The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-12-17
WHAT GIRLS SHOULD READ.
soMB OPINIONS ny WoMEE WE'LL
QUALIFIED TO ADVANCE THEM.

ern invention has put them within the reacl
OF all mankind Of all womankind as we'll. ant
hereby arises ono OF tho great ethical problem
OF the day; What shall we do with our dauRh
tiers In the wilderness OF books2 How shall ",
| guide them to that point OF vantage from
which they m ay see for themselves the beauti
Of the promised land literary. and go dowI
and possess It's plentY2
| Mrs Lozler. President OF Sorosis. Is an &C
| cepted authority In matters Of this kind. anC
speaks from her own experience with girls In
| general whom abe has known in educationa
| and public work. and one girl in particular
| who Is the daughter OF her household. She
| advises that all girls lay n foundation for lit
erary taste by reading the old English classics
| rather than any OF the m odern books for young
| girls. the summer novel however moral OF
even the best magazines and periodicals
This period Of girls life is one Of great
mental assimilation. as marked as the physi-
| col growth" Mrs. lozler explains. There Ia
tremendous hunger for reading. an insati.
| able curiosity which devours Information
Rreedily. Ii is essential to a well-balanced
literary taste that 1t DO we'll grounded in old
fashioned literature first would prefer to
keep a growing mind from tho current and
magazine literature Of tho day, not because II
Is harmful but because II is too desultory. and
docs not give steadlncss OF application. There
isn't time to read everything. you know, and a
girl OF the age we are considering hasn't vet a
wise discrimin alton in selectiop. And another
reason why l would advise a growing girl to
read the good standard books is because IL
she doesn't read them. then she will never
find time for IL afterward 10 the rush OF our
present e1acting life.
First OF all the girls should read Ruskin.
not the more elaborate works like Stories Of
Venice or Lamp OF Architecture, but tho
lectures. the Crow of Wild Olives Ethics OF
the Dust Sesame and Lilies As soon as a
girl is fourteen she will be Interested in his.
tory. not the dry statistios they will tench bor
at school but the delightful worka of Motlov
the History Of the Dutch Republic OF the
United Netherlands md the French Reyolu.
tion,' Then l would have her spend ton
minutes a day in scientific reading. Spencer
Huxley, TyndalL, Darwin, winchelrs book on
geology You can read them aloud to her and
make them az interesting as fairy tales. until
after n little she will want 70 read than for
herself. You know there is a perfect analogy
between the mental and the pbrsical taste and
appetite A child brought up ON pickles and
sweets will have nothing else A child fed ON
n wholesome diet never Graves the harmful
things. for he doesn't know tho taste OF than.
Every girl needs poetrv and must have a.
bryant and Longiellow. Tennyson. with the
"Idvls NJ the KIM IN dream ovsr ond NJ.
Browning. but Robert when she gets older.
las for the sum or novel. the books found
at the railway stations, they are simply poi
sonous Mrs. Holmes and Mrs. Southworth.
without meaning to: have probably ruined
books because the latter are kent 1 aw"y irom
we Tbar to summer note,s are 50
we ln ihe' run run 70 'neosopny ana vagaries
light at all. No girl ought to read them before
- a, Oh "a ,h.n I, e. ~. -. 1900
up on the right kind Of literary food she will
probably not want to read them. II the
glr, will have novels to read give her
Gnskell. Mrs. oliphapt the Wayerley novels
Thackeray and Dickens. One reads Dickens at
two periods in life-wn they are young for
.he stories; when .he, are older Tor tho hu-
=, sn.n.a oo ,ou. kn' AM ., .aieS
OF Shakespeare to create taste for the origi-
no, M anu soon sn' WI. nave II. give ner
.ho asespssie i'seni ,hsle are tnree DOCKS
course of reading al soon as she ia old enough
90 undar.,and thsr, "a 49, 80 Ssrb.s,,
Physical Life OF Women DR.. Alice Stock
hams 'TOkOlOgy' and DR.. Cooks Mothers
and DauRhtsrs'
As for the newspaper. the average girl will
not want to read 1t. There Is no gossip In the
eral news. girl brought up in the city usually
limb hes all the news she would take In any
way from hearing It discussed at tho table by
her father and mother and brothers. Most OF
the things she would be interested in. like tho
new plays. the great events Of various Kinds.
she sees for themselves. and she hasn't ar
rived at the time yet when she cares to read
the marriage and death notices would not
deprive girl OF tho newspaper IL she desired
to read it. but the shocking descriptions of
accidents. the revolving details Of scandals.
are not in any way beneficial TO young
people. who will ind quite enough sorrow and
wretchedness in the world In later years. II
they do not cultivate a taste for 1t In their
youth. IL Is, as said OF the magazines. a
lack OF discrimination In selection. rather
than in the i'm oral lty Of the matter contained
In tho newspapers. that makes them undeair-
ahls. IL is because the newspapers print
things In their entirety and horror, and be-
cause. owing to the terrible rush OF events
they cannot always stop to verify and make
accurate all details that | think they are
better adapted 70 mature minds"
Or. Harriet Q. Heating. one OF the first ply
slclans In the city, and the mother OF three
daughters. says that the one subject OF great
est Importance in young girls course OF
reading 10 one on which few books have been
written, and OF these the majority 80 TO the
one or the other extremes OF making the mat
far INN - II ~, laff