr. Truman his choice. He pounced on the cash and the larger pile and left the insignificantschoolbooks for Mr. Smith, who thereupon became the sole owner ofMcGuffey's Readers. 

This separation of the partnership took place in 1841 and although thereis no documentary evidence of the exact method in which it was broughtabout, the division of assets was in accord with the spirit of theincident as handed down by tradition. 

[A Lesson in Copyright Law]

Mr. Truman's apparent disgust with the schoolbook business may havecome in part from a lawsuit in which his firm was made a defendant. Sooner or later, publishers are quite likely to obtain some elementaryinstructions as to the meaning and intent of the copyright law throughaction taken in court. Messrs. Truman & Smith took a lesson in 1838. 

On October 1st of that year Benjamin F. Copeland and Samuel Worcesterbrought suit in the court of the United States against Truman & Smithand William H. McGuffey for infringement of copyright, alleging thatmaterial had been copied from Worcester's Second, Third, and FourthReaders and that even the plan of the two latter readers had beenpirated. 

A temporary injunction was issued December 25, 1838; but before thatdate the McGuffey Readers had been carefully compared with the WorcesterReaders and every selection was removed that seemed in the slightestdegree an invasion of the previous copyright of the Worcester Readers. As these McGuffey books were still not stereotyped, it cost no more toset up new matter than to reset the old. On the title page of each bookappeared the words, "Revised and Improved Edition, " and two pages inexplanation and defense were inserted. In these the publishers statedthat certain compilers of schoolbooks, in New England, felt themselvesaggrieved that the McGuffey books contained a portion of matter similarto their own which was considered common property, and had institutedlegal proceedings against them with a view to the immediate suppressionof the McGuffey books and in the meantime had provided supplies of theWorcester books to meet the demand of the West. 

[Avoidance of Issue]

No objection was raised to meeting these compilers on their own grounds;but for both parties there was another tribunal than the law. "Thepublic never choose schoolbooks to please compilers. " They stated thatto place themselves entirely in the right and remove every cause forcavil or complaint they had expunged everything claimed as original, andsubstituted other matter, which, both for its fitness and variety wouldadd to the value of the Eclectic Readers. Throughout this preface, afterstating the facts regarding the suit, there was a strong claim for thesupport of Western enterprise. 

Although in this appeal the publishers stated that the correspondencesbetween the two series were "few and immaterial, " a careful comparisonof the early edition of the Second Reader with the "Revised and ImprovedEdition" shows that Mr. Smith took out seventeen selections and insertedin their places new matter. To an unprejudiced examiner it appearsthat the new matter was better than the old. The old marked copy ofWorcester's Second Reader, preserved for all these years, shows tenpieces that were used in both books. It thus appears that the publishertook this opportunity to improve the books as well as to make themunassailable under the copyright law. In three months between thebringing of the suit and the granting of an injunction, Mr. Smith hadmade his improved edition safe and rendered the injunction practicallyvoid. 

[The Suit Settled]

The court proceeded in the usual manner and appointed a master toexamine the books and make report to ascertain what damage had beeninflicted on the owners of the Worcester Readers. But Mr. Smith was anattendant in church and doubtless had heard Dr. Beecher read, "Agreewith thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest atany time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliverthee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison, " and he had no desireto remain there until he had "paid the uttermost farthing. "

When the master, in the leisurely execution of his duty, made his reportnearly two years later, the court found that the defendants had removedfrom their books the pirated parts and that the suit had been settled bypaying the plaintiffs two thousand dollars. There was no further contestabout the plan of the two books. 

The Worcester Readers had a short and inconspicuous life. When this suitwas brought, their publishers were Richardson, Lord and Holbrook ofBoston. In 1836 Charles J. Hendee published them, and in 1854 theyappeared with the name of Jenks, Hickling & Swan of Boston. Theseseveral publishers were probably gobbled up by some imaginary Book Trustsixty years ago. 

Dr. McGuffey undoubtedly inserted these selections innocent of any wrongintent and supposed them to be in common use. 

[Early Popular Schoolbooks]

As early as 1848 the success of the Eclectic Readers was sufficient toexcite imitation and in the First Reader of that year Mr. Smith printedfour preliminary pages warning his patrons not to be deceived by"Newman's Southern Eclectic Readers. "

In the first century after the settlement of this country the NewEngland Primer had a history which in some respects resembles that ofthe McGuffey Readers. In that case, the settlers were widely removedfrom the source of supply which had in past years served their needs. The Primer was strongly religious and fully in accord with the faith ofthe people. It served as a first book in reading and was followed by theBible. This Primer was not protected by copyright and any enterprisingbookseller or printer in a remote town could manufacture an edition tosupply the local demand. The excessive cost of transportation was thusavoided. 

[Changed Conditions]

Somewhat similar causes contributed to the widespread use andlong-continued demands for Webster's Spelling Book, which wascopyrighted. This book had the support of the authority of Webster'sDictionary--an original American work; and it soon became a staplearticle of merchandise which was kept in stock in every country store. It supplanted the New England Primer and became the first book in thehands of every pupil. Less marked in its religious instruction, thespeller spread through the South and into regions where the people werenot trained in the Puritan doctrines. The wonderful sales of Webster'sSpelling Book remained for many years after the War; but have nowdropped to insignificance. It is not probable that other books willunder present conditions repeat the history of these books. There isnow no wide region of fertile country rapidly filling with settlers andseparated from their former sources of supply by great distance and bymountain ranges unprovided with passable roads. Even the more newlysettled regions of the country are reached by railroads and the partsearly settled are covered by a network of railroads, of telegraph andtelephone wires which bring the consumer and the producer near together. 

In the manufacture of books as with most other articles, machinery hastaken the place of hand work. When W. B. Smith carried on his business inthe second story over a small shop on Main street, Cincinnati, nearlyevery process in the manufacture of a book was mere hand labor. Thetools employed were of the simplest character. Now a book-factory isfilled with heavy machines of the most complicated kind, which in manycases feed themselves from stocks of material placed upon them. Newmachines are constantly being invented to cheapen and perfect themanufacture. Thus a very large investment of capital is now required toset up and maintain a plant which can produce books economically andwith perfect finish in every part. Books are seldom manufactured inplaces remote from the large cities and very few of the publishers ofschoolbooks make the books which they sell. They contract for them withprinters and binders. 

[Stereotyped Editions]

The first four editions of McGuffey's Readers were printed from theactual type, as all books were once printed; but before 1840 the readerswere produced from stereotyped plates. The use of such plates enabled thepublisher to secure greater accuracy in the work and also enabled him topresent books that in successive editions should be exactly the same insubstance as those already in use. Since that date electrotype plateshave displaced stereotypes, as they afford a sharper, clearer impressionand endure more wear. 

In a First Reader printed in the fall of 1841 there are two pages ofadvertising matter in which Truman & Smith claimed to have sold 700, 000of the Eclectic Series. This book is bound with board sides and a muslinback and a careful defense of this binding is made, claiming that themuslin is "much more durable than the thin tender leather usually putupon books of this class. " This statement was unquestionably true. Theleather referred to was of sheepskin and of very little strength, but ittook very many years to convince the public of the untruth of thesaying, "There is nothing like leather. "

[Dr. Pinneo, Editor]

It is said that Mr. Smith, in the early days of his career as apublisher, himself made the changes and corrections which experienceshowed were needed; but, about 1843, he employed Dr. Timothy StonePinneo to act under his direction in literary matters. 

[Dr. Pinneo's Work]

Dr. Pinneo was the eldest son of the Rev. Bezaleel Pinneo, an earlygraduate of Dartmouth College, who was for more than half a centurypastor of the First Congregational Church in Milford, Conn. Dr. Pinneowas born at Milford in February, 1804. His mother was a woman ofculture, Mary, only daughter of the Rev. Timothy Stone of Lebanon, Conn. , a graduate of Yale College. Dr. Pinneo graduated at Yale in theclass of 1824. A severe illness in the winter after his graduation madeit necessary for him to spend his winters in the South until his healthwas sufficiently restored to enable him to pursue the study of medicine. He taught for a time in the Charlotte Hall Institute, Maryland, andthen removed to Ohio. He acted one year as professor of Mathematicsand Natural Philosophy in Marietta College. He studied medicine inCincinnati and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the OhioMedical College in 1843. On June 1, 1848, he married Jeanette Linsley, daughter of Rev. Dr. Joel H. Linsley, at one time president of MariettaCollege. Dr. Pinneo was for eighteen years a resident in Cincinnati. In1862 he went to Greenwich, Conn. , where he was occupied in literary workand in the conduct of a boys' boarding school. In 1885, after his wife'sdeath, he removed to Norwalk, Conn. , where he died August 2, 1893. Twodaughters and a son survived him. Dr. Pinneo contributed materially tothe revisions of McGuffey's Readers made in 1843 and in 1853; but boththese revisions passed through the hands of Dr. McGuffey, then at theUniversity of Virginia, and were approved by him. It does not appearthat Dr. Pinneo exercised any personal authority over the readers. Hewas employed, for moderate amounts, to prepare revisions which weresatisfactory to both publisher and author. In the revision of 1843, hiswork was confined to the Third and Fourth readers. The First and Secondreaders were remade by Daniel G. Mason, then a teacher in the schools ofCincinnati. In the revision of 1853 the entire series passed through Dr. Pinneo's hands. He probably corrected the proof sheets. Dr. Pinneo'slatest work on the McGuffey Readers was done in 1856. 

After leaving Cincinnati, Dr. Pinneo prepared, and Mr. Smith published, a series of grammars--the Analytical, issued in 1850, and the Primary, in 1854. He was also the author of a High School Reader and of Hemans'sYoung Ladies' Readers. These books had for some years a considerablesale. 

[Obed J. Wilson]

As early as 1853 Mr. Obed J. Wilson was in the office of Mr. Smith asan employee. Mr. Wilson was born in Bingham, Maine, in 1826, and earnedhis first money as an axman in the pine forests which were in that daynear his native town. He obtained, in the common schools, sufficienteducation to become a teacher and he never ceased to be a student, thusacquiring a broad acquaintance with English literature. He taught in theschools of Cincinnati when he first went West. There his abilities soonattracted the attention of Mr. Smith, who employed him. For some yearshe traveled as an agent, chiefly in Indiana and Wisconsin, introducingthe books of the Eclectic Series. He gradually became Mr. Smith'strusted assistant, particularly in the direction of the work of agentsand in the selection of new books, and their adaptation to the demandsof the field. He married Miss Amanda Landrum, who was also a skilledteacher in the Cincinnati schools. Mrs. Wilson was responsible for arevision of the McGuffey First Reader made in 1863. She also at thattime corrected the plates of the higher numbers of the series. For manyyears thereafter Mr. Wilson was the chief authority for Mr. Smith andhis successors in literary matters, and few men excelled him in breadthof reading and in discriminating taste. 

Mr. Wilson lives in his home near Cincinnati which is filled with thechoice books which he has read and studied so faithfully, and he stillhas the companionship of the wife who has been his constant helpmate formore than half a century. 

Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was the sole proprietor of the McGuffey Readersand his other publications from 1841 until about 1852. He then admittedas partners, Edward Sargent and Daniel Bartow Sargent, his wife'sbrothers, and the firm name became W. B. Smith & Co. 

[Eastern Publishers]

While books could be manufactured in the West even in the early yearscheaper than they could be delivered in the West from the betterorganized establishments in the older cities of the East, it was notpossible to deliver books in New York from Cincinnati so cheaply as thebooks could be made in the East. The cost of transportation constituteda very considerable element in the price of schoolbooks. Mr. Smiththerefore made an arrangement with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New York, to become the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Readers and otherbooks, and a duplicate set of plates was sent to New York. From theseplates, editions of the readers were manufactured, largely at Claremont, N. H. , bearing on the title page the imprint of Clark, Austin & Smith, New York. 

The Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a brother of Winthrop B. Smith. Cornelius Smith withdrew from this firm before 1861. In that yearthe war broke out, and this New York firm, which as booksellers andstationers had a large trade in the South, lost not only their custom inthat section, but were unable to collect large amounts due them forgoods. Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co. Failed and Mr. W. B. Smith bought, in1862, all their assets for the sum of $6, 000, placed Mr. W. B. Thalheimerin charge of the business and resumed control of the duplicate plates ofthe McGuffey Readers. 

From the location of Cincinnati on the Ohio river, then affordingthe cheapest means of distributing goods to all parts of the South, Mr. Smith had obtained, before 1860, a very considerable part of theschoolbook trade in the Southern states of the Mississippi Valley. The opening of the Civil War swept this trade away and left on thebooks of the firm in Cincinnati many accounts not then collectible. The continuance of the war and the constant fluctuations in the price ofmaterials, due to the use of paper money, joined to advancing age andill health, all combined to lead Mr. Smith to withdraw from business. 

[New Firm Formed]

A new firm, Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle, was organized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent, Obed J. Wilson and Anthony H. Hinkle as generalpartners, and with W. B. Smith and D. B. Sargent as special partners. 

These active partners had long been in this business, Mr. Sargent asa partner and bookkeeper, Mr. Wilson as literary editor of skill andjudgment and also a forceful manager of agents, Mr. Hinkle as athoroughly skilled binder and manufacturer. 

Winthrop B. Smith and D. B. Sargent remained as special partners, furnishing capital but taking no part in the direction of the business. 

[Southern Reprint]

The Confederate States, at the opening of the War, had within theirlimits no publisher of schoolbooks which had extensive sales. Nearly allof the schoolbooks used in the South were printed in the North. Butthere were printing offices and binderies in the South. The childrencontinued to go to school, and the demand for schoolbooks soon becameurgent. To meet this demand, a few new schoolbooks were made andcopyrighted under the laws of the Confederacy; but others were reprintsof Northern books such as were in general use. The Methodist BookConcern of Nashville, Tenn. , reprinted the McGuffey Readers and suppliedthe region south and west of Nashville until the Federal line swept pastthat city. This action on the part of the Methodist Book Concern had theeffect of preserving the market for these readers, so that as soon asany part of the South was strongly occupied by the Federal forces, orders came to the Cincinnati publishers for fresh supplies of theMcGuffey Readers. This unexpected preservation of trade was of greatbenefit to the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle. 

[Wilson, Hinkle & Co. ]

In 1866 the special interests were closed out, and Mr. Lewis Van Antwerpwas admitted as a partner. On April 20, 1868, the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle was dissolved. Mr. Sargent retired and the new firm, Wilson, Hinkle & Co. , bought all the assets. At this date Mr. RobertQuincy Beer became a partner. Mr. Beer had long been a trusted andsuccessful agent and he was put in charge of the agency department. Under this partnership the business gradually became systematized indepartments. One partner had in charge the reading of manuscripts andthe placing of accepted works in book form, one had charge of themanufacture of books from plates provided by the first, and one offinding a market for the books. At the first organization of the firm ofWilson, Hinkle & Co. , Mr. Wilson was the literary manager as well as thedirector of agency work. Mr. Hinkle was the manufacturer, having controlof the printing and binding, and Mr. Van Antwerp had charge of theaccounts. Mr. Beer was brought in to relieve Mr. Wilson in the directionof agents. But Mr. Beer died suddenly, January 3, 1870, and thesurviving partners soon sought for another competent and experienced manto take his place. 

[Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. ]

Mr. Caleb S. Bragg had for years acted as the agent for a list of booksselected by him from the publications of two or three publishers and wasa partner in the firm of Ingham & Bragg, booksellers of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Bragg sold his interest in the business in Cleveland and became apartner in Wilson, Hinkle & Co. , on April 20, 1871; and at the sametime Henry H. Vail and Robert F. Leaman, who had for some years beenemployees, were each given an interest in the profits although notadmitted as full partners until three years later. Mr. Hinkle's eldestson, A. Howard Hinkle, was brought up in the business, and the contractfor 1874 provided that he should be admitted as a partner, with hisfather's interest and in his place, when that contract expired in 1877. The contract of 1874 was preparatory to the voluntary retirement of bothMr. Wilson and Mr. Hinkle. Consequently, on April 20, 1877, the firm ofWilson, Hinkle & Co. Was dissolved and the business was purchased by thenew firm. Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. , of which Lewis Van Antwerp, Caleb S. Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert F. Leaman, A. Howard Hinkle, and Harry T. Ambrose were the partners. This firm continued unchanged until January1, 1892, except for the untimely death of Mr. Leaman on December 12, 1887, and the retirement of Mr. Van Antwerp, January 2, 1890, justprevious to the sale of the copyrights and plates owned by the firm tothe American Book Company. 

This sale, completed May 15, 1890, did not then include the printingoffice and bindery belonging to the firm. These were used by the firm ofVan Antwerp, Bragg & Co. Until January 1, 1892, in manufacturing booksordered by the American Book Company. The American Book Company became, on May 15, 1890, the owners, by purchase, of all the copyrights andplates formerly owned by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. The four activepartners in that firm, each of whom had then been in the schoolbookbusiness some twenty-five or thirty years, entered the employ of theAmerican Book Company. Mr. Bragg and Mr. Hinkle remained in charge ofthe Cincinnati business, Mr. Vail and Mr. Ambrose went to New York; theformer as editor in chief, the latter was at first treasurer, but laterbecame the president. 

[A Vigorous Firm]

Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. Issued many new and successful books and remademany, including the McGuffey Readers and Speller, Ray's Arithmetics andHarvey's Grammars. Most of these met with acceptance and this was sofull and universal throughout the central West as to give opportunity tothe competing agents of other houses to honor Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. With such titles as "Octopus" and "Monopoly, " names that were usedbefore "Trusts" were invented. They also called the firm in chosencompanies, "Van Anteup, Grabb & Co. " These were mere playful or humoroustitles in recognition of the fact that this firm had, by its industry, skill and energy, captured a larger share of the patronage of the peoplethan was agreeable to its competitors, and they, in despair of successby fair means, resorted to the old-fashioned method of calling theirantagonist bad names. The best books, if pressed vigorously andintelligently, were sure to win in the end, and the people who used thebooks cared little what name appeared at the foot of the title-page. 

In all important book contests the firm that holds possession of thefield is much in the situation of the tallest man in a Kilkenny Fair. His head sticks up above the crowd and therefore gets the most knocks. 

[Revisers and Editors]

The latest revision of the McGuffey Readers, five books, was preparedand published by the American Book Company in 1901, under the samegeneral direction as the revision of 1878; but the actual work was doneby Dr. James Baldwin who was the author of the Harper Readers and ofBaldwin's Readers. Even in this latest edition there are in the higherbooks many selections that appeared in the earliest. Care was taken tomaintain the high moral tone that so clearly marked Dr. McGuffey's workand to bring in from later literature some valuable new material todisplace that which had proved less interesting and less instructive. These books acquired at once a large sale, and the sales of the previouseditions are still remunerative. 

Of the men connected with these successive owners of these copyrights itseems proper to name those who directed the revisions which took place. It is evident that none were undertaken without long and anxiousdiscussions as to the need of revision and of its nature. In suchdecisions all partners would take part; but finally the actual directionmust come into the hands of some one partner whose experience andqualification best fitted him for literary work. 

As has been seen, Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was for a few years, while thebusiness was still in its infancy, the sole owner and the manager ofevery part of his business. Mr. Pinneo contributed aid from 1843 to1856; but even before his work was finished Mr. O. J. Wilson's skillbecame recognized and his mind was dominant in literary matters so longas he remained a partner--until 1877. But in the meantime he hadcarefully trained a successor in the editorial work, and from 1877 until1907 the responsibility fell upon him. 

[New Competitors]

The story of the revisions of 1843 and 1853 has been told. The bookswere apparently in satisfactory use in a large part of the West; butabout 1874 the firm thought it wise to exploit a new series. At itsrequest Mr. Thomas W. Harvey prepared a series consisting of five books. This series was published in 1875; but the experience of a few yearswith the Harvey Readers showed that the people still preferred theMcGuffey Readers and after long discussion and hesitation it was agreedthat these should again be revised. This determination was hastened bythe publication of the Appleton Readers in 1877, and by the incoming ofa number of skilled agents pushing these books in the field that had formany years been held so strongly for the McGuffey Readers as to bafflethe best endeavors of two or three Eastern publishers who had tested themarket. 

The Appleton Readers were prepared by Mr. Andrew J. Rickoff, thensuperintendent of the Cleveland schools; Mr. William T. Harris, thensuperintendent of the St. Louis schools, and Professor Mark Bailey ofYale College. They were largely aided in the lower readers by Mrs. Rickoff. These books, with this array of scholarly and well-knownauthors, illustrated with carefully prepared engravings, well printedand well bound, became at once formidable competitors for patronage andwent into use in many places where the McGuffey Readers had served atleast two generations of pupils. The Harvey Readers stood no chance inthis competition. 

[The Revision of 1878]

On April 9, 1878, the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. Determined uponmaking a new series of readers bearing the well-recognized title ofMcGuffey's Eclectic Readers and distinguished as a "Revised Edition. "Some details of the plan as presented by the partner having literarymatters in charge were agreed to. The method of teaching in the firstreader was to be adjusted to a phonic-word method, and the gradation wasto be improved. The selections of the older books were to be retainedexcept where they could be improved. 

In accordance with this resolution the editor invited four persons toaid, during the summer, in this work. These were Thomas W. Harvey ofPainesville, Ohio; Robert W. Stevenson, of Columbus; Edwin C. Hewett, ofBloomington, Ill. ; and Miss Amanda Funnelle, of Terre Haute, Indiana. Each was a teacher of wide experience. 

To these assistants assembled in Cincinnati the plan of revisionwas fully explained and the work was alloted. Miss Funnelle and Mr. Stevenson took charge of the first three readers, Mr. Harvey and Dr. Hewett of the three higher books. All were perfectly familiar with theold books and in a few days substantial agreement was reached as to thechanges needed. By two months of constant and intelligent labor themanuscripts assumed approximate form. The opening of the schools calledthe assistants back to their homes and the editor of the firm shaped themanuscripts for the text and procured the necessary illustrations. Thesewere made, regardless of cost, by the best artists and engravers to befound in the country. When the plates were finished, the publishersprinted several hundred copies of each of the three smaller books anddistributed them as proofs to selected teachers in many states, askingthem for criticisms and suggestions. The answers made were of greatvalue. The First Reader was entirely re-written by the editor and theplates of other readers were made more perfect. In this revision thethree lower books were almost entirely new. The Fourth was largelynew matter, while in the Fifth and Sixth such matter as could not beimproved from the entire field of literature, was retained. The Fifthand Sixth readers furnished brief biographies of each author andcontained notes explanatory of the text. These were new features andthey proved valuable at that date. 

[Preparations for a Fight]

As soon as these books were completed, large editions were printed andthey were most vigorously exploited not only to take the place of theolder edition of McGuffey Readers, but to supplant the newly introducedAppleton Readers. 

This book-fight was a long and bitter one. Every device known to theagency managers of the houses engaged was employed. Even exchanges ofbooks became common. It was war; and like every war was carried on forvictory and not for profit. It is perhaps fortunate that such contestscannot in the nature of things last long. In the long run businessmust show a profit or fail. Contrary to popular opinion, a book war isnot profitable in itself; but it is a form of competition that hasexisted for fully a century. It presents no novelties even now. 

[Success Attained]

The two chief combatants at length withdrew with one accord. Neitherfirm could claim entire victory; but the McGuffey readers came throughwith much the larger sales and these increased for years. By thiscontest the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. Won a reputation asfighters that protected them in after years from ill-considered attacksby its competitors. 

The revised edition of the McGuffey Readers, having no author's name onthe title page, designed and compiled under the direction of thepublishers, but retaining the moral excellences and literary qualitiesthat had been affixed to the series from its origin, attained thelargest sales that have as yet been accorded by the public to a singleseries of books. Of the Sixth Reader, which must have the least sale, over a million copies have been distributed, as shown by the editionnumber. Of the First Reader more than eight million copies have beenused. 

[Other Competitors]

At no time in the history of these readers have they been withoutformidable competition. Pickett's Readers were published in Cincinnatias early as 1832. Albert Pickett was at one time president of theCollege of Teachers and his books were published by John W. Pickett, whowas probably his brother. Later some additional books were prepared byJohn W. Pickett, M. D. , LL. D. , and published by U. P. James in 1841, andby J. Earnst in 1845. These readers were vigorously pushed into themarket for several years, but in the end were unsuccessful. 

The Goodrich Readers published by Morton & Griswold in Louisville, Ky. , were perhaps the most constant competitors with the McGuffey Readers inthe early years throughout the states of the Mississippi Valley. Thesewere prepared by S. G. Goodrich, the author of the then popular "PeterParley Tales. " The readers were originally published in Boston andsome copies bear the imprint of Otis, Broaders & Co. They were firstcopyrighted in 1839 and were frequently revised. They finally became theproperty of the Louisville publisher. Mr. Smith and Mr. Morton kept up amost vigorous schoolbook war, especially in Ohio, Indiana and Kentuckyin the years from 1845 to 1860. Cobb's Readers, copyrighted in 1845, were published for some time in Cincinnati by B. Davenport. These wereonce widely introduced but soon went out of use. 

It was very much the custom in those early days, before the railroadsmade transportation quick and cheap for Eastern publishers to furnish aset of plates to some enterprising bookseller in the West or to print anedition for him with his imprint. 

Ebenezer Porter's Rhetorical Reader copyrighted in 1835 was sold largelyin the western market by William H. Moore, of Cincinnati, and in 1848the books bore his imprint. Thus there was ample competition for themarket even at this early date. The Pickett Readers, Cobb Readers, Goodrich Readers, and even the excellent Rhetorical Reader of EbenezerPorter were all swept out of the schools by the superior qualities ofthe McGuffey Readers and the persistent energies of their publishers. 

[Humorous Advertising]

In these books the publishers found space for a little advertising oftheir wares. In Pickett's Readers there is printed conspicuously at thetop of a page a warm commendation of Pickett's Readers, written in 1835by William H. McGuffey, Professor at Miami University, in which he"considers them superior to any other works I have seen. " That wasbefore he made his own readers. Mr. Smith responded by publishing astrong commendation of one of his books signed by Mr. Albert Pickett. Life is seldom devoid of the lesser amenities. 

The Willson Readers, published by the Harper Brothers, were vigorouslypushed into the schools of Ohio and Indiana about 1867. The first supplywas usually sold to the school authorities by agents who operated on thecommission plan. Thus the agents had an interest in the introductionsales, but cared nothing about the continuance of sales in after years. Booksellers, meanwhile, kept the McGuffey Readers in stock, and whenevernew readers were desired these were easily obtained. In a few years theWillson Readers were out of the schools. Of course, there was no lack oftraveling agents and of circulars which freely criticised these WillsonReaders, which were constructed to teach not only reading but science. After a short time the children wearied of reading about bugs andbeetles they had never seen and gladly welcomed the books that had asingle aim. 

[Enduring Qualities]

In the eyes of a publisher a good schoolbook is one that can be readilyintroduced and one that will stay when it is put in use. The officialswho adopt a schoolbook are not the users of the book. They are adultslong past the school age. Cases have been known when in importantadoptions the majority of the adopting board had not seen the inside ofa school room for twenty-five years. Of course such men are far behindthe schools. They are governed by their own past experience. When theteachers are allowed to have a voice in the way of advice, the realneeds of the pupils obtain more consideration. But the final real judgeof the merits of a schoolbook is the boy or girl who uses it. If thebook is truly pedagogical, adjusted in every part to the average mentaldevelopment of the child, it becomes a valuable tool in the school room. If on the other hand it is a mere collection of novelties such as catchthe eye of inexpert judges and impress merely the imagination, the booksmay be introduced; but they won't stay. 

[Child Nature]

The McGuffey Readers had staying qualities. Teachers often became sofamiliar with their contents that they needed no book in their handsto correct the work, but to each child the contents of the book werenew and fresh. It is the fashion of the present day to exalt the newat the expense of the old. But the child of today is very much suchas Socrates and Plato studied in Greece. The development of the humanmind may be more generally understood than it was then; but it may bedoubted whether the mass of teachers are today wiser in the results ofchild-study than were the philosophers of ancient days. Child natureremains the same. At a given stage in his upward progress, he isinterested in much the same things. He is led to think for himselfin much the same way, and the whole end and aim of education isto lead toward self activity. The readers that deal simply withfacts--information readers--may lodge in the minds of children somescraps of encyclopedic information which may in future life becomeuseful. But the readers that rouse the moral sentiments, that touch theimagination, that elevate and establish character by selections chosenfrom the wisest writers in English in all the centuries that have passedsince our language assumed a comparatively fixed literary form, have amuch more valuable function to perform. Character is more valuable thanknowledge and a taste for pure and ennobling literature is a safeguardfor the young that cannot be safely ignored. 

The success of the McGuffey Readers was due primarily to theiradaptation to the general demand of the schools and secondarily to theenergy and skill of their publishers. 

[Moral Teaching]

The books in their first form were strongly religious in their teachingwithout being denominational. If a selection taught a moral lesson thiswas stated in formal words at the close. The pill was not sugared. Thusat the close of a lesson narrating the results of disobedience, thethree little girls assembled and "they were talking how happy it madethem to keep the Fifth Commandment. " There was in the books much directteaching of moral principles, with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not. "In the later revisions this gradually disappeared. The moral teachingwas less direct but more effective. The pupil was left to make his owndeduction and the formal "haec fabula docet" was omitted. The authorand the publishers were fully justified in their firm belief that theAmerican people are a moral people and that they have a strong desirethat their children be taught to become brave, patriotic, honest, self-reliant, temperate, and virtuous citizens. 

In some of these books the retail price is printed. In 1844 the retailprice of the First Reader was twelve and a half cents. It contained 108pages. In the same year, the Second Reader of 216 pages was priced at 25cents. The Fourth Reader cost 75 cents, and contained 336 pages. 

These prices were in a market when the day's wage of a laboring man wasonly fifty cents. Relatively to the cost of other articles, schoolbookswere not nearly so cheap as they are now. 

[Copyright Files]

When Truman & Smith began publishing, the copyright law required thedeposit of titles and copies of the several books in the office ofthe Clerk of the District Court. At first such deposits were made inColumbus, Ohio, but later in Cincinnati. When Congress organized theCopyright Bureau in Washington, the several clerks were required to sendto the Library of Congress all the sample copies deposited; but thesehad been carelessly kept and many were lost. A duplicate set was foryears required to be sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. These were also passed into the custody of the Librarian of Congress;but this collection had been carelessly preserved and the files of theMcGuffey Readers at Washington are now quite defective for the earliestissues. The Library seems to have no copy of any number of the firstedition except possibly the Second and Fourth. The copy of the Secondwas deposited December 12, 1836. The Fourth bears date of July, 1837. All the other early copies found in that library are of later dates andare "Revised and Improved. "

[Early Engravings]

It may be well to indicate in a general way the progress that has beenmade in illustrating schoolbooks. The first editions of the McGuffeyReaders as issued in 1836 and 1837 did not contain a single originalengraving. All seem to have been copied from English books. The nicelittle boys wear round-about jackets with wide, white ruffled collarsat the neck. The proper little girls have scoop bonnets and conspicuouspantalets. Most of the men wear knee breeches. The houses shown have thethatched roofs of English cottages. In one picture a boy has a regularcricket bat. Other schoolbooks of that date show similar appropriationsof English engravings; but even at that time there were a few woodengravers in America. When the second general revision was made in 1843some original illustrations appeared and in the edition of 1853 noticewas given on the title page that the engravings were copyright propertythat must not be used by others. 

As pictures are closely studied by children, some of the users of theseearly books may remember the cut showing vividly the dangers of "whalecatching. " Two boats are thrown high in the air by one sweep of theanimal's tail and one seaman is shown head downward still in the boat. Another represented Jonah being cast overboard from the ship toward thewhale below whose mouth is manifestly large enough to accommodate Jonah. 

But the engravings in this edition of 1853 had no considerable artisticquality and they were very coarsely engraved. In 1863 came the firstemployment of a genuine artist in wood engraving. This was Mr. E. J. Whitney who had made a reputation by work done for New York publishers. His engravings were to take the place of some then in the books andtheir sizes were precisely determined. The drawings were most carefullymade by Mr. Herrick with pencil on the whitened boxwood blocks, and sentto the publisher for examination. These, when approved, were returned tothe engraver who followed precisely the lines of the drawing. When theengraving was finished, a carefully rubbed proof on India paper was sentto the publisher. If this was satisfactory, the block was deliveredand from it an electrotype was made for printing. The block itself waspreserved as an original. Mr. Whitney's work was thoroughly good. Hewas a wood engraver of the old school. 

[New Processes]

When the revision of 1878 was decided on, the publishers of theMcGuffey Readers realized that much improvement must be made in theillustrations. About this time the magazines were placing great stressupon pictorial work and a new school of engravers came into existence. The wood engravers had already departed from the painful reproduction ofeach line of a pencil drawing and had become skilled in representingtints of light and shade if placed on the whitened block with a brush. This gave greater freedom of interpretation to the engraver. The nextstep was to have the drawing made large and reproduced on the block byphotography. By this method most of the engravings were made for theedition of 1878. Care was taken to employ artists of reputation and theengravings were usually signed by the artist and by the engraver. 

Before the last edition came out in 1901, photo-engraving had nearlysupplanted wood engraving. By this process the artist's drawing withthe brush is reproduced in fine tints which, when well engraved andcarefully printed, produce effective results. Pen and ink drawings arealso reproduced in exact facsimile. By this process the hand work ofthe engraver is nearly eliminated. The blocks are sometimes retouchedto produce effects not attained by the process work. The skill of theartist in making the drawing thus becomes all important. 

[Later Inventions]

The introduction of color work in the schoolbooks intended for youngchildren resulted from the invention of the three-color plates. Fromnature, or from a colored painting, three photographs are taken--oneexcluding all but the yellow rays of light, one for the red rays, andone for the blue. From these photographs three tint blocks are madewhich to the eye in many cases look exactly alike. From one of thesean impression is made with yellow ink, exactly over this the red plateprints with red ink and this is followed by an impression from the blueplate. If the effects of the color screens of the camera are exactlyreproduced by the printer's inks and with exactly the right amount ofink, the result is wonderfully satisfactory. 

What are the qualities in these McGuffey Eclectic Readers that won forthem through three-quarters of a century such wide and constant use?

[Character Building]

The best answer to this question may be drawn from the many newspaperarticles which appeared in Western and Southern papers after the deathof one of the authors. There is general recognition on the part of thewriters of these articles that while the books served well their purposeof teaching the art of reading, their greatest value consisted in thechoice of masterpieces in literature which by their contents taughtmorality, and patriotism and by their beauty served as a gateway to pureliterature. One editor, who used these books in his school career, said, "Thousands of men and women owe their wholesome views of life, as wellas whatever success they may have attained to the wholesome maxims andprecepts found on every page of these valuable books. The seed theyscattered has yielded a million-fold. All honor to the name and memoryof this excellent and useful man. "

[What Constitutes Real Value]

One of the wise men of the olden time cared not who wrote the laws if hemight write their songs. Among a people devoid of books the folk-songsare early lodged firmly in the mind of every child. They influence hiswhole life. The modern schoolbooks--particularly the readers--furnishthe basis of the moral and intellectual training of the youth in everycommunity. The McGuffey Readers, from their own peculiar inherentqualities, retained their hold upon the schools until in some stateslaws were passed which in their operation caused schoolbooks to beregarded as commodities estimated almost solely upon the cost of paper, printing and binding. The value of these material things can easily beascertained and compared; but unless the print carries the lessons thathelp to form a life the paper is wasted and the pupil's most valuabletime is misspent. The teaching power of a schoolbook cannot be weighedin the grocer's scales nor measured with a pint cup. In the field opento free and constant competition, the books best suited to the wants ofeach community will in the end succeed. It was under such conditionsthat the McGuffey Readers won and held their place in the schools.