Preface.
This Reader contains nearly 1500 different words. The Dictionary contains all the words occuring in the Reader, and some 4600 additional, or more than 6000 in all. It also has over 1500 sentences illustrating the meaning of the words. The Chinese scholar will find most of the words in the Dictionary that he will ordinarily meet with in reading or speaking.
The lessons in the Reader are graded as slowly, as the limited space, and introduction of as many new words as possible, would allow. The lessons are on a variety of subjects, and include a great many sentences used in ordinary conversation. Gospel truths have been introduced as far as practicable throughout; and the design of the whole is, not only to lead the scholar into the knowledge of the English language, but also of the truth. The Chinese portion is in the Canton dialect, which is the spoken language of this people in America, Australia and the Sandwich Islands. The object of using this dialect instead of the more elegant style of their language is to give the learner the meaning of the English, in plain and simple words, such as he himself would use in expressing the same thing. I. M. C.
Copyright, 1882,
By American Tract Society.
