A History of the McGuffey Readers

by Henry Hobart Vail

When the Fourth Reader was issued in 1837 it contained a preface of three closely printed pages setting forth and defending the plan of McGuffey's books. In this he said: "In conclusion, the author begs leave to state, that the whole series of Eclectic Readers is his own. In the preparation of the rules, etc., for the present volume he has had the assistance of a very distinguished Teacher, whose judgment and zeal in promoting the cause of education have often been commended by the American people. In the arrangement of the series generally, he is indebted to many of his friends for valuable suggestions, and he takes this opportunity of tendering them his thanks for the lively interest they have manifested for the success of his undertaking."

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

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

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

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

As a guide toward rhetorical reading the book contained a carefully prepared collection of rules and directions with examples for practice in Articulation. Inflection, Accent and Emphasis, Reading Verse, for the Management of the Voice and Gesture. These pages were intended for drill work, and in those days the teachers were not content with the dull monotonous utterance of the words or with mere mastery of thought, to be tested by multitudinous questioning. If the pupil obtained from the printed page the very thought the author intended to convey, the pupil was expected to read orally so as to express that thought to all hearers. If the correct thought was thus heard, no questions were needed. The test of reading orally is the communication of thought by the reader to the intelligent and attentive hearer, and the words of the author carry this message more accurately than can any other words the pupil may select.

The selections in the Rhetorical Guide were made, first of all, to teach the art of reading. There was therefore great variety. Second, to inculcate a love for literature. Therefore the selections were taken from the great writers,—poets, orators, essayists, historians, and preachers. The extracts are wonderfully complete in themselves,—one does not need to read the whole of Byron's Don Juan to appreciate the six stanzas that describe the thunder-storm on the Alps. Of the poetical extracts all the users of this book will remember Southey's "Cataract of 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 John Moore;" 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 "American Flag;" and Mrs. Thrale's "Three Warnings." As an introduction to the thought, imagery and diction of Shakespeare, there were "Hamlet's Soliloquy," "Speech of Henry Fifth to his Troops," "Othello's Apology," "The Fall of Cardinal Wolsey" and his death, the "Quarrel of Brutus and Cassius" (often committed to memory and spoken) and Antony's Oration over dead Caesar. The extracts from orations were chosen largely for their 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 of being a young man," and go on with the context? There were extracts from Hayne's "Speech on South Carolina," and Webster's reply defending Massachusetts; a part of Burke's long speech on the Trial of Warren Hastings 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 the Union with its concluding sentiment, "Liberty and Union, now and forever; 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 now sit, encircled with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared." Did you not commit it to memory and speak it? Then there was Webster's Speech in which he supplied John Adams from his own fervid imagination that favorite of all patriotic boys, "Sink or swim, live or 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 independence forever."

From the essayists there was Lamb's "Eulogy on Candle Light;" that delightful "Eulogy on Debt" from an unknown author; Addison's "Allegory on Discontent," and "Westminster Abbey;" and Jane Taylor's "Discontented Pendulum." Only seven selections were taken from the Bible; but one of these was Paul's Defense before Agrippa. There were, however, quite a number 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 this number nearly one-half appeared in all subsequent revisions.

This Rhetorical Guide or Fifth Reader is the book that by its careful selection of specimens of the best English literature in prose and verse contributed most to the training of its readers toward the appreciation of true beauty in literature. It contained many pieces of solid and continuous worth,—many that relate closely to the great historical eras of the United States.