_The Author's Address to the Pupil._
1. I present to you, my little friend, a new book, to assist you in
learning to read. I do not intend that it shall be a book full of hard
words, which you do not understand.
2. I do not think it proper to require children to read what they cannot
understand. I shall, therefore, show you how you may understand what is
in this book, and how you may be able, with very little assistance from
your teacher, to read all the hard words, not only in this book, but
also in any book which you may hereafter take up.
3. But first let me repeat to you a saying, which, when I was a little
boy, and went to school, my teacher used to repeat to me. He said that
any one might lead a horse to the water, but no one could make him
drink. The horse must do that himself. He must open his own mouth, and
draw in the water, and swallow it, himself.
4. And so it is with anything which I wish to teach you. I can tell you
many things which it will be useful for you to know, but I cannot open
your ears and make you hear me. I cannot turn your eyes so that they
will look at me when I am talking to you, that you may listen to me.
That, you must do yourself; and if you do not do it, nothing that I can
say to you, or do for you, will do you any good.
5. Many little boys and girls, when their teacher is talking to them,
are in the habit of staring about the school-room, or looking at their
fellow-pupils, or, perhaps, slyly talking to them or laughing with them,
when they ought to be listening to what their teacher is saying.
6. Others, perhaps, may appear to be looking at their teacher, while, at
the same time, they are thinking about tops and marbles, or kites and
dolls, and other play-things, and have no more idea of what their
teacher is saying to them than if he were not in the room.
7. Now, here is a little picture, from which I wish to teach you a very
important lesson. The picture represents a nest, with four little birds
in it. The mother bird has just been out to get some food for them. The
little birds, as soon as their mother returns, begin to open their
mouths wide, and the mother drops some food from her bill into the mouth
of each one; and in this manner they are all fed, until they are old
enough to go abroad and find food for themselves.
[Illustration]
8. Now, what would these little birds do, if, when their mother brings
them their food, they should keep their mouths all shut, or, perhaps, be
feeling of one another with their little bills, or crowding each other
out of the nest?
9. You know that they would have to go without their food; for their
mother would not open their mouths for them, nor could she swallow
their food for them. They must do that for themselves, or they must
starve.
10. Now, in the same manner that little birds open their mouths to
receive the food which their mother brings to them, little boys and
girls should have their ears open to hear what their teachers say to
them.
11. The little birds, as you see in the picture, have very large mouths,
and they keep them wide open to receive all the food that their mother
drops; so that none of their food ever falls into the nest, but all goes
into their mouths, and they swallow it, and it nourishes them, and makes
them grow.
12. So, also, little boys and girls should try to catch, in their ears,
everything that their teacher says to them, and keep it in their minds,
and be able to recollect it, by often thinking about it; and thus they
will grow wise and learned, and be able to teach other little boys and
girls, of their own, when they themselves grow up.
13. Now, my little friend, please to open your eyes and see what I have
put into this book for you, and open your ears to hear what your kind
teacher has to say to you, that your minds may grow, and that you may
become wise and good children.