•Theo. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED LONDON. BOMBAY . CALCUTTA THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY EDNA HENRY LEE TURPIN WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY S. C. MITCHELL, PH.D. PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ILLUSTRATED New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1911 All rights reserved HARVARD COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1911. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co. - Berwick & Smith Co. INTRODUCTION MISS TURPIN'S Short History of the American People has impressed me as a work of exceptional value. The narrative is clear, impartial, spirited, and altogether readable. The prime merit of the work is, in my opinion, that events are made so to unfold that even a child will grasp the principle of cause and effect as it has worked itself out in the history of our country. This volume is not a series of detached dates and incidents, however picturesque or pleasingly told. The process of growth is brought out in every paragraph in such a way as to make the sequence of events illumining. By such treatment the reader is enabled to contract the historical habit. As "the habit of sound thinking is more than a thousand thoughts," so the historical habit of interpreting cause and effect in human experience is of far more value than any knowledge of events, however comprehensive. The author has preserved the due perspective of American history by giving a large place to the facts bearing on the industrial and social development of our people, in accordance with the changing sphere of the modern State, which is becoming more and more social both in its spirit and aims. The style is simple and yet energetic, while the apparatus for teaching, such as maps, topics for study, references for reading, and suggestive questions, are admirable. S. C. MITCHELL. COLUMBIA, S.C., February, 1911. |