The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-02
0UT-OF-DATE
 LINCOLN BOOK
London Library Bars Thay-
 er's Life of President
Cumpla&n& About the Old-Tfme Au- thur,s Slang and Irreveronce, How
 ever. Is Proved Baseless by Pious Quotations Inaccuracy Furnishes
 One Good Argument Against Book
fNew York Evening Post.)

\
 Americans who can remember the worthy and instructive" books that used to form so large part of Sun day school libraries a generation ago cannot fail to be amused by the dis patch from London setting forth that william M Thayer's life of Lincoln sThe Pioneer Boy and How He Be- came President" to give it its full tftie-has been removed from the School Lending Libraries of the Brit ish capital The reason given is that this. like others of Thayer's biogra- phies of great Americans, is too slan- ~. irreverent, and inaccurate to make 1t worth while
 Inaccurate Thayer's books may be. They are certainly slovenly In their way of telling, and generally maud lin In sentiment But irreverent and slangy-save the mark. The strictest censor of youthful morals could not carp at the religious sentiments spread thickly through 'The Pioneer Boy" On almost every page the young reader is adjured to remem- Der the CommandnAants; the advan- tages. moral and actual. to be gained by filial devotion and respect are Set forth in words at once alluring and commanding.
 At the beginning of ''The Pioneer Boy the author seizes the occasion of the visit to the Lincoln cabin by a man of unpleasant 1ingual propen- sities to drive home the evils of swearing.
 He is to be pitied,'' said Mrs. Lin- coln when the wicked man went out T hope you will take warning g from him. Abe, on three points.
 "T know what one of them is" said Abraham.
 What?
 He swears.' answered the boy.
 That is one thing. He is a very wicked man to take the name of God fin vain. What commandment did he violate?'
 The third answered Abraham, who could repeat the Ten Command menta readily"
 It is scarcely necessary to give the other two points upon which Abra- ham was to take warning.
 When Abraham Preached.
 Several chapters farther on, we find Abraham-Thayer always refers to his heroes in a familiarly pater- nal way-remarking that he can say half of sermon he has just heard
 You can't replied David.
 '-T know I can, and if you don't believe it. I'll try
 Try, then added David. Get on that stump, and let us have a preach.' and he pointed to a large stump a
 "'fou think can't do it, continu- ed Abraham, but I'll let you know that can So he mounted the stump and began the sermon He gave the text, and proceeded to ex- pound the truth, much to the merri- Inent of the boys. He repeated the several heads correctly, and actually rehearsed a good part of the sermon.
 "'Wen done. Abel exclaimed one of the boys; that's what nobody else day, If you're amind to-
 "I'fl come and hear you" said Da- vid
 And so will r. added another
 And I too.' still another''
 Nothing irreverent about these pas sages.
 Again we discover Abraham volun- teerfng to stay up all night by the bedside of a drunken man, whom he Las rescued from the snow. First of course, he sends word of his inten- tion to his mother by the boys who have been with him.
 They agreed to do this, and left conversing on their way about the af- fair. and reInarking upon the kind ness and generosity of Abraham. The mercifui offer of the latter to stay and take care of the man was only a fair illustration Of his general good feelings. His benevolent heart felt for the needy and suffering. It wa. true tenderness fer the unfortunate and distressed as he did The
  upon 1t. This was one of the traits of character that made him a favor ite with all who knew him. He was unself1sh, disinterested, and self-sac- rifcing. He would cheerfully forego a nights rest to help the intemperate' man. He thought more of the drunkard's safety than he did of his own ease"
 Style Not the Best
 The worst faults of the book are its sloppy style. its bad grammar, its childish construction, ana a redun- dancy almost unbelievable. On the whole, IL gives one a sad idea of the kind of reading matter that was sery- ed to children of the period. Here Is a fair sample, taken at random from the conversation of two people who are conducting one of the tedf- cus and inevitable dissertations upon the surpassingly great virtues of Ab- raham.
 never saw a feller who can re- peat more of the Bible than he can: and he respects it. too
 He had good mother. too. I've