advertisement; 



The following Extracts are introduced as recommendatory 

 of the design of the Literary and Scientific Class Book. 



In teaching the art of reading it is an obvious waste of the 

 precious period, devoted to education, to confine the exer- 

 cises in that art to mere combinations of words; or to 

 compositions, the sole object of which is to prove the wit and 

 genius of the writer ;— to compositions which do not teach 

 any thing, and which, after a volume of them has been pe- 

 rused and re-perused for years> leave the mind in a state of 

 listless curiosity. In proof of the justice of this remark, we 

 need only appeal to the feelings of those persons, who, while 

 they were at school, read no other books than the selections 

 published under the titles of Speakers, Readers, Extracts, 

 and Beauties. As exercises in elocution, and as examples 

 of elegant composition, such books cannot be sufficientlj 

 commended ; but they are ill adapted to the more important 

 objects of instruction, and with regard to the purposes of 

 general knowledge, they bear the same relation that gilding 

 bears to gold, or pastime to useful labour. Rev. D. Blair. 



It is evident that want of time will prevent the great mass 

 of mankind from pursuing a systematic course of education 

 in all its details ; a more summary and compendious method 

 therefore must be pursued by them. The great majority 



