The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-11-21

"HE question OF what Is the best
home reading for children, the
reading that will after all prin
eipally determine the bent OF their lit
erary tastes in at~ter-lite, is one that
has been debated much of recent years.
The Chicago Dial, which has given
much space in the past TO the subject
of English teaching in school and COL
Eege, prints an article from Mr.. w.
T. Field hich contains much that is
suggesl i've. Mr.. Field believes IN
Mother Goose" as the earliest pabu'
lum for the youthful mind:
There is nothing better for him, pro
vided al ways it is the real simoA pure
Mother Goose and not the miscella
neous stuff which masquerades in
cheap editions under that name. Tie
parent must not think that any story
which will amuse q child is useful.
The individ ual taste hes not at this
period Of development become pro
nounced; the child will accept any.
thing eagerly; a story lie a story. But
the influence of the stories which are
told him ia deep and lasting. II he is
ted upon tales of ogres and giants
who eat up little boys, q taste is formed
which will continue to demand ex
sravagant and blood.curdling fiction.
Jack the Gians.Kdl is the logical
antecedent of Jack the Indian-KIller'
and Jack the Ripper which our chill
dren see later upon the news stands
-more's the pity. We sometimes ask
why these outrageous yellow-covered
tales are written; but the explsna
ton ia quite easy. There is a demand
for them; and we should see to il that
she demand is not fostered by the tales
which our children hear from their
nurses IN the days before the litlle ones
can read for themselves"
The period at which the child begins
80 know the meaning Of the printed
word and to wander away from his
reading book is a time when he espe
ciRIly needs help, but Mr.. Field thinks
that some latitude should be allowed
him in the selection:
If he himself choose one from q
half dozen books. all of which are
co Tally coed. the chances are that he
will better enjoy the reading of it and
will get more real goOd from it than if
Ii were prest nted to him as something
TO be read because of the good it would
do him. Do not make his reading a
duty, but let it be q privilege and a
pleasure. He may prefer Robinson
Crusoe' to Pilgrims Progress and if
he does he should be allowed to read
It.. But beware how widely his choice
is allowed to extend. Fruits are good
for children, but there are uuripe fruits
and there are partly decsyed fruits
which are not good. The average pa
rent will be quite careful as to what
his children are putting into their
stomachs, but is apt to b equally
careless as to their mental fare.
1.-THE boy bandit, wild west, sensa
tional stories of the news stands, to
which reference has already been
made, are not, after all, the most dan
gerous species Of children's literature.
They are go glaringly bad that parents
i~nstinctively scent their presence and
banish them from the household.
Their inf fence is happily becoming
limited to those homes in which the
parents themselves are not above the
moral standard OF the tales-and in
such homes there is little chance for
the growth OF a pure literary taste or
q high moral character. Il will be OBJ
served hat the influence Of all liter
ture is felt along these two lines, the
esthetic and the moral; that which
affects the taste and that which affects
the character. While these remarks
apply chiefly to the esshetic influence,
the two are go blended that it becomes
glite impossible to avoid reference to
the moral influence 90 well. That
which we love, we are.
''The mos dangerous class of chill
dren's literature is that in which sen
esationalism is respectfully clothed.