scut'tle. A hatchway or small open ing in the deck of a ship. Scy'ros (si'ros). An island in the Ægean Sea, one of the Sporades, northeast of Athens. sea maids. Imaginary beings, half woman and half fish, inhabiting the sea; mermaids. se'er (se'er). One gifted with power to see the deepest truths. self'same'. Identical; the very same. Se li'nus' (se li'nus). A city of southwestern Sicily. Sen'e ca (sen'è ka). A noted Roman youth in Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby. so bri'e ty. Calmness. Son of Liberty. One of the members of any of the secret societies formed about 1774 in America to resist the Stamp Act and secure liberty. Sons of the Swan. Castor and Pol lux, sons of Zeus, who had taken the forms of swans. Southey (south'i), Robert. (17741843.) English poet and miscellaneous writer. Spar'ta (spär'ta). A country of ancient Greece. Spar'ta cus (spär'tȧ kus). A Greek, slave of the Romans, leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome. Spartan mother. Kentucky; Spartan mothers exhorted their sons to return from war victorious, or borne on their shields. spate (spat). Flood. Spec ta'tor. A periodical made up mainly of brief essays on social, political, and literary matters, conducted by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele and published daily in England from March, 1711, until December, 1712. Spider Mountain. A mountain, Arachnæus, in Argolis, Greece. spon ta'ne ous. Natural; without effort. Sta'bi i (stä'bi Ĭ). Ancient Roman resort on the bay of Naples. steeled (steld). Hardened. Stephenson (George). Inventor of the locomotive (1781-1848). steppes (stěpz). Vast open plains. Sto'ic (sto'ik). An ancient school of philosophy. Stony Point. Fort in New York cap tured (1779) by General Wayne. Story, Joseph. (1779-1845.) American jurist and orator. Stuy've sant (Peter) (sti'vě sănt). Last Dutch governor of New Netherland (1602-1682). Su'ni um (sū'ní ŭm). A celebrated promontory forming the southern extremity of Attica. tan’a ger (tăn’à jer). An American woodland bird. ta'pa (tä'pä). A cloth made by the natives of Typee, in the Pacific islands. tardy off. Inadequately done; short of the proper way. tarn (tärn). Small mountain lake or pond. tar'tan (tär'tăn). Woolen material with a checked pattern, worn in the Scottish Highlands. Tar'tar (tär'tar). One of a race of roving inhabitants of the Russian steppes. Tar'ta ry (tär'tå rĭ). An indefinite region in Asia and Europe, mostly in Russian territory. tat too'. A military signal calling soldiers to quarters. Taylor, Jeremy. (1613-1667.) English churchman and author. Te cum'seh (tě kům'sě). Indian chief killed at the battle between the British and Americans at the Thames River, October 5, 1813. Te De'ums (tē de'ŭmz). Hymns of praise. Te Deum, first words of an ancient hymn. Alfred, Tennyson, Lord. (18091892.) English poet; poet-laureate from 1850. ter'ma gant (tûr'mă gănt). An imaginary deity represented in ancient morality plays as a very tumultuous, noisy character; badtempered; scolding; quarrelsome. Than'a top'sis (than'a top'sis). meditation on death; Greek form, thanato opsis. A thrall. Slave. thrall'dom (thrôl'dům). Slavery. thread.. labyrinth. Referring to the adventure of Theseus in the Labyrinth; clew; guide; direction. three-headed dog. Cerberus, the dog that guarded the gate to the infernal regions, Hades. Thri a'cian (thri a'shăn). Plain between the mountains of Attica on which were situated the cities of Eleusis and Thria. thumbscrew. An instrument of torture which crushed the thumb by means of a screw. thyme (tim). An aromatic plant, used by the Greeks in sacrifices. Tip'pe ca noe' (tip'e ka noo'). Battlefield in Indiana at Tippecanoe River, where the Indians were defeated by General Harrison in 1811. Ti'tian (tish'ăn). Famous Venetian painter, 1477-1576. tol'er a ble. Passable; moderately good. Tower and Park. London Tower and Hyde Park, London. town-crier. An officer of former times whose duty it was to make official announcements by shouting them to the populace. tra di'tion a'ry (tra dish'un à'ri). Handed down from the past by word of mouth. away with strong feelings. trav'ailed (trăv'àld). Suffered. Trouble; distress. trib'u la'tion. trip'ping ly. Lightly; easily; naturally. Trip tol'e mus (trip tŏl'è mus). Traditional inventor, with the aid of Demeter, of the plow and of the science of agriculture. Tri'ton (tri'ton). A mythological sea god, son of Neptune. He was the trumpeter of Ocean and by a blast on a seashell he stirred or quieted the waves. Tro'zen (trē'zen). A city of ancient Argolis, Greece. troll (trōl). To sing loudly or freely. Troy (troi). Ancient city in Asia Minor, besieged by the Grecian allies for ten years. Tu be'ro (tu bē'rô). Roman stoic philosopher and orator. tu mul'tu ous. Noisy; uproarious. Tus'cu lum (tŭs'kú lům). Ancient town of Latium, ten miles southeast of Rome. Favorite Roman resort. Ty pee. A valley of the island of Nukahiva in the Marquesas, where Melville was detained four months by cannibals. Tyre (tir). Ancient maritime city of Phoenicia. U lys'ses (û lîs'ēz). One of the leaders of the Greeks against Troy. His ten years of wandering on his way home form the subject of Homer's Odyssey. un can'ni ly. Weirdly; strangely. unc'tion (unk'shun). Manner of speaking to excite emotion; simulated fervor. un'e quiv'o cal ly (un'è kwiv'ð kă lĩ). Plainly; without any doubt. un'pro faned' (un'pro fand'). apart; undefiled. un time'ly. Prematurely. Set un wit'ting ly. Unknowingly; without intention; unconsciously. vag'a bond. Wanderer; rover. va'grant (va'grănt). Wandering; unsettled. val'et (vǎl'ět). A manservant. Ve'da (va'da). Collection of sacred literature of the ancient Hindus. ve'hi cle. Means; instrument. vend'ing. Selling. ven'omed (věn'umd). Hateful; poi sonous. ver'dure (vûr'dür). Vegetation; green growth. ves'tals (věs'tălz). Virgins consecrated to Vesta, goddess of the Roman hearth or household, whose business it was to keep the sacred fire continually burning upon the altar. Ve su'vi us (vė sū'vĭ ŭs). Volcano east of the Bay of Naples; disastrous eruption in A.D. 79, August 24. vice'roy (vis'roi). One who rules as a representative of his sovereign. vi ra'go (vi ra'gō). Turbulent woman; vixen. Vi tel'li us (vi těl'ĭ ŭs). A Roman emperor, noted for his love of luxury and display. Vol tur'nus (vŏl tûr'nŭs). A river in Italy near Capua. vo'ta ries. Followers; worshipers. vulgar. Common; ordinary. White, Andrew Dickson. (1832-.) American scholar and diplomatist. Whitman, Walt. (1819-1892.) American poet. whit'tle. A large knife blade. William of Deloraine (děl'ò rān'). In Sir Walter Scott's poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, a vassal of the Buccleuch family sent to fetch the magic book from the tomb of Michael Scott, the wizard. winch. Crank for turning a windlass. wist. An old word for "knew." wist'ful. Pensive; thoughtful. wits. Men of great learning and knowledge of human nature. Wo'den (wō'den). The chief of the gods in Norse mythology. womb (woom). Inside. woof. Cloth; covering. Wordsworth, William. (1770-1850.) English poet; poet-laureate from 1843. worm. Produce; breed. Xerxes (zûrk'zěz). King of Persia, who led the famous and disastrous expedition against Greece in which the battles of Thermopyla and Salamis were fought. Yellow Tiber. The waters of the Tiber are yellow and muddy. Zeus (zus). Chief of the Greek gods. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS STATEMENT OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES This series of readers has been made with the conviction that no textbooks are quite so important as those that have for their object the training of young people in the use and mastery of their mother tongue. Through the power thus gained they hold the key to the strongholds of the world's treasures. At best, the direct contact through experience with the facts of nature and of human life is very limited in the case of each individual. Important as such direct contact must be, we must still realize that a great proportion of what we need for the purposes of education must come through the stimulus of the printed page. We cannot go to all the countries in the world and find out what sort of peoples live in them, how they live, and what they produce. We cannot measure their territories for ourselves, explore their deserts, climb their mountains, sail their seas, and thus learn about all these things at first hand. We must depend upon the geographer to bring all this knowledge before us in summary form. We can at best read only a few of the original documents and examine a few of the monuments in which the story of the past is enshrined. To do any of this effectively requires a special training impossible for most. We must depend upon the trained historian to put what we need in a simple and concise language. We cannot possibly, by any first-hand experience, know what Elizabeth's England was like, or what our country was like in the days of Washington. All this we are likely, if we know it at all, to learn through our ability to interpret the printed page. This fundamental proposition is illustrated only to make clear the tremendous importance of being well grounded in mastery over our language, both in its spoken and its written forms. A second proposition, accepted nowadays with practical unanimity, is that reading books for the schools should not deal with mere information and its organization as such. That is the place for the books on geography, history, physiology, mathematics, and the various sciences. Information in material for reading exercises is purely incidental and is used to illustrate the issues 328 |