Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-09-01

| town and hamlet. and formed a MI
market. In the later fifties william rav.
Tor Adams tOliver Optic) had broken a.
mould by constructing sfortex ~
rapid movement, crarlmed with ad-
| venture. But his plots we're M
| chanical and his heroes were nra-
posterous youths OF superhuman n.
| tellieence and heroism. In the sa,n.
period Trowbridge was offering far
less distorted vision Of the worId
Mrs. Dodge shared with him the hon.
or OF showing that Juvenile fiction.
! could contain plenty Of action yybus
| the characters remained sane ara
convincing. Among contemporaries
she stands closest To Louisa MAY Al
| colt. We 90 not forget that anna.
ing skit Miss MaIoney on the Chi.
ncse Question when we say ,ha,
Mrs. Dodge lacks. perhaps. something
Of Miss Alcott's buoyaRey ana nm
tagging humor, and something also
of Miss AIcott's sentimentality.
As editor. however. rather than AZ
author, Mrs. Dodge rendered her best s.r.
vice. n this field her work has furnished
pleasure and intellectual stimulus 10 hun.
dreds of thousands. The only other peri.
odical to compare in influence with the
st. Nicholas Is the Youths Comranion
which appeals to q somewhat more ma
ture constituency. The st. Nicholas was
founded In 1873 and soon absorbed Our
Young Folks, for which John T. Troy.
bridge was then the star writer. In that
golden era the st. Nicholas published s,y-
cral OF Trowbridge's best tales. ''rhe
Young Surveyor" and others Of the Jack
Hazard series: Noah Brooks boy Emit.
grants" Miss Alcott's Eight Cousins
and some Of the witticst and most whm-
steal of Frank X. Stockton's short sketch
as. Surely that is noble muster roll
Graybeards of forty will certify TO tho
eaeerness with which they awaited the
mail that brought the St Nicholas, to the
gusto with which they plunged into the
fresh installmcnt Of Trowbridgc and Miss
Alcott to the earnestness with which they
begged TO sit up Il little later that night
and to the bright, troubled dreams in
which they lived over the fascinating al
ventures. But in day or two the maya
zine had been read from cover L. cover
including III" alluring advert iS"nl, utS 81
bargains in foreign stamps and jig-tw~:
and twenty-cight long days stretched
away before the next issue. The buy or
girl who never saw the st. Nicholas Ia the
seventies and eighties was robbed OF Que
Of the lcgitimat" joys Of childhood. The
vitality Of thoS" first numbers Is proved
by their hold upon Il new genera ION. To-
day our young people find Nv tile old
bound volumes quit" as much delight as
IN the copies that fail fresh from the
press-perhaps more
No adult Is capable Of deciding whether
We have today any writers to match the
WORTHLESS 10 which the 81. Nicholas intu-
huced us. Trowbridge and Stockton were
and are good enough for anybody who IL
not suffering from Senile demcntia. Mr.
Henty is highly spoken of by competent,
Juvenile critics; out some people suspect
him of being n diluted Scott che fairy
tales of j.. Frank Baum are grlv"ly rec
Ia our suffragcS by ladies and
gentlemen OF ten and twelve: hut against
the Wizard of or and Queen ZiNi we are
1T any time iARdy to match Stockton's
reformed pirate who knit tides For en-
as well rs for a philosophical
view of human existence we sim. IN the
bliss of our ignorance, hold To Stockton.
Jungle stories are. we admit a
modern improvements stroke of genius
or which the old st. Nicholas can furnish
no parallel. But, if We may cite mere
clevrrnesS as substitute for sheer in.
;piraton. this year Of grace and enIight-
has no Poterkin family
The truth may be. however that age
las dulled the edge of appetite our
children may in their poor way get IA
much ont of life and literature as we did
They will never know what they missed
~ being born twenty-five years later: and
n their sweet innocence they may even
imagine that We regret being born TWEEN
y-five Years too -earlyt--New York Even
ng Post.