re some of the people of Cincinnati interested in
the problem of education who took part with Dr. McGuffey in the
discussions of the College of Teachers and labored zealously for the
promotion of education in every department. While president of Lane
Seminary. Dr. Beecher was also the pastor of the Second Presbyterian
Church in Cincinnati where W.B. Smith was an attendant.

[Alexander H. McGuffey]

Dr. McGuffey left Cincinnati in 1839, and when the publisher, Mr.
Winthrop B. Smith, found it necessary to add to the four McGuffey's
Readers another more advanced book, he employed for its preparation, Mr.
Alexander H. McGuffey, a younger brother of Dr. McGuffey. Mr. Alexander
H. McGuffey had, in 1837, prepared for Messrs. Truman & Smith the
manuscript of McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book, and although the nature
of this task was very different from the preparation of a reader for the
highest grades in the elementary schools, the result showed that the
publishers judged wisely in selecting a man competent to prepare a
selection from English literature.

[Illustration: ALEXANDER H. McGUFFEY]

Mr. Alexander Hamilton McGuffey was born August 13, 1816, in Trumbull
County, Ohio. He was sixteen years younger than his brother, William,
and when only ten years of age was placed under charge of his brother
at Oxford, Ohio. There he studied Hebrew before he had any knowledge
of the grammar of his mother tongue. He was a brilliant student, and
he graduated from Miami University at the age of sixteen. Soon after
graduation he was appointed Professor of Belles Lettres at Woodward
College. In this field of labor his knowledge of English literature was
broadened and he acquired a love for the classic English writers that
lasted through life. But Mr. McGuffey determined to become a lawyer and,
while still teaching English literature in Woodward College, he read
law. He was admitted to the bar as soon as he reached his twenty-first
year, and became a noted and wise counsellor. His labor for his clients
was in keeping them out of the courts by clearly expressed contracts and
prudent action. He was seldom engaged in jury trials; but was expert in
cases involving contracts and wills. In such suits his knowledge of the
principles of law and his power of close reasoning were valuable. He was
often placed in positions of trust, and was for more than fifty years
the watchful guardian of the interests of the Cincinnati College.

[The Rhetorical