PREFACE

PROBABLY the majority of people, young and old, prefer to study history through the lives of the men who made it. For this reason A FIRST COURSE IN AMERICAN HISTORY has been written in the form of biographies. Book One covers the periods of discovery and colonization, and Book Two gathers up the threads at the time when the colonists first began to band themselves together for common defense, and brings the history down to the present day. The books have been written primarily for use as the class text in intermediate grades, and care has been taken to cover quite thoroughly the more progressive elementary courses of history study. It is hoped that children will also find the stories interesting for supplementary reading, and for general reading at home.

One of our best historians has said: "In the teaching of history the pupil's mind should not be treated as a mere lifeless receptacle for facts; the main thing is to arouse his interest and stimulate his faculties to healthful exercise." If this book helps to inspire enthusiasm for patient effort and noble deeds and awakens interest in a further study of history, it will have served its purpose.

NEW YORK, June, 1908.