Literature for Little Folks — Elizabeth Lloyd

From the PREFACE.
TECHNICAL Grammar is useful and valuable in its place, but committing the rules of syntax to memory never yet made a correct writer and speaker. Those children who habitually hear good English, speak and write it correctly, unconscious of rules; and the idea has at last dawned upon educators that the best way to gain a knowledge of the English language is to study the language itself.
That this study may begin as early in life as possible, the author has prepared this volume of selections from standard authors, believing that children from eight to twelve years of age may commit them to memory with profit and pleasure.
Most of the pieces herein contained are among the best that can be found in the small range of good child-literature; but a few, such as "Mary's Lamb" and "Little Star," are inserted because they have become children's classics, rather than for their intrinsic merit.
The composition lessons which accompany these selections are designed to enlarge the pupil's vocabulary and accustom him to express his thoughts in correct language.