what some teachers have thought obscure; have qualified what we think was
put too positively in former editions; have given the history of
constructions where this would deepen interest or aid in composition; have
quoted the verdicts of usage on many locutions condemned by purists; have
tried to work into the pupil's style the felicities of expression found in
the lesson sentences; have taught the pupil earlier in the work, and more
thoroughly, the structure and the function of paragraphs; and have led him
on from the composition of single sentences of all kinds to the composition
of these great groups of sentences. But the distinctive features of "Higher
Lessons" that have made the work so useful and so popular stand as they
have stood--the Study of Words from their Offices in the Sentence, Analysis
for the sake of subsequent Synthesis, Easy Gradation, the Subdivisions and
Modifications of the Parts of Speech after the treatment of these in the
Sentence, etc., etc. We confess to some surprise that so little of what was
thought good in matter and method years ago has been seriously affected by
criticism since.

The additions made to "Higher Lessons"--additions that bring the work up to
the latest requirements--are generally in foot-notes to pages, and
sometimes are incorporated into the body of the Lessons, which in number
and numbering remain as they were. The books of former editions and those
of this revised edition can, therefore, be used in the same class without
any inconvenience.

Of the teachers who have given us invaluable assistance in this Revision,
we wish specially to name Prof. Henry M. Worrell, of the Polytechnic
Institute; and in this edition of the work, as in the preceding, we take
pleasure in acknowledging our great indebtedness to our critic, the
distinguished Prof. Francis A. March, of Lafayette College.