The record-union., 1892-03-10
NEWSPAPERS AND CHILDREN
The Glass of Reading Which Is Best
fof. -Youy,o Peonla


five change the question, Ought chill
dren to read newspapers" to lis 1T use
ful for children TO read Newspapers
the answer may readily be given in the
| words OF Hermann Trier: "Ali such
reading as distorts the child's mental
vision, disturbs its fresh joy OF life and
enfeebles its viii must be banished."
Newspapers full of murders, adulteries,
poIltlcal lies and sensational news are of
that class. Hence they ought to be ban
lshed from the sight OF the child. But
how can we? The newspaper is found in
every home. The child finds it upon the
table and naturally takes it up to read as
a recreation after the toll with the school
lessons. The means of prevention are
simple. Place upon the table ripe fruit
and plenty OF it. If, next to it, you put
unripe fruit, the healthy child will take
the first and let the latter alone. This
illustration exempiities the law that ap-
plies TO the case before us.
1t is fact, patent to every mother and
educator, that the child needs light read
ing as an offset against the dry school
lessons, nearly all OF which engage the
intellect and memory rather than the
imagination. The child must have the
right to take a plunge now and then into
the sea OF imagination. 1t must be al
lowed to meet the prince who liberates
the princess from the giant and carries
her off to his castle.
Hermann Trler rightly points out that
the small child must early be allowed and
encouraged to read fables. After that
comes The story. Of all stories. that OF
Robinson Crusoe is the very best, be-
cause 1t symboliZes human life in its
growth OF development through conflict.
'On his lonely island Crusoe must live by
the chase and 10y fishing; he must make
ms clothing from skins and leaves; he
must build his own hut. etc., all of which
shows how life OF culture has success
SiVetulIy grown from that of the hunter
and fisherman, TO the nomadic, to the
agricultural, and finally come to the in
duStrial.
Robinson Crusoe shines in the glory of
adventure, yet the book sets the child's
wlll-power in motion. Indeed, Robin
son Crusoe is q serious sermon, showing
that life is task TO be solved, and not
mere indolent living.
All fairy tales reveal conflict, though
they terminate happily. The child knows
perfectly well that there are no fees,
gnOmeS or witches. and is mainly inter-
ested i'll the action of the tale II svmna-
thIzeS with the hero and heroine, and it
takes determined stand against the
evli-doers of the story Insensibly its
interest is enlisted and it gathers mate
rial with which to illustrate its nascent
ideas OF good and evil. Out of all the ma
terlal, thus gathered, a future edifice is
erected. Its play in childhood becomes
its deeds of manhood. It's Impressions
transform themselves to realities in later
life.
This has a direct bearing upon the
question before us. The child's character
will show itself later in life according to
the impressions left upon its imagination
IN youth, II newspapers fill the child's
mind with al their distortions of truth
their eXaggerations, willful lies and nm
clean stories the chiIds mind becomes
confused and unable to settle: it waves
and knows not which way to turn: il
feeds upon unSound food and mental len
rosy is the result. Let the child BEGIN at
the right end-and that is not newspaper
reading. Let it read such literature as
symbollzes real lie and the problems the
child IS going to meet. Let it have plenty
of good, ripe fruit, and it will leave the
worm-eaten and unripe untouched. Let
1t read the fairy tale, and then the stories.
and then such universal histories of the
life OF mankind as are not mere dry
archives OF dates, war histories and rec
ords Oh the succession Of kings. Let the
chld also become acquainted with ma
lures doings. Let it see our common
mothers workings in the kingdoms of
her realm; let it observe the care she
takes in preparing the soil for the seed
she is sowing. Let the child be guided
to see 1.-The grand and solemn lesson that
divine heart is expressing its love in
every raindrop and in every flower"
Give the child such reading and puid-
ance, and the question 'Ought our chill
dren to read newspapers will be SUPER
fluous. They will not read them, and
they should not.-Johanne Never in
kOlndebladet CODenhapen