McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader, Revised Edition · Lesson XXXVIII · Part 5: Lessons XXXVII-XLVIII: Faith, ambition and character

44. La Fayette and Robert Raikes (Thomas S. Grimke)

Goal: Your student follows an address that compares two kinds of greatness and explains its conclusion.

⏱ About 40 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

Part of an address at a Sunday-school celebration, comparing La Fayette's return visit to America with the quiet work of Robert Raikes, followed by notes on the people named.

The lesson, step by step

  1. Words and meanings

    Read the book's notes: the Marquis de La Fayette (1757-1834), a French major-general in the American Revolution, who revisited America in 1824; Robert Raikes (1735-1811), an English printer and philanthropist, the founder of Sunday-schools; John Howard (1726-1790), the English philanthropist who worked to reform prisons; and Francis I of France.

    Before reading, find these words in the selection and look up any your student does not know: pageant, venerable, philanthropist.

  2. About the author

    The book says Thomas S. Grimke (1786-1834) was an eminent lawyer and scholar, born in Charleston, South Carolina, a graduate of Yale, who died of cholera near Columbus, Ohio. He was best known as an advocate of peace, of Sunday-schools and of the Bible.

  3. Read it aloud

    Read the opening together:

    It is but a few years since we beheld the most singular and memorable pageant in the annals of time.

    Your student reads on. A sentence to find:

    But La Fayette returned to the land of the dead, rather than of the living.

  4. Talk about it

    SayWhat was the "pageant" Grimke describes?

    SayWhy does he say La Fayette returned "to the land of the dead"?

    SayWho was Robert Raikes, and why does Grimke set him beside La Fayette?

    SayWhich kind of greatness does Grimke think will last longer? Do you agree?

  5. Tell it back

    Your student explains the comparison between the two men.

  6. Copywork and memory

    Copy:

    But La Fayette returned to the land of the dead, rather than of the living.

  7. Write (optional)

    Write a paragraph about someone whose quiet work did great good.

Tip

One page of this lesson could not be checked closely when this guide was written. Read the whole selection before teaching.

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