|
INTRODUCTION
The history of
Canada is full of incidents of romantic interest, of the details of
personal bravery and heroic self-sacrifice, of the struggles of
individuals to found for themselves homes amid the wilderness, and
to obtain that measure of self-government which helps to establish
character and independence. The records of these events, so
stimulating and full of interest to the youthful imagination, have
not been available to the extent that one might wish. The ordinary
school text-book of Canadian history is shorn of much of that
interest so attractive to the young. It is crowded with details of
facts, that have to be condensed in order to provide a book of a
certain number of pages of an unbroken uniformity. There are many
books which present with more fullness the events of the story of
Canada, but they do not come within the reach of the children in our
schools. To make up for this want, a series of Leaflets will be
published by the EDUCATIONAL REVIEW, which will present the leading
events and persons in our history in such a graphic way as to secure
interest and at the same time give instruction. It is hoped that the
effort to provide, at a low price, supplementary reading in Canadian
history for schools will meet with such encouragement at the outset
that a series of Leaflets, covering all periods of our history, will
be the result. Many leading writers of Canada have promised
assistance, and the names of those who are contributing to the first
number should be a guarantee of what may be expected in the future.
The aim, first of all, will be to make history instructive. There is
no need to sugar-coat such history as ours by trying to make it
fascinating as a story. That is only an attempt to deceive children.
Let them be presented with history as history. Let the events
tell their own story. Let children, when possible, be brought into
contact with original documents, with the historians of the past,
and there will soon be a change from the passive hearer of a dull
history recitation to the earnest, diligent enquirer after further
light.
This Series will make it possible for schools with limited library
privileges to do history work in the spirit and method of our best
equipped institutions, by introducing them to the original sources
of our history, and by awakening a spirit of thoughtful
investigation, not only in this study, but in literature and science
as well. The passages from original authorities will be so selected
as to excite the interest and pique the curiosity of intelligent
boys and girls, and stimulate them to further research in the
sources of our surpassingly rich collection of historical material.
Thus, an enthusiasm will be aroused, a love for Canada, for its
history, for its institutions, and a keen sympathy with the perils
and sufferings of those who have helped to make it.
History so studied will be a happy mean between the delightful
amusement of a "fascinating story" and the dry husks of details to
be memorized from text-books. If history has not suffered from the
former, it has certainly suffered from the latter, in consisting too
often of a dreary mass of facts, dates and events with no more
coherence than beads upon a string. Another point that the Series
has in view, aside from the value of the historical matter contained
in it, is the advantage to students of coming in contact with the
style of some of our best Canadian writers, and of historians like
Champlain, Parkman and others, thus suggesting to them the true way
of writing, as well as studying the events of history.
It is upon these lines, then, that the present Series is to be
issued, not to take the place of any text-book, but for subsidiary
use in our schools, and to aid teachers and students who have
limited access to books and documents relating to the history of
Canada.
G. U. HAY.
Download
Canadian History Readings
here |
