The Mount Vernon Reader: a Course of Reading Lessons, Selected With Reference to Their Moral Influence on the Hearts and Lives of the Young, Designed for Middle Classes

The Mount Vernon Reader: A Course Of Reading Lessons, Selected With Reference To Their Moral Influence On The Hearts And Lives Of The Young, Designed For Middle Classes, is a mid-19th-century anthology edited for use in common schools to cultivate virtue and piety in children. The volume gathers a ma terial of brief narratives, dialogues, essays, and poetry designed to engage young readers while subtly instilling moral principles. The selections emphasize obedience to parents, gratitude, kindness, self-control, temperance, diligence, and patriotism, presenting moral instruction through character sketches and stories rather than direct exhortation. Contents explore everyday duties (household thrift, punctuality, and taking care of siblings), episodes highlighting consequences of vice (drunkenness, deceit, and idleness), and exemplary acts of courage and mercy, such as Casabianca and Wilberforce, as well as pieces addressing religious reflection and Scripture-based morality. The book aims to shape hearts and lives by shaping habits and sentiments in the rising generation of Americans, using accessible reading material for a middle-class audience.