The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-01-06

buying desks. blacNboardSo or cilaTtS.
Mr.. McCants is no less emphatic ~
his statement on the same point: l |
know OF no other plan whereby T
schoo! board can get so great a return
in real good toa community with SO
little expenditure Of money. y Schoo!
without library ought to be placed !
in the same category as the Schoo!
without a teacher. as lacking IN !
a very essential particular. Wherever
possible school boards should make d
yearly appropriation-no matter ho"
small it must be-fur the library.
Practice is the basis upon which
Supt. Dre!ler endorses the eNpendi-
ture of public funds ii this way: i
am heartily in favor Of this. Our
board does it every year.
What is more needed than any
thing else, according 10 Mr.. McGhee.
is brains. First Of all. regardless OF
any and all other considerations,
trustees should spend their money on
brains--that is, get good teachers
and pay them well. If there is any
money left. provided you have com.
Portable schoolhouSe, then 1t should
be expended on the library.
The. most important Of all, accord
ing to Prof McLucaS is the teacher:
1T should be remembered that.
library not used is worthless. More
important than library even is a
teacher who knows something about
books for children and is anxious to
interest the children in them.
The person who is to direct the
reading is not to be overlooked as an
essential part in the successful work
ing of the library in the opinion OF
DR.. Wallace: For some competent
person TO guide the reading is almost
as important in most cases as to have
a library.
The TEACHERS DUTY.
Not only is the teacher to take an
interest in the reading of The pupils,
but must also be doing some good
reading. After naming several OF the
strong books printed in the list else
where, DR.. Boldridge very pertinentiy
remarks: 'Of course these are mostly
for teachers and they ought to be
read by all teachers. The advanced
scholars ought to see them enough to
know what they are and to have their
value explained to them,
While it may be new idea
with many teachers. Prof. McLucas
in the following statement makes II
very clear as TO what should be expect
| ed of teachers il, respect to the
library: Il have had no experience
in this matter and none in public
schools: but | should like to suggest
that it is the teachers main business
to introduce children to books, and
that they should therefore not wait
till library can be established to in
troduce them. For as little as %
cents from each child whole years
reading can be provided for class by
the method of rotation. A circulat-
iug library of this sort should be
established in each class from the pri-
mary grade up, the teacher selecting
such books as the children would like
to read
The value of the library is not as
highly esteemed by Supt. Stuckey
as by the others: The value of an
extensive library to school is, in my
opinion, very much overeStimated.
Had l money to expend for such
purpose I would simply purchase a
| few books to be used as parallel read
ing in the lower grades. For the
high school department | would pur-
chase selections from the various
auth0rS whose lives and writing the
course of study might embrace, say
such pamphlets as are published by
Houghton, Mittlin & Co. After | did
this I would then purchase an en-
cyclopedia and an unaoridge diction-
ary. We have small library here,
but it has been of but little value to
the school, although it contains some
very valuable books"
The test of the succesSfulnesS Of
the library is the use that is made OF
it. Bearing on this point Mr.. Nc
Cants makes the following very per-
tinent suggestions: There are
libraries and libraries. In some the
books are too clean--too nicely kept.
| like to see books get a wearing out
under fair AMI legitimate usage"
NOT FOR SOUTHERN CHILDREN.
Not only were suggestions asked as
to books that should be added, but
there was also question in regard to
books that should be taken OF the
liS5 that was sent out. The answers
to this question were of unit IN re-
gard to the eliminating of Uncle
Toms Cabin" where the matter was
touched upon at all. Then, too, it
was found that there were some CUher
books that did not meet with approval
on the part of some.
Prof. Wardlaw made the following
objection: Tom Sawyer and
'Huckleberry Fin are excellent books
for adults to laugh over: bet in spite
OF what has been published on the
subject, believe that they are not
good reading for children, as they pre-
sent the wrong sort of boy for imita-
tion. Uncle Toms Cabin is not
book tor southern Children to read"
In regard to certain books that
should be left off, any list that might
be made up, Prof McLucaS has the
following to say about "Thelma," one
of the list that was sent him: i
think almost any reading better than
none, provided the book is not dis
tinctively immoral: but boys and girls
should be discouraged from reading
such books as 'Thelma," when there
are so many that are better. Healthy
adventure and romance is good for
children: but books whose chief charm
lies in mawkish sentimentality and
absurd pseudo-Scientitic inquiry into
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