The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-12-30

has said that more than 100000 new
books are published annually; that il
! we read % volumes a year. we can on
ly read 1850 i'll half century. Sc
il is foregone conclusion that we can
not read them all, and we must choose
wisely
Nor is it hopeless task of all the
new books that come like the leaves
on the trees-how many fall in moth
ingness to the earth, or blow away
from the memory of man. Only a few
comparatively, never grow old, or out
of date. simply because only few
hold vital message.
With our great need of knowledge.
and the little span of life before each
one of us, il isn't wise to devote our
/ selves entirely to the newspaper. the
magazine, or the book of the hour.
/ While we must keep in touch with
the times, to know events, names and
| books of authors and read our critics,
what they have to say is too apt to be
worth everything today and not a cent
tomorrow. 1t is wise to devote the
body of our reading hour to some book
that time has proven worth while.
The mother who with many cares,
tries to keep pace with her children
by reading their books, can congratu-
late herself, because in these books
she will usually get the most facts in
the feweSt, cleareSt words, and in the
shortest time. There is less cant and
pretention about them, and the break
of the morning is upon them. One
don't grow so old or SO wise in their
own conceit, reading them. They are
so fresh-so simple and direct-so en-
tireIy wholesome
In selecting reading for children,
we must recognize the ethical value
of animal stories from Aesop's Stor-
les, simplified in Baby's Own Aesop
and pictured by Walter Crane and
Joseph Jacobs Fables, Of Aesop-
through the history of Reynard, the
Fox, down to Kipling's Jungle Books
some parts of which need to be taken
with the proverbial pinch of salt.
These teach ethics-the power of
kindness, the necessity and nobility of
obedience, the real strength of the
weak, and the quality of mercy
that is not strained; that drops like
the gentle rain from Heaven upon the
place beneath. and is twice blessed.
1t blesseth him that gives and him
that takes
Then in natural history, we have
Lloyd Morgan's animal sketches, Earn
est Ingersoll's "Wild Life of Orchard
and Field, w. F. Hornaday's 1.-TWO
Years in the Jungle" Paul DuChaillu's |
World of the Great Forest
Ernest Seton Thompson's wild
I have Known" ''Wab, Rag
and Vixen" The Big Bear of Tallace"
and others, hold much truth with
their Fascinating fiction, while Jack
London's Call of The Wild" and THE
God of His Fathers are profitable,
and rare good reading.
There are too, pernicious nature
books, which hold false science and
are poor stories. These must be avoid
ed.
Joel Chandler Harris in his Quaint
Uncle Remus Tales" gives simply
aughable and delectable folk lore.
We all have in memory that cor
ner of our mothers magazine devoted
% fairy tales, and we remember well
Gay and Grim and Anderson, but l
hesitate to begin the names of the in
host of Iris-hued volumes
prepared for the children of today by !
Lang and others.
If Pegasus are as nothing to the ;
lights of their imaginations.
Among Mythologies, Bull Finch's
Age of Fable is a favorite. The ;
act that it is compulsory reading in i
ome schools quenches the joy of this {
,ook.
.'Lang's Translation of the Iliad" is i
ulI of interest for boys and girls rang {
ng between the ages of II to 10. /
The Boys Odyssey. which holds the /
most stirring passages in the"Butcher t
nd Lang TRANSACTIONS is very read |
lie. a
This list omits Popes Odyssey. +
nth Flaxmans exquisite illustra- S
ions, which are an education G
o any eye, and Bryants
of which critics say
Bryant's translations are first and t
here are none second"-But they are S
DO difficult, for feet just learning to O
Gale Parnassus. O
From home. the boy naturally gravi-
ates to the Morse and Arthurian le- i;
ends. C
Hamilton W. Mabie has written
Morse Stories Retold." NJ. f. Litch- V
ED, 1.-The Nine Worlds in this de- 7
of mythology. d
Sir Walter Malory's s'Norte de Ar d
lur,'' and Tennysons "Idylls of the s
ing" are dear to all who are mature
nough to comprehend them, but per- Y
APPS Sidney Lanier's THE Boys King +
rthur'' is best for young readers. "
Andrew Lang's Book of Romance" s.
Ills the stories of Arthur" Roland"
and ''Wayland the Smith" 9
his own delightful style n
Then comes historical fiction with Il
S glamor of romance and its need Z
truth, where no new author out 8
INKS Sir Walter Scott. or Jane Por- b
II, or Harriet Beecher Stowe. "
Jane Andrews Ten Boys and Seven n
title Sisters" are in our school course G
Mollie Seawell'S Little Jarvis" III
Star Bright Paul Jones'" Decatur te
Id Somers' are too we'll known TO m
ED mention, while scores of others
I've taken their place worthily in this lie
I'D of literature. es
r.