difficult to the little reader, either from their length or their
unfamiliarity. The sentences and paragraphs are short. Learning to
read is like climbing a steep hill, and it is a great relief to the
panting child to find frequent breathing places.

It is one of the purposes of these stories to make the mind of the
pupil familiar with some of the leading figures in the history of our
country by means of personal anecdote. Some of the stories are those
that every American child ought to know, because they have become a
kind of national folklore. Such, for example, are "Putnam and the
Wolf" and the story of "Franklin's Whistle." I have thought it
important to present as great a variety of subjects as possible, so
that the pupil may learn something not only of great warriors and
patriots, but also of great statesmen. The exploits of discoverers,
the triumphs of American inventors, and the achievements of men of
letters and men of science, find place in these stories. All the
narratives are historical, or at least no stories have been told for
true that are deemed fictitious. Every means which the writer's
literary experience could suggest has been used to make the stories
engaging, in the hope that the interest of the narrative may prove a
sufficient spur to exertion on the part of the pupil, and that this
little book will make green and pleasant a pathway that has so often
been dry and laborious. It will surely serve to excite an early
interest in our national history by giving some of the great
personages of that history a place among the heroes that impress the
susceptible imagination of a child. It is thus that biographical and
historical incidents acquire something of the vitality of folk tales.

The illustrations that accompany the text have been planned with
special reference to the awakening of the child's attention. To keep