This textbook is a fifth reader covering biographical, historical, geographical, scientific, and literary allusions or references; spelling and pronunciation; grammar; definitions, synonyms, and paraphrases; and style and thought in reading selections. Selections from classic literature are included. Writings by authors such as Benjamin Franklin, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Bailey, Henry D. Thoreau, Alfred Tennyson, Edgar A. Poe, Washington Irving, Theodore O'Hara, and R. W. Emerson are presented.