xt7djh3czq65 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7djh3czq65/data/mets.xml Vail, Henry Hobart, 1839-1925. 1911  books b92-67-27081453 English Burrows, : Cleveland : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. McGuffey, William Holmes, 1800-1873. History of the McGuffey readers  / by Henry H.Vail ; with three portraits. text History of the McGuffey readers  / by Henry H.Vail ; with three portraits. 1911 2002 true xt7djh3czq65 section xt7djh3czq65 
 











































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WILLIAM H. McGUFFEY



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       A HISTORY
           OF THU

McGUFFEY READERS

            By



HENRY



H. VAIL.



WITH THREE PORTRAITS.



THE BOOKISH BOOKS-IV.
      blew Edition.












      CLEVELAND
 THE BURROWS BROTHERS CO.
         1911


 






















Copyright, 1911, by Hanry H. Vail.


 
   Iisltorp of the fiIcuffep 3Reabero



                 THE BOOKS.
  Before me are four small books roughly bound in
boards, the sides covered with paper. On the te-
verse of the title pages, two bear a copyright entry
in the year 1836; the others were entered in 1837.
They are the earliest editions of McGuffey's Eclectic
Readers that have been found in a search lasting
forty years.
  They represent the first efforts in an educational
and business enterprise that has for three-quarters
of a century called for the best exerxioms of many
skilled men, and in their several forms these books
have taken a conspicuous part in the education of
millions of the citizens of this country.
  But what interest can the history of the McGuffey
Eclectic Readers have to those who did not use
these books in their school career Their story
differs from that of other readers since in successive
forms, adjusted more or less perfectly to the chang-
ing demands of the schools, they attained a wider
and more prolonged use than has been accorded to
any other series.


 
      Lvt Punitfion of 3Stwers

  By custom and under sanction of law certain
studies are pursued in the common schools of every
state. Spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geogra-
phy, history, grammar, civics and physiology are
the subjects usually taught. The school authorities
select the textbooks which shall be used in each
subject. The readers are the only texts used in all
schools affording opportunity for distinct ethical
teaching. The history of our country should give ideas
of patriotism; the civics should contain the primary
notions of government; the physiologies should in-
struct the pupils in the laws of health; but the reader
should cover the whole field of morals and manners
and in language that will impress their teaching
indelibly upon the mind of every pupil. While the
chief aim of the school readers must be to teach
the child to apprehend thought from the printed
page and convey this thought to the attentive listener
with precision, these efforts should be exerted upon
thoughts that have permanent value. No other texts
used in the school room bear directly and positively
upon the formation of character in the pupils. The
school readers are the proper and indispensable
texts for teaching true patriotism, integrity, honesty,
industry, temperance, courage, politeness, and all
other moral and intellectual virtues. In these books
every lesson should have a distinct purpose in view.
and the final aim should be to establish in the pupils
high moral principles which are at the foundation
of character.
                         [2]


 
         fot'nmetG of Ctactcete

  The literature of the English language is rich in
material suited to this intent; no other language is
better endowed. This material is fresh to every
pupil, no matter how familiar it may be to teacher
or parent. Although some of it has been in print
for three centuries, it is true and beautiful today.
  President Eliot has said, "When we teach a child
to read, our primary aim is not to enable it to de-
cipher a way-bill or a receipt, but to kindle its im-
agination, enlarge its vision and open for it the
avenues of knowledge."   Knowledge gives power,
which may be exerted for good or for evil. Char-
acter gives direction to power. Power is the engine
which may force the steamer through the water,
character is the helm which renders the power ser-
viceable for good.
  Readers which have been recognized as formers
of good habits of action, thought, and speech for
three-quarters of a century, which have taught a
sound morality to millions of children without giv.
ing offense to the most violent sectarian, which have
opened the doors of pure literature to all their users,
are surely worthy of study as to their origin, their
successive changes, and their subsequent career.
  The story of these readers is told in the specimens
of the several editions, in the long treasured and
time-worn contracts, in the books of accounts kept
by the successive publishers, and in the traditions
which have been passed down from white haired men
who gossiped of the early days in the school-
                        t3,


 
           Diffteffnt tIM00ton

book business. Valuable information has also been
furnished by descendants of the McGuffey family,
and by the educational institutions with which each
of the authors of the readers was connected.
  For half a century the present writer has had per-
sonal knowledge of the readers.   At first, as a
teacher, using them daily in the class room; but
soon, as an editor, directing the literary work of the
publishers and owners. It therefore falls to him
to narrate a story "quorum pars minima fui."
For more than seventy years the McGuffey Readers
have held high rank as text-books for use in the
elementary schools, especially throughout the West
and South. But during this time these books have
been revised five times and adjusted to the changed
conditions in the schools. In each one of these re-
visions the marked characteristics of the original
series have been most scrupulously retained, and the
continued success of the series is doubtless owing to
this fact. There has been a continuity of spirit.
  The First and Second Readers were first published
in 1836. In 1837 the Third and Fourth Readers
were printed. For reasons elsewhere explained these
books were "improved and enlarged" in 1838. In
1841 a higher reader was added to the series which
was then named McGuffey's Rhetorical Guide. In
the years 1843 and 1844 the four books then con-
stituting the series were thoroughly remodeled and
on the title pages were placed the words "Newly
Revised" and the Rhetorical Guide was annexed as
                        [4]


 
         eCoutnt    of tpe b0oot

the Fifth Reader. Ten years later the entire series
was made over and issued in six books. These were
then called the New Readers. From 1853 until 1878
the books remained substantially unchanged; but in
the latter year they were renewed largely in sub-
stance and improved in form.   These readers as
copyrighted in 1879 were extensively used for more
than a quarter of a century.  Changing conditions
in the school room called for another revision in
1901. This latest form now in extensive use is called
The New McGuffey Readers.
  Each of these revisions has constituted practically
a new series although the changes have never in-
cluded the entire contents. In the higher readers
will be found today many selections which appeared
in the original books. The reason for retaining such
selections is clear. No one has been able to write
in the English language selections that are better
for school use than some written by Shakespeare,
Milton, Bacon, and other early writers. The liter-
ature of the English language has not all been writ-
ten in the present decade nor in the last century.
  As at first published, the lower books of the
McGuffey Readers had no trace of the modern
methods now used in teaching the mastery of words
-even the alphabet was not given in orderly form;
but the alphabetic method of teaching the art of
reading was then the only one used. The pupil at
first spelled each word by naming the letters and
then pronounced each syllable and then the word.
                        [5]


 
              1Yirot       fitioo

  The following stanza is copied from page 61 of the
edition of 1844 to illustrate the method of presenting
words:
             I like to see a lit-tle dog,
             And pat him on the head;
             So pret-ti-ly he wags his tail
             When-ev-er he is fed.

  The First Reader was mostly in words of one
syllable. In this book we find the story of the lame
dog that, when cured, brought another lame dog to
be doctored- of the kind boy who freed his caged
bird; of the cruel boy who drowned the cat and
pulled wings and legs from flies; of Peter Pindar
the story teller, and the "snow dog" of Mount St.
Bernard; of Mr. Post who adopted and reared Mary;
of the boy who told a lie and repented after he was
found out; of the chimney sweep who was tempted
to steal a gold watch but put it back and was there-
after educated by its owner; of the whisky boy;
and of the mischievous boy who played ghost and
made another boy insane. Nearly every lesson has
a moral clearly stated in formal didactic words at
its close.
  In the Second Reader we find the story of the
idle boy who talked with the bees, dogs, and horses,
and having found them all busy, reformed himself;
of the kind girl who shared her cake with a dog
and an old man; of the mischievous boys who tied
the grass across the path and thus upset not only the
milk-maid but the messenger running for a doctor
                       [6]


 
              Pivot rtitiono

to come to their father; of the wise lark who knew
that the farmers grain would not be cut until he
resolved to cut it himself; of the wild and ravenous
bear that treed a boy and hung suspended by his
boot; and of another bear that traveled as a passen-
ger by night in a stage coach; of the quarrelsome
cocks, pictured in a clearly English farm yard, that
were both eaten up by the fox that had been brought
in by the defeated cock; of the honest boy and the
thief who was judiciously kicked by the horse that
carried oranges in baskets; of George Washington
and his historic hatchet and the mutilated cherry-
tree; and of the garden that was planted with seeds
in lines spelling Washington's name which removed
all doubt as to an intelligent Creator. There were
also some lessons on such animals as beavers, whales,
peacocks and lions.
The Third Reader will be remembered first be-
cause of the picture, on the cover, of Napoleon on
his rearing charger. This book contained five se-
lections from the Bible; Croly's "Conflagration of
the Ampitheatre at Rome;" "How a Fly Walks on
the Ceiling;" "The Child's Inquiry;" "How big was
Alexander, Pa ;" Irving's "Description of Pompey's
Pillar;" Woodworth's "Old Oaken Bucket;" Miss
Gould's "The Winter King;" and Scott's "Bonaparte
Crossing the Alps," commencing "'Is the route prac-
ticable' said Bonaparte. 'It is barely possible to
pass,' replied the engineer. 'Let us set forward,
then,' said Napoleon." The rearing steed facing a
                       [7]


 
          :laborite Atlecetiono

precipitous slope in the picture gave emphasis to the
words. There were also in this reader several pieces
about Indians and bears, which indicate that Dr.
McGuffey never forgot the stories told at the fire-
side by his father of his adventures as an Indian
scout and hunter.
  In the Fourth Reader there were seventeen selec-
tions from the Bible; William Wirt's "Description of
the Blind Preacher;" Phillip's "Character of Napo-
leon Bonaparte;" Bacon's "Essay on Studies;" Nott's
"Speech on the Death of Alexander Hamilton ;"
Addison's "Westminster Abbey;" Irving's "Alham-
bra ;" Rogers's "Genevra ;" Willis's "Parrhasius ;"
Montgomery's "Make Way for Liberty;" two ex-
tracts from Milton and two from Shakespeare, and
no less than fourteen selections from the writings
of the men and women who lectured before the
College of Teachers in Cincinnati.  The story of
the widow of the Pine Cottage sharing her last
smoked herring with a strange traveler who revealed
himself as her long-lost son, returning rich from the
Indies, was anonymous, but it will be remembered
by those who read it.
These selections were the most noteworthy ones
in the first editions of these readers.
The First and Second Readers of the McGuffey
Series were substantially made new at each re-
vision A comparison of the original Third Reader
with an edition copyrighted in 1847, shows that the
latter book was increased about one-third in size.
                       [8]


 
           Lvaborite Attftiono

Of the sixty-six selections in the early edition only
forty-seven were retained, while thirty new ones
were inserted. Among the latter were "Harry and
his Dog Frisk" that brought to him, punished by be-
ing sent to bed, a Windsor pear; "Perseverance," a
tale of kite-flying followed by the poem, "Try, try
again;" the "Little Philosopher," named Peter Hur-
dle, who caught Mr. Lenox's runaway horse and
on examination seemed to lack nothing but an
Eclectic spelling book, a reader and a Testament
which were promised him; "The Colonists," in which
men of various callings offered their services, and
while even the dancing master was accepted as of
some possible use, the gentleman was scornfully
rejected; "Things by Their Right Names," in which
a battle was described as wholesale murder; "Little
Victories," in which Hugh's mother consoled him
for the loss of a leg by telling him of the lives of
men who became celebrated under even greater ad-
versities; "The Wonderful Instrument," which
turned out to be the eye; "Metaphysics," a ludicrous
description of a colonial salt-box in affected terms
of exactness designed to ridicule some forms of
reasoning. Those who used this edition of the third
reader will surely remember some of these selec-
tions.
  In the Fourth Reader printed in 1844 there were
thirty new selections-less than one-third of the
book; but some of these were such as will be re-
membered by those who read them in school. There
was "Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded," in which


 
                  Z1t Mst'te

a barber of Bath had become so poor because he
would not shave his customers on Sunday, that he
borrowed a half-penny to buy a candle Saturday,
night to give light for a late customer, and was
thus discovered to be the long-lost William Reed
of Taunton, heir to many thousand pounds; "The
Just Judge," who disguised himself as a miller and,
obtaining a place on the jury, received only five
guineas as a bribe when the others got ten, and who
revealed himself as Lord Chief Justice Hale and
tried the case over in his miller's clothing; Haw-
thorne's "The Town Pump;" Mrs. Southey's "April
Day."
        "All day the low-hung clouds have dropped
          Their garnered fullness down.
          All day a soft gray mist hath wrapped
          Hill, valley, grove and town."

Bryant's "Death of the Flowers;" Campbell's
"Lochiel's Warning ;" and the trial scene from
Shakespeare's Merchant of Vewce. All these be-
came favorite reading exercises in later years.
  As late as 1840 the Bible was read daily in all the
schools of the WNest. Although sectarian or denom-
inational teaching was not permitted, religious in-
struction was desired by the great majority of
school patrons.
  Even up to the opening of the Civil War, what-
ever the faith or the practice of the adult inhabitants
of the coumtry, the Bible story and the Bible diction
                        [10]


 
          31. SWftOg'u Oavnfon

were familiar to alL The speeches of the popular
orators of that day were filled with distinct allu-
sions to the Bible and these were quickly and clearly
apprehended by the people. It may be questioned
whether popular speeches of the present day would
have equal force if based on the assumption that
everybody knows the Biblical stories. Indeed it is
a common remark made by professors of English
in the higher institutions of learning that pupils
know little of the Bible as a distinctly formative
and conservative element in English literature. In
the texts authorized for the study of English classics,
Biblical allusions are very common. These have lit-
tle meaning to pupils who have not read the Bible,
unless the passage is pointed out and hunted up.
  From the pages of these readers the pupils learned
to master the printed word and obtain the thought
of the authors. Without conscious effort they re-
ceived moral instruction and incentives toward right
living. Without intent they treasured in their mem-
ories such extracts from the authors of the best
English Literature as gave them a desire to read
more.
  In one of his sermons Dr. David Swing of Chicago
said: "Much as you may have studied the languages
or the sciences, that which most affected you was
the moral lessons in the series of McGuffey. And
yet the reading class was filed out only once a day
to read for a few moments, and then we were all
sent to our seats to spend two hours in learning
                        [11]


 
           Moosu go Zereabetf

how to bound New Hampshire or Connecticut, or
how long it would take a greyhound to overtake a
fox or a hare if the spring of each was so and so,
and the poor fugitive had such and such a start.
That was perhaps well, but we have forgotten how
to bound Connecticut, and how to solve the equation
of the field and thicket; but up out of the far-off
years come all the blessed lessons in virtue and
righteousness which those reading books taught;
and when we now remember, how even these moral
memories have faded I cannot but wish the
teachers had made us bound the States less, and
solve fewer puzzles in 'position' and the 'cube
root' and made us commit to memory the whole
series of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers. The mem-
ory that comes from these far-away pages is full
of the best wisdom of time or the timeless land.
In these books we were indeed led by a school-
master, from beautiful maxims for children up to
the best thoughts of a long line of sages, and poets,
and naturalists. There we all first learned the awful
weakness of the duel that took away a Hamilton;
there we saw the grandeur of the Blind Preacher of
William Wirt; there we saw the emptiness of the am-
bition of Alexander, and there we heard even the
infidel say, 'Socrates died like a philosopher, but
Jesus Christ like a God.'"
This public recognition of the influence of these
readers upon the mind and character of this great
preacher is again noted in Rev. Joseph Fort New-
                       [12]


 
   POW                   Iw tfttftfg i

ton's biography of David Swing in which the books
which influenced that life are named as "The Bible,
Calvin's Institutes, Fox's Book of Martyrs and the
McGuffey Readers ;" and the author quotes David
Swing as saying that "The Institutes were rather
large reading for a boy, but to the end of his life
he held that McGuffey's Sixth Reader was a great
book. For Swing, as for many a boy in the older
West, its varied and wise selections from the best
English authors were the very gates of literature
ajar."
  One of the most eminent political leaders of the
present day attributes his power in the use of Eng-
lish largely to the study of McGuffey's Sixth Reader
in the common schools of Ohio.
  At a dinner lately given in New York to Marquis
Ito of Japan, the marquis responded to the toast of
his health returning thanks in English. He then
continued his remarks in Japanese for some eight
minutes. At its close Mr. Tsudjuki, who was then
the minister of Education in Japan, traveling with
Marquis Ito as his friend and companion, and who
had taken shorthand notes of the Japanese speech,
rose and translated the speech readily and fluently in-
to good English. One of the guests asked how he had
learned to speak English so correctly. He replied
that he had done so in the public schools of Japan
and added, "I learned my English from McGuffey's
Readers, with which you are no doubt familiar."
  It is not unusual to see in the literary columns of
                       [13)


 
              VIc t msnjOt'uf

a daily newspaper inquiries as to where certain
poems may be found of which a single stanza is
faintly recalled. Many of these prove to be frag-
ments of pieces that are found in the McGuffey
Readers. Quite lately Theodore Roosevelt made the
public statement that he did not propose to become
a "Meddlesome Matty." This allusion was perfectly
clear to the millions of people who used the Mc-
Guffey Readers at any time after 1853.
  When the Fourth Reader was issued in 1837 it
contained a preface of three closely printed pages
setting forth and defending the plan of McGuffey's
books. In this he said: "In conclusion, the author
begs leave to state, that the whole series of Eclectic
Readers is his own. In the preparation of the rules,
etc., for the present volume he has had the assist-
ance of a very distinguished Teacher, whose judg-
ment and zeal in promoting the cause of education
have often been commended by the American people.
In the arrangement of the series generally, he is
indebted to many of his friends for valuable sug-
gestions, and he takes this opportunity of tendering
them his thanks for the lively interest they have
manifested for the success of his undertaking."
The sole author of the four readers first issued as
the Eclectic Readers was William Holmes M4cGuf-
fey. He was responsible for the marked qualities in
these books which met with such astonishing popular
approval in all these years. What these qualities are



[14]


 
          SZn 3=ntowfca Ibr

is well known to those who have used the books and
the users are numbered by millions.
The Rhetorical Guide was prepared by Mr. A. H.
McGuffey, and his name alone was on the early
editions. In 1844 the book was revised by the au-
thor and Dr. Pinneo, and was given the alter-
nate title "or Fifth Reader of the Eclectic Series."
The work of revision occupied two years. The title
page carried the name of its author until, for reasons
of his own, he asked to have it removed.
  As usual when revisions of schoolbooks are made,
the older edition was continued in publication so
long as a distinct demand for it existed. But the
issuance of a revised edition always suggests the
question of change, which competing publishers
promptly seek to bring about. The publishers of
the "Newly Revised McGuffey Readers," therefore,
sought to replace the older edition wherever it was
in use and to displace competing books wherever
possible. The edition of 1843 acquired large sales
over a very wide territory in the central West and
South. It is the edition generally known by the
grandfathers of the school boys of the present day.
  It may be interesting to name some of the se-
lections in this Rhetorical Guide issued in 1844 since
in modified form the work has been the highest
reader of the series.
  As a guide toward rhetorical reading the book
contained a carefully prepared collection of rules
and directions with examples for practice in Articu-
                        [15]


 
           tffeltfo.t   of Value

lation, Inflection, Accent and Emphasis, Reading
Verse, for the Management of the Voice and Gesture.
These pages were intended for drill work, and in
those days the teachers were not content with the
dull monotonous utterance of the words or with
mere mastery of thought, to be tested by multitud-
inous questioning. If the pupil obtained from the
printed page the very thought the author intended
to convey, the pupil was expected to read orally so
as to express that thought to all hearers. If the cor-
rect thought was thus heard, no questions were
needed. The test of reading orally is the communi-
cation of thought by the reader to the intelligent
and attentive hearer, and the words of the author
carry this message more accurately than can any
other words the pupil may select.
  The selections in the Rhetorical Guide were made,
first of all, to teach the art of reading. There was
therefore great variety. Second, to inculcate a love
for literature. Therefore the selections were taken
from the great writers,- poets, orators, essayists,
historians, and preachers. The extracts are wonder-
fully complete in themselves,-one does not need to
read the whole of Byron's Don Juan to appreciate
the six stanzas that describe the thunder-storm on
the  Alps.  Of the   poetical extracts  all the
users of this book will remember Southey's "Cat-
aract of Lodore" with its exacting drill on the end-
ing, "ing," Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" and
the "Reaper and the Flowers;" Bryant's "Thana-
                       (16)


 
            mottW      tftctfonu

topsis" and "Song of the Stars;" Wolfe's "Burial of
Sir John Moore;" Gray's "Elegy;" Mrs. Hemans's
"Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers ;" Cowper's "My
Mother's Picture ;" Jones's "What Constitutes a
State;" Scott's "Lochinvar;" Halleck's "Marco Boz-
zaris;" Drake's "American Flag;" and Mrs. Thrale's
"Three Warnings." As an introduction to the thought,
imagery and diction of Shakespeare, there were
"Hamlet's Soliloquy," "Speech of Henry Fifth to his
Troops," "Othello's Apology," "The Fall of Cardinal
Wolsey" and his death, the "Quarrel of Brutus and
Cassius" (often committed to memory and spoken)
and Antony's Oration over dead Caesar. The ex-
tracts from orations were chosen largely for their
relation to great events in history.  There were
Patrick Henry's "Speech before the Virginia Conven-
tion," Walpole's "Reproof of Mr. Pitt," and Pitt's
reply. Who cannot remember "The atrocious crime of
being a young man," and go on with the context
There were extracts from Hayne's "Speech on South
Carolina," and Webster's reply defending Massa-
chusetts; a part of Burke's long speech on the Trial
of Warren Hastings prefaced by Macaulay's de-
scription of the scene; Webster's "Speech on the
Trial of a Murderer," ending with "It must be con-
fessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge from
confession but suicide, and suicide is confession ;"
Webster's speech on the Importance of the Union
with its concluding sentiment, "Liberty and Union,
now and forever; one and inseparable." There was
                      [l 7]


 
          Aftterva 44,6eIC000

also Fox's "Political Pause" with its wonderful re-
quirements of inflection to express irony; Sprague's
"American Indians," "Not many generations ago,
where you now sit, encircled with all that exalts
and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nod-
ded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole un-
unscared." Did you not commit it to memory and
speak it  Then there was Webster's Speech in
which he supplied John Adams from his own fervid
imagination that favorite of all patriotic boys, "Sink
or swim, live or die, survive or perish; I give my
hand and my heart to this vote."  At its close,
"it is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of
God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence
now, and independence forever."
  From the essayists there was Lamb's "Eulogy on
Candle Light ;" that delightful "Eulogy on Debt"
from an unknown author; Addison's "Allegory on
Discontent," and "Westminster Abbey ;" and Jane
Taylor's "Discontented Pendulum."  Only seven
selections were taken from the Bible; but one of
these was Paul's Defense before Agrippa. There
were, however, quite a number of articles of strongly
religious tendency, like Dr. Spring's "Observance of
the Sabbath."
The book contained two hundred and thirty-five
selections and of this number nearly one-half ap-
peared in all subsequent revisions.
This Rhetorical Guide or Fifth Reader is the book
that by its careful selection of specimens of the best
                       [18]




 
          04-30el"Ife2    wetetrt

English literature in prose and verse contributed
most to the training of its readers toward the ap-
preciation of true beauty in literature. It contained
many pieces of solid and continuous worth,- many
that relate closely to the great historical eras of the
United States.
  In the latest revision of the highest reader, made
in 1879, one hundred and thirty-eight selections
composed the book. Of this number sixty-one were
in the original book as prepared by Mr. A. H.
McGuffey.
  It was an admirable collection of much material
that is still prized and which, when carefully read
by pupils hungry for thoughtful language, made a
deep and lasting impression. In many cases the in-
most thought of the author may not have been at
once fully apprehended by the young readers; but
with advancing years and wider experience in life
the stored words became instinct with thought and
feeling.


               THE AUTHORS.

  Dr. William Holmes McGuffey was born Septem-
ber 28. 1800, on the southern border of Washington
county, Pa. The family descended from William
and Anna (McKittrick) McGuffey who came from
Scotland, and landed at Philadelphia. They made
a home in the southern part of York county, at
                       [19]


 
           zbve n"Vfxw sconto

which, during the Revolution, General Washington
often stopped to refresh himself.  In 1789 this
family removed to Washington county, Pa.
  Alexander McGuffey, the father of Dr. McGuffey,
was six years old when the family came to America
in August, 1774. In 1790, when he was twenty-two
years of age, he and his friend, Duncan McArthur,
afterward a governor of Ohio, were selected from
five young men who volunteered to act as scouts
against the Indians in Ohio who were then threat-
ening the frontier settlements in the western part
of Virginia and Pennsylvania.  These two young
men were selected after tests by Samuel Brady to
find which could run the fastest, shoot most accu-
rately, and were least afraid of Indians. Alexander
McGuffey served in the army three years, venturing
his life with small bodies of scouts in the Indian
country. He took part in several fights with the
Indians. When General St. Clair in 1792 marched
north from Cincinnati to meet the Indians, this body
of scouts was one day concealed in a swamp near
the spring of Castalia, Ohio. There they saw great
numbers of Indians passing to meet General St.
Clair, and three of the scouts hastened through the
Indian country to inform the general. They traveled
only at night and hid during the day. One night
they marched forty miles. They told General St. Clair
what they had seen and again went out to watch the
collecting Indians. Three days later St. Clair was
defeated. These scouts were then twelve miles away
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but the retreating soldiers soon overtook them and
then the "woods were alive with Indians." The
scouts turned eastward and in due time reached
Logstown, near Wheeling.
The next year McArthur, McGuffey and George
Sutherland were again sent out by General Wayne
to spy the Indians. When only seven or eight miles
from Wheeling and west of the Ohio river, they
came upon a trail which led to a deer lick. Just at
dusk McGuffey, who was leading the party, saw in
the path the gaily decorated head-dress of an Indian.
It had been placed there by the Indians who were in
ambush close by and were ready to shoot any white
man who should stop to pick it up. McGuffey saw
through the stratagem instantly; without halting, he
gave it a kick and shouted "Indians !" Several In-
dians fired at once and one of the balls smashed
McGuffey's powder horn, and passed through his
clothing, but did not wound him. The three scouts
retreated in safety, and the Indians did not follow
them.
  The wars with the Indians in that region closed
in 1794, and Alexander McGuffey then married Anna
Holmes, of Washington county, and became a set-
tler. His eldest son was William Holmes McGuffey.
When this son was but two years old the family
moved to Trumbull county, Ohio.   Here, in the
care of a pious mother and father, he spent the years
of childhood and of early manhood, performing the
labors falling upon the eldest son in a large family
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of children dwelling in a log cabin on the frontier.
From the heavy forest, fields were cleared, fenced
and cultivated, roads were made and bridges were
built, and in all these labors the sturdy son of the
famous Indian scout took part.
  During the first eighteen years of W. H. McGuf-
fey's life he had no opportunities for education other
than those afforded by the brief winter schools sup-
ported by the voluntary subscriptions of the parents
in the neighborhood.
  In 1802 Rev. Thos. Hughes, a Presbyterian clergy-
man, built at Darlington, Pa., the "Old St