The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-05-26
BOOKS AND BOOKS
Principal Haskell Shows
High School Pupils What
They Should Read.
WHAT CHARLES R. DAHIS LIST IS
They Are Indispensable to People
Of American 0rigin-For
Summer Use.

The question of what the best books
are and what books people should read
has agitated the literary world since-it
might almost be ~said-books ave been
made; at any rate since they nave been
produced in such quantities. From time TO
time literary critics, librarians and school
principals have published lists of one
hundred or more books, considered the
best. These lists while generally steadfast
to two books, the Bible and Shakespeare,
change continually with the other ninety
eight, and leave the readers bewildered
by the vast number of best books. 1t is
a comfort in the midst of this bewilder-
ment to find that there is one literary
critic who narrows the list of indispens-
able books to ten and thereby makes it
possible that the list will be read. Some
time ago the editor of 1.-THE Missouri
Editor" published at Columbia, Mo-,
wrote to Charles A. Dana, editor of the
New York SUM-" asking for a short list
of books valuable for country editors.
Mr.. Dana's reply was published in THE
Missouri Editor" for March, 1896. 1t
was:-
New York, February 26, 1896.
Dear Sir-I enclose a little list of books
which seem to be Indispensable not mere
~ to country editors, but to every person
of American origin.
Yours sincerely,
CHARLES A. DANA.
Walter Williams, ESQ.
of Independence. the Constitution of the
United States, Bancroft's History OF the
5partlally publishedS, Irvingss Life Of
Washington, Franklin's Autobiography,
Cummings Essay on Napoleon Bonaparte,
Gibbons Decline and Fab of the Roman
Empire and Shakespeare.
Whatever trouble long lists may cause
they are Invaluable in forming the liter
reading is more harmful than many sup
pose, when it is not directed in any way.
Mr.. Haskell. Principal of High School, re-
ing them a knowledge of what good books
are. Mr.. Haskell claims that # pupils
form the habit of reading good books,
them, while If unchecked they indulge in
q course Of trashy books, there will never
With a great deal of care and thought
Mr.. Haskell prepared four lists of forty
books each which he has lately hung on
There is a list for each of the four high
est grades of High School and at the head
Of each list are, words:-sIt is. expected
of the following forty books during the
year Following the list is arranged in
columns with the title of the book. the
book at the Free Public Library. Ne
The pupils of the First Grade must
read ten Of the following:-Cotter's Satur-
Bound, Whittier. S2S M72 v Is; Lays of
Lady Of the Lake. Scott; 81 seoSLd; The
Book. Hawthorne. il H3lW. Tanglewood
raeis' HHawthhorne. II Bs1i ~Grgandfather's
nette. and Her Son, Muhlbach, 8 M9SM:
Daughter Of an Empress, M1hibach'
: 20 M j as;R AAn ansg Of F4ranaklin,
Petter the Great Abbott, 1928. P44A;
Tales Of Of Shakespeare. Lamb, s22.3 Lac;
B MsSs1ard at Ho Ru kbSgslHsy ,;gbs kslW y g5s7 lem
Louie's Last Term at ST. Mary's, Harris
! H24sL; Nicholas Nickleby. Dickens,
! i A R1sB; Bl@ oEd eFFa aEhionsa stasE ITl, S oe 3
y A1120; Black Beauty, seweli, 2 Ses2;
cudio, Wa cays a 4 CSbpntdTy, Hale, ! HI5IsM:
seoSI; Hospital Sketches, Alcott'
Is feil olzh; 81 Ial fssT f a Why's Wha1yssideI 1n Inn. iLIongg,
Mexico, Smith, si7.2 SINS; FAIRY Land OF
Science, Buckley, 5N BS5; Life and Her
G9hldildren, Buckley; 500 BS5: winners in
Alice in Wonderland. Carroll, u DssA'
A az tSs f eso Ion u People, Everett, 10 Exc;
aid u Ml4At; Sketch Book, irving
SlA Ir8Sk; Locusts and Wild Honey. Bur.
H t0lagnab ~ y b apsas satG9ff cry Of q Bag Boy,
Irving-Fiske, .Jaaa.1 Wg7S r.. "~as'instoh
The Second Grade List Is:-Much Ado
Apout Noshlng, Shakespeare. 1922 80 R2s;
Of a Traveller. / IrST; Hereward, the
Wake, Chas. Kingsley. 2 K61H; History
Of American Revolution q vol.). Fiske,
1853 F54A; Young Folks Plutareh, Kauf-
wife, ~, a25 Ag1; My Winter on the Nile
Warner, 1862 WA; Harold, Bulwer'
2L99H; Julius Caesar, Froude, 923.1 CHE.
Bits of Travel at Home. H. H., 917.3 J12;
around the World in Yacht Sunbeam,
Scottish Cavaliers, 81 Ay9. Hamilton.
Lodge, 923 H1SL; Colcnel's Opera CLOAK
Brush, ] BS3C; The Talisman, Scott
Z seoST; White Company, A. Conan
thorne, / II31Tw; Silas Mariner, George
Eliot 2 C8SSi2; Last Days of Pompeii
Lytton, 2 L@SL; John Halifax, Mulock'
2 CS4J; Kenilwerth. Scott, 2 scosK; Tale
of Two Cities, Dickens, 2 D55T; Rab and
His Friends. DR.. John Brown, 3 BS; On
the Study of Words, Trench, 422 TI2.
Sesame and Lilies, .Ruskin, S34 RSsS: Wal,
den. Thoreau, 917.44 T39W; Vicar of Wake
field. Goldsmith. 2 G57; Essay on Man
ners, Emerson. in his essays. sd ErmsE
V. 2; Irvhng's Life OF Goldsmith, 92S.23
G57I; The Raiders, Crockett. 2 CS7SR; pol
itics for Young Americans. Nordhoff,
80 y NE, ne nisa. History OF a Candle,
Chalk. Huxley. in his discourses, 5o4
H9SD; Roy Engineers. Lukin. J621 L96B: |
Light Science for Leisure Hours, Proc
tor, 504 P94: Innocents Abroad, Mark
Twain, SIR C592I; Rudder Grange Stories.
Stockton. / St6R; History of New York. |
Irving. ST IrS; Bow of Orange Ribbon, |
Barr, 1R927B.
For the Third Grade the List is.-The |
Fair God, Wallace, 1 W15F; Elegy in a
Country Chlrehyards Gray. IS MA v. II;
Palmer's Odyssey. 1881 P180; Richard II,
Shakespeare, 500. 33 Rl5; Twelfth Night.
Shakespeare, Sob RIB; Lyrics and Son,
nets tCry of the Children), Mrs. Brown
ing. in S21 B82P. American Commons
wealth, Brice llyol. y, 342.73 BS4; Politi-
cal Ideas, Fiske. 800 F54; Rome and
Carthage, Bosworth-Smith, 9S7 Sm6: a |
Day IL Ancient Rome shumway. Jas.37
Sh9; Nat and Sophia Hawthorne, Julian |
H., 92S.l3 H31H; Irving, Warner, 92S.17 |
IrW; Lectures and Speeches. Wendell
Phillips. first and second series).
2vSl5PH; History of Greece, Oman: HIS
tory OF Rome, Meyer; Anne of Geierstein,
Scott, 2 ScoSA; Conquest of Mexico, |
thorne. 914.2 Es10; Familiar Talks on
English Lterature. A Sage, Richardson, |
$40 RS7; Forms of Water, Tyndal. E1 T97; /
Sketches of Creation, Winchell, $50 W72S: |
Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains'
graddock. M94P; Don1bey ahd Son,