The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-04-23
A CHILD'S READING.
Interesting Interview With
Superintendent Snyder
on the Subject.
FICTION OF RECENT ORIGIN
His Daughters Delight At Seeing
An Old Gentleman Who Re-
sembled Her Santa Claus.

Superintendent Snyder has decided views
on what children should read. In an inter
view with a News reporter he said:-
81 read Mrs. Scudder's exceedingly well
written article on the question of what
children should read with much enjoyment.
The question which agitated Sorosis has
necessarily been of unusual interest to school
masters for a long time, although it has usu-
ally been discussed by them in broader
form. If / were to answer the question as
put, viz, Should there be anything in child
literature which is not or can not be truce
l would answer most empkatically, yes
While there may be a few who would re-
strict a child's reading to that which is al
ways literally true, or which calls into play
the intellect alone, it is certainly true, the
answer which l have given would be that OF
almost all who are interested in the harmon
ious development of the child's faculties,
and in his entertainment as well as his in
struction. The very fact that SO much
child literature of an imaginative character
has been written, caves nc doubt as to the
belief of those who provide reading for their
children. Nor does the demand for this
kind of reading matter proceed only from
the t~houghtless. Thoughtful people, those
who exercise choice in What they provide,
do not hesitate to select matter OF this kind.
ssBut not all stories are beneficial or even
LUG JUl4 W al Lin IA 4LSLASO tLoC1 49,
necessity of wise direction. But this is true
of all literature and people of all ages and
classes, the only difference being that those
who are able do it for themselves, and should
do it also for the young. lido not refer to
the practice of expurgating, which some
would resort to, but to a Judlcious selection,
based upon a consideration OF what the age,
temperament, Intellectual capacity and
tastes of the child demand. If any of the
nursery classics WELD a pernicious influence
or excite a permanent state OF fear, as is
claimed, it is doubtless not because of their
nature alone, but because they are read by
the wrong individual.
THE BUG-A-BooS.
SIN many cases it is doubtless true hat
the dread which the monsters of some fairy
stories provoke are traceable to some ante
cedent cause, viz. the bug-a-boos with
which the senseless frighten children into
obedience. Even Carlyle, relentless reasoner
that he was, could never entirely rid himself
of the dread caused in this way. Our nursery
rhymes. and fairy stories have delighted
millions of children and have been approved
by the Judgment of centuries and for good
reasons. 1t must not be supposed that those
we now nave are all that were ever told.
There must, of necessity have been many
more, but as the years passed on and social
conditions changed and people improved in
culture, many passed out of existence. Those
we now have demonstrate again 1.-The sur
vival of the ~fittest.o They ave outlived the
rest. because they best satisfy the universal
heart. They express emotions, hopes and
longings common to all classes, all degrees of
culture, and all social conditions in a voca-
bulary understood by all They have, too,
in the course of time suffered changes. Sub
iect matter has been altered in accord with
changed modes of living or conditions, ex-
pressions have been softened or other words
substituted as the meanings and uses of
words changed. They have changed with
age, both in body and in garb, SO that we
might not recognize them could we see them
as they looked at birth. This might be aptly
illustrated by the different forms which the
Homeric myths take at different ages, or
indeed, by the difference which a comparison
of the forms of the same myth as told by
various peoples, erinces. This process is
still going on and will continue. But none
will perish violently or suffer humiliation on
the sentence of any single individual. On
the other hand their extinction or alteration
must be as gradual as the change in our
modes of thought, as the progress of human
ity. And yet that which appeals most
strongly to human nature will always re-
main.
FICTION OF RECENT ORIGIN.
"But it is said chat there is fiction, of re-
cent origin, much better for children. 1t is
probably true, as l have intimated, that at
no age has the value of this kind of liter
allure been appreciated SO much as in the
last twenty or thirty years. But the old
stories still maintain their hold. To the stu
dent, proudly conscious of his superiority,
who said that anybody could write prov
CRIBS, the wise professor replied, write q
few" So the author who writes for youth
must be superior in fact, If he wishes to
supplant the loves of generations. If he
does, the Judgment of the children will
promptly award him the bay of popularity.
As a matter of fact, while much OF great
value to children has recently been written,
much also Is very Objectionable. I do not
refer to that which bears the stamp of vice
on its face-that everybody eondemns-but
to the silly stuff, which, while it vaunts it
self as highly moral and avoids brutality.
yet sets before the young wrong ideals. But
please understand me. l am not condemn
ing modern child fiction in tota. The ques-
ton is not modern VS.. traditional child fic-
ton, but whether there should be any child
fiction at all, nd | say that the children
should have opportunity to enjoy both.
ssThe other day your worthy editor deplored
the exaggeration of the practical in school
studies, and it's constant intrusion into school
methods and work. 1t ought to be said that
there is more literary reading both in the
realm of fiction and of fact-and in this Ok
preston I do not include the ordinary text
books-by our school children than ever be-
fore. It would be easy to prove and explain
tliS. Ouu IL 10 " S0I bllCLu u-1lo 10
due, not to a demand from outside, but to
the broad view which the schoolmaster takes
of his work, and the tendency in school cir
cles IS decidedly in the direction of the still
wider extension of the childs literary hori-
ION. 1t is already on the edgeo of the nursery.
l should like to tell you what is done in the
public schools in this direction if / had time
and you the space.
TO SANTA CLAUS.
eff | am not talking too much, let me re-
fer to Santa Claus. The gifted ~authoress of
Sorosis would let him and his courses go as
swiftly as they came. I confess that at one
time | entertained doubts as to his useful
ness, although he reigned supreme in my
fathers household, and has always blessed
my own with his presence at Christmas
time, and, confess again, still blesses it. My
own scruples were, however, somewhat diff
ferent from Mrs. Scudder's. As Christmas
came and went, and teThe Night Before
Christmas" had to be read again and again,
and the beautiful Christmas trees laden with
joys and surrounded by the counterfeit land
scape mysteriously appeared and disappeared,
| could not help being painfully impressed
with the difficulty of explaining the miracles
of the deus er machiilu, and that the fictions
necessary came dangerously near untruths.
| feared that when our deceit was discovered
our children's faith in us would be shattered
and perhaps our own example would
lessen their reverence for the truth. One
has passed the crisis, happily, with as little
injury to her faith or veracity as millions of
others in the past. But that children
shculd be afraid OF the Santa Claus of ira
dition, | cannot conceive. They may fear
him when given a new appearance, modern
attributes. Mrs. Scudder has cited a per-