McGuffey's Fifth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XIII · Part 2: The good reader and the gentle hand

19. Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded

Goal: Your child retells the story of the barber of Bath and discusses keeping a promise to conscience when it costs something.

⏱ About 30 minutes · 6 steps

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You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook and pencil

What's in the book

A story, with no author named, about a barber in Bath who stops working on Sundays, loses his fine shop, and is later found by a lawyer who brings him news of an inheritance. Definitions follow.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read some definitions:

    Genteel, fashionable, elegant.

    Reduced, brought to poverty.

    Attorney, a lawyer.

    Extremity, greatest need.

    Opportunity, favorable time.

  2. Read aloud

    Take turns by paragraph.

    went with a heavy heart to his Sabbath task.

    He was obliged to give up his fashionable shop,

    Later:

    Here is half a crown for you.

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhy did the barber stop shaving people on Sunday? What did it cost him?

    SayWho was the stranger, and why did he come on a Saturday evening?

    Say"This was touching the barber on a tender chord." What does that mean?

    Say"Thus was man's extremity God's opportunity." Use the definitions to explain this sentence.

  4. Tell it back

    Your child narrates the story from the sermon to the good news.

  5. Copywork

    Copy:

    Thus was man's extremity God's opportunity.

  6. Write (optional)

    Write about a time someone did the right thing even though it cost them.

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