The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1889-12-22


That gseasess glorious Esseene Of Fafffe land,
y wiEne him worship. ard her grace - have.
Which Of al earxAIT thinxs lie moGt did eEsve;
And ever a. be rode. lis sssrs did eG-ne
T. prove hts yuiss&nee IR b4zseil braye
Upon La fee, and bis assr force 70 ieasne:
Upea ls4s f0e. afagon hoFFisse and stszrne.
"a Ios'e3y lady rode bin faire hesIde.
Upon lOwiy axse more white than snow.
fet she much whlfer bus the same did hide
uadeF seie, tina. w.mpled was fan syH.
And over Ill black stole she dsd thr0w.
A ore that fnsy mournei; - vas abe sad,
Aud he&Tte sat upon bar Saifsey Eiow;
Seemed IN heart some htsdaa care sac had,
And By her IN line zaiikewhiie lamb she
lad
woEid not the pupsl receive 4 much greater
incentive 70 read The Fassy Qaeensg from
speseers description. thsn from the one com
uogiy found in text boeksy
Many times theirs IL no library 70 which the
High scaool sfsdeEt car 90 70 see for himself
what kind Of literature the age fn which his
anther lived produced. Neither is he aa2ed by
lectures, which gather up al the facts be has
cleaned into q symmetrical whole, q thing
bis unframed mind, can not As yet
d.. He can not gain . yery lucid conception OF
the rise and growth Of otir eps3 and lyric poetry,
without studying that poetry. In fact. am
afraid thai feel literature, size Is necessarily
Taught IN HIgh SCOOPS, Is almost as dspl0rahle
as The lack of literature ia the lower schools
fear that mauy OF these High school litera-
tuFe stsdents forget alike anthDT and works
shortly after they have left school. because
they have not tasted the good things these an
thoTs have 70 offer all They only remember the
dryness Of their text books. having received no
incentive TO find out what said authors have 10
say on their own behalf The text book killed
their desire for pcet and novelist alike
There are High schools however, that do Of
fer more extended course In literature. In
Worcester. Mass, the High school offers one
coursc in the history OF English literature. aud
ore course Of one year IN the study Of Shakes
gsare's pIsys, but further than this ara not
prepared to say: but this Is Only enc among hum
dreds Of High schools thar offer the orthodox
course sn!y.
! suspect Massachusetts, has a population
more generally acquainted with good literature
than any other state. DO not think this due 70
the large number Of High schools there, but
rather 70 her public Libraries. ] was about to
say that no town OF Que thousand Inhabitants is
Without good public library. Libraries are so
genera that one always expects 10 ind one in
every town.
To sem up, we fad the present relation OF lit
eTature 70 the public schools 70 be cur readers in
childhood. kellogg's English Literature IN our
teens. How meager il sounds.
am sure yoa feel the need of closer rela-
tioEship between the youth Of cur natlon and
the paress and best literature, wherewith 10 en-
noble taeiT hves ana strengthen their motives to
live lives worthy the children OF king Rus
kin says be regards Il az q great misfortune that
We too often waste cur time In eultsyating
friends OF utter w0rthie6Enesy and to our own
desrimeni, when we may enjoy ct our OWE pleas
uge the society of kings and Queens-even the
books upon our shelves. that we need have no
fear OF drawing too often upon their time, and
which give TO us their companIonship more
gladly than We take.
think our difficulty rs people Is that We do
not seeE the most eleyating and refined society.
we seek the society. rather, OF gOld-diggers and
fashion forms. We have not sufficiently high
Ideals Water never seeks higher level than
It's source neither win q soul mount higher in
the spiritual world than Is It's ideal. I think We
must often tie made sad that the children under
our care have 80 low an Ideal by which to
shape their lives How can We better elevate
their ideals than by acquaintiag them with the
highest aud best our literature ecnsainsg Es-
pecislly must we feel desire to intreSaee them
10 the kings and Queens Of literature when we
have severed their companionship with 'sThe
Adventures Of Buffalo Bill, = 'sThe Black Pirate
and the F0iice Neles There Is so much of this
black demoEalizEng literature circulated In such
an attractive form and 50 easily obtained. that
we IS instructors, need 70 be wide awake In or
der TO defeat the evil II seo0mplishes. EVIL
communications corrups good manners ought
% b rendered good maralsr "As q man
thinketh in his heart. 40 Is he. and II our boys
saud girls I'll their hearts with literature that
waFps their moral natures, IL viii be in after
years q difficult task 10 bend back the crooked
souls. and the chances are they are never re.
newed 10 q normal state again. We need to be
over.geaious for the literature that will give us
men aud womsn who will be an honor to their
eonutty have seen paper that printed the
sabbath school lessons merely to cell it for that
was really the only virtue the paper possessed
I rePfoved boy once for reading said paper,
and h. pleaded the Stlnday-school lessons as ia
defense believe ne was honest IN thinking
he wis reading what was proper. He perhaps
bad never heard the names of the kings and
queens he ought to have known. or he may moi
have Known how 60 reach their society, since no
helping hard had come 10 his reeeae. We can
make children good only when we have created
in them love for something more interesting
than mischief; we can make men and women
true and high msnaed only when we have ere
ated in them 8 taste for the best and most en-
nohllng society the world has given as.
How may the children OF our public schools
be taught to love good lissrataref By reading
good literature eaiy. until they have termed /
taste Tor good literature alone. We. as teachers
can 10 little without libraries With a large
library At our command, we can DO much to
ward melting pupils 20 read choice books The
library has been the great educator. believe
in Massachusetts, and q must be the great edu-
Gator in ali our states unless the curriculum IN
our public schools ia very radically changed !
have watched the children in Massachusetts,
who came 60 draw books from the public
Library. and many 81 thsm hore the appearance
OF poverty. fell inlo conversation With oae liz.
tle rsSamnfin, and DC aSsonisaea me vita the
number OF 6rst-class books he had Rad I do
not think be was ever u years 81 ace.
Resides libraries. practice whlea is limited
b very few places now, ct carrying books
fron the tevn Libraries 70 the schools win in 4
measure meet this need In Newton Mas the
books arr brought In baskets from the library
% the school halldlng Cor use In connec-
ton with text BOOKS AaeaS some OF the most
popular books are the works Of Cogsin, Mfxgia-
sou, Drake. Know and Abbott
HoN can We ~ seaeAers without the aid ~ =
hhrsgY cultivate taste fog FeAdings I admit
IL = sasenls Question when lhere are 80 many
sahiscts demanding . little tfme. We mast ncS
expest 20 exhaust toe resources al Enggfsh liter.
asDge ia one wear nor in ave Years II will be
little sc r&a DO. 10 thkt Aitse may be the Ia.
rsattsc toward hessEs reading and parer lives
%hea we hAve eae os Earg teilou's poems for 4
reading lesson We could nicely supplement- me
lessen wlsh esAeFs Of ais peens& taking care 70
scssct pospas within sAs scope OF al cur papals
Va need aes oniy 70 create taste sas rcsaing
bas also "a snesrnei ear pupils how 20 ossain ths
hsssks sasy desire on certain subjects TAers
aFv % usNay ye0ns people wba would b glad d
read oniy iae hess aud ness improving ssoks.
bus they So uet knaw aas 10 reach them Thzrs
are Sc mamy 81 ctr Htwa sehcoi students ~ hr
drop tksas ssa4tes when shey leaye xehesl be
c4uss tAev g. nos knew shat AiSsaztes. OF rather
literary woFks thsy eaza2 - Rad 1ar how &
re1et theses wpsxA IAs chsaskeaaa Literary
CGrxle Aas Aeae mueA su this ire. hat there sal