The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-03-14
Books for Boys.

fTOIs w! ". sumner mas QOne gOOu
service to the public In his article
"What Boys Are Reading"-in Serb
nef's Magazine for March. 1t may be
taken for granted, although Prof. Sum-
ner does not occupy this advanced
ground, that all our boys are reading
something. If their parents do not
know that they are reading, they are
more than likely to be reading some
thing bad. The literature they are apt
to get hold of. if their tastes are not
directed and controlled, is precisely the
class of fiction which Prof. Sumner de-
scribes. This literature teaches them,
by precept and example, to despise
their parents, and to admire everything
that is vicious. The ordinary amuse-
ment of the boys who figure as heroes
in these novels carries them into dram
shops, cynceft-saloofis and training
schools for thieves; requires familiar
association with criminals, and makes
the laws contemplate by defying and
satirizing them. If the intention were
to make the practice of crime re-
spectacle profession, no more suitable
textbooks than these could be devised.
Mr.. Sumner insists upon the idea that
these cheap novels are bad companions
because they corrupt the morals of the
boys who read them. There is another
branch to the argument. They ihjire
the minds of those who fead them. AL
though this evil is less than the other,
it is important and serious. The boy
who starts in life with deprayed and
enfeebled imagination is not likely to
know good book when he, sees it, or
to ENJOY 1t Wnen IL Is POInJeu OuJ. IHt
craving for excitement grows upon
him. He demands stimulants constant
ly, and the more he has the more he
desires. When the same quantity will
no longer produce the same effect, he
must have larger quantity. The
tendency is always to stronger and
coarser fare, and the appetite for books
is satisfied and destroyed at the same
time. How largely this has been the
experience in America it would be
difficult to say. but it is no doubt true
in many instances of persons in easy
circumstances who have absolutely no
taste for books or reading. The process
of building up such taste in man or
boy who has lost it is as difficult as the
restoration of a drunkards nerves and
tissues to their normal condition. 1t is
consequently a matter of grave import
ance, judging only from the literary
point of view, that the reading of the
young should be rigidly supervised.
One way to promote a pure and sound
literature is to discourage that which is
impure and unsound; and every one
who has, or hopes to have, thoughts
worth communicating to others has a
sufficient motive to Join in the warfare
Prof. Sumner has instituted.
These books, which cultivate taste
for crime and debauch the imaginations
of the young, are as Objectionable as
any others, but they are not like OBJ
scene literature, subject to the laws.
From the nature of the case, reading of
this description cannot be controlled by
law. The remedy against it is placed
in the hands of parents, and must be
exercised as individual cases seem to
require. The object of Prof. Summers s
article is to enforce this responsibility
upon parents. Supposing his object to
have been accomplished, and parents
who have heretofore been remiss in this
respect to have become conscious OF
their neglect, what are they to do in the
future? 1t would be great mistake
for them to suppose that their duty
ends when they take bad books out Of
the hands of their children. They rest
under an equal obligation to place good
books where the bad ones were. They
will be unable to fulfill this duty prop.
erly if they have not some literary
tastes themselves; but they may ask
advice from persons who are compe.
tent to give it. Such an one will take
into consideration the circumstances oi
the child. his capacities SO far as they
have been developed, his probable fu
ture condition in life, etc. A person
qualified to direct the reading of boy
will lay down certain principles a
the start as. for instance, that the
practice of sugar-coating useful knowl
edge is bad, and that the ability
of boy to assimilate ideas and fact:
cannot be judged until it is severely
tried. It is astonishing how quick {
boy of average intelligence is to learn
duu uOW IoPluAy uA5 pOWcTS dIO uCvCl
oped. A boy of nine years has faithful
ly followed the march of the Russian
Armies in Bulgaria, Roumelia and Ar
menia, and has been able to institute ,
comparison of the present campaign
with that described in Kinglake's s.Cri
mea." His mind has not been de
bauched by reading dashy fiction or Sc
ries Of "goody' books founded on fact
in natural history or mechanical science
His instructive wonder at the large fact
of this world is turned to better use il
the study Of contemporaneous history
which instructs and amuses him ut th
same time. This may be an exception
al instance. But we believe it to b
true, with some notifications, that mos
boys are capable of better things thai
those required Of them. It was . favor
ite principle with John Stuart Mil tha
children might. II properly taught, b
made TO lisp In Greek ianbics. tn
proposition is doubtful, and Greek lam
bics, at the best, are civilizing agent
of questionable utility. But i Il ca
be understood that the education 3
boys should begin earlier than it does
and be more steadily pursued, the 81
ample and influence Of Mr.. Mil will nc
have been in vain, and one purpose {
Prof. Summers article will b secured
- Chicago 1sibHms.
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