The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-03-29
What Books for Children!

We said last week that general read
ing was a more powerful educational in.
iluence than any college training. I'm
saying this II was not our thought to
undervalue for moment the drill and
discipline of the colleges. A college
education gives that which can not be
had elsewhere. But it is not always or
generally the valeIictorian who has
won high marks by his concentration on
the niceties of classical study, it is not
the Senior Wrangler who has swallowed
mathematics in steady stream, that
becomes the great man. 1t is he who
has swept the wide horizon of general
knowledge, breathing the bracing air of
modern rs well as of ancient thought,
that will leave his mark on the world
And so we say, buy "A library for your
children at all hazards. OF what sort
shall it be?
Let Us first warn you 10 beware of the
Sunday-school libraries. Not that they
are positively bad in tendency, but they
are weak and dissipating in their inhu-
ence. If the Sunday-school people,
who control the most influential circu-
lating Libraries in the world could get
1t out of their heads that the sacredness
OF the Sabbath requires them 10 confne
their literature to heavy, unreliable,
devotional books, and to weak and in
sipid semi-religious fiction, the next
generation would be greatly better in
mind and morals than it is likely to be
under the present system.
Next, let us suggest that your library
should take shape somewhat from your
children's taste and age. If you have
a boy with passion for mechanics or
natural science, that will direct YOU
toward such books as will crafty his
taste. If he is young, Jacob Abbott's
" Rollo's Philosophy would delight
him. If he is older, the " illustrated
Library of Wonders" will serve TO excite
his interest. There are over thirty vol.
umes Of this library, and we are told
they are not all alike exact on nicer
scientific points, but they are exact
enough for popular use, and they are
delightful reading for an intelligent
child. If child has taste for history,
buy Jacob Abbott's Histories. These
books may be bought one at time, the
new one being a reward for the compile
ton of the preceding one. But the
best history ever written for q child is
Dickens " Child's History of England"
But the most important thing in
child's education is the cultivation of a
real enjoyment Of pure literature. If
he pail his sense with Mayne Reid and
Optic books, you can not make him love
better books. A child should be early
introduced to the standard authors. Try
Longtellow's IIiawatha." Irving's
" Sketch Book" and one or two of
Charles Lambs essays, as the one on
" Roast Pig" for instance. But if your
children are not yet old enough to love
these things, then 90 back to something
simpler. The "Children's Garland is
the best book of poems for children
that we know.
In the matter Of stories, children and
young people should be limited. The
" Arabian Nights" is not bad if there is
not too much of it. Robinson Crusoen
and " Sanford and Merton" are admira-
bic among the older books, and Jean
lngelow's Mopsa' and Harpers
Story Books and the Franconia
Stories" are all excellent. Some years
ago some excellent historical tales by
Miss Strickland were published in this
country, but we do not know by what
house or whether they are still in print.
They give young person a better no.
ton of the history of manners-whlch
is the most real history-than anything
we know.