The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-04-17

llOOA OAl
move him would have been IN vain, for he
screamed ct every such suggestion. I
Thoughts then, and have. since THAT y would
be fam more appropriate to csntre our
thoughts at CEristmas-tide shout a per-
feet Christ-child rather than to have upper
most in our nnnds, a fat little old man. who
shakes when he laughs like a bow full Of
Jelly, ? and I must say | have felt that !
should hke q little credit, for days of stitch
ing and hou of weary shopping, instead OF
giving all the credit to q hypothetical Santa
Claus.
NERVOUS CHILDREN.
The children in this American civilization
are quite nervous enough, without Blue
Beard and Red Riding Hood. Miss Edge
worth spoke wisely when she said, "Fairies
are disturbers of the children's peace"
And what an atmosphere of untruthful-
ness is in these talesl Many of them are
false through and through; SO false, you
saw, as to make them impossible of belief,
vet many of US know, after talking with
children or recalling our own early expert
ences, that all is not dispelled from young
minds as untrue, but many things are held
forever as facts. l believe the little verse
which says
The dream child, moving through the land
OF wonders wild and new,
In friendly chat with bird or beast.
And half believes it's true.
The whole atmosphere is exaggerated and
unreal and they tend to breed discomfort.
What child wishes to take up the drudgeries
of life after they have dwelt in palaces, been
robed in silk and velvets, crowned with dia
mond tiara, and been surrounded with IN
Vulnerable ~servantsa Our land has too many
men, women and children who are looking
for luxuries without doing work. There are
altogether too many standing about willing
to touch a button and let the fairies do the
rest. Too many are rowing. as my dear
mother did in c~hildhood's days, in search Of
an Aladdin's lamp, or desiring an enchanted
watch, that they can scratch so that a loaf
of bread or a steak of good beef with a flask
of wine can appear, n many OF them
would like to scratch it a second time, as did
Jenik in the story to procure a house, with
carriages of silver and gold.
There ought not to be anything OF this
character in the child's literature OF today,
for few enough take to honest labor. There
is discomfort enough in the world without
helping to breed it. And what foolishness
creeps into these imaginary tales. l really
think it is insulting to achild's reason to give
it such stuff to read. Hear this from Alice
Through the Looking GLASS;"
He TOOK his vorpaf sword in hand,
Long time the manxome for he sought,
So rested he by the Tumtam tres.
And stood awhile in thought.
And as 10 ufish Thought he stood.
The Jabbernock with eyes adams,
Came whiting through the tuigsy wood.
And burbleu as he came.
One. twot one, twol and through and through
The vorpai blade went snicken-snack.
He left it dead and with It's head
He went galumphing back
Think, too, of a story in which the wooden
leg of a man roves about for 500 years after
its owner is dead, accompanied by a huge
black cat; and what a gruesome tale is that
of a number of cats lowering a coffin into a
little grave. Oh! the senseless twaddle that
is written for children, and all this in a day
when grand and good books abound. The
shelves are so full of excellent chiidren's
stories that there is no excuse for printing
poor ones. I believe, with Emerson, that
1.-THE human mind would be the gamer il
all secondary writers were lost"
These untrue tales inculcate bad morals
oftentimes, Read in sLang's Fairy Book a
story called 1.-THE Master Thief" and think
how subtly q child could be influenced by
it. Many a mother would be greatly
shocked to find a yellow-colored dime novel
in her boys hand, because it dressed up
crime, and yet she would reud a kindred
story in a fairy book, and not fear its in
huencew when robbers are praised and plum
derers exalted. Ali this is a queer world.
There are hundreds of stories which point
a good moral, and yet are sufficiently mag
NATIVE to be truly interesting. As ! have
hurried through story after story have
been delighted with the child's literature of
today. The pictures in many of them are
more artistic and beautiful than some Of the
works of arts which adorned ca the walls of
our ancestors a hundred years ago, and far
better is it for the children to nave flowers,
birds and butterflies, with charming land
scapes, than TO have faces of hideous dragons
and other monsters grinning at them from
the pages of our fairy books.
Children need books which shall exalt all
that is noble and true. Books in which
lessons of devotion to the aged shine forth,
as in Little Nell, in "Old Curiosity Shop"
and Captain ~Janaary's STAR What ideal
unselfishness is shown by Little Carol, in the
Birds Christmas Carol" and Miss Alcott's
ssLittle Men and Women will teach whole
they exist. What brotherly love is shown
by Little Timothy. in his quest for a home
for his baby Gay, n history is made SO
simple and yet realistic in the stories by
Ruth Ogden. TT would require hours to tell
of the attractive books about birds, insects,
animals and flowers, not to mention our
"Zig Zag' travels, which introduce the
children to fanciful lads and ~lassies, who
though strange, are yet real, in other lands.
With so many good books, certainly we can
sweep out all hat give false views OF life
and wrong impressions of God.
And now, in summing up, l submit it to
you, Madame President, ladies of SoFosisi and
friends, that if untrue stories tend to pro-
duce fear and thus add to the nervousness
already too prevalent in American children,
if these stories distort the imagination as
well as lower the moral nature by teaching
trickery, untruthfulness and dishonesty,
if the reading of such tales makes chill
dren feel Disconnected, and If, moreover,
there is great abundance of good books,
then I dare affirm that there should not be
anything in child literature which is not or
could not be true.
EtIyC