New-York tribune., 1919-05-24

"When | was five years DID," writes
William Lyon Phelps in his new book,
"Reading the Bible" (Macmillan), my
mother offered me a dollar if I would
read the Bible through from the first
chapter Of Genesis to the last chapter
of Revelation. | confess that my price
has risen since then; but in my boy
hood had more leisure and less cash
than have now. My total income was
six cents week; and as I was expect
ed to deposit l cent in the contribu-
tlon box every Sunday, 1 always re
garded my income as 5 cents, uncon-
sciously prophetic of the modern in
come tax law. | am glad that my
mother bribed me to read the Bible
and glad that she forced me to pay
my way in church. At first | thought
more Of the dollar than of the Holy
Writ, but as l became interested
found a keener JOY in the race than in
the prize"
Professor Phelps might have been a
much less interesting critic of books
and plays if he had not read the Bible
at the age Of five. This is supposi
ton Of course, but the experiment
seems to have turned out well. And
yet we hardly approve the practice. A
good many persons who would read
the Bible for the fun of it later in
life can never escape the impression
that 1T is a dull pooK because it first
came to them as a duty.
Certainly there are stories in the
Bible which interest five-year- olds. but
they are scattered, and the youngsters
are not wise enough to skip. That
takes years of training. The story
of Noah and the ark, we think, is uni
versity appealing. David and Goliath
was always one of our favorites al
though Professor Phelps reports that
the affair seemed a little unsports-
manlike to him.
1T seemed to me-" he writes, chat
David did not fight fairly. Goliath
came out with the legitimate weapons
Tor stand-up fight; David stood at a
safe distance and punctured his thick
head with slingshot"
rms is the traditional Yale attitude
we remember many arguments of the
same sort were introduced from New
Haven when the suggestion was first
made that the forward pass should be
introduced in football in orcer 10 dis
courage mass play. For our part we
were always so impressed by David's
speed and control as to have no sur
plus emotion left to form sympathv
for Goliath. On the other hand. when
we first read the Bible we hated Jacob
as much as Professor Phelps did. You
may remember his sharp practices in
deallng with Esau. Also, we agree
with Professor Phelps in finding Elisha
bit hasty when he cursed the chill
dren who called him "bald head" and
thereby caused two she bears to come
out of the wood and devour forty-two
children.
There are a number of similar Incl,
dents which will put vast responsi-
bility of explanation upon any parent
who gives the complete Bible to five
year-old reader. We don't see what
he is going to do either if the five
year-old begins to draw him out about
some of the schrecklichkeit of various
captains of Israel. 1t seems to US that
up to the age &c ten and half, or
thereabouts, the Bible will go a little
better with some judicious editing.
But the reading taste of Professor
Phelps at the age of five varied from
ours In good many respects.
mo better books for children exist"
he writes, "than Pilgrims Progress.'
'Gullivers Travels Robinson Crusoe.'
the ante-Bellum Arabian Nights and
the Bible"
AS a boy we found "Pilgrim's Prog
ress" tough going and never returned
to it until twenty years later. "Robin~
son Crusoe" we liked best in condensed
form. DeFoes realism was wearl-
some. We enjoyed "Gulliver" and the
"Arabian Nights" but, if we remembe.
correctly, a book called "Davy and the
Goblin" was much more to our liking
than either of them
HEYWOOD BROUN.