ve been suitably _described_ by able writers. In
history and literature, as handed down to us by the great literary
artists, many of the culture epochs have been portrayed by a master
hand. In the Iliad, Homer gives us vivid and delightfully attractive
scenes from life in the heroic age. The historical parts of the Old
Testament furnish clear and classic expression to great typical
historical scenes as illustrated in the lives of Abraham, Joseph,
Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon. The chief poets have expended a
full measure of their art in presenting to posterity attractive events
from striking epochs of the world's history. Homer, Virgil, Dante,
Tennyson, and Longfellow have left for us such historical paintings as
the Iliad, Odyssey, the Aeneid, the Divine Comedy, Idyls of a King,
Miles Standish, etc. Some of the best historians also have described
such epochs of history in scarcely less attractive form. Xenophon's
Anabasis, Livy's Punic Wars, Plutarch's Lives, Caesar's Gallic Wars,
the best biographies of Charlemagne, Columbus, Luther, Cromwell,
Washington, are designed to give us a clear view of some of the great
typical characters and events of history. Some of the leading
novelists and imaginative writers in prose have performed a like
service. Hypatia, Ivanhoe, Last Days of Pompeii, Romola, Uarda, and
Robinson Crusoe are examples. The story of Siegfried, of King Arthur,
of Bayard, of Tell, of Bruce, of Alfred, and the heroic myths of
Greece, all bring out representative figures of the mythical age.

The typical epochs of the world's struggle and progress are reflected,
therefore, in the _literary masterpieces_ of great writers, whether
poets, historians, biographers, or novelists. The simplest and
choicest of these literary and historical materials, selected,
arranged, and adapted for children, have been regarded by some thinkers
as the strongest and best meat that can be supplied to children during
their periods of growth. The history of each nation that has had a
progressive civilization contains some such elements and masterpieces.
It would be fortunate for each nation if it could find first in its own
history all such leading epochs and corresponding materials. Then it
could draw upon the historical and literary resources of other
countries to complete and round out the horizon of thought.

Since the best materials selected from history are calculated to build
a strong foundation of moral ideas