Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-10-05

Every one has heard of Puachs advice to
those about to marry
"D0nt p

''DOHt T.
When one contempates in our bookstores
the sea of juvenile literature, that overfows
shelves and counters in gnudy glare of red
and gilt covers
Whose hue angry and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,"-
one is tempted to give similar advice to the
bewildered parent, who asks "What iuve-
niles shall buy for my children
None at ALL" we are half inclined TO reply.
The juvenile literature business has been so
decidedly oyerdone that n reaction in favor
of old-tlme customs may almost be expected.
Our fathers and mothers-happy mortals =
in their childhood read almost no juvenile
books, for the simple reason that they had
none to read. SO they pored over Rollins
Ancient History, or Shakespeare, or "Rasse-
las and Dinarbis,' or odd numbers of the
Spectator" or such stray volumes of history
and travel MS chance threw in their way A
new book was an event, an era. The same
books were read and re-read, until their con-
tents became n constituent part of the childs
mind, and the authors style became also the
readers natural mode of expression This
solid reading was enjoyed, because the chill
dren knew no other, and because their minds
were strong and well-disciplined by the meat
for men" to which they were habituated
Such reading made thoughtful, intelligent
men and women, of sterling character and re-
fined literary tastes whose language and
writings, if slightly formal and stilted, were
at least digniied and self-respectng No slang
marred the swelling Johnsonian sentences of
our ancestors
But the last fifty years have brought
marked change. The modern child devours
from one to two hundred books year A
week after perusal he is uncertain, by merely
hearing the title. whether he ever read "Dick
Dangler, the Boy Ranger of the Sierras, or
not. At the end of the year, he is even un-
certain about the whole Ranger" series. Per
haps he read it, but he's not sure he isn't
thinking of the bill Buffalo" or the boy
Sportsman" or the Boy Hunter" series, or
some other.
TO the perisal of one of these books he de-
votes possibly an hour, carefully skipping all
descriptions of scenery. or moral advice. In
justice to the popular juvenile writer it must
however be said that he is rarely guilty of eli
ther description. advice or moral The liter
AIRY quality Of these fayorite books is aston
ishlngy thin After perusng one we no lon
ger wonder that OLIVER Optic" still in the
prime of his life, has written fifty-five books
for boys. few improbable. sensational in
cidents are strung together by long g-drnwn-out,
inconsequent dialogue. a word or two to a line.
palpably written solely to give the book It's
necessary length-two pages of il could so ca
silly be condensed into two lines. No wonder
the boys and girls get through a book so soon
And admiring parents, with ill-concealed
pYide. tell YOU
Harry is such a reader He makes moth
ing Of reading book through in half an hour
We really can't keep him in books"
And what does it all amount tor Are Har-
ry and his cOntrereS any wiser? Are their
minds strengthened, or tastes elevated, after
having waded through this of books
Dultp tn the M ON Int
Harry has been amused. he has killed half
hour, and that is the best one can say ofit
Yet what harm is done Z" some one asks
We have high authorities who contend that it
is better to read poor books than none at ALL
taste for reading being thus acquired, the
mind will naturally outgrow its love of trash,
and seek better things
fear the persons who comfort themselves
with this belief, have read few modern iuve-
niles. Will the child whose taste is yitiated.
and mind weakened by food of poor sensa-
tional reading voluntarily drop such reading
for books that require powers of memory. at
tention, a certain mental discipline for which
all his previous habits have untitled him
Try the boy who devours the average Sunday
school books dime novels, Oliver Optics, and
weekly story papers by the score with-not
book of travel or history by any MEANS
but simply one of SCOTS or Dickens novels
any book belonging to the best class of fic-
ton. He skips and skins along few pages,
then yawns and throws down the book, ex-
claiming:
Il don't like that It's too slow. It's dyy."
Depend upon it, the child who reads only
trash, makes the man or woman who reads
onfy trash. 'Oliver Optic (which term use
as representing n whole class of writers of that
same fruitful SCHOOL, and the weekly paper
will be succeeded by the n Y. Ledger. Wa
verify Magazine, and the fifth-rate novel The
circulation of any large public library tells the
whole story By far the largest number of
books circulated, belong to the class of fiction.
and the poorest fiction ut that. The books
always ''Out, soon out of their covers. in
fact are novels by Mrs. Southworth, Miss
Braddon. Mrs Holmes and hundred other
writers infinitely feebler. 1t is something
gained if the reader keeps ON moral ground,
and does no; sink 10 the lower depths of "Oui-
da' and Rhoda Broughton
The boys thoughts are 'long, long
thoughts. and they reach on into the years
and make the man. Time slips away and be-
fore We know it the noisy. wide-awake boy
who was yesterday absorbed in top and ball
demands dress coat and razor. We wake up
to find his head out-tOpping ours, and young
man on our hands with ideas and individuality
of his own, already perhaps half-slipped from
under parental influence. Whatever We would
do for the children must be done quickly, or
To- they are no longer children.
The books the girls and boys read shape
their thoughts, and the thoughts are the life.
In the ideal world from their books the chill
dren live and dream. The book heroes and
heroines are unconsciously, yet surely, their
models, the sort of boy and girl they most ad-
mire, and desire to initiate. Let us see then
of what type is the hero common to all the
| boys books.
He is usually a boy of fourteen, whose lead
ing characteristics are impudence, ''smart-
| ness, and good luck. He is surrounded by Il
| remarkable combination of enemies, oppress-
| ors, and conspirators, of whom his father, un-
| Gle or guardian is usually chief This super
human hero, however, easily discomfts his
enemies, and breaking loose, strikes out into
the world for himself. Here the most won
| derful fortune attends him. On the cars he
| assists an old gentleman, u total stranger. The
old gentleman Immediately places fabulous
amount of bonds in his hands, requesting him
| to take them to New York and sell them for
| him. This the hero does. displaying the
most brilliant financial ability, the greatest
| coolness in the den of thieves into which he
falls, etc, etc. OF course the blind old gen
| tleman at once makes him his sole heir.
In much worn copy of one of Horatio Al
| gers books in our Mercantile Library | read
| how the hero n lonely orphan and stranger,
! struggling about New York Glanced TO give a
car-ticket to young girl in the horse car,
who had forgotten her purse. She immedi-
ately exchanges cards. and asks him to call.
| The next day meeting her and her father on
| the street Zone is so apt to meet acquaintance
in New York y he is introduced to the father,
who it is needless to say, is one of New York's
| wealthiest and most aristocratic citizens. The
father at once invites our hero to dine at his
''palatal residence" on Fifth Avenue, and
soon after asks him to attend with his family
n fashionable concert at Steinway Hall, know
ing, be it remembered, nothing whatever of
the boys character or antecedents, but his
own story. The father continues his atten-
tions, even after the hero, by the fendsh