Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-07-11
CARRIERS BURNED AWAY"

1 formed
CARRIERS BURNED AWAY"
Any person who derives enjoyment from
| ludicrous things in literary ways ought to
live in Kansas. Doubtless there Is much
| that is ridiculous in the literary life of
any state, but Kansas is ever original and
she can always be depended upon for a
surprise. whether it be In the line of great
| achievement or in that OF making a fool
OF herself. When she scars she scars high.
and when she flies low her wings generally
touch the ground. and 1t is all done lin
dead earnest" as the boys say. The sin
cerity of life in the West is its chief charm.
When the inhabitants undertake anything,
they go after It with all their might and
main. whether or not they know what they
are doing. The New England boy lights his
frecrackers one by one, but the Kansas
| boy lights the whole bunch. and none but
a Kansan would ever have conceived The
idea of a fambeau display. In New En-
gland a woman's club would devote a whole
season to Stedman's Elements of Poetry"
but in Kansas it is assigned for a single
afternoon. with Nordau's Degeneration
and Kids Evolution" thrown in as slight
ADVERTISEMENTS These New England women
are not more sincere than the women of the
plains, but they are more fortunate in be-
ing under more competent leadership.
The latest Iudicrous thing in a literary.
way that has come to the light in Kansas
appears among the questions presented
this last week by the state board of edu-
cation TO applicants for teachers certih-
Gates. They are asked to name the au-
thors OF Paradise Lost" 1.-The Psalm OF
Life" "Th Raven Barriers Burned
Away" and 9TH Merchant of Venice" 1t
makes one smile at first, then blush. then.
swear. Had it not been done in a repre-
sentative capacity, one might smile and let
IT. pass. but here it is official, and means
that the board of education of the state
OF Kansas does not consider a person COM
petent TO teach who does not know the
author of Barriers Burned Away This
question was not asked by a farmer
The examination paper itself shows that It
was suggested by President Brooke. of
Lane university, at Lecompton, which
makes the fact the more humiliating to
Kansans with respectable ideas of litera-
ture. When such things are done in the
name OF education. one is forced to sd-
nit that there may be something in the
theory that education is not for all people.
1t is a striking coincidence hat this ques-
ton should be asked Just at a time when
some Of the librarians of public libraries
are becoming sufficiently courageous to ex-
cIude the late Mr.. Roe's books from their
shelves. The action Of these Librarians
may be questionable, as the books are not
immoral, but no person presumes to ques-
ton the motive that prompted the exclu-
sion.
II is not an easy matter accurately TO
estimate the effect of this class of fiction.
Its virtues are certainly of the negative
kind From it one would never learn how
to do wrong. and # is doubtful whether
anything SO inartistic could ever lead one
to do right. These are good books for
those who would be reading something
worse, II they did not have them, but they
are harmful to those who would be reading
something better, If these were out of the
way. These novels have religion in them.
II is dragged in and is made so evident
that one cannot escape it, but it does not
have the right effect. More and more the
world is coming to realize that religious
expression which is not artistic in form is
seldom ethical in effect, and at the same
time that many things are ethical in effect
which nave nought TO do with the ex-
preston of religion. We presume that the
beard OF education Of the state OF Kansas
would scout the idea that The Manxman"
would AVE a better moral effect upon the
reader than Barriers Burned Away but
we believe that the intelligent parents of
Kansas prefer that the teachers of their
children know more about the books of
Hall Caine than Of E. P. Roe.