McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LI · Part 6: Honesty, Crusoe and good-will

55. The Golden Rule, by Emma C. Embury

Goal: Your child reads a story about honesty and kindness, and says the Golden Rule in their own words.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • A notebook or lined paper and a pencil

What's in the book

A story: Susan's mother explains the Golden Rule. Then Susan collects money owed to her mother from gruff farmer Thompson, who hands her two bank-notes by mistake. Definitions and Exercises follow. The contents name Emma C. Embury as the author.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    The new words are at the end of the lesson, under Definitions. The small number in front of each word is the paragraph or verse where it is used. Read them together before the lesson. A few of them:

    Integrity, honesty, uprightness.

    Temptation, that which has a tendency to induce one to do wrong.

    Assails, attacks.

    Gruff, rough.

    Ask your child to find two of these words in the lesson and read the sentence each one is in.

  2. Read it aloud

    Your child reads the story aloud. It is long, so you can split it over two days, stopping when Susan reaches her mother's door. Here is the turning point:

    "Sir, you paid me two bills, instead of one," said she, trembling in every limb.

  3. Talk about it

    SayWhat is the Golden Rule? What parable is a perfect illustration of its meaning?

    SayCan a man be perfectly honest and still not follow the Golden Rule?

    SayHow was Susan tempted? What did she first think of doing? What changed her intention?

    SayWhat effect did her action have on farmer Thompson?

    Let your child look back at the page to find answers.

  4. Tell it back

    Close the book. Your child tells what happened from the moment farmer Thompson handed Susan the money.

  5. Copywork

    Your child copies this from the book, slowly and neatly, minding every capital letter and mark of punctuation:

    I do not want to be paid for doing right; I only wish you would not think me dishonest.

  6. Words to learn

    Learn: integrity, conviction, appealed, temptation, assails, conflict, weighed, gruff, murmured. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Afterwards

Read the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) together, since the lesson points to it.

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