ders.
As these McGuffey books were still not stereotyped, it cost no more to
set up new matter than to reset the old. On the title page of each book
appeared the words, "Revised and Improved Edition," and two pages in
explanation and defense were inserted. In these the publishers stated
that certain compilers of schoolbooks, in New England, felt themselves
aggrieved that the McGuffey books contained a portion of matter similar
to their own which was considered common property, and had instituted
legal proceedings against them with a view to the immediate suppression
of the McGuffey books and in the meantime had provided supplies of the
Worcester books to meet the demand of the West.

[Avoidance of Issue]

No objection was raised to meeting these compilers on their own grounds;
but for both parties there was another tribunal than the law. "The
public never choose schoolbooks to please compilers." They stated that
to place themselves entirely in the right and remove every cause for
cavil or complaint they had expunged everything claimed as original, and
substituted other matter, which, both for its fitness and variety would
add to the value of the Eclectic Readers. Throughout this preface, after
stating the facts regarding the suit, there was a strong claim for the
support of Western enterprise.

Although in this appeal the publishers stated that the correspondences
between the two series were "few and immaterial," a careful comparison
of the early edition of the Second Reader with the "Revised and Improved
Edition" shows that Mr. Smith took out seventeen selections and inserted
in their places new matter. To an unprejudiced examiner it appears
that the new matter was better than the old. The old marked copy of
Worcester's Second Reader, preserved for all these years, shows ten
pieces that were used in both books. It thus appears that the publisher
took this opportunity to improve the books as well as to make them
unassailable under the copyright law. In three months between the
bringing of the suit and the granting of an injunction, Mr. Smith had
made his improved edition safe and rendered the injunction practically
void.

[The Suit Settled]

The court proceeded in the usual manner and appointed a master to
examine the books and make report to ascertain what damage had been
inflicted on the owners of the Worcester Readers. But Mr. Smith was an
attendant in church and doubtless had heard Dr. Beecher read, "Agree
wi