Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-10-25
CITY AND DISTRICT.
An address to- Public School Teachers
To-day by Mr. SpoffOrd.

TEE Juror CREATED IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA
BY SCOTS N0YELS-AN ESTIMATE OF THE
CHARACTER or HIS PROSE AND POLITICAL CON-
PoSITIoNs-THE CLOSING DAYS OF THE GREAT
NOyELIST's LIgE, ETC.
The custom has been established in the public
schools of making a special study, during each
school year. OF the life and works of some great
author or public man. and in connection there
with setting apart Gay to be devoted TO exer-
cises 50 arranged n the various schools so as to
bring out all of the points of interest in the sub
ject. In some cities Of the country a
large number of authors, or other ce!e-
bTatcd characters. have been taken up
each year and touched upon rather
specifically. 1t has been thought best to have
but one subject for eacD year here. as the study
then VIII De more thOrUu III and beneficial. Three
years ago Washington was selected as the first
subject In the following year hOuors were paid
in this way to LOH-fellOw, and last year Benia-
min Franklin was the subject Sir Walter Scott
has been selected as the subject for this year.
and Gay in February Will be set aside in the
school calendar as Scott day The purpose
OF these exercises is to arouse an interest in
biographical studies and heaIthfIIl reading The
teachers Of the public schools met to-day in
the lecture room at the high school at ll:3O
O'Clock and listened To an address by Mr.. 4. l.
SponUrd. librarian Of Congress- upon The
Genius and Writings of Sir Walter Scott which
vi
the lie and writings of Scott.
Mr.. sPUFFORD's ADDRESS
eff We were asked" said Mr.. SpOfIOrd. who
among all the writers of the nineteenth CEN
tury. has had most influence upon the world
perhaps we should hesitate long how to reply
But il the question We're put. what writer has
been most widely read, there could be only one
answer-Water Scott. His writings and more
especially his novels, apart from any question
of their merits, have reached far greater num-
Der OF I@a'icrS tEan those OF any writer OF fiction
living Or dead. When the mystery of the au-
thOrNhiP Of WayGrey was still fresh and novel
after novel came from the prolific brain of the
unknown author. with their wonderful variety
OF scenes and Characters, the number printed of
a first edition was ten thousand copies This
would often run up To $1,000 in the ultimate de-
lnand, ana that. too. Nlen the price of every
novel ran from guinea and half to two
SuIneaS. Such was the absorbing interest felt
over the adyeIt of each new romance by the aIl-
thor OF " aSeriey, that people not only besieged
the boOhShops in thrOngs, but eager readers
unable 10 buy. entered their names weeks in ad-
vance ut the circulating libraries, while Young
men sat up ali night taking turns at reading
aloud the coveted volumes until the morning
sun stream Ell in at the windows. The almost
universal &ccia In with which SCOTS best
poeIns-AarI.IOn and the Lady OF the Lake
were hailed. and which carried up the popular
$1,000 copies. was only surpassed BY the pop
uiar Juror over the appearance of each success
s!ye novel People almost literally tuHbcd
over each other in their wild eagerness to get
an early glance at each new gallery of portraits
By the author of Naverley. Nor was this DOpu-
larity at all limited in range by the country
who's scenery and manners were the chief
themes q the tales. London We'd with Ed!n-
buT"h ard New York with London in the zest
with Nhch the fascinating volumes were de-
IftI Rl4rs4 tTr-fr..
gentlemen and Old ladies' in whom the lTosts of
aye have not chilled the ardOr of almost pas
siOEate admiration with which they welcomed
these wonderful stories as they fell from the
teenlin@ presses OF 1914 TO 1875. And even now
after more than hall century of unparalleled
literary activity. with works of imagination
FouFet OFT Literally by the thousand with our
libraries aGi bopasHop. full OF an ever-rrowinu
Hood u British. French German and American
novels. tie popularity OF Scott still maintains
its @rpuad- II such is their vitality that out of
the bn@l 81 fiction read in our public libraries.
q very lar ~ per cent Is MADE I'D of the Wayer-
Ity G0Fais, wat must have been the interest in
them 81 - last AID the preceding generation
when Ihet" were absolutely no great contem-
pDrarS rivals in the attractive field OF fiction?
~ iesS literary artist than Hawthorne after
CiS return iFOhi ENGLAND. re-read the whole Va
veriey series TO his family-sOme evidence
surely. OF their UeIenn al attraction"
The speaker briefly touched upon the facts Of
Scott early HE aad his education. with all
these Influences contributing to mould his char
actSF. Et -,s.d, after portraying SCOTS early
SLsFcta+iif-S. with 0maiVerouS reading of
w0-NS OF Imagination, with the intercourse of
scholars and baiiad-I4on4ers. and antiouaries
fuli VI legendary lore. with the splendid scenery
OF ~c1i.an': even before his eyes what wonder
that alter Scott became poet and a writer of
hcti"n- II S Intellect was STEPPED in romance
frJn. tHy cradle To his enthusiasmfor Scottish
song ard legend We owe not only the best of his
Own orig IA. work. but the rescue from oblivion
aud the preservation of host of fsiSt-pershinr
haia'iS and BycsnS existing only 10y oral tradi-
ton. precious memorials of the manners and
Ci!aFdcF f~isttcS OF a race Of marked iud Yiduaity
now almost extinct the Higtlanders of Scot
land Ia the Eiinstrelsy Of the Scottish border
was done for Caledonia what Percys reiioucs
rad done fJr Engisnd. but with far greater sa-
gaC.ty md critical skill in separating the. oenu-
he archaic Oriz ns!s from modern inventions
aHd mutations There vas in it the material for
hundred historical r0mances'
SCOTT NOVELS CpNfEASTED WITH NOVELS OF
CTi SCHOOLS.
After an interesting criticism of SCOTS STYLE
aEd estimate of its achievements. both as
Ioet a.d novelist. Nr Sp0iYori continuing. said:
There ne II nscendtnt excellence in the
novels ~ Waiter ~eett-their high moral DUP
pose asl eser- sat purity of idea and OF die
ton. Con sa-t taeli. il this respect with even
the hest 81 the French school OF nOypIists-nav
WORKS 81 tct'on Who does not lament the
vide cireGi:t 1u Of wat we may term the big
amy school OF HOye!ists in which the 10Th CEN
fury e-.j"!N q tad pre-emnence? II YOU can
save ans rra'iefS. through YOUR Walter Scott
eelebFaliO from wasted time and soiled imaoi-
HatiOas in prrC-lnz works of this class and
bTing them into familiarity with the pure and
noble creations OF Sir Walter Scott. Won will
rave done "a service to this generation. perhaps
also 10 the lPxt, Of inestimable yalue This
of irprpn rels rrf- for
Serous because more insidous than the gross
hess of Fielding. onollett aud Richardson That
OF the elder WRITER'S full OF the coarsaness of
their age, Is in itself repusiye to the modern
readcr7 the aTOsSGess is in the language while
nowadays it il in the idea Never can it be too
strongly impressed upon the minds Of the young
that the wisdom that Is from above Is FIRST
pure
With another school of novels Sir Walter
Scott arr well contrasted-I mean the senti-
mental AID sensational. The former tend TO
develop an unreal aud morbid tone Of mind, m
which. dreamy sentimeHtalism slowly saps che
Wholesome. healthy. robust condition in which
every wei born and well trained intellect should
Dc i"ald the latter. by It's violent pictures of
Geifa' y and as eyaggeratiOn carries the feel
lnEs oil tue young into a world 50 unreal as to
lhjurc u novel .5ading Of this kind is long per
sisted M the moral estimates and sound iudg-
fGent OF tne victim. There can be no better
remedy Tor retaining any mind from these
Crooked Intellectual aud moral paths than a
rTescI t!0a vi the best novels of Waiter
Scott"
Nj SpcGor1 devoted the closing portions OF
his Ircf uFt. 10 fTfI9ktus- sfr... of Sc.++'s nov