The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories of Great Americans for Little
Americans, by Edward Eggleston

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans

Author: Edward Eggleston

Release Date: November 12, 2003 [EBook #10070]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Michael Lockey and PG Distributed
Proofreaders

STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS FOR LITTLE AMERICANS

BY

EDWARD EGGLESTON

AUTHOR OF "TRUE STORIES OF AMERICAN LIFE AND ADVENTURE"
"A FIRST BOOK IN AMERICAN HISTORY" AND "A HISTORY
OF THE UNITED STATES AND ITS PEOPLE FOR
THE USE OF SCHOOLS"

1895

PREFACE.

The primary aim of this book is to furnish the little learner reading
matter that will excite his attention and give him pleasure, and thus
make lighter the difficult task of learning to read. The ruggedness of
this task has often been increased by the use of disconnected
sentences, or lessons as dry and uninteresting as finger exercises on
the piano. It is a sign of promise that the demand for reading matter
of interest to the child has come from teachers. I have endeavored to
meet this requirement in the following stories.

As far as possible the words chosen have been such as are not
difficult to the little reader, either from their length or their
unfamiliarity. The sentences and paragraphs are short. Learning to
read is like climbing a steep hill, and it is a great relief to the
panting child to find frequent breathing places.

It is one of the purposes of these stories to make the mind of the
pupil familiar with some of the leading figures in the history of our
country by means of personal anecdote. Some of the stories are those
that every American child ought to know, because they have become a
kind of national folklore. Such, for example, are "Putnam and the
Wolf" and the story of "Franklin's Whistle." I have thought it
important to present as great a variety of subjects as possible, so
that the pupil may learn something not only of great warriors and
patriots, but also of great statesmen. The exploits of discoverers,
the triumphs of American i