Our Home and Personal Duty
YOUNG AMERICAN READERS
OUR HOME AND PERSONAL DUTY
BY JANE EAYRE FRYER AUTHOR OF “THE MARY FRANCES STORY-INSTRUCTION BOOKS” ILLUSTRATIONS BY EDNA A. COOKE AND FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
In these vital tasks of acquiring a broader view of human possibilities the common school must have a large part. I urge that teachers and other school officers increase materially the time and attention devoted to instruction bearing directly on the problems of community and national life. —Woodrow Wilson.
THE JOHN C. WINSTON COMPANY, Publishers PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO
Copyright 1918 by The John C. Winston Co. —————— All Rights Reserved
The notion of what constitutes adequate civics teaching in our schools is rapidly changing. The older idea was based on the theory that children were not citizens—that only adults were citizens. Therefore, civics teaching was usually deferred to the eighth grade, or last year of the grammar school, and then was mostly confined to a memorizing of the federal constitution, with brief comments on each clause. Today we recognize that even young children are citizens, just as much as adults are, and that what is wanted is not training for citizenship but training in citizenship. Moreover, we believe that the “good citizen” is one who is good for something in all the relationships of life.
Accordingly, a beginning is being made with the early school years, where an indispensable foundation is laid through a training in “morals and manners.” This sounds rather old-fashioned, but nothing has been discovered to take its place. Obedience, cleanliness, orderliness, courtesy, helpfulness, punctuality, truthfulness, care of property, fair play, thoroughness, honesty, respect, courage, self-control, perseverance, thrift, kindness to animals, “safety first”—these are the fundamental civic virtues which make for good citizenship in the years to come. Of course, the object is to establish right habits of thought and action, and this takes time and patience and sympathy; but the end in view justifies the effort. The boy or girl who has become habitually orderly and courteous and helpful and punctual and truthful, and who has acquired a fair degree of courageous self-control, is likely to become a citizen of whom any community may well be proud.
Jane Eayre Fryer
OUR HOME AND PERSONAL DUTY
CIVICS FOR AMERICAN CHILDREN
Habit Formation
Dramatization
Community Servants
Public Servants
Training for Citizenship
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
I.
II.
III.
QUESTIONS
DON’T GIVE UP
THE BRIDGE OF THE SHALLOW PIER
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
QUESTIONS
THE THOUGHTFUL BOY
GRANDFATHER’S STORY
I.
II.
III.
QUESTIONS
HONEST ABE
I. The Broken Buck-horn
II. The Rain-soaked Book
III. The Young Storekeeper
DRY RAIN AND THE HATCHET
I. How Dry Rain Got His Name
II. Dry Rain Goes Trading
QUESTIONS
THE SEVEN CRANBERRIES
QUESTIONS
THE DONKEY’S TAIL
HURTING A GOOD FRIEND
QUESTIONS
A SCHOOL WITHOUT A TEACHER
What Might Happen if Books and Bells Could Talk
QUESTIONS
OUR FLAG
SCOUTS’ PLEDGE
MY GIFT
FLAG DAY
HOW OUR FLAG DEVELOPED
QUESTIONS
THE FLAG OF THE U. S. A.
THE AMERICAN FLAG
STORIES TEACHING KINDNESS TO ANIMALS
THE TRUE STORY OF CHEESEY
I. The Dog and the Policeman
II. The Policeman’s Story
III. Cheesey’s Christmas Presents
THE CHAINED DOG
QUESTIONS
LITTLE LOST PUP
THE HUNTING PARTY
QUESTIONS
THE LOST KITTY
QUESTIONS
MY PECULIAR KITTY
POOR LITTLE JOCKO
I.
II.
QUESTIONS
ROBIN REDBREAST
WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN?
QUESTIONS
MY FRIEND, MR. ROBIN
QUESTIONS
IF ALL THE BIRDS SHOULD DIE
QUESTIONS
FURRY
QUESTIONS
I.
II.
III.
THE GROCER’S HORSE
I. The Careless Driver
II. What Happened in the Barn
QUESTIONS
A LETTER FROM A HORSE
A PLEA FOR THE HORSE
QUESTIONS
I.
II.
III.
STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO PROVIDE US WITH FOOD
THE BAKER
I. An Early Call
II. The Staff of Life
III. A Visit to the Bakery
IV. Where the Wheat Comes From
QUESTIONS
BAKING THE JOHNNY-CAKE
THE MILKMAN
I. Before the Sun Rises
II. Milk, from Farm to Family
QUESTIONS
THE GROCER
I. The Old-time Grocer
II. The Modern Grocer
QUESTIONS
I. The Accident
II. At the Tailor Shop
III. What the Tailor Saved the Duwell Family
QUESTIONS
THE DRESSMAKER
I. An Invitation to a Party
II. A Disappointment
III. At the Dressmaker’s
IV. The Party
QUESTIONS
THE SILK DRESS
THE SHOEMAKER
I. The Worn Shoes
II. Shoemakers Who Became Famous
III. At the Shoemaker’s Shop
QUESTIONS
THE CARPENTER
I. A Trip into the Country
II. The Sawmill
III. The Carpenter
IV. The Wolf’s Den
V. The Cave Dwellers
QUESTIONS
THE BRICKLAYER
I. The Fallen Chimney
II. The Bricklayer
III. After School
QUESTIONS
I. A Visit to a Little Town
II. At Home
III. The New Kitchen
QUESTIONS
I. Black Diamonds
II. In a Coal Mine
QUESTIONS
THE DENTIST
I. Why Ruth Was Afraid
II. At the Dentist’s
QUESTIONS
I. The Sick Baby
II. The Druggist
III. The Trained Nurse
IV. The Doctor, a Hero
QUESTIONS
Parts to be taken by Pupils
THE JUNIOR RED CROSS
A PROCLAMATION
BEFORE THE DAYS OF THE RED CROSS
Florence Nightingale
HOW THE RED CROSS CAME TO BE
QUESTIONS
Act I. The Sick Doll
Act II. Good Old Cap
Act III. The Lady of the Lamp
FOOTNOTES:
