Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-20

/ WIFI ftuIt5 tHJoy IhShs' iOi'i pNch iS1
| that are half history to history proper
| is a transition that has been made de-
lightful for juveniles Who have had the
| good fortune to get hold or Bonner S
Childs History of Rome. Dickens
| Childs History of England, and Alb
| bUtt's Makerg Of History. After Abb
bott. Plutarth may be read with
pleasure and profit Then in due
course follows long array Of fasci-
mating books of travel. History. biog-
raphy, travel-what an intellectual
feast, But the boy left to himself is
too apt to eat of forbidden food, and to
sake his thirst for excitement at
poisoned pools. A judlcious guide is
needed most of all when the first step>
are taken in the wide bewtldering
realm of literature, where evil things
and stupid things abound as well as
the noblest and purest products of hu-
man genius. But the guide must be
careful never to be intrusive. The
young reader must feel that he is read
ing for pleasure. not discharglng an
appointed task. What is most of all to
be desired is that he shall be fond of
reading and that he shall learn to ap-
preciate at their worth the best things
that have been written.
ii is said that Il man may be known
by the company he keeps: but the books
one reads may be counted with his com
panY, and not as the least influential
part OF it. The age itself. in the differ
cnt countries Of the world. may be
Judged by the ton and tendency of its
literature. In what does the reading of
the majority OF the people consist in
Great Britain and the United States? To
answer that question would be to grade
the civilization of those countries. What,
especially are the young people reading?
To know that is to know something of
the future. In an article on 'Thc Read
ing of the Modern Girl in the Nine
teenth Century Review for the present
month. Flo! ence p. Law says: II have
lately tried to discover the answer to this
question (Nhat does tho modern girl
rcad) by interrogatng some two hun
dred girls. between 16 and IS years of age,
who attend secondary schools in differ
ent parts of England. A Careful
examination of the two hundred papers
revealed some striking, and, to the writer
of this article. at any rats" some SurpriS
ing facts. There was little difference of
opinion about the favorite novels; the
majority voted for Edna Lyall. the fav-
Orltcs being Donovan and We Two
Next came Merriman's novels. and close
to these the Prisoner OF Zenda' Miss
Corelli scored a good number of votes.
did l.. +. Meade and f. E. Green. few
OF the elder girls. not more than 3 per
cert. named David Copperfeld.' With
the exception of Dickens. no standard
novelist found a place among the favoritc
books. though most Of the girls :
showed that they had read q con
siderable number of Dickens and SCOTS
works. 1t seems to be clear. therefore,
that these two novolists. although still
read by tho younger generation, are no
longer loved with that absorbing passion
which so often took possession Of their
parents and grandparents" The general
| conclusion reached. after a careful in
vestigation. is: "The modern school girl
| is not reading a vicious literature; her
| taste is healthy: and for that let us be
| thankful in an age that produces much
| that is corrupt and unedifying. Never
| thelcSS. it were folly to disguise the fact
| that the reading Of inferior novels this
| filling the mind with scraps and tags of
| information. is harmful in the highest de
| gree. If she does not read the great novels
| iii her youth, she is never likely to do so.
| because, later on. she will naturally want
| to Keep abreast of contemporary litera-
ture. and partly because she will have no
| desire to read them. If till the age of
| Is Of ~. her taste for good literature has
| not been cultivated. or. to put it mora
| truly. if, till this age. she has cultivated
4 taste for inferior books and really ap-
| IreciateS them. it is unnatural to expect
| that after 20 her taste will alter to any
| considerable degree. Why is it that
| rubbishy novels have such an enormous
| circulation TODAY, and that these same
| novels are published in their hundreds
| and thousands? Is it not largely due to
| the fact that the middle class who form
the bulk of novel readers. have no stand
ard Of taste? These having never read i
| good novel. tlay do rot recognize a bad
one when the see 1.-THE New Orleans
| Picav.rnc.