The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-09
A BOOK REVIEW.
MRS. MARGARET HILL M'cARrER.
l. Constructive.

| MRS. MARGARET HILL MCARTER.
Thrice is he armed that hath his qua rrel just
Among the many good things that !
have longed for l believe that 1 have
wished oftenest for more skill in the ex-
| preston of thought, for that fuency and
force of speech that can sometimes ac-
complIsh such great things. And truly
l never desired them more than l do to-
day as / undertake to write what l sim
cerely believe ought to be written, My
motive here will be perfectly apparent
to all honest. Intelligent minds and Pm
not particularly concerned with any
other minds Just now.
l was an interested onlooker in the re-
! cent battle of books in the city board of
education. The victorious side of the
controversy had quite lengthy hearing
and it was iterated and reiterated
that every body was satisfied and every
body was tired of the subject The
latter statement is no doubt true. A
WEAKNESS that will req uire some length
of time to overcome may have already
begun to exist. Yet the parents who
must pay for the books, the pnpils who
ID ust study them, the teachers who must
teach them. and the public in general re-
main to be heard from. That they are
being heard from, that intelligent pupils
and teachers, fathers and mothers of the
highest social order and Christian Gull
ture, influential business men and minis
fers of the gospel are daily reporting
gives me reason to believe that some pap
er reaching many homes may profitably
give little space to the consideration
of SO important an issue to all fair mind
ed citizens.
For now since the books are in
our schools may it not be
simple pie. Justice r,o to give them
public and must stand upon their own
TNarita n n do
ton or of adverse criticism can alter their
value.
But before going furth er allow me to
say that must be understood to be dis
cussing things, not persons
l have no comment to make upon Su-
perintendent Davidson, who opposed the
books, nor the board of education, whose
majority favored them. l do not even
know the publisher by sight and be-
love always in patronizing a home in
dustry if its commodity be fair and good.
And lastly. l am not at all related to the
compiler of the Excelsior series. Our
branch of the tribe always sign their
names to what they write or compile, so
this is no family quarrel.
Being a citizen of no mean city, 1 am
interested in all things educational here
from the growth of the kindergartens to
the success of Washburn college with all
the fine public school system between
them. Our schools, GALL OF our home in
dustries" seem to me most worthy of our
care and patronage. And no part of the
public school curriculum can be more i'm
portant than its English studies, particu-
larly its readers. l am told that compe-
tent judges have declared the Excelsior
series to be as good as any series pub
lished. Now, l do not call myself a very
competent judge. have had but nine
years experience in the critical teaching
of English, and if I learned anything
in that nine years, it was
that l did not yet possess all
attainable knowledge of the cons ruction
and literary value of the English Ian
guage. But there are some things which
1 do not need a competent judge, nor
anybody else to tell me. Some facts are
patent to even an ordinary degree. of in
telligence. Some truths exist that are
no more a matter of opinion, yours or
mine, than that the heavens are blue or
that lying is a sin.
book, like a tree, may be known by
its fruits. We are safe in prssuming
that a vigorous apple tree, planted in the
right kind of soil, with sunlight and
moisture and proper pruning will bear
fine apples. Likewise a school read
er, well-bound aud we'll illustrated,
with pronunciations accurately marked
and definitions correctly given
with reading selections carefully chosen
ITOuu LuO pest duLnOES anu
verbatim or lawfully adapted; and above
all, with the whole teaching of the book
of Christian spirit and infuSnce-such a
reader, l say, cannot fail to be an educa-
tive force for good citizenship. For the
pupil who studies this kind of book
must have his artistic spirit Quickened;
his sense of accuracy aud correctness
developed; his voca bulary increased; his
ability to discern and enjoy good litera-
I'm Anhanna6. his with
the best authors widened; and his com
prehensi0n of an Infinite God and belief
in immortality grounded, so far as his
miniature years will allow. upon
foundation everIastingly firm because it
is everlastingly true. By such standard
let US measure these readers called tx
celsior.
The punctuation has been so profussly
apologized for that ! shall let it alone,
and begin to consider the illustrations.
In the Fourth book are portraits of Lin
coin, Garfield, Franklin, Dickens and
Longfellow, with eight or nine other pic
lures to illustrate the text These pic-
lures are of the poorest execution while
the portraits are mere blurs. In point of
illustration the book is a failure. II it
have no other merit it is lost.
/ turn to the table of contents, the part
supposed to be the true index of the
work. In one book six out of twelve
consecutive subjects are either printed
upon different pages than those indicated
in the contents or else are not to be
found in the body of the book at
all. In several instances the auth
or's name is omitted and some we'll known
selections are credited to "anon" or to no
one at all. One poem in the contents is
followed by the name of a certain poet;
in the text it has "anon" affixed, while in
truth the selection should be credited to
n # fai-,
ability. These inaccuracies and positive
errors are discouraging prelude to sey
the least
I next take I'D the recommendation. for