The record-union., 1896-01-09

/ Ou LnC SCAOO1S DIS " What lflG
will read now, and what they will read
when they are no longer children. Most oi
the work of library and school is done
not for the present but for the future
Children can learn to love GOOD books
better than poor ones, and if you incul-
cate in early life a fondness for books
you open resources of culture that viii
be of inestimable value. Put into the
hands of the young the best books.
The question now comes, How is this
| to be done? The Librarian alone can
not do it. The taste for reading being
almost wholly a matter of cultivation
we may, by careful thought and sugges-
tion, lead the child into the higher uses
OF books as readily as to the desire foI
entertainment only. 1t means work
persistence, patience, earnestness, and
to the public school is set the task OF
teaching its pupils how to use the mass
of information held in the Public Ii
brary. 1t is much easier to lead chill
dren into reading the better books than
it is to break them of the habit of read
ing Objectionable ones. This can only
be done by gaining their confidence and
then bringing their attention to the bet
ter books, and this must be done in such
a way as to become a part of their life.
Interest in the work is the one point
that will insure success. To inspire the
pupil with interest the teacher must be
as thoroughly interested as he expects
the pupil to be. If pupils become inter-
ested in good reading there will be no
desire for dime novels, either in or out
of school, but you must have the sturdy
root before you can train the branches;
you must foster the instinct for reading.
You can allure, you can imperceptibly
lead, but you cannot compel. Let the
attention be guided as unwittingly as
possible from the poor to the Indifferent,
from this to the good, and so on to the
best, and do not let it be forgotten that
what is best to one is but indifferent or
poor to another
There is such a diversity among chill
dren, even in the same grade, that no
two can be treated in the same manner
Each one must be kept interested, and
if interest flags you lose your influence
to guide them in the future
Aimless and purposeless reading is
one of the greatest and most common
mistakes the librarian and teacher has
to contend against. The loss from this
trouble is twofold The child or grown
person gets little good from the books
read and cares little to read anything
better.
It is harder to cover some purposeless
reading than any other habit. Let the
teacher turn the mind of the child to
books that will illustrate explain or
more fully develop the work of the
school-which means the use of the Ii
brary-and he will find his own work
very much Hghtened and made more
interesting.
There are as many methods of CO.
operation between library and school
as there are schools, and no two schools
pursue the same plan. In general
way it is to use the library as a sup
plement to school work in every way
possible. The child may always be
sent to the library to gain whatever
information is needed, with the assur-
ance that he will receive all the help
at command The dryest text book may
be made interesting by a little timely
talk from the teacher; by adding what
ever knowledge of the subject he may
have gained in other ways. Some short
story or anecdote will help to impress
the lesson and hold the child's inter
est. There can be no stereotyped meth
Cd pursued or the child will tire. Such
work will also keep the teacher at her
best. Send the child to books to find
out what he wants to know about. If
he finds thing himself, it seems to
him all his own finding, and because it
seems so, he is interested in it and his
interest secures the trial Of the same
oh 10
have their studies made interesting by
outside matter that is not connected
with school books. Books on the same
subjects as their lessons will interest
them, and they like to read them,
when they think it is not study.
Get a child to think his task is play
and he will work with a will.
yin our great desire to be helpful to
the children, however, we must not
forget that they are not grown people,
and SO require more of them than they
are able to do. We must choose such
books as they can comprehend, remem-
bering also that some develop more
rapidly than others, and that each
must be helped according to his need.
The relation of libraries then to the
work of observing, training and de-
veloping the gradually unfolding fac
ulties of young minds, and of helping
them to attain the truest manhood and
womanhood is one of supplementing
the work of the school at almost every
step. Without the library the desire
for knowledge so constantly awakened
in the schools would have to go unsat-
isfied. In the East there is great activ-
ity in the relations between the libra
ries and schools. In some portions of
California there is also, and I should be
glad to see the same condi6on in Sac
ramento. 1 have so far as possible
given help to all pupils who have come
to our library, and am ready to do still
more.
A beautiful vocal solo, I'm Thy
Dreams" Dudley Buck) was rendered
by Mrs. Pinkham in g. style that pro-
voked storm of applause, and she re-
sponded to a persistent encore, singing
when the Heart is Young"
j. H. Liggett, the President, was to
have read a paper. but was prevented
by illness from attending the meeting
The names of those on the pro-
gramme for the February meeting are
Miss McCleery, Mrs. Merrill, Miss Mey-
ers, Mrs. Munford and Miss Obar.
The last number was a fine piano
solo, ''Why?" (Schumann) given by