McGuffey Readers were a series of graded primers in six levels, first published between 1836 and 1840. They were edited by Scottish immigrant William H. McGuffey (1800-1873). They were widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, and are still used today in some private schools and in homeschooling. It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey’s Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary. Since 1961, they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. Along with teaching children to read, the McGuffey’s Readers also taught science, history, spelling, grammar, patriotism, religion, and morality. The following reading is from the 1879 edition of McGuffey’s Eclectic Fourth Reader. The ‘fourth’ does not mean fourth grade, but fourth level, and was generally used for children ages 14-16.
————————————-
“Religion is the Only Basis of Society” by William E. Channing (1780-1842); grandson of William Ellery (1727-1827), a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Religion is a social concern for it operates powerfully on society, contributing, in various ways, to its stability and prosperity. Religion is not merely a private affair. The community is deeply interested in its diffusion, for it is the best support of the virtues and principles, on which the social order rests. Pure and undefiled religion is to do good, and so it follows very plainly, that if God be the Author and Friend of society, then the recognition of Him must enforce all social duty, and enlightened piety must give its whole strength to public order.
Few people suspect the extent of the support given by religion to every virtue. Few are aware of how much our moral and social sentiments are fed from this fountain; how powerless conscience would become without the belief of a God; and how crippled would be human benevolence were there not the sense of a higher benevolence to quicken and sustain it. Few comprehend how suddenly the whole social fabric would quake, and with what a fearful crash it would sink into hopeless ruin, if the ideas of a Supreme Being, of accountability, and of a future life, to be utterly erased from every mind.
Let people thoroughly believe that they are the work and sport of chance; that no superior intelligence concerns itself with human affairs; that the weak have no guardian and the injured no avenger; that there is no recompense for sacrifices to uprightness and the public good; that an oath is unheard in heaven; that secret crimes have no witness but the perpetrator; that human existence has no purpose and human virtue no unfailing friend; that this brief life is everything to us, and death is total, everlasting extinction;– once let everyone thoroughly abandon religion, and who can conceive or describe the extent of the desolation which would follow.
We hope, perhaps, that human laws and natural sympathy would hold society together. We might as well hope that if the sun were to be quenched in the heavens, our torches and fires would illuminate the creation just as well. What is there in human nature to awaken respect and tenderness, if man is the unprotected insect of a day? And what more are we than insects if atheism be true?
Erase all thought and fear of God from a community, and selfishness and sensuality would absorb the whole man. Appetite, knowing no restraint, and suffering, having no solace or hope, would trample in scorn on the restraints of human laws. Virtue, duty, principle, would be mocked and spurned as unmeaning sounds. A sordid self-interest would supplant every other feeling ; and man would become in fact, what the theory of atheism declares him to be– a mere animal and thus, a companion for brutes.
********************************
This second reading, “Emulation Without Envy,” is from the 1879 edition of McGuffey’s Eclectic Second Reader (ages 8-10).
Frank’s father was speaking to a friend one day on the subject of competition at school. He said he was sure that envy did not have to be result of competition at school. He had been excelled by many, but he could not remember ever having felt envious of his successful rivals. “Nor did my winning many a prize from my friend Birch ever lessen his friendship for me.”
In support of the truth of what Frank’s father had said, a friend, who was present, related an anecdote which he had observed in a school in his neighborhood. At this school, the sons of several wealthy farmers, and others, who were poorer, received instruction. Frank listened with great attention while the gentleman gave the following account of the two rivals.
“It happened that the son of a rich farmer, and the son of a poor widow, came in competition for the class. They were so nearly equal, that the teacher could scarcely decide between them. Some days one, and some days the other, gained the head of the class. The top student would be determined by seeing who was at the head of the class for the greater number of days in the week.
“The widow’s son, by the last day’s trial won, and maintained his place the following weeks, until the school was dismissed for vacation.
“When they met again, the widow’s son did not appear, and the farmer’s son being next in excellence, could now have been at the head of his class. Instead of seizing the vacant place, however, he went to the widow’s house to ask why her son was absent.
“Poverty was the cause. She said that she was not able, no matter how hard she tried, to continue to pay for his tuition and books, and the poor boy had returned to day labor for her support.
“The farmer’s son, out of the allowance of pocket money which his father gave him, bought all the necessary books and paid for the tuition of his rival. He also permitted him to be brought back again to the head of his class, where he continued for a long time, at the expense of his generous rival.
“That farmer’s boy must have had a strong mind, because people of strong minds are never envious; but those with weak minds are the ones filled with envy.”
*********************************************
I Peter 2:1 — Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
Galatians 5:26 — Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
I Corinthians 13:4 — Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
*********************************************
Christ has no body now on earth but yours:
Yours are the only hands with which he can do his work;
Yours are the only feet with which he can go about the world;
Yours are the only eyes through which his compassion can shine forth upon a troubled world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
–Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Related Posts
