The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-03-11
SEVERE CRITICISM.
The ministerial Union Reports ON the
Excelsior Readers.

The M1n1SIeENaE UNION ASCkSOE - OhA 49,
Excelsior Readers.
Your committee appointed to examine
the Excelsior Readers recently introduce
ed into the public schools of this city beg
leave TO present the following:
Your committee entered upon its work
with a view to examine the books upon
the two points presented in the motion
which we were appointed, viz: Anti
Christian teachings and Race pref
As to the last point we found nothing
calling for adverse criticism; but our ex-
animation revealed such numerous and
palpabIe errors of literary character,
that we cannot forbear to call attention
to them even at the risk of being charg-
ed with going beyond the purposes
sought to be obtained by our appoint
ment Interested as we are in the main
tenance of the high standard OF ex-
cellence hitherto manifest in the
school system of this city We would be
wanting in our duty as parents and cltl-
zens if we failed to call public attention
to the glaring unfitness of these books
for the purpose for which they are pro-
fessedly designed.
Among the Objectionable features to
which your committee :invite the atten-
ton of the Ministerial union and OF the
public of Topeka are the following:
First-Anti-Christian sentiment.
On page 29S of the Fifth Reader we
find Eugene Wares poem. "The Wash
erwoman's Song" As you will remem-
Der the refrain of the song is "With a
Saviour for a Friend, He will keep me to
the end" But the author declares him
self thus:
Its a song do not sing,
For l scarce believe thing
OF the stories that are told
OF the miracles of old.'
Here the children are plainly taught
that while to believe in Jesus as friend
may be a comfort TO a washerwoman, yet
the man of culture ia above belief in any
such story. Which will have the great
or OBJECT upon the minds of boys and
girls OF from four teen to sixteen years,
the faith of the ignorant washerwoman
or the unbelief of the poet and scholar?
In the same Reader the difinition
given to superstition is, ''belisf in super
natural powers" This definition is &C.
curding to Ingersoll, but we doubt if
Christian parents will be willing that
their children shall be taught that be-
lief in Our Father in Heaven is super
stition.
2. The Readers are amazingly de-
fective from a literary point of view.
Many of the selections are of a low
grade considered as specimens of Eng
fish composition. Some border on the
silly; others contain slang phrases such
as our boys can pick up on the street,
Out WHICH OuEu III not 10 E0C6AV0 INC GU
dorsement of the board of education.
AS illustrating one or more of these
points we call attention to flowed by
Cod" Fourth Reader, page 10. "How
the Elephant Moved the House." page
%. "The Boomerang" page 80 AN
Unexpected Escape" page 4S. "Old
Spot" page so. "rhe Dutch Boor and
Reader, IAN Adventure With An Alli-
gator" page 10S. where Is Papa To-
Night" page l28. "rhe Diamond Duke"
page 1SS Trouble at Roaring Brook
Camp" page 222. "a Bitter Tempta-
tiop,'' page 254. 1.-THE Baldheaded
Man." page $50. "Mrs. Walkers Betsy"
page ST..
Some good selections are SO mutilated
as to do injustice to the author as well
as marring the beauty of the production.
AS for instance. Alice Cary's "Pictures
from Memory" Fodrth Reader, page
131. "Measuring the Baby" page 172,
and "Franklin's Arrival at Pniladel-
phis," which last has been so garbled as
to bear little resemblance to the original.
The definitions given in the Vocabulary
are exceedingly poor Some are totally
meaning clearly, and in some verbs and
adjectives are used as the equivalents of
nouns. The following are examples of
one or other of these blemishes:
Abbreviation. shortened. Admit, to owD.
Fleece, the hair of a sheep. Mast. a kind
Of sail. Saintlike, an angel. Omnipo-
tence, universal presence. Repertoire, a
place where anything is kept for use.
Necklace, anything wore around the
neck. A paper collar is therefore
a necklace. Brook, small brook.
Raft, a kind of boat. Inhabited,
populated dwelt. Orbit small sphere
Rocked, reckoned.
Among the evidences of carelessness
in the preparation of the books are mis-
quotations of scripture, as for instance in
the Goth Psalm, the passage, Thou car
REST them away as a flood, they are as
sleep" is rendered SO that the last
phrase reads: They are as sheep" In
the passage from St. Paul, and credited
to him, 20 death where is thy sting, o
grave where is thy victory" the order of
the phrases is reversed.
Other proof of lack of care is shown
in the table of contents in the Fourth
reader where in a list of thirteen items
there are six errors. In the the index to
the Fifth reader "Not One Child TO
Spare is attributed to Jos Rodman
Drake. In the book itself it is credited
to "AnOn" whereas as we believe it was
written by Mrs. E l. Beera Some of
The selections are too sentimental and
have too much of the "pll never love
any but you" type of Pc etry, or so-called
poetry, to he appropriate reading for
boys aud girls of the grades for which
these are provided.
In conclusion allow your committee to
state that it is of she opinion that these
readers are altogether below the stand
ard that ought to prevail in the schools
of the capital city, and it is a matter of
astonishment to US that they have been
admitted by our board of education. Had
they been passed upon by the district Of
ficers of some district in the back woods
of Arkansas or Missouri, we would not
hava baau aOrnrisad h,1t that hooIrs o.