New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-09
SCHOOL BOOKS.
HISTORY. PEDAGOGICs. LINGUIsTlCs AND
OTHER SUBJECTS.


charles Scribner's Sons
School B list OF The TXdrP PP - re
American Book Company.
A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA With Introduction NarratNS l.e
Discovery and Settlement OF North America ~
Horace Z. scudder With Maps PortF 4iii 4 t5s
Sheldon & Co.
THE SOCIAL SPIRIT IN AMERICA (Cha1iianqra
Duode,mo. PIP Vii. 1882 Tho Chautauqua Cen
HoRAGE NAM AN N TH Sr c3N sTth SF22 5s
Great Educators" Edited by Nicholas Murray
S2s Charles scribners Sons
THE KIYRERGAETEN SYSTEM stE rs 2RI TI
and Adapted from the Work q Alexander Bruno
sarten students. by Fanny Franks With an
ARpensnx sn the siqsa9n Of Msn p"0de'"0
TEACHING AS a BUSINESS Four Addresses BY
c W Bardeen. limo. PIP. IA Syracuse: c. w
Bardeen
for boys and girls Mr.. Edward Charming has
brought not only the discrimination accuracy
and breadth Of mind essential 10 true scholar
ship. but unusual tact well: and nowhere Is
tact more necessary Any with fluent
vocabulary and elastic conscience can write
unqualified. uncritical eulogy Of the United
States which. while IT rouses the ardor OF the
young reader will educate him to be grotesquely
provincial in his estimate Of matters ct home
and abroad hostile to all ideas but those Of his
own race. selfassertive and aggressive in his
relations with foreigners and an easy prey TO
that sort OF false patriotism which Or. johnson
hos characterized as the last refuge OF scoun-
drel On the other hand. any one. be his quail
hcations what they may play the role Of
q carping critic and find in the hurry burly Of
conflicting opinions and peremptory compro-
misses which have constituted American history
from the beginning inexhaustible opportunities
for censure and scholastic abuse. To reconcile
the critical spirit with a patriotic purpose, TO
make young students sober. candid responsible
as well Jealous. grateful and manly Amer-
cans is task that few even attempt and still
fewer are equal to-
For Mr.. Claiming this problem is in a meas
ure simplifed by the fact that he writes for the
senior class in high schools and can therefore
be less descriptive and more purely expostOry
in manner than the writer Of the ordinary gram
mar school history In the main. however, his
success is due TO his candor and impartality. 10
his recognition OF the part which circumstance
and accident play in fashoning the thoughts Of
men and nations TO his ready acceptance Of
such accomplished facts emancipation. with
out falling into the common anachrOnisn Of
making them the criteria by which TO Judge the
morality immortality. the logical consistency
or Inconsistency Of statesmen who lived and died
before the fact and above ALL TO his constant
habit Of presenting every episode that II ex-
plains interprets. and at least partially tustifes
itself. The volume deals but scantiy with the
military achievements Of the United States be-
cause the author holds not only that these topics
are adequately treated in grammar school his
tories but also that the great successes Of the
American people have been won in the fields OF
peace" The authors style Is clear. definite and
pointed: his volume. however. IS one primarily
to be studied. not to be read for pleasure. To
the student who needs ca1oling II makes no con-
cessions.
The distinctive difficulties which embarrass
the writer Of American history for children
find their source in two great episodes-the
Revolution and tho Civil Wor II is diffcult 10
treat the without exciting national hatreds.
the other without exciting sectional prejudices-
In his history Of the United States for schools
Mr.. Wilbur F. Gordy has ceverly and cand!dly
encountered the less difficult problem OF the
Revolution by interpreting 1t a conflict not
much between geographical divisions as be-
tween classes Of society. between theories OF
government In the differences Of opinion which
underlay that struggle he shows that not all
EnSNSnm6n
shown that not all Americans were on the
other. In the treatment OF the Civil War.
fortunately. Mr. Gordy is not successful.
Magnaninous and candid he is. his presenta-
ton Of the whole slavery question Will limit the
circulation Of his volume to the North lie
never nags the South but he can hardly he said
to have interpreted It, The volume closes with
some rather forid counsels TO patriotism In
the main. the book is written in vigorous plot
uresque. descriptive fashion
In the early days Of the Republic" says Mr.,
McAfaster in his School History Of the United
States" the mass Of men were ignorant ana
uneducattd. and willingly submitted to be led by
men OF education and what was called breeding
From Washington down to John Quincy Adams
the Presidents were from the aristocratic class
They were not men Of the people But in course
Of time O great change had come over the mass
Of Americans Their prosperity. their energy
In developing the country. had made them self
reliant and impatient OF all claims Of superior
ity. One man was now no better than another,
and the cry arose all over the country Tor q
President who was "a man Of the people Jack
son was Just such man. and IT was because
he was a man OF the people that he was elect
ed" That Mr.. McMaster finds In the election
of jackson as a successor TO such men as Wash
jngton and Adams q welcome sign OF Natlona!
progress illustrates fairly we'll his capacity for
optimism His volume Is an incisive. enthusi-
astic record Of what he believes to be rapid and
unqualified progress. Lost causes he neither
excoriates interprets. Discarded traditions
he never regrets Mere experiments he seldom
II ever recognizes as experimental He deals
largely with politics not war. but with politics
as a succession OF inspiring victories The boy
who opens his pages will md them invgorating
strenuous mature but hardly SOLDERING.
In one particular Mr.. Charming. Mr.. Gordy