school students, and that at some stage in their course it should
receive its due share of recognition. The mere fact that modern writers
are, in point of material and style, less remote than the classic
authors from the immediate interests of the students is sufficient to
recommend them. Then, too, since young people are, in the nature of
things, constantly brought into contact with some form of modern
literature, they need to be provided with a standard of criticism and
choice.

The present volume is an attempt to assemble, in a convenient manner, a
number of selections from recent literature, such as high school
students of average taste and ability may understand and enjoy. These
selections are not all equally difficult. Some need to be read rapidly
for their intrinsic interest; others deserve more analysis of form and
content; still others demand careful intensive study. This diversity of
method is almost a necessity in a full year's course in reading, in
which rigidity and monotony ought above all things to be avoided.

Although convinced that the larger part of the reading work in the high
school years should be devoted to the study of prose, the editor has
here included what she believes to be a just proportion of poetry. The
poems have been chosen with a view to the fact that they are varied in
form and sentiment; and that they exhibit in no small degree the
tendencies of modern poetic thought, with its love of nature and its
humanitarian impulses.

An attempt has been made to present examples of the most usual and
readable forms of prose composition--narration, the account of travel,
the personal essay, and serious exposition. The authors of these
selections possess without exception that distinction of style which