after the fifth is a coherent narrative, and nearly every one is a story
of genuine interest in itself. These stories, if bound separately, would
alone constitute a reader equivalent to those used in first and second
year work in national languages. (For list of titles, see Table of
Contents.)

The second element of the twofold need which this volume meets is the
necessity for a presentation of Esperanto, not as a thing apart, but
in that form which will make it most serviceable as an introduction to
national tongues. A stepping-stone to both ancient and modern languages,
Esperanto may render invaluable aid, and pave the way for surmounting
the many difficulties confronting both student and teacher. Through
Esperanto, the labor in the acquirement of these languages may be
reduced in the same proportion in which the pleasure and thoroughness
of such acquirement are increased. For this reason, the grammatical
constructions of Esperanto are here explained as consistently as
possible in accordance with the usage of national languages, especially
those in the school curriculum, and precise names are assigned to them.
Such matters as "contrary to fact conditions", "indirect quotations",
"clauses of purpose" and "of result", "accusatives of time" and
"measure", "expressions of separation", "reference", etc., thus
become familiar to the student, long before he meets them in the more
difficult garb of a national tongue, whose exceptions seem to outnumber
its rules, and whose idioms prove more puzzling than its exceptions,
unless approached by the smooth and gradual ascent of the International
Language, Esperanto.

Ivy Kellerman.

Washington, D. C.,