INTRODUCTION
found. Today the student must be brief and accurate, and these Outlines enable him to meet the requirements without unnecessary expenditure of valuable time and energy. Suppose, for example, that a student, teacher or general reader wishes to write a paper or get a review of English literature of the eighteenth century or, in fact, of any period of literature. In these Outlines the guide posts of the world's literature are presented so clearly and effectively that there is photographed on the mind a definite picture of the main features in the literary life of the world from before the time of Confucius down to the most modern writers of fiction. We direct your attention for a moment to the Outline on Young Folk's Literature. Every mother knows how difficult it is to select suitable stories to tell and read to young children. There is so much reading material that is really worthless thrown on the market, that it requires considerable experience to make a wise selection.
It does not require much thought to realize how completely this graded list of literature for children covers the years of early childhood, when children demand stories, then on through the restless adolescent period when every boy craves the story of excitement and adventure, into the later high school and college ages, thus covering completely the dangerous periods in the child's life. Surely the educators appreciated the truth of the saying: "In making the right start, half the battle is won."
To the Outlines is added a series of over 6000 Classified Questions. These form a means of study that, in the hands of the general public, has proven its value by many years' experience. This Question idea was first introduced in The Student's Cyclopedia, which we published in 1893. Inasmuch as these Classified Questions have filled a special niche in the home life for so many years, that feature has not only been retained, but has been strengthened and broadened to cover practically every department of knowledge. The editor's aim has been to select live questions which develop thought and expression, as well as fasten in the mind of the student the very meat of the subject under consideration.
Entire families have spent evening after evening in studying the questions and their answers. Parents have declared that when the long winter evenings have passed they have been amazed at the vast amount of information obtained and the studious habits acquired by every member of the household. Teachers and parents have realized that a strong home tie has been developed through this method of study, that is a closer companionship and a stronger bond of sympathy between children and parents. This spirit of confidence in the home circle becomes the trusty safeguard in the future life of the boys and girls.
In a word: The Lesson Outlines have been prepared and arranged with all the skill that painstaking educators could command and is the Key to the vast library of information contained in The New Student's Reference Work.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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