Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-12-12
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
A BOSTON LETTER.

A BOSTON LETTER.
Mrs White Tells How the Young Folk
of the Hub Are Taught to Like Good
Reading.
BosroN Dec /, 1890.
Apropos Of the tariff discussion aud ex-
citement which held possession Of the old
commonwealth during our late political
canvass, heard Prof Wing of North Car
o'na, formerly one Of the faculty Of the In
stiiute Of Technology, tell rather good
story the other day to the pupils Of Chauu-
cey Hall school Prof Wing has gone
South in the interest of the poor whites
among the mountains Of Georgia. Tennessee
and the Carolinas They are a primitive
people, ignorant 30 far as book knowledge
goes, living rudely and quite in the fashion
Of two hundred years ago or 50. And vet
"A hisper from the big world reaches them
once in " lille, aud one Of these was the
tariff debate. Among his other good deeds
| Prof Wing has established IA circulating
| library for the people in ms vicinity, and
it is very well patronized One day not
| long since, "A lnan came to him and asked
him for book that would tell him all
about the tariff Well, that was a poser
If such book existed, Prof Wing surely
didn't know Of it. hut he merely replied
"A book on the tariff Well, what were
you thinking about any way Did you have
ANYTHING in mind - Yes. was the reply,
II guess III take Life Of George Wash
! ington'" Prof Wing didn't know What
that book had to do with the tariff, but he
didn't feel called upon 70 express himself
on the subject, so he got the book and sent
the man off in evident rejoicing. Two
weeks later he was back. That's good
book" " he said, as he returned it. I've /
read il clear through " But did YOU find |
out about the tariff r Certain, was the /.
quick reply, its all right. George put it /.
in, and what he put, stays There's one |.
man in America that's convinced about the T.
tariff He'd be a good ally for the Home
Market club, and Col Clark should secure
him at once
Now this is Prof Wings amusing story
but want to tell you something else he said
that is brimful Of significance aud comes like /.
message Of cheer from the country where
he has made his home. Thanks to the |
friends in the North Who have followed his |
work, he has Il large library for the use Of /
the people The average circulation Of the /
books is two hundred volumes Not one |
has been lost or mutilated they are re
turned on time, having been carefully read |
Fiction is not so much cared about as the I
more serious reading History. biography. /
travels, scientific works, these are read H. /
greater numbers than the lighter books |
The people desire truth they want 10 |
know what has really occurred, what has /
bpen done in the world In the proportion /.
Of serious books to lighter ones, 1t Is great .
er with them than with the people Of more /
enlightened communities They value the ,
advantages they have aud make the most /
Of them.
One trouble with the large class Of the
reading public, but particularly the younger
members Of it, is that they read without
purpose aud without direction In one
way the public libraries do not do the good
they should do 1t is, Of course, quite i'm
possible that the librarians should be cen
sors. and should decide what may and may
not be read Presumably any book which
the examiners admit is not harmful, and
yet it seems really as though the virtues
that these books possess should he some
thing besides merely negative. They should
be good instead of not had, instructive in
stead of mot harmful
But beyond this. young people partlcu-
arly those who are still IN school, should
be subj, ct to some supervision at home re
gardiug their reading matter. The proud
| father aud fond mother of the boy or girl
who is always reading, and who visits the
| library TO exchange books at least once a
| day should understand that It is not thu
| quantity but the quality Of the reading that
| Is of Importance. and should know what
| >tvIr of books their children read
In b lstou very much has been done To-
| ard fostering "a better taste IN reading hy
| the OH South work for the young people
| that has been carried ON by Mrs lemer-
way. don't know whether you are con
y ersant with this work or not. but If not, !
am sure vou will find the recital Of it inter
estng. One of Mrs. H-menW ay's greatest
| desires is to make out Of the young people
of the present time, good citizens by and
| by. And one Of the surest ways to do that,
| she thinks is to make them familiar with
| the history of their country. She began
the work 10y asking the children Of the pub
| lie schools to meet at the old South Ne citing
house ON each national holiday, aud then a
| general celebration was held. There was
| fine music, singing by the children, and the
story Of the day was told toy eminent speak
/ ers. Such men as Rev Edward Everett
! Hall, Cha les Carleton Coffin, eNMHyor
Samuel Greene and Mr. Edwin d Meade,
and such women as Mrs Abba Gold Wool
sou, Miss Alice Fletcher and Mrs. Edna
! Proctor told these stories Of American his
tory, and read stirring poems, about the
events that were heing celebrated The
children came by hundreds, and grew very
! fond Of their festivals. Then Mrs. Hemen
way arranged course of lectures on his
] NJ -, Et.Ea
| Coffin Mr. Hale, Gen. Armstrong and Dir.
| Edw ard Porter were among the lecturers,
As soon as the children became interested
in any topic they wanted to read about it,
SO they would 90 to the Public Library,
where they had very good friend in one
| of the librarians, aud she would find the
books they ought to read And now comes
one of the most satisfactory of all the re
suits The style of reading of these hun
dreds of children who have attended these
lectures has radically changed. In place of
the sensational story book, they read his
tory and books of biography, not merely
the history of their own country, although
that occupies the position of prominence,
but the history Of other countries, for under
| this most admirable training the children
are getting at the ethics and philosophy of
history. as well as at its mere detail.
Now this work might be done in every
city and town in the country II may not
be always p 'ssible TO g4t Mr.. FiSke or Mr.
| Hale or Mr. Coffin, but in any community
there are enough bright men and women to
talk about the country and its history, al Il
every body can take part in the celebration
| The result of this work will not show at
present, hut it will be felt when the boys
and girls of today are men and women,
holding in their keeping the safety and
welfare of the nation
The latest distinguished guest to arrive is
Richard Moulton, \. NJ. of the university
of Cambridge England, who is accounted
the finest Shnksperian scholar of the day.
Mr.. Moulton is to lpcture-as most of his
countrymen do when they come here-and
his Boston appearance is to be made under
the auspices of the Women's Press assoria-
ton. He is to give a course of five lectures
in Chckering hall on general topics aud it
is expected that they will be very success
full from "A social as well as a financial
standpoint He will 20 from Boston to
New York and Philadelphia
SALLIE JOY WHITE
II you suffer from catarrh why don't YOU take
! Hoods SaISapurila, the common sense remedy