The Forrest City times., 1893-11-10
What Children Should Read ana
 Why.


 read we'll should never be neglected.
 I once heard q teacher of fifteen years experience say that if he. for want Of tt'iie' was compelled to neglect some subject. that he always neglected reading, as ne considered it the least importanr hanch of study. Judging from the readers that some of our schools turn out, l should think that there are many teachers who So, eur in this erroneous opinions
 To read we'll is a rare accomplishment, one often acquired with much difsculty. There is no study more nsefoii'for pu- nil must be able to read we'll and under standingly before he can m aster with ease any branch of science. There is no'aeS compishmeHt which may be SD bcneF cslly employed for the instruction and'en- tertanment of othess, as well as for sell endowment, while by a perverted use,. It may be the cause of most disastrous re- suits to mind and morals.
 Of late years many of our schools hnVe been giving more attention to this sae- feet, vet in many instances the most inl- portant point is overlooked. Great care is taken to teach children how to read. but no cave is taken to teach them what tp read. After having been trained to read we'll. and having had iculcated in- to them love for reading-for It IS the good reader who is most fond of reading they are Iefs without guide or compass to steer them through the ssa.0f impure literature around them.
 Vheir misas are naturally atsfaefed Uy whatever is fanciful or imaginative As little as some parents and teachers think of it, this is often a most critical point iii child's life Just here is the turning point, and too great care caanot be exer- cIsed nor too much pains taken to guide aright the frail barque of childish fancy. If healthy reading matter be given. the mind may develop intellectually and high mental culture be the result. But should gle sensational trash of the day faAI with in easy reach. what may be the rssalt has often been demonstrated. The gr.at ten dency of the age is toward the seasati0n- al: almost as great aneyIi as the liquor traffic, and inst as badly needing leglsla- ton and social 0stracis1n. Iu glanclng over a paper some time ago. my atten- ron was called to the latest attgastions at two of the leading book stores m Memphis. Among both lists there was only one de- cent author. aNd ths book advertised was sne of his worst. soon after entered book stall on Main street, and through cu- riosity looked over the stock. There were piles and plies of paper back books bear ing such titles as these; "The Gilded Sin. /" Her Mothers Sin," Miss Or Mrs.", 'sThe Shadow Of A Life" Married Or Not Married" There was not single copy of Holmes. LongfeiIow. Whittier, Bryant, Hawthorne. Irving, Lowell. En- erson nor Shakespeare. l found one copy of Ben Hur, whicis seemed out Of place among the motley array. H had lad my purse 1 should have rescued it. Why were these books not in stock Sim ply because there is comparatively no de- mand for them. Yet Memphis is Ne it- erary centre of West Tennessee, North Mississippi and Eastern Arkansas. These people profess te bsinteIlectuaI.- yet this shows to a sad exsent the intellectual de- gravity that exists. W foreign books brought into this maeket, the works of ZoIa are perhaps most popular. These are so impure that the English Parliament long ago passed an act osbiading the sale of them i'll that country. Yet they are
  poured by ear boys ard girls. who thns sl their misids with impure thoughts, and kay the foundation for impure lives.
 Mfr. Wannamaker forbade the passage through the mails of ''Kreutzer Sonata.'' which he considered too vile to be read and humediately the press set up the hue and cry against him. To my mind. if Mr. Wannamalssr never did any thing al at rskz uet txslcSr tnI fn lam to all right thinking people. Another most popular author is ouida. whose works are only the more dangerous be- cause se powerfully and beautifully pcs- srayea is vice that 1t is almost made t0 shine as virtue.
 Such literature. which the strongest and most cultured mness can scarcely Sead uninhaenced, is eagerly bored over Ky the young, whose untraned minds ab- >orb the most dangerous elements a.d sgerlo' k the least Ge tructive. Another class 0f literature, just as injurious, is the iar-fetched detective story and the Jesse James type. Take. for instance, the last named. 1 honestly Believe that this book Aas sent more h0ys to iail slFsn any dozen saloons in the country. AinA1st every week. we can see accounts ot tl~ tseaking ap ot Jesse James leagues. Crse ss<il ease Saine under my personal observation In sn aristOeratic town such league was discovered. but not until the boys had sloisn quite number of guns and pistols These boys belonged to most highly re- spectabe families of ike town. and one " as the son of prominent Eslnster. The irspecfsb!lity of the psrehts prevented She arye-t of the boys. The stolen artl tes were FeturAcd 10 their owaess. Sonfe "f the boys were whipped l,st we may &eii conjecture that the punishsa~At did bot remove tEUm their minds the tendency