The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-06
DESK STUDIES FOR GIRLS:
COURSES.
III. READING COURSES AND A
GIRLS LIBRARY.
BY JOHN MILbAR, NJ. A.
Reading Circles.

<~tA&@S S44CACS.
The years of school life are short for
most persons. Fifty per cent of all
children who enter school leave before
the age OF II. Too often the love of
reading is not created before the duties
or LIE are to be assumed. The girl
who has no taste for literature should
seek, so far as she can, the environment
which will give her q love for good
books Parents and friends may not
be the best judges of proper reading
matter. Not infrequentiy teachers sug
! gect reading courses for ex-pupils of
their schools. 1t is a great advantage
to young people when some person in
the community interests himself in the
formation of reading circles. The young
woman who joins a good literary So
ciety or reading club has chance of
| getting above many of the petty cares
and the gossip of this life into a higher
realm-the realm of ideals.
Organizations of this kind sometimes
embrace students attending educational
institutions. but more frequently the
membership is made up Of persons who
have finished school life. When the
last lesson is given children by the
teacher there should be some means of
having the process of education con-
tinned. 1t is becoming more fully
recognized that the boys and girls who
are "out of school, deserve considera-
ton. Public libraries are not enough.
Hence the many movements, such as
university extension" of the present
day. The need of school extension" is
more pressing. Perhaps no develop
me1t in this direction has had such
marvellous success as the Chautauqua
literary and scientific circle. The plan
has paved the way for a system OF
home reading and study which has be-
come widespread. 1t is often main
tanned that methods of this kind can
not furnish opportunities for getting
the best training, and that the knowl-
edge gained is superficial. There is
some force in these objections. At
tendance at college is to be preferred.
Only a few have however. the privi-
lege of going to the higher seats of
learning. 1t is for the great body of
young people that movements of the
kind mentioned are intended. A demand
for the education of the masses is a
sign of the Christian conscience. Hence
the organization of literary associations
in connection with many congregations.
In obedience to the same demand,
Christian Endeavof and Epworth
League movements have not overlooked
the benefits of good literature. Unfor-
tunately, efforts of the kind have not
reached many young persons. What
is needed very much is public school
extension. Some plan, is urgent for ex-
tending the usefulness of the school TO
the students who have at an early age
been obliged to work in the home, the
office, the store or the factory. Read
ing clubs may be formed wherever
there is available some person able and
willing to give advice regarding the
books to be taken up. 1t is not necess-
sary that the club should be large. pro-
vided the few who constitute its men,
bership are filled with the desire for
self-improvement. The organization of
a reading circle is a Simple process. A
dozen or less number meet once a
week to discuss matters pertaining to
the book read by each of the members.
Another book is read and at the next
meeting notes are again compared.
Opinions are freely expressed, and mu-
tual benefit results from the inter-
change of opinion. No attempt at crit
ical examination should be attempted.
Too much time may be wasted If the
''niceties" of diction, figures Of rhetoric.
ETC.. receive attention. An intelligent
understanding of what is read should
be the main object. If a play of Shake
speare is read let the annotated edi- |
tons receive but little favor. Discus
sions foreign to the purpose of the club
should be discouraged. The books read
should be the works that have had |
their value tested. 1t is not necessary
taken up. One good effect of these cir |
cles should be to weaken the everlast-
ing habit of some young persons for |
reading trashy books. The leader in |
an organization of this kind may have |
Heterogeneous. The successful teach |
er or the successful preacher must have |
stout heart. Much of the success of |
the circle will depend on enthusiasm. |
personal magnetism, tact and good !
common sense.
Reading Courses.
To make list of books for which |
preference should be given Is not an |
easy task. Much depends upon the |
tastes, attachments and purposes of the |
reader. Guidance is very desirable, |
and teachers who have a good knowl- |
edge of literature will generally prove |
the best advisers. 1t Is common prac- |
tice for schools to prescribe courses for |
supplementary reading. When conven-
lent, a young woman will not make a !
mistake by taking up the books rend |
by the students of the grammar or |
high school. In this way she may
keep herself in touch with the work |
OF those who are more fortunate in not |
being obliged to leave school so soon. |
II girl has access to a public library |
n systematic course of reading may be
pursued. To help girls who may not |
have some one to guide them a series /
of reading courses is here recommend |
ed. 1t is not assumed that better
choice cannot be made. 1t is hoped,
however, the selections will prove SER
viceable:
First Course-Hawthorne's "Tangle-
wood TaleE." Mrs. Stoves Queer Lit
tie People," Longfellows' Building of
the Ship Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Prog
ress," Burns "Cotter's Saturday night"
Miss Alcott's Little Women" whit
tiers Barbara Freitchie,' Scott's
Lady of the Lake." Miss Wetherell's
"Queechy." Gray's "Elegy.' Gold
smiths '.vicar of Wakefield" Bryant's
Robert of Lincoln" Dickens "Old
Curiosity Shop"
Second Course.-Mrs. Stoves "Uncle
Toms Cabin" Irving's ..'Knicker-
booker stories, Longfellow's .Evange-
line" Shakesreares Merchant of Ven
ice." Tennyson's "Enoch Arden Whit
tiers MAUD Muller" Goldsmith's De
serted Village" Scott's 'Kenilworth."
Dickens David Copperfield.' Char
lotte Bronte's Jane Eyre"
Third Course.-Goldsmith's Travel
err Longfellow's 'Eiawatha, Tenny-
sons ''Lccksley Hail. Bryant's Than
Wards Dickens" English
Men OF Letters. Dickens oliver
Breakfast Table" Addison's Sir Roger
de Coverley," Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar" Warmers Backlog Studies"
Waliace's ''Ben-Hur.''
Fourth Course.-Curtis "Prue and l."
SCOTS Lay of the Last Minstrel"
Romeo and Juliet"
Mrs. Browning's Cry of the Children"
LowelIs my Study Windows" Cow
pers The Task" Tennysons The