The Washington times. (Washington [D.C.]) 1901-1902, 1902-02-26

wish to make as forcibly as possible this
point of the appropriateness Of literature
to the stage of advancement.
Many things which are strong and
useful to the person between twenty and
thirty are dangerous reading for the girl
or boy in the teens. We are too apt to
think that because a girl or boy enjoys
a certain class of book, it is the proper
kind. Nothing could be more fallacious.
Influences of Books.
when he look back upon our own lives
and realize the lasting influence exerted
upon them by the books that we loved in
childhood. our sense of responsibility
grows in regard TO the books that we Sc
lect for our children.
But let us not make the mistake of
guiding too much, but place within the
child's reach a wide range, within which
he may make his own selection, in order
that his individuality may have an oppor-
tunity to assert itself in his choice of
reading. Let him have the Joy Of dis
coyery.
An EfcctunI Means.
'.One of the most efGectual means of
cultivating the habit OF thoroughness and
counJeracting the tendency to rapacious
and superficial reading is the custom
which exists in some families that I know
of reading and discussing books together
in the family circle. The habit Of skim
ming through a book mel ely for the story
and the inability to put down a book
until one has reached the end sometimes
go with one through life, and are almost
impossible ever to correct.
Much Benefit Lost.
AS to the weakening moral effect of
this sort of dissipation it is needless to
speak. but by this method of reading we
| lose much benefit that we might gain
otherwise. a large part of this benefit
| is that training of the judgment, of the
| power of discrimination. of seeing duties
in their true proportion, which comes
| from the glimpse into human conflicts and
| crimes portrayed in literature.
| The cultivation OF feeling through
noble literature is obvious and generally
accepted, but the question is often raised
| as to whether much indulgence in the
| drama and in reading is not unwholesome
| since il merely works upon the feelings
and is passive enjoyment.
| Expression of Experience.
1 IIOl. james even goes So lar Us 10 say
| that We should never turn away from a
| play or book which has strongly moved
US without a conscious effort to express
| in definite act some of the inspiration
there gained.
"Of course any emotion which is in
dulged in merely per Sc and takes the
form of excitement is bad but my belief
| is that true literature aDDealS ITO the
| thought as well as the feeling and aids
stand us in good stead in our own con
| licts.
Too Much Reading.
1.-The habit of indiscriminate reading sc
| common among young girls and boys now
adays, who are allowed access to all the
books that come into the house, seems
to me very demOralizing. Aside from the
fact of its being a dissipation, We are al
familiar with the disagreeable pedantry
and precocity which are encountered 81
| often in our young Americans, simply be
cause they have dipped into everything
and feel competent to converse upon ever!
subject.
Difficult Task.
| zone of the difficult periods TO provid
for is that known as the adolescent, thu
time between the ages OF thirteen anC
twenty. when the craving for romance i
much alive, and the appetite for reading
well nigh Unsuitable. The whole class o
realistic literature belongs. if it has an,
| place at all. TO a much more mature age
| 1.-THE picture Of life as IL actually exists