The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-17

great advance on those of thirty years
ago.
They are stronger. healthier and more
natural in tone. The moral lies in the
story itself. and is not industriously
pointed out, as in the. old days, in big
black letters at the end of each chapter.
The ideal story for children-and all
children crave q story now and then-is
a tale in which there are a number of lit
tie playmates, all heroes and heroines. A
large family of brothers and sisters dress
equally well-all the characters have
something to do with the story. They
have their little loves and hates, their
mistakes and their repentances. This
is the healthy book for children. The
book of clear atmosphere. of good moral
and common sense. From a book of
this kind the little men and women get a
a proper idea of the world at large
which is. after all. a great family or a
community. One little. person is not held
as a centre upon which a story shall
hang. Louise Alcott. Margaret Sidney,
Mrs. Molesworth and Susan Coolidge,
among others, nave given US ideal stories
of this character, of home life and child
life as it really is.
1t is a wel-known fact that the So
called writer's for boys. whose books to-
day Hood the counters and news stands
reap larger profits from their work than
many really excellent writers known in
another line of work. And by these
gentlemen l do not designate the au-
thors of "Jim. the Cowboy Kid OF Ar
kansas" and "Billy McGee. the Blood
Wader of Montana but OF hundreds OF
respectable looking volumes printed on
excellent paper. with modest titles and
good bindings. which are considered just
now the proper thing to be placed in the
hands of the coming man.
$50
The prime fault of this variety of
books lies in the fact that it is egotist.-
cal from the very foundation. The au-
thors we'll know that this egotism will
sell the editions, and therefore IS the
egotism laid on with a trowel.. The ego
tism of the central figure-the Boy! The
hero. Jack, or Ned. or Tom. as the case
may be, is always the individual to save
the money chest from the thieves; the
n to rescue the women from the burn
ing house or to shoot the bear on the
hunting expedition. !.
Wei. in the first place. the young man
would probably in real life be asleep in
his bed when the money was stolen; the
fremen, and not he. would have rescued
tine women. and his father would scarce
ly have allowed him to be shooting in a
region Astounding in bears. Therefore.
why fill the boys head with all this nom
sense? Why make him think that the
word revolves around one small man?
That he has only, one might even say,
to command, the-sun-as Joshua did in or
der to make the sun obey.
A mother is often heard to say that
her children must have exciting lfter2.
ture or they refuse utterly to read. Il
1t a wonder, then, that we see girls Of
sixteen reading the Duchess" and boys
Seaually grown reading equally absurd
Stories? In the first place, that very ex-
eftenlent, especially in the large doses
which are so popular at present, is bad
in every way.
In the second place. if the mother had
encouraged her sons and daughters to
love and appreciate the good things IN
literature they would be unable to taste
the other variety without experiencing
something strongly kin to disgust
Equally obnoxious with the o~mnipotent
boy is the book for little girls in which
every chapter without exception Is oceu-
pied by self-analysis. personally conducted
by the small heroine. There is invariably
a cruel step-mether; a great aunt VINO
uses the heroine most atrociously. The
majority of step-mothers and great aunts
in this country of ours are quite kim
hearted and natural people. as many a
step daughter and grand niece could tes-
tisy. An if there be these morbid, sensi-
tive. abnormal children, found SO plenti-
fully in the books for the young, they
are fit subjects of study by men, women
and doctors-not for impressionable and
developing little people.
There are hundreds of good things for
children to think about, and there are
plenty of good books written upon them.
ssIt is his excursions into the untravelled
world which the child enjoys" says An
drew Lang. who knows more about chill
dren than most men or women There
is the realm of poetry and ballads. OF
history with its brave deeds and self
immolation. There are wonders in the
sky which fascinate children, when once
their is called to them. There
are wonders in the air and in the sea and
10 the forests, Things more remarkable
than anything which a writer for boys
could invent. If your son refuses to read
Of these things when he is sixteen, 1t is
because he was not encouraged in that
direction at seven and eight"
It is a foolish idea that the good things
of literature are too old for him. To quote
Mr.. Lang once more:-"He understands
far more than we give him credit for
but nothing that can harm him."
A large New York syndicate found last
winter to its advantage that chsldrer
were especially fond of biographies thai
were interesting A woman on thei,
staff wrote up a series of articles, en-
titled sBoyhoods of Great Kings" AND
from all parts of the country children
wrote letters asking for more like articles
She old in a graphic way of the exciting
periods in the boy kings lives, all thu
anecdotes she could find and all the do
mestsc paraphernalia that surroundet
them.
An incident showing the determination
of young America to have his own way OF
cause great tribulation occurred recently
in the house Of a rich and fashionable
woman, whose whim it fs 10 live in a sub
urban atmosphere: Notwithstanding, shl
il very much in the social swim-glvins
dinners that are voted dreams by the par
takers thefeof-and luncheons that simpl.
av.sh the eye artistic. 1t was one o