Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-11
LOVE OF LITERATURE
The Golden Gate Through Which the
Child Passes to Wisdom.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE DEFICIENT
In the Branch That Gives the Best Prepara-
tiOn for Lifes Work.
A SCHEME FOR BETTER TEACHING
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH

| A1Ier lnqulrlng INTO Jne Time devoted 10
literature in the public schools in this and
adjoining counties, have come to the con-
clusion that too little is devoted to this
branch And, moreover, 1 believe it can be
taught successfully in our common schools
and our homes without much additional
labor on the part of teacher, pupil or
parent.
| Of course, we cannot teach all for Il
| would take lifetime; but if we make q
| good beginning it is half the battle. We
can teach the importance of such knowledge
and create desire for more, which will be
acquired in after life. A great deal can be
| taught incidentally by judicious teacher,
even in the infant school.
| The objects of study are discipline or
training, knowledge, culture, etc. The study
! of literature gives more intellectual train
ing, knowledge and culture than any other
| branch in the common school curriculum.
| The branches generally taught in the COM
mon schools tend to exercise the intel
| lectual faculties only. Arithmetic culti-
Yates reasoning and Judgment. So does
| literature. To follow thought as expressed
| in language will stimulate the mind to think
| for itself. Geography and history cultivate
the imagination; but studying poetry, fiction
and other imaginative compositions, which
we meet in literature, will cultivate the
same faculty as rapidly. All of the common
branches cultivate the memory, but litera-
ture will do the Same. There is no more
than by committing extracts of prose and
poetry, the beauty Of which the child can
appreciate.
THE EMOTIONAL NATURE
But the study of literature does more than
any one all of these. 1t cuItiyates the
sensibilities. When pupil studies the life
OF an author and becomes acquainted with
the many trials and difficulties he had to
overcome and what circumstances of joy
and happiness or grief and woe caused the
words to drop from his pen, he grows into
sympathy with him and the emotions are
awakened. As soon as they are awakened
they can be trained, and they can only be
trained while in state of activity. 1t is
important that the sensibilities should be
trained, for in them lie the springs of human
action. Here we find the motives which
set the busy world in action, the causes
which go to make men what they are in
their busy and eyer-changing scenes of life's
great drama"
Too much of the knowledge received in the
schools is simply hook knowledge, and many
of our young ladies and gentlemen leave
school and study forever without the leass
idea OF the practical use of their education.
The rules in arithmetic, the definitions in
grammar, the dates in history and the
boundaries OF foreign countries yes, even
our own States, are all forgotten, simply be-
cause the pupils did not receive from the
branches they studied that culture which Is
so essential to success.
WHAT LOVE OF LITERATURE DOES
Not SO in the study of literature Create
within child II love for literature and you
have placed it upon straight road to wis
dom. 1t will now read whenever it gets
chance, and all that remains to be done is to
place within its reach the proper books and
papers. Its remarkable how soon it will
become familiar with the topics OF the day
and how attentively it will listen to the dis
cussion of these topics. 1t will soon 40
quire vocabulary of words and flow Of
language that will enable it to converse
with q surprising intelligence. Persons thas
read much are always intelligent, and their
knowledge is not confined to one or two
branches They get n general knowledge OF
a practical nature that they can put to prac-
tice in everyday life. do not mean reading
without reflection; for person who has
studied literature properly knows that there
is more to be done.
This gives training and culture and prac-
tical knowledge for the emergencies of life.
Best OF all, it creates q love for home infu-
ence, one Of the corner stones of our happi-
ness and civilization. While the young are
engaged in reading at home they are nos
only away from the temptations outside the
parental roof. but also gladden. the hearts Of
the anxious father and mother. There iS no
more touching scene than that of a family
gathered around the same table all pleas
antly employed in the perusal of good liter
ature.
HOW IT IS TO BE TAUGHT
Literature can be taught, first in connec-
tion with reading even in primary classes.
The study of literature can be made very in
teresting to primary classes by short inter-
esting stories about the authors, etc. All
children love stories. Let the teacher, in
the form OF stories, impress upon the minds
of his pupils few characteristic features in
the life of an author or of his writings and
they will remember him ever afterward in
all his productions and study them with
more pleasure than before. Tell them Of
the benevolence of Goldsmith, the insanity
of Cowper, the poverty of Burns, the meIan-
ot,OI,r Of Ipb7 q nd q hlin6nnqa Of
ton. In American literature tell them OF
the friendship Of Drake and Halleck, the
poetical genius of Bryant, and OF Whittier
a selfmade man. of the wit and success OF
Holmes, the beginning of the literary life OF
Cooper the wanderings of Taylor, etc., and
it cannot fail to create an interest in the
reading class and a love for literature.
Again. il may be taught in connection with
history. There is a very close connection
between the history and literature OF a na-
tion. For instance, the history of the United
States is divided into the colonial, revolu-
tionary and the national periods. So is its
literature, and the prime pal authors and
their respective writings m ght be taught
with little extra labor with the history OF
their periods. While studying the history
of the Revolutionary War the pupils come
into contact with most of the great orators
and writer's of that time. Give them some
Of their principal works and they will weld
together inseparably the authors, the pro-
ductions and the cause for which they
labored, while at the same time history be-
comes the more interesting.
TAUGHT AS A SPECIALITY.
Lastly, literature may be taught as
special study. Pupils that have been taughs
literature in connection with readings and
history will pursue ii with interest as
special study. 1t is true we have no work
on literature adapted to our common schools
and from which it can be taught in this way,
but cannot see why it should be so. We do
not want book encountered with dates and
titles but one with the lives of the authors
in the form of stories and following eacha
few selections which will make the pupils
familiar with each ones language and style.
Then there might be set apart certain days
when the pupils would be expected to recite
raf,fo nsfia lar ofIfh