The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-09-03
LOCAL PRIDE.

Gently issued by Crane 81 Co, in Topeka,
and the board of education in that town
adopted them, as a matter of local pride.
The board of education of Topeka made
a mistake, for the books are full of errors,
they are inferior in mechanical con-
struction, and the subject matter is worse.
This is surprising when it is remem-
bered that the readers were compiled
by o. C. Hill, teacher of long expert
ence. He has even taught teachers,
having been an institute instructor on
many occasions. These "Excelsior"
readers seem to indicate that a number
of experts. and years of time, are needed
in the preparation of a set of school
readers; that no one man is equal to the
task.
When the agent of another set of
readers charged that he found fifty errors
in fifty minutes in the Excelsior, first
reader, we believed the statement was
prompted by professional jealousy. and
said so, whereupon the agent brought a
set of the books to this office, and defed
a critical examination. This was
week or two ago, when the board OF
education was being solicited to adopt
the Excelsior but which it refused to
do by a unanimous vote.
Since then we have looked the books
over, aud find errors so apparent that
the printer should have noticed them,
to say nothing of the publisher. proof
reader, or author.
The Excelsior" first reader contains
a vocabulary of only 220 words; that is,
only 800 words appear in the entire book.
Some of the words, however, are re-
peated a great many times. The word
kitty" for instance, is repeated fifty
three times in twenty-three pages. In
the third word OF the first reading les
son, there is a,mistake: "a" having the
long sound instead of the short. OF the
220 words contained in the reader, more
than fifty of them, or one in every four,
are incorrectly marked.
Many of the illustrations seem to be
stock cuts out of a job printing office,
and have no relation TO the text One of
the pictures is a very bad one of a bull,
which has no business in such book.
There are also errors of punctuation
that the commOnest newspaper proof
reader would mark. The picture of
a fire engine shows style in use fifty
year ago, and picture of a pneumatic
tire bicycle is called velocipede, an en-
tirely different machine.
The script used is a job office font
and mashed letters occasionally appear;
we saw one example that would be out
rageous in a bill head turned out in a
country office In the modern school
Examples of bad gramm ar are very
common in the books. In the preface
to the fifth reader the author says: ''At
the close of nearly every selection there
is a series of questions so arranged that
the pupil will be epabled to get lesson
as definitely as in an arithmetic" No
one need be told that this is bad gram
mar Children around home may speak
of lesson they have to get, but no
49, - *
such an expression.
In writing for children, it is very easy
to be ridiculous. This fact is apparent
all through the first reader. Here is an
example: EBose is good horse, but
when he sees cat, then he is dog"
This is not only ridiculous, but it is nom
sense and bad English. In the second
reader a dog is reported as talking, and
as the selection is not a fable, this is not
permissible.
"What did the dog do when the cattle
come near him?" also appears in the sec
ond reader.
In the first reader there is a picture
showing two boys on a sled. "The boys
have new sle0s." reads the story accom-
panying the picture.
This is Ned's gentle goat" says
another lesson in the first reader. "See,
he is on high rock" The accompany
ing picture ESpE0s0ulS SOdb obduQAuS
on dead level.
Tame bears will not hurt you" SAYS
another lesson in the second reader,
''but l do not want you to play with
HIM" This is very bad; such a mis-
| take should not occur in the rush of
making up the last form of daily.
'She will not let anyone but Jennie's
little sister touch her; If they touch her,
she will bite ITEM" This is an extract
from the story of a parrot in the second
reader The antecedent is singular, and
the pronouns are plural
| In the preface to the third reader, the
author says: A number of words huUc
been defined at the back" the verb
! doesn't agree with the subject in num-
! ber In the preface to the fourth reader,
| the author says: "Only limited Number
| of new words are used in each lesson;"
! the same mistake as above.
The worst exhibition of taste in the
series is found in the fifth book, at the
back of which are given quotations and
sayings from Benz amin Franklin. Rob
ert Burns, Cervantes, Marcus Aurelius,
! Plutarch, Epictetus, Seneca, Lincoln,
Longfellow, Emerson, Byron and O. c.
Hill of Hiawatha, the compiler of the
books! Mr.. Hill mOdestly gives his say
ings last, but he made an objectionable
blunder in using them at all
The publication OF school books see ms
profitab bile. which may have induced Pro
fessor Hill and Crane & Co. to engage in
it. but modern school books are marvels
of art; their preparation has been the
work of careful scholars for years, and
the home made article will find competi-
ton slow work. The publications of the
"book trust may cost little more than
the home made article, but they are
marvels of Typography, engraving and
! mechanical execution throughout, while
the contents are as carefully prepared as
the contents of dictionary.