McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson LXI · Part 7: Lost and found

65. The Lost Child, by Abbott

Goal: Your child reads a moving true-to-life story and retells the search for the lost child.

⏱ About 30 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: a little child wanders off while berrying and is lost in woods full of bears. The whole village searches through a rainy night, and at last a signal gun tells that the child is found. It ends by comparing that joy with the joy in heaven over one who is found. Definitions follow. The contents name Abbott 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:

    Distracted, made crazy.

    Suspense, doubt, uncertainty.

    Declivity, descent of land.

    Procession, a train of persons walking or riding.

    Distracted here means nearly out of their minds with worry. Talk about how that is different from today's meaning.

  2. Read it aloud

    Your child reads the story aloud. Let the voice grow quiet and anxious through the night, and joyful when the gun sounds. It begins:

    A few years since, a child was lost in the woods.

  3. Talk about it

    SayHow did the child get lost? Why were people so frightened?

    SayWhat did the searchers plan for the morning? What was the signal to be?

    SayWhat was the village like that morning?

    SayWhat happened when the child was brought home?

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

  4. Tell it back

    Close the book. Your child tells the story from the berry-picking to the joyful return.

  5. Copywork

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

    There was but one thought in every mind: "What has become of the lost child?"

  6. Words to learn

    Learn: separated, distracted, suspense, traversed, ascertained, sympathized, declivity, consultation, landscape, procession. Spell each aloud, then write it with its meaning.

Afterwards

Talk about what your child should do if ever lost: stay put, call out, and wait for help.

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