The treatment begins with a brief survey of the whole course of English history, deducing therefrom three general movements: (1) the fusing of several races into the English people; (2) the solution by that people of two great problems: free and democratic home government, and practical, enlightened government of foreign dependencies; and (3) the extreme development of two great fields of industry, commerce and manufacture. The narrative follows the chronological order, and is full of matter which is as interesting as it is significant, ending with a masterly summary of England's contribution to civilization.
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
WEBSTER'S SECONDARY SCHOOL DICTIONARY
Full cloth, 8vol., 864 pages. Containing over 70,000 words, with 1000 illustrations.
This new dictionary is based on Webster's New International Dictionary, and therefore conforms to the best present usage. It presents the largest number of words and phrases ever included in a school dictionary—all those, however new, likely to be needed by any pupil. It is a reference book for the reader and a guide in the use of English, both oral and written. It fills every requirement that can reasonably be expected of a dictionary of moderate size.
This new book gives the preference to forms of spelling now current in the United States, in cases of doubt leaning toward the simpler forms that may be coming into use. In the matter of pronunciation such alternatives are included as are in very common use, but the one that is preferred is clearly indicated. Each definition is in the form of a specific statement accompanied by one or more synonyms, between which careful discrimination is made.
In addition, this dictionary includes an unusual amount of supplementary information of value to students: the etymology, syllabication and capitalization of words; many proper names from folklore, mythology, and the Bible; a list of prefixes and suffixes; all irregularly inflected forms; rules for spelling; 2329 lists of synonyms, in which 3518 words are carefully discriminated; answers to many questions on the use of correct English constantly asked by pupils; a guide to pronunciation; abbreviations used in writing and printing; a list of 1200 foreign words and phrases; a dictionary of 5400 proper names of persons and places, etc.