The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1897-04-24
READING FOR CHILDREN.
Charles Dudley Warmers Views on Juve-
nile Literature.

Charles Dudley Warmers Views on Juve-
nile Literature.
Charles Dudley Warner, ina re-
cent address before tho Public Edu-
cation association, said:
'"When went to a district school
as a boy, got more bad air than
good in the schoolroom, and the in
struction was of the same order. It
is as bad to put weak thought inso
the mind of child as it is to shut
him up with bad air. The idea of
beginning the young mind with
something worth while is growing
among teachers. There are always
persons ready to give us what we
want. So soon as literature for tho
young was wanted our shelves were
covered with books about Little
Johnny and the Pig, Did the Pig
Have Curly Wig2' and Did John
ny Love the Pig?' Finally we dis
covered that we needed something
else, and at the same time we made
the great discovery that the teacher
himself must know something, a
revelation to many people. The
teachers are beginning to under
stand that they must themselves be
in the stream of literature in order
to teach it properly. Rather than
all the dates in history would have
a child learn to love one sweet
poem, even minor poem, that
made him want another. Teachers
are beginning to understand that it
is as well to open door that goes
somewhere instead of into hole in
the ground. The door should lead
into the world of ideas, which is
the world of history also.
Literature is not an accomplish
ment. something to round off an
education, but it is the vital sub
stance of the child's mind. The
sympathy with real literature
should be put into the child's mind
very early, for it is marvellous how
apt the child is to take the wrong
thing. How easy it is when the
child is from to 10 to turn it's mind
to what really develops and calls
out the natural capacity. A child at
that age is interested in any real
story, and any real story is good lit
erature never knew a child in an
intelligent family who was not alb
sorbed in the story of the Odyssey
and who did not take all the genu-
inc things with eagerness Why,
the Little Pig is nowhere, and Jim
my, compared with Ulysses, is no.
where in the interest of an ordinary
child.
"The nonliterary teaching is bad,
not only for the child, but for the
teacher. We should all be idiotic if
we Had to read ordinary textbooks
for a year. The teacher, if he is to
grow, must feed on real things, and
the child at once knows the perfume
tory things. He then thinks of out
doors as life, and why should not
life be indoors2 Let John Burroughs
talk, and life is indoors. He does not
write for children. l wish nobody
had ever written q word fer chill
dren. The silly people who try to
write down to children had better
try to write down to themselves. OF
all the worst influences of modern
life, one of the most diluted is what
is called children's literature.
would give a child no literature ]
did not like myself. Not that chill
dren should read Kant, or John Stu
art Mill, or even Turgeneff or
George Eliot, but there is plenty
that is full of life, that will strength
en- and invigorate the mind, that
child can understand and that will
call him, as he goes along, into the
higher walks of literature. A word
about a kindred subject. While ! am
a great advocate of kindergarfens,
there is too much babyishnessth there.
The child is quick to take impress
sions, and .hey mix colors dreadful
lv there. ''-Detroit Free Press.