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INDIAN READER.

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS IN
THE ANGLO VERNACULAR SCHOOLS

IN INDIA.

COMPILED BY

ARTHUR N. WOLLASTON, M.R.A.S.

H.M. INDIAN (HOME) SERVICE.

TRANSLATOR OF THE ANWAR-I-SUHAILI.

LONDON:

WM H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE,

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WM. H. ALLEN AND CO., PRINTERS, 13, WATERLOO PLACE,

PALL MALL, LONDON.

PREFACE.

Or the numerous series of Readers designed for general instruction in this country, none are altogether adapted for the use of native scholars in India, to whom the idioms introduced must necessarily in many instances be to some degree, if not altogether, unintelligible. In these circumstances it has been thought expedient to compile a series of extracts, such as may with advantage be placed in the hands of young Oriental Students in the Anglo Vernacular Schools, every passage being capable of translation into a native dialect. With the object of making the work as interesting as possible to the classes for whom it is more immediately designed, translations from Persian works of fiction have been introduced, as possessing in the estimation of Orientals a peculiar charm which can scarcely be expected to attach to extracts from English authors.

The selections are progressive, extending from short maxims of a few lines to passages of considerable length, for the most part either inculcating a sound moral, or imparting useful information: but especial care has been

taken that, while instruction is primarily kept in view, amusement is by no means overlooked.

In some of the selections individual words have been omitted, or simpler expressions introduced, to remove as far as possible such peculiarities of idiom as it is the object of the present compilation to avoid: but this license has been sparingly used, and no gratuitous alterations have been made in the text of the authors from whose writings the quotations are gathered.

In addition to the primary object of the work as an Indian Reader, it is hoped that it may be suitable for general use in this country, and especially in aiding the studies of those persons who, through deficiency of early education, may wish in after years to gain a knowledge of their mother tongue. The difficulty to be surmounted in such cases is obviously the mechanical art of reading-the mind itself being more or less matured, is capable of enjoying stories of interest in place of simple elementary phrases, which, however suitable for juvenile students, are scarcely adapted for scholars of riper years.

ARTHUR N. WOLLASTON.

WESTFIELD, SURBITON,
June, 1877.

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