It is the purpose to present these Hero Studies in two books, one being
the present volume which is intended as a textbook for the students, the
other being the teacher's manual with fuller explanations and
suggestions. The necessary prefatory statements will be found in the
respective books under the titles "Foreword to the Student" and
"Foreword to the Teacher".
This volume contains the text of the stories, with explanatory notes and
questions intended to stimulate study. Each lesson consists of a
complete story arranged in such a way as to impress the main features of
the narrative clearly upon the student's mind. The explanatory material
is reduced to the minimum, since the main desire is to let the stories
speak for themselves and not to burden the student with wearisome
details. The three reviews divide the course into the three natural
parts, the first extending to Christmas, the second to the end of March,
the third, which is shorter, to the middle of June, when it is usually
wise for the regular courses to end.
The text of the British Revisers is used in the reprint of the stories
with the consent and approval of the Oxford and Cambridge University
presses. As the plan of simplifying the narratives involved certain
verbal changes, it has seemed wise to go a step farther and to use the
spellings which would be more familiar to American students.
For constant suggestions as to form and method I am greatly indebted to
my wife, who has taught the lessons from advance sheets to a class of
boys. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the valuable counsel of Professor
E. D. Burton, the editor of the series, and especially that of Professor
J. M. P. Smith, who at Professor Burton's request, and to my own great
satisfaction, assumed the editorial responsibility of reading the
manuscript, and gave me the benefit of his ripe scholarship and
judgment.