grain would not be cut until he resolved to cut it himself; of the wild
and ravenous bear that treed a boy and hung suspended by his boot; and
of another bear that traveled as a passenger by night in a stage coach;
of the quarrelsome cocks, pictured in a clearly English farm yard, that
were both eaten up by the fox that had been brought in by the defeated
cock; of the honest boy and the thief who was judiciously kicked by the
horse that carried oranges in baskets; of George Washington and his
historic hatchet and the mutilated cherry-tree; and of the garden that
was planted with seeds in lines spelling Washington's name which removed
all doubt as to an intelligent Creator. There were also some lessons on
such animals as beavers, whales, peacocks and lions.

[Favorite Selections]

The Third Reader will be remembered first because of the picture, on
the cover, of Napoleon on his rearing charger. This book contained five
selections from the Bible; Croly's "Conflagration of the Ampitheatre
at Rome;" "How a Fly Walks on the Ceiling;" "The Child's Inquiry;"
"How big was Alexander, Pa;" Irving's "Description of Pompey's Pillar;"
Woodworth's "Old Oaken Bucket;" Miss Gould's "The Winter King;" and
Scott's "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps," commencing "'Is the route
practicable?' said Bonaparte. 'It is barely possible to pass,' replied
the engineer. 'Let us set forward, then,' said Napoleon." The rearing
steed facing a precipitous slope in the picture gave emphasis to the
words. There were also in this reader several pieces about Indians and
bears, which indicate that Dr. McGuffey never forgot the stories told
at the fireside by his father of his adventures as an Indian scout and
hunter.

In the Fourth Reader there were seventeen selections from the Bible;