THIS book is the result of the conviction of the authors, after
severalyears of experience teaching the Spanish language, that it
isdiscouraging to the students of that language, as well as
acontravention of all common-sense pedagogy, to place before
them asreading material in the first year or year and a half,
selections fromclassic Spanish novelists and short story writers.
Such writings canonly be understood and appreciated after
considerable training in thefundamentals of Spanish, a language
abounding in intricate idiomaticexpressions and having great
wealth of vocabulary. Such writings do notprovide the student
with a working vocabulary of the more common andpractical
terms. To read, for instance, Alarcón's Capitán Veneno oreven
Valera's El Pájaro Verde in the second or third semester of
thestudy of Spanish in high schools, seems a sheer tour de
force,resulting in neither a practical vocabulary nor a proper
appreciation ofthese little masterpieces. Yet the strongest claim,
at least at present,that can be made for a place for Spanish in the
educational scheme ofthe United States is that it is a "practical"
language for NorthAmericans to know (being, as a mother-
tongue in the New World, second inimportance only to English),
while at the same time affording as goodlinguistic training as
does a study of either French or German. But thetask of the
Spanish teacher has for many years been complicated in
thiscountry because no material other than that of a purely
literary naturehas been available for the reading work in
elementary classes.
The present volume, it is believed, provides in every-day,
idiomaticSpanish, stories and articles that are simple and yet not
childish, thatcan be readily appreciated by the beginner and yet
