plan. They alone will do much to interest
children in the reading, and if attention is called to them they will be
found to increase in value. The color plates in each volume, the
numerous fine halftones of special design, and the hundreds of pen and
ink drawings that illuminate the text have been painted and drawn for
these books, and will be found nowhere else. More than twenty artists
have given their skill and enthusiasm to make the books brighter,
clearer, and more inspiring. The initial letters and the many fine
decorations also belong exclusively to the set, and combine to give it
esthetic value. Everything of this nature will command attention and
hold interest.

_g. Tables of Contents._ Beginning each volume is a table showing the
contents of the volume and the names of authors. It forms a means of
ready reference to the larger divisions of the work and is a handy
supplement to the index.

_h. Index._ At the end of the tenth volume is an index to the whole ten
volumes. There may be found not only each author and title in
alphabetical order, but also a complete classification of the
selections in the set. To find the history in this series, look in the
index under the title "History." When a topic has as many sub-divisions
as has "Fiction," for instance, or "Poetry," cross references are given.

_4. The Nursery Rhymes_

When a child is taught the little nursery rhymes which to us may seem to
be meaningless jingles, he is really peeping into the fields of
literature, taking the first steps in those journeys that will end in
Shakespeare, Browning and Goethe. When his infantile ear is caught by
the lively rhythm and the catchy rhymes, he is receiving his first
lessons in poetry. That the lessons are delightful now he shows by his
smiles, and in middle life he will appreciate the joy more keenly as he
teaches the same little rhymes to his own children.

Most children know the rhymes when they come to school and they will
like to read them there. A child's keenest interest is in the things he
knows. Later, perhaps in the high school or the grammar grades, he will
be interested again in learning that the rhymes are not wholly frivolous
and that there may be reasons why these rhymes should have survived for
centuries in practically unchanged forms. Some of the facts that may be
brought out at various times are the following:

I. There is a hidden significance in some of the nursery rhymes. For
instance:

_a.