McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXIII · Part 3: Lessons XIII-XXIV: Dickens, Gray and Patrick Henry

29. The Memory of Our Fathers (Lyman Beecher)

Goal: Your student follows a persuasive address and states its argument and its main supporting reasons.

⏱ About 35 minutes · 7 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗

You'll need

  • The book, or the scan beside this guide
  • A notebook and pen
  • A dictionary

What's in the book

An author note on Lyman Beecher, then part of an address urging Americans to honor the founders of New England and not ridicule them.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Before reading, find these words in the selection and look up any your student does not know: civilized, bigots, magnitude, persecute.

  2. About the author

    The book says Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), a famous Congregational minister of New England, was born in New Haven and graduated from Yale. He was pastor at Litchfield, Connecticut, and in Boston, and president of Lane Theological Seminary near Cincinnati. His sons and daughters became well-known preachers and authors.

  3. Read it aloud

    Your student reads the selection aloud. Lines to find:

    the foundations of our nation were laid by civilized men, by Christians.

    to ridicule them is national suicide.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhy does Beecher say the nation should honor its fathers?

    SayWhat faults of the forefathers does he admit, and how does he answer them ("Theirs was the fault of the age")?

    SayWhy does he think ridiculing the founders is dangerous?

    SayHis last sentence turns the word "bigots" around. How?

  5. Tell it back

    Your student states Beecher's argument and two of his reasons.

  6. Copywork and memory

    Copy:

    the foundations of our nation were laid by civilized men, by Christians.

  7. Write (optional)

    Write a paragraph: how should we speak about people of the past who had both virtues and faults?

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