There has been some stuff written on MT's connections with the McGuffey Readers: e.g. in Ron Powers's biography he mentions this, pp. 26-7 or so. I have also mentioned this connection in my own work. A decent book I recall looking at back in the day is called: McGuffey And His Readers : Piety, Morality, And Education In 19th Century America, by John H. Westerhoff. Also: Main Street on the Middle Border, by Lewis Atherton. These ideological sources are not at all unlike the many references to the so-called Sunday-school books that MT often chastised: in tales such as "Good Little Boy who Did Not Prosper," or "Life as I Find It." There are some articles, somewhere out there, regarding MT's view of certain philosophies of education, as well, but I do not have those citations handy. Harold K. Bush, Ph.D Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO