Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1905-06-15
The Observer.

ceptibility of the child mind to impress
sions received through reading, and
emphasized the exceeding importance
of surrounding the child with the right
sort of reading matter.
1t is certainly true that early impress
sionsare apt to be lasting. ,iThis is gen
orally recognized; but it is not so gem
orally realized how much of an impress
sion may be made upon very young
mind by books which are supposed to
appeal only to those of ripper years.
Even before he is able to read a word,
the child may receive impressions from
illustrated copies of classic authors.
Almost as far back as the Observer can
remember, there was in the home of his
childhood paper-bound copy of Ten
nyson, published by Harpers. On the
front cover was a picture of the poet;
and, thanks to this picture, Tennyson
very early became name and a per
sonality to the Observer. There were
other pictures in the volume; and after
he had (unwilIingy, he must own)
passed the Rubicon Of the alphabet
and primer under the insistent guild
ance of a school teacher aunt, the OBJ
server gradually made himselffamiliar
with the lines printed beneath each
picture. One picture was of the dead
Elaine reposing on the deck of a small
boat, at whose steru, grasping'an oar,
was seated an ancient bearded figure.
Beneath were the lines:
Then rose the dumb old servitor, nd the deaG,
Steered by the dumb, went upward with the
flood"
The Observer knew nothing at that
time of the story of the ''lily maid"
but the picture and the quotation be-
meath it made an inelfaceable impress
sion upon his childish Imagination,
and CLEAN of the reality of world Of
truth and beauty that transcended his
own little brief experience. When in
after years he read the 'Idyls of the
King" the story of Lancelot and
Elaine was instantly attached to the
point of his earliest imp ression, and it
seems to him now almost as though he
had known the whole story from in
fancy. In the same manner he receiv-
ed early impressions of ''The Lady of
ShaloUt' and "The Deserted House."
So far as the Observer is aware, his
parents never dreamed that he was
thus early receiving lasting impres.
sions from their copy of Tennyson.
They never called his attention to the
book, never read it aloud to him,
never explained the pictures to
him. The book just clay around"
and childish curiosity did the rest.
Time would fail to tell ofimpressions
received from the numbers of the old
Scribner's Monthly, the chrysalis out
of which sprang the Century Maya
zine. In the very early seventies there
appeared in this a serial by George
Macdonald, -"Wilfred Cumbermede. :"
The Observer to this day has never
read this story, bat as a child he used
to pore over the pictures, while the
very name Of the hero awakened in
him keen, though vague, sense of a
character unspeakably noble and re
fined. Sometime afterwards there APP
peared in Scribner's serial, 'Seven-
oaks" by the editor, DR.. JIG. Holland.
The Observer, then a ten year old,
: read the story after the last install
ment had been published. Saturday
night overlook him just as the excit-
ing denouement was coming in sight.
Had he been been his own master he
would probably have sat up all night
to finish the story, but parental auth
ity intervened and the numbers of the
magazine were laid away, not to be
brought out again before Monday,
That was the longest Lords Day ever
put in by the Observer. The story
, would do credit to the shelves of the
best regulated Sunday School library,
and as Sunday school book it would
doubtless have been approved for Sun
day reading by the parental CENSOR;
but as magazine novel it was horse
of a different color
, The foregoing experiences illustrate
the tendency of children to take the
initiative lin making themselves ac.
: quainted with such literature as hap.
pens to be within their reach. The
lesson for parents is that they should
see tha; nothing save what is clean
and wholesome in the way of reading
matter should find its way into the
home
Will Take Special Course.
Prof. E. S. Ling and wife leave to.
day for Bedford, Pa to visit relatives