W ILL IAM H O LME S M c GUFF E Y AN D H I S R E AD E R S BY AR E. I H V EY C MINN IC H LL D. Df . , . , ) DE AN E M E RI U S M IA M I U N IV E RS I Y T , T C URATOR OF T H E M C GUFFE Y M US E U M NEW YORK C IN C IN NAT I C H ICAGO AMERIC AN BOOK C OMPANY B O S TO N AT LA N TA DALLA S SAN FRA N C IS CO mcm' 1 6 BY Cot , 93 , AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY All rig hts reserved WmumHOLMES MCGUFFEY MADE mU. S . A. DEDICATED TO H ENRY FORD ' lon devotee and atron o his b hood Alma M lgfi g p f oy ater, the MoGufiey Readers AND TO JOH N H ORST f ounder of the Columbus McGufly Society and ardent believer in the MoGufiey eult Fo r e w o r d ' So GREAT have been t h e services of the McGufiey Readers that it seems most fitting th at full authentic information concerning th eir a uthor and the books should be made available to the millions of American citizens who h ad through th ese readers their first intro ’ duction to the world s best literature and to a dependable r a . mo al and ethic l code / That the impact o f th ese b ooks was W ide and deep in t h e lives of th e people who read them as children and youth sand in those who lived in the milieu o f the social r hi h f p ocesses w ch t ese books set into operation, is ully a of attested by the org nization many societies and clubs, o f by the appearance numerous magazine articles , r r f r of histo ical e e ences , and by the establishment fl McGu b y museums . Henry Ford commemorated hi s introduction to the ' great world o f morals and literature in the McGufley R r o f 1 8 . H e eaders by reprinting the “six eaders 57 t - generously distributed sets til these reprints to the M fi r h h h C ollec cGu ey love s t roug out t e United States . tions of th e McGufiey Readers are sough t fo r by libraries of h fr and museums . Very complete sets t ese books om t h e earliest editions may be found in th e McGuffey a t h e r Museum at Mi mi University, in Ohio A chaeological r S i at hi S a and Histo ical oc ety O o t te University, Colum in t h e F r bus, Ohio , ord Museum, Dearbo n, Michigan, in a few ri a and p v te collections . The auth or h as a ttempted in this book to exhibit the so cial status o f the times and the character o f the population v iii FOREWORD o f the Ohio country which created a demand for books of McGuHey tone and timbre; h e has tried to illustrate the growing commercial a nd publishing interests wh ich carried along the success o f this enterprise with oth er o f r in F h r enterprises the pe iod the Middle West . urt e it t h e o f far more, is purpose this book to reveal as as ' possible the character o f William Holmes McGufley as h e o f n a distinguis d humanitarian, heedless mo etary or i r in i h mercenary p ossib lities , cente ed only serv ces w ich he could render his day and generation th rough the a ppeal of his pen and his voice and h is extraordinary ra h h h lite ry sense . We ave wis ed to pay tribute to t e influence of the McGuffey Readers in the far-flung fr of ontiers in the march western development, even R beyond the ockies . C o n t e n t s PAGE 1 Th e McGuffeys Arriv e in Ohio i l mo s h ere of 2 . So c a th e Ohio Co un r in 1 At p t y 836 . H o th e Mc ufie a 3 . w G y Re ders Beg an So urces Peers and Co m etit o rs 4 . , , p Su remac of th e McGufie Rea ers 5 . p y y d 6 Th e So cial Teach in s of McGufie . g y Th e Lure of th e Pic ures 7 . t ' 8 illiamH o lmes McGufie as Co lle e Pr si en and . W y g e d t C ollections of th e McGuffey Rea ders Index Il l u s t r a t i o n s Memo rial t o WilliamH olmes Mc fi Fr i i Gu ey . ont sp ece H se in hi h Mc uif e as r o u w c G y w bo n . r r r a m G ee sb u g Ac de y . H arriet Spining McGufiey ’ Th e McGuffeys h ome ' Pag es fro mt h e McGufiey Primer i i m M if W ll amH o l es cGu ey . ' an r H McGufie Alex de . y B Smi h and C o m an W . t p y r m E T ler Letter f o Mary . y Th e McGufiey elms at Oh io University Rotunda o f th e Univ ersity of V irg inia T h e Me Gufi e y s Ar r i v e i n Oh i o ” McGUFFEY ! said a distinguished senator of th e United “ ' S ? tates . Is that a person I thoug ht McGufiey was a ’ b ookf After a famous meeting of the Ohio Societ y in New York City in which roll call responses were made by so fr McGuff e R a many quotations om the y e ders , someone of the later generation, evidently an Ohioan by a“doption in ar of E rather than by birth, asked, the p lance nglish ’ ” “ hi Mc uffe G . as she s spoke, who was t s guy y N of either book nor guy, sprung this scion a worthy S t l of co ch ine, but as one sent to deliver the childhood America from the stygian night of fear and horror cre a ted by stories of the public crema tion of Christian mar Rh mes romWi lesworth t h e D o Doom di tyrs , by y f g g , ay f , In an of forefath ers and for massacres their , to create it a ren _ “ ’ ‘ aissance in Ch ildhood s world,a world of familiar ani f ni mals, amiliar playthings, compa ons . The desirable cheap lands of the Ohi o Company and the Joh n Cleves Symmes Company h ad long been dis posed of by 1800 and the Congress became anxious to increase settlement upon the unsold homesteads . May 10 800 L d , 1 , Congress passed the Harrison aw re ucing the minimum number of acres a pioneer might purchase r f 6 0 t o 0 in the Ohio Count y rom 4 32 , at five dollars an f r acre with a down p ayment of fi ty cents an acre . Lumbe and land fo r a h ome and farm could be h ad for $ 160 and 2 WILLIAM HOLMES MCGUFFEY AND H IS READERS five years to pay the entire obligation . The story ran through Pennsylvania and the East as swiftly as news of f ’ f victory, and every armer s son said to his young wi e or w ?” to his betrothed, Will you go ith me In every home of limited circumstances and in the embryo homes young men and women were filled with “ ” f P L r a o f dreams o the romised and . The t e ty Green l A a of vi le, signed by nthony Wayne and represent tives t of I d O welve tribes n ians, established peace in the hio country. No sooner had the west ern part of Pennsylvania been cleared of organized India n massacres and depredations than the pioneering urge and the pressure from competi tion of newly arrived German farmers in York County led to a trans- Pennsylvania migra tion to the unoccupied of r of a and lands the Westmo eland section the st te, to the f r banks of the picturesque Shenango . To the e tile lands between the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers came b e tween 1 770 and 1 790 hundreds of Scotch and Scotch I f f mi rish amilies . Among the historic a lies that settled in the southwest portion of Wa shington County near Good Intent and West Alexander occur the names of McCuloch McInt osh B Eu , , urns, Davidson, David, F Z R and th e chanan, razier, Wetzel, ane, oney, Holmes, “ ” - McGuffe Scotch Billy y. ” The Westmorela nd folk were almost ki th and kin t o ' McGufie s r S S - the y as almost all we e cotch, cotch Irish, E of P t and nglish, and most were the genuine resby erian faith to which William Holmes McGuffey lat er gave long and disting uished service .