Henry Hobart Vail

“ Readers which have been recognized as formers of good habits of action, thought, and speech for three-quarters of a century, which have taught a sound morality to millions of children without giving offense to the most violent sectarian, which have opened the doors of pure literature to all their users, are surely worthy of study as to their origin, their successive changes, and their subsequent career. ”

“ But the readers that rouse the moral sentiments, that touch the imagination, that elevate and establish character by selections chosen from the wisest writers in English in all the centuries that have passed since our language assumed a comparatively fixed literary form, have a much more valuable function to perform. Character is more valuable than knowledge and a taste for pure and ennobling literature is a safeguard for the young that cannot be safely ignored. ”

“ There is general recognition on the part of the writers of these articles that while the books served well their purpose of teaching the art of reading, their greatest value consisted in the choice of masterpieces in literature which by their contents taught morality, and patriotism and by their beauty served as a gateway to pure literature. One editor, who used these books in his school career, said, "Thousands of men and women owe their wholesome views of life, as well as whatever success they may have attained to the wholesome maxims and precepts found on every page of these valuable books. ”

“ Among a people devoid of books the folk-songs are early lodged firmly in the mind of every child. They influence his whole life. The modern schoolbooks—particularly the readers—furnish the basis of the moral and intellectual training of the youth in every community. The McGuffey Readers, from their own peculiar inherent qualities, retained their hold upon the schools until in some states laws were passed which in their operation caused schoolbooks to be regarded as commodities estimated almost solely upon the cost of paper, printing and binding. ”

“ The school readers are the proper and indispensable texts for teaching true patriotism, integrity, honesty, industry, temperance, courage, politeness, and all other moral and intellectual virtues. In these books every lesson should have a distinct purpose in view, and the final aim should be to establish in the pupils high moral principles which are at the foundation of character. ”

“ It is perhaps fortunate that such contests cannot in the nature of things last long. In the long run business [61] must show a profit or fail. Contrary to popular opinion, a book war is not profitable in itself; but it is a form of competition that has existed for fully a century. It presents no novelties even now.
The two chief combatants at length withdrew with one accord. Neither firm could claim entire victory; but the McGuffey readers came through with much the larger sales and these increased for years. ”

“ In the eyes of a publisher a good schoolbook is one that can be readily introduced and one that will stay when it is put in use. The officials who adopt a schoolbook are not the users of the book. They are adults long past the school age. ”

“ In the manufacture of books as with most other articles, machinery has taken the place of hand work. When W.B. Smith carried on his business in the second story over a small shop on Main street, Cincinnati, nearly every process in the manufacture of a book was mere hand labor. The tools employed were of the simplest character. Now a book-factory is filled with heavy machines of the most complicated kind, which in many cases feed themselves from stocks of material placed upon them. ”

“ If on the other hand it is a mere collection of novelties such as catch the eye of inexpert judges and impress merely the imagination, the books may be introduced; but they won't stay.
The McGuffey Readers had staying qualities. Teachers often became so familiar with their contents that they needed no book in their hands to [65] correct the work, but to each child the contents of the book were new and fresh. It is the fashion of the present day to exalt the new at the expense of the old. But the child of today is very much such as Socrates and Plato studied in Greece. ”

“ McGuffey completed the manuscripts of the Third and Fourth readers he left Oxford and went to Cincinnati. Here he found himself in close touch with a community fully alive to the claims of education. Cincinnati, in 1837, was the largest city in the West excepting New Orleans and was the great educational center of the West. The early settlers of Cincinnati were generally well educated [35] men and they had a keen sense of the value of learning. The public schools of Cincinnati were then more highly developed than those of any other city in the West. ”

“ Joseph Fort Newton's [13] biography of David Swing in which the books which influenced that life are named as "The Bible, Calvin's Institutes, Fox's Book of Martyrs and the McGuffey Readers;" and the author quotes David Swing as saying that "The Institutes were rather large reading for a boy, but to the end of his life he held that McGuffey's Sixth Reader was a great book. For Swing, as for many a boy in the older West, its varied and wise selections from the best English authors were the very gates of literature ajar." ”

“ The best books, if pressed vigorously and intelligently, were sure to win in the end, and the people who used the books cared little what name appeared at the foot of the title-page.
In all important book contests the firm that holds possession of the field is much in the situation of the tallest man in a Kilkenny Fair. His head sticks up above the crowd and therefore gets the most knocks.
The latest revision of the McGuffey Readers, five books, was prepared and published by the American Book Company in 1901, under the same general direction as the revision of 1878 ”

“ The value of these material things can easily be ascertained [72] and compared; but unless the print carries the lessons that help to form a life the paper is wasted and the pupil's most valuable time is misspent. The teaching power of a schoolbook cannot be weighed in the grocer's scales nor measured with a pint cup. In the field open to free and constant competition, the books best suited to the wants of each community will in the end succeed. It was under such conditions that the McGuffey Readers won and held their place in the schools. ”

“ In Pickett's Readers there is printed conspicuously at the top of a page a warm commendation of Pickett's Readers, written in 1835 by William H. McGuffey, Professor at Miami University, in which he "considers them superior to any other works I have seen." That was before he made his own readers. Mr. Smith responded by publishing a strong commendation of one of his books signed by Mr. Albert Pickett. Life is seldom devoid of the lesser amenities.
The Willson Readers, published by the Harper Brothers, were vigorously pushed into the schools of Ohio and Indiana about 1867. ”

“ In the higher readers will be found today many selections which appeared in the original books. The reason for retaining such selections is clear. No one has been able to write in the English language selections that are better for school use than some written by Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, and other early writers. The literature of the English language has not all been written in the present decade nor in the last century. ”

“ He is led to think for himself in much the same way, and the whole end and aim of education is to lead toward self activity. The readers that deal simply with facts—information readers—may lodge in the minds of children some scraps of encyclopedic information which may in future life become useful. ”

“ By this contest the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. won a reputation as fighters that protected them in after years from ill-considered attacks by its competitors.
The revised edition of the McGuffey Readers, having no author's name on the title page, designed and compiled under the direction of the publishers, but retaining the moral excellences and literary qualities that had been affixed to the series from its origin, attained the largest sales that have as yet been accorded by the public to a single series of books. ”

“ The development of the human mind may be more generally understood than it was then; but it may be doubted whether the mass of teachers are today wiser in the results of child-study than were the philosophers of ancient days. Child nature remains the same. ”

“ The Confederate States, at the opening of the War, had within their limits no publisher of schoolbooks which had extensive sales. Nearly all of the schoolbooks used in the South were printed in the [53] North. But there were printing offices and binderies in the South. The children continued to go to school, and the demand for schoolbooks soon became urgent. To meet this demand, a few new schoolbooks were made and copyrighted under the laws of the Confederacy; but others were reprints of Northern books such as were in general use. ”

“ Robert H. Bishop, the president of Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. Dr. Bishop was so impressed with the character and mental power of the young teacher that on March 29, 1826, even before McGuffey received his bachelor's degree from Washington College, he received his appointment as professor of Ancient Languages at Miami University.
He graduated in 1826 and began his labor at Oxford, Ohio, at the opening of the fall session. He at once took high rank in a faculty consisting of strong men, and, young as he was, won the respect and homage of the students. ”

“ These were mere playful or humorous titles in recognition of the fact that this firm had, by its industry, skill and energy, captured a larger share of the patronage of the people than was agreeable to its competitors, and they, in despair of success by fair means, resorted to the old-fashioned method of calling their antagonist bad names. ”

“ Truman & Smith the manuscript of McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book, and although the nature of this task was very different from the preparation of a reader for the highest grades in the elementary schools, the result showed that the publishers judged wisely in selecting a man competent to prepare a selection from English literature. ”

“ New machines are constantly being invented to cheapen and perfect the manufacture. Thus a very large investment of capital is now required to set up and maintain a plant which can produce books economically and with perfect finish in every part. Books [47] are seldom manufactured in places remote from the large cities and very few of the publishers of schoolbooks make the books which they sell. They contract for them with printers and binders.
The first four editions of McGuffey's Readers were printed from the actual type, as all books were once printed ”

“ South and into regions where the people were not trained in the Puritan doctrines. The wonderful sales of Webster's Spelling Book remained for many years after the War; but have now dropped to insignificance. It is not probable that other books will under present conditions repeat the history of these books. There is now no wide region of fertile country rapidly filling with settlers and separated from their former sources of supply by great distance and by mountain ranges unprovided with passable roads. ”

“ There was in the books much direct teaching of moral principles, with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not." In the later revisions this gradually disappeared. The moral teaching was less direct but more effective. The pupil was left to make his own deduction and the formal "haec fabula docet" was omitted. The author and the publishers were fully justified in their firm belief that the American people are a moral people and that they have a strong desire that their children be taught to become brave, patriotic, honest, self-reliant, temperate, and virtuous citizens. ”

“ Of course such men are far behind the schools. They are governed by their own past experience. When the teachers are allowed to have a voice in the way of advice, the real needs of the pupils obtain more consideration. ”

“ Spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, grammar, civics and physiology are the subjects usually taught. The school authorities select the textbooks which shall be used in each subject. ”

“ He prepared the manuscript of the Rhetorical Guide after the close of his labor as a teacher. The work probably occupied his leisure time in a law office before he acquired remunerative practice in his profession.
The contract between Mr. A.H. McGuffey and W.B. Smith, dated September 30, 1841, provided for the preparation within eighteen months, of the manuscript of a book to be called McGuffey's Rhetorical Reader, or by any other appropriate name which Mr. Smith might select. ”

“ Albert Pickett, principal of a private school in Cincinnati, proposed a plan for organizing in one body the instructors in public and private schools and the friends of education. Circulars were sent out and the first meeting of the College of Teachers was held October 3, 1832. A great number of teachers from many states of the West and South attended these meetings and took part in the proceedings. Throughout its continuance Dr. McGuffey took an active part in the work. ”