The Iola register., 1889-02-22

L
ly carrying the mystic pollen upon the
delicate stigma impregnating the seed
pod of new destiny.
These are some of the essential ele-
ments of true education;and where are
there such wide opportunities for
drawing upon them as are furnished
by the school library?
Is the reading lesson dry and unin-
teresting to the volatile boy? Send him
to the library there to find what burn
ing motives led the poet to immortal
ize the commonest objects and senti-
ments of every day life. Let him
read the anecdotes and inciden that
show the tender and ardent love that
our beloved Longfellow always mani
tested for the boys and girls of his own
town. and then. let him read "Ths
Children's Hour.n
Does the Bud Means of your school
say he can't see anything in the i'm
mortal lines of Morris.
Woodman, spare that tree,
Touch not q single bough;
In youth 1t shelter ID me,
And Pll protect 1t now.
If be sees nothing iu it, then read to
him how the author was riding out
one day, with a fiiend.-an old man,
who requested the poet to go with
him down lane to see an old tree
planted by his grandfather, and under
which he and his sisters had 30 often
played, and where he had received a
fathers blessing, and mothers kiss
"but," said the old man, ''father,
mother, and sisters are all gone; the
old house. barn and woodshed too are
no more; nothing is left but the old
tree around which cluster a thousand
fond memories, and it is the only fa-
milar friend of home life." A tear
stole silently down his cheek as he
spoke. And now as they approach the
tree, near it they see stranger. with
coat Oft sharpening an AK, evidently
intending to cut down the tree. Read
to your boy the conversation between
the old man and the woodman, and
how that for ten dollars the woodman,
consented to let the tree stand; then
how that bond to that effect was
signed between them, and which Mr.
Morris himself had drawn up and at.
tested; and how this circumstance
made SO strong an impression on the
poets mind that he wrote up the story
in verse. Read this to your boy; and
will he then see nothing in the poem
itself? viii he fail to catch the ir-
spiration? Will not the shuttle of in
terest receive new impulse, begin to
move and weave anon in the web of
manhood? But when the shuttle
moves the process Of education is going
on.
Our reading books are teeming with
selections replete with living burning
thoughts and noble sentiment; and
yet we somtimes take our classes over
them in manner so dull, 50 spiritless
as to suggest tombstones.
What an excellent opportunity his
tory affords for using the library.
Anecdote, biography, poetry, and fic-
tion alike furnish much Of the tissue
and integument of that for which the
text book is but the skeleton and ten
don. The naked facts Of history must
be clothed from the materials that lie
outside of the little class-book; and
these materials ought to be sought in
the library.
In the study of geography. too, the
library should be made an emphatic
auxiliary. History, biography, and
especially books of travel, are invalu.
able aids in pursuing the subject.
There is perhaps no other branch of
study.in our common schools for which
there is so little return from the time
devoted to its pursuit. 1t is perhaps
not extravagant to say that most of
the teachers present learned nearly all
of the Practical side of geography af-
ter leaving the common schools. We
get this knowledge by reading up
other subjects. But how readily could
such knowledge be obtained if the Ii
brary were properly utilized. in connec-
ton with the textbook.
Such a use of the library is the true
solution of tire "Nickle novei-Satur-
day Night-Police Gazette" problem.
Pupils can be taught to recognize a
good thing when they see it, and a
love for the good and an adherence
for the evil can be inculcated. They
can be led to draw the elements of a
noble character, an exalted manhood :.
and a virtuous life from the inspiration
given by the judicious use of the libra
ry as certainly as the great Phidias
drew his ideals from the epic of Ho-
mer.
ABUSE OF LIBRARY.
II seems unnecessary from what has
been said on the "use OF the library"
that an extended discussion be given
on the abuse of it; a few suggestions
will, therefore, suffice.
First.-N is misuse of the library
to seek formal answers merely.
In the multitude of subjects that re-
quire or seem to require attention in
course of study, we are liable to fall in.
to the habit of extremes. We are con-