The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-25

One of the most interesting phases OF
the publishing trade, according to the
statements to-day of a New York pub
fisher. is the practical disappearance of
+he children's magazines. The most
interesting childhood memories of tho
nresent generation, he continued, We're
the quality Of the literature upon which
it fed. Twenty and thirty years ago
there was little attention paid by pub
fishers to the production of chtldren's
books; and the reading of all but those
precocious youngsters who found So
lace in Scott or Thackeray or the other
noveIists was found in the children's
magazines. Dickens it is true, even
twenty years ago, had many readers
among children under twelve; but the
larger number depended almost entire
ly for their mental excitement upon the
pages of such juvenile publications as
Wide Awake, Harper's Young People
which afterwards became the Round
Table-the Youths Companion, the
Chatterbox--an English periodical that
made it's appearance regularly at
Christmas time-and others of the same
sort.
POSSIBLE exception of the last have
either suspended publication entirely
or have so changed their scope as not
to be properly included among the light
literature of childhood. OF Wide
Awake nothing has been seen in these
parts for some years; Harper's Round
Table gave up the struggle some
months ago. 1t is true that the
Youths Companion is still prosperous,
but though the Youths Companion is
paper for young people, 1t is no longer
cassed by it's editors among the strict
ly children's magazines The Chatter
box still finds it's way across the ocean
at the Christmas season, but, with the
exceptions noted, the American maya
zine of childhood to-day finds practi-
cally it's sole representative in st. Mich
olas still admittedly published "for
young folks"
The reasons for this decadence of the
children's magazine are, according to
the publishers, perfectly plain. They
declare that there is simply no demand
for Them and that their publication.
therefore. is Improbable They do not
mean by this that the children of the
present generation do not read so much
as those of the earlier, but that their
reading is of a different sort. There
appears to be an impression that the |
children of to-day are far more attract
ed to standard works than We're their |
predecessors It is said that it is no |
unusual thing to find a child under |
twelve who finds q real pleasure in |
Scott, while Dickens holds upon the |
childhood of to-day is said to be as |
strong as ever One of the phenomenal |
facts of the publishing business is the !,
thousands of sets of Dickens that are |
sold every year; and it was believed |
that large number of these find their |
way into children's libraries The pop
ularity of Thackeray among the boys |
and girls was, 1t was added, naturally !
restricted, while of course they had not |
vet, in this region at least found them
selves able to digest George Eliot; but |
there was a limited demand for certain
works of Hawthorne irving and other
less difficult authors.
In general it appears to be the i'm
Dression that the children Of TODAY are
reading books rather than magazines
One of the main reasons for this is the
fact that books are so much more read
lily accessible now than a generation
ago The growth of public libraries in
the last twenty years has been extern
sive and nearly all these libraries have
now their children's department. The
result is that child can now get the
reading of a good and interesting book
gratis, whereas he still has to pay for a
magazine; the result being that he
takes the bound volume. This eXpla-
nation Of the decadence of the chill
dren's periodicals is borne out by the
fact that there is great demand in
the public libraries for the bound vol
umes of such juvenile magazines as
still survive; while the back numbers