The Portland daily press., 1878-12-21

Triplet," how shall we know that Rozinante
Is Don Quixote's raw boned steed, one of
the torty-six horses known to oldworld fable?
We shall do well il we recognize Pegasus.
When Scott says: SIN process OF time the
noble dog slept with Bran, Luarth, and the
celebrated hounds of antiquity" We may
perhaps remember Act@on's pack of fifty,
but do we know the nine famous dogs that
since the days of the Seven Sleepers have
made their appearance in story? Yorick
forgets-since 'Rab" was created there are
ten. When Beranger sings of the Marquis of
Carabas, how do we know who the Marquis
is unless we have read Puss In Boots? What
do we know of pepper in tarts, or Barmecide
feasts, or Paribanou's extension fan, or
Prince Ahmed's homeopathic method of cur
ing death by using the apple that brought
death into the world, or Morgiana's discov-
cry when she opened the casks, unless we
read the Arabian Nights? In these latter
days too, we have found out that our nursery
tales were the creeds of our foregoers; that
Red Riding Hood is the Dawn Nymph and
the Master Thief the Latin Cacus. and the
Paui or spirit Of darkness OF Indian fable.
Why, to know these books is like loving the
Lady Elizabeth Hastings!
The books aud papers published for chill
dren nowadays are vastly entertaining to
elder people. They are the best books we
have. 81. Nicholas Is q better magazine
than Scribner's Monthly. But we may doubt
ii the children like it as well as they do the
good old stories at which their great-grand Z
fathers wondered. Warmers "Being Boy
is delightful to us, because of its reminiscent
atmosphere. We read it through the mist
OF things that were. Boys do not find it so
interesting. There are modern books though,
good alike for strong men and for babes
Among these Yorick places Hawthorne's
"Wonder-Book" and Tangewood Tales"
Parents should remember them these holi-
day times. The classic myths were never
more delightfully."- told. Children read them
as wonder stories. Men find in them
world of hidden meaning. At each perusai
some delicate fancy or fine satire is found
not perceived at the previous reading. 1t is
hidden in the narrative as queer faces are
hidden in the oaken carvings of old cathe-
drals.
The long. monologue just finished is
suggested by a wise little book just pub
lished in Boston by Roberts Brothers, "The
Right Use of Books" by William p. Atkin.
son, Professor of English and History in the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yo-
rick does not always find himself agreeing
with it, and the learned Professor would
doubtless laugh at the idea of educating chill
'dren in Mother Goose or Puss in Boots; but
Yorick finds the volume "mighty interestin'
readin'." 1t is eminently suggestive. Pro-
fessor Atkinson does not attempt to tell US
just what we shall read or to lay out for us
courses of reading. He urges the cultivation
of real taste for books, for that is an &C.
quirement of the true art of reading. No
rules are set down, but some of the results OF
the experience Of scholars are given, and we
are told what not to do rather oflener than
what to do. The system of training Of the
schools and colleges is judiciously censured,
and complaint made which cannot be too
often repeated, that pedants have exalted the
means into an end. Our boys and girls, he
says, are too often set down to a Barmecide
feast of empty cups and platters. They are
kept year in and year out, welding knife
and fork-of grammar and spelling and ci-
phering, over dishes empty Of all real nutri-
ment, diligently dipping spoons into bowls
where the intellectual draught that should
have slaked their thirst has been forgotten" +"
What wonder that they prefer something
with some life and motion and color in it,
however bad, to the dry textbooks over
which they are compelled to bendl The dis
tinction he quotes from De Quincy between
the literature of knowledge and the literature
of po~er is pointed and emphasized. We
have too much schooling and too little educa
ton, even in our colleges, he THINKS. The
range is certainly narrow. Yorick remem-
bers an occasion years ago when he saw
three Jnniors of Maine College come
into the room of youth not college
boy, and ask for his autograph. The
boy was a late riser, had just got out of bed
and had not begun his toilette; but he prompt
ly wrote his name aud after it sin puris natu
rdlibus." Not one of the Juniors had ever
seen the common phrase or knew that it had
come to mean "stark-naked." They had
not encountered it in their textbooks. In
the library of that same college was the first
edition of ''The Fable for Critics." The sa.
tire was published anonymously, it may be
remembered. No one of Yorick's college ac-
quaintances, and they were many, knew the
author. Very few had ever read the work,
or even glanced at it. Now man may be a
good student even if he does not know that
Lowell wrote "The Fable for Critics" or has
never seen the common Latin phrase men
toned above-but is he literally educated
Things are better now, in one regard at least
A knowledge of English Literature is recog.
nized as an essential part of a college curricu-
lum.
Professor Atkinson is fond OF using die,
tetic comparisons. He says, in speaking o.
useful and of unnecessary books that zone
shall make better meal, and go away strong
er and better fed, on dish of oatmeal, thar
the other on dinner that has half emptiet
his pocket" That some" Is not Yorick, anc
there are many of US who, if called upon tt
choose between oatmeal and starvation woulC
hesitate. 1t was Thackeray who always dis
trusted man that did not like tarts. Ou
author, however, does not wish to confine u
to his favorite dish. He sensibly recon
mends sweets, like novels, at times. Thos,
who wish TO read other sen sible advice in ,
thoughtful and suggestive book will find th'
little volume at our bookstores.
The Saturday Magazine, published
in Boston, has reached its third mum
ber. Its selections of matter from foreigr
periodicals is made with excellent judgment
But the best thing In the latest issue is th'
avowal of the editorship of the Magazine, b.
Mr.. Frederic Beecher Perkins, which Is th'
following, to wit:
did not intend to put my name on thi
| periodical, but as the fact of my being it
editor has been printed, and as my name i
| a good name itself, and some who had a rgh
| to wish me TO do so did wish it, do it. Th,
| fact ia indeed that X r Parkins ia s0 yer;