k contained two hundred and thirty-five selections and of this
number nearly one-half appeared in all subsequent revisions.

This Rhetorical Guide or Fifth Reader is the book that by its careful
selection of specimens of the best English literature in prose and verse
contributed most to the training of its readers toward the appreciation
of true beauty in literature. It contained many pieces of solid and
continuous worth,--many that relate closely to the great historical eras
of the United States.

[McGuffey's Ancestry]

In the latest revision of the highest reader, made in 1879, one hundred
and thirty-eight selections composed the book. Of this number sixty-one
were in the original book as prepared by Mr. A.H. McGuffey.

It was an admirable collection of much material that is still prized and
which, when carefully read by pupils hungry for thoughtful language,
made a deep and lasting impression. In many cases the inmost thought of
the author may not have been at once fully apprehended by the young
readers; but with advancing years and wider experience in life the
stored words became instinct with thought and feeling.

THE AUTHORS.

Dr. William Holmes McGuffey was born September 28, 1800, on the southern
border of Washington county, Pa. The family descended from William
and Anna (McKittrick) McGuffey who came from Scotland, and landed at
Philadelphia. They made a home in the southern part of York county,
at which, during the Revolution, General Washington often stopped to
refresh himself. In 1789 this family removed to Washington county, Pa.

[The Indian Scouts]

Alexander McGuffey, the father of Dr. McGuffey, was six years old when
the family came to America in August, 1774. In 1790, when he was
twenty-two years of age, he and his friend, Duncan McArthur, afterward a
governor of Ohio, were selected from five young men who volunteered to
act as scouts against the Indians in Ohio who were then threatening the
frontier settlements in the western part of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
These two young men were selected after tests by Samuel Brady to find
which could run the fastest, shoot most accurately, and were least
afraid of Indians. Alexander McGuffey served in the army three years,
venturing his life with small bodies of scouts in the Indian country.
He took part in several fights with the Indians. When General St. Clair
in 1792 marched north from Cincinnati to meet the Indians, this body of
scouts was one day