Excerpt from United States History Work for the Grades: Adapted From the Pathfinder, Lee and Shepard; And Topical Outlines In the first and second years simple anecdotes should be read or told to to the pupils. As the main thing to be kept in mind here is to interest the children, these anecdotes should deal, for the most part, with that which is extraordinary or full of adventure. Please note that no mention is to be made of time or place, as chronology. And geography belong to a later stage. Nor is it desirable that all of the characters or incidents be taken up in regular order. Children of the age we have in mind can have only the most rudimentary ideas of time and place relations. Of course it is easy to tell them the date of any event, and teach them to associate the idea with it. But 1492, 1607, and 1620 are altogether without meaning, because the child can know nothing of the ideas here symbolized. Yesterday, last night, last year. Appeal to him; but the expression one hundred years ago is as meaningless as the inscriptions on the Babylonian monuments. These stories and incidents may be taken up in chronological order, if the teacher prefers. Such a course can do the children no harm. But their little brains should not be forced to puzzle over dates. The object should be to enliven the interest of the children by making as vivid as possible characteristic incidents in the lives of those who have found a worthy place in the annals of their time. Children at this stage take in far more than they can tell; so do mature minds when dealing with the highest and noblest in literature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.