Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-12-11
WHAT CHILDREN READ.

The old problem Of what the chill
/ Idrcn ought TO read and how 10 get
them 10 read IL has been awakened
! once more by the prououncement of
one Miss Lutte Stearns who tho
lady b. We are not Informed. but b. ls
evident that She considers herself
qualified 90 speak with some degree
of authority. Tho trouble with her
argument IS that she. like most OF the
others who have undertaken 10
straighten out the crooked places In
Mes journey. thinks the right way
20 gct at a reform Of anything is to
restrict and compel. She forgcts that
one Of the first natural instincts ~
show itself IN even very young
child is resentment al compulsIon
Rebellion is In the blood Of the nat
uIal man and Is never conquered OF
regulated until he grows old enough
and wise enough. for some people
attain a great age without accumu-
laung wlsdom--tO see and Judge foi
himself the advantages TO be gained
by moral suasion and the folly Of
being at all times In an autagonistic
attitude toward everything that does
not please. Trying to specify what
child shall not do ordinarily results
In an increased desire OF that child
to do that very thing This is not in
hercnt contrariness it is an instinct
implanted In almost every human
breast, and Is factor to be reckoned !
Men are not converted to your opin- !
lon by club. but by kindness, sym |
pathy and suasion.
OF course. the chief topic OF Kiss |
Stcarns' discourse is what Is and what |
Is not suitable for the perusal of the |
young In this she adopts the same
error as the people who would censor
pictures hows and other thinEs-the
idea that lie as 1t is is too vile and
suggestive for the young to be per
that many Uniformed
minds may be given an unhealthy
twist by too much acquaintance with
truth The power OF
suggestion is great. and We have too
much, both in literature and the
drama, that emphasizes the evil In
lte out OF all proportion to its share.
Children, or even grown folks can
mediate so much on iniquity that
they begin to condone 1t and ulti-
t.1k -. NaI t.sftI .
mont. Children, especially, can sec
and hear so constantly the warnings
TO avoid certain things until they.
have an uneNprosscd contempt FOR
the teaching and Il morbid craving to
find out from personal experience
whether those warnings are justified
or not. They get hardened to ad
mouition and want TO know for them
selves.
Now as to books, there are plenty
IF good healthy books for the young
10 read. but very few of them are
'ouud in the works that are prepared
specially FOR Juvenile perusal, This
tiud OF books usually are insipid,
uck viriity, and are altogether one
iidcd and untrue in their exposition
u life, Nothing is gained 10y keep
ng secret from the young the true
'umposition of life, with It's strange
mixture of good and evil, but II is
luitc possible to avoid those writers
Who glorify the wrong even while
making the wrongdoor suffer the
penalty for his misdecds There
nave been books written about such
haracters as Jesse James, for in
lance, whose whole trend was to
reatc u feeling that the central fig
ne was some sort of "a hero and very
lear martyr, and that law was n
yrant to keep us out of our rights
athcr than u protection against