The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1901-08-21
EnITnRlAL.

EDITORIAL.
Miss Isabel Lawrence Of Sc Cloud
Mimi, In public address on how to lead
children to love good books, talks SO
puch good sense we would like to shake
her hand and contribute TO have her
give her talk TO every comm unity where
there arc children. There is much rot
and rant about literature for children,
and great many Of the so.called pub.
lications Of supplementary reading mat.
ter are utterly unfit meat to place be-
fore babes and sucklings. n the teach
ers would read and digest some Of these
classics and give them to the children, as
pigeons feed their young with at least
partly digested food, there might some
good gone from IL all. Mics Lawrence
hits the buliseye Of truth when she says
there should be great deal more read
ing aloud in the home, the schoolroom
and the library; we talk about teachers
knowing something about drawing and
music, but teacher who knows MOTH
ing about English literature or knows a
little without having any love for litera.
ture as such, is unfit TO have charge Of
any child from an educational viewpoint.
Right there iswhere the normal schools
fall down. They have to cram 30 much
Of pedagogy method and practice, school
government and discipline into the two
years course, that the average grad
uate don't know there Is such a thing
as English literature. There is where
the public would gain II
teachers had TO go and take course
at some college, instead OF being ground
out as pharmacists, telegraphers or
book-keepers. They are Ss narrow
minded as yellow-iackets on the line Of
culture that should especially distin-
guish those who are TO train the faculties
and arouse the creative functions Of the
race. One reason why Oregon has
produced almost no prose writers or
poets for twenty years is because our
school teachers have been strictly ma.
chine made, and took no time and those
who trained them took no time 10
acquire literature. They we're sleuthing
for a job and sleuthed TO a finish 10 get
diploma that would ensure that job.
II merely the rudiments Of English
literature had been pumped into our
teachers and a love for the masterpieces
OF English cultivated In our youth we
would not be 90 barren as a common
wealth OF literary product. OF course
We had 10 subordinate our public schools
10 a system Of textbooks in the noble
cause Of commercialism, commercial
ism 30 debasing In practice aud corrup-
tive Of our politics that Il had to b'
driven out Of this state and the STATE
north. Ths schools did not exist fol
education but 10 see how much could
be screwed out Of the pockets Of the
people for a textbook trust that spent
t50, 900 year 10 hold It's business. Why
should we produce literature. when the
state superintendent, the county super
intendents and many Of the city super
intendents were busy producing con
tracts for publishing house2 A litera
ture must spring out Of our own life anC
experience. No state had grande
material in its own history thar
Oregon, but the very period tina
should have produced this litsrar!
expression was prostituted TO low
lived methods. and the growing genera.
tion could not have expressed anything
II might have felt TO have saved il
neck. II WAS buried up TO the ears In
mechanical materialism entirely ioreigI
10 education or the drawing forth OF tn
talents Of the people. With better text
books we ought 10 have better teacher
and then with a better appeal to tn
literary faculties OF our youth we shoulC
place In their hands In some conyenien
from the history Of our own common
wealth, It's creation from the time Of th
uNEannaHuAnUsullIIE.lI z.1Nl,J
A,t-tt1 F. - | III