Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-02
DOROTHY DIX TALKS
BY DOROTHY DIX
Chi1dren'S Book Week
Copyright, 1920, by the Wheeler syndi-
cate, Inc.

4 L dill lu0 UlIIor0QL weeks
called upon to celebrate, none is more
worthy of observance than chiIdren's
DOCK week, for there is no other talisman
that we can put into the hand of the vd,1ne
that will so surely protect them against the
sings ana arrows OF outrageous fortune as
a book will.
1t is something that adds to the Joy of life
at its most glorious moment 1t is com.
fort that soothes in the blacklist hour Of do.
SPAR. 1t IS friend that never fails, and the
one sure refuge from boredom
No one who has good book can ever lack
OF brilliant society, or of entertainment or
amusement He has always congeniaI COM
pan1on to whom he can turn secure of find
ing the same warm welcome, smiling up to
him from the printed page; certain ALWAYS
OF getting the old thrill of adventure or the
brave words OF cheer that put fresh courage
into the faint heart, or the message of wis
dom that directs Alright his faltering foot
steps.
Books are the real fairy tales come true.
for they have but to wave their magic wand
and, presto, all our dreams come true Are
you born to dire poverty, one Of those I'M
fortunates who must ever listen to the wolf
hoWl1ng at the door? Open book, and all
the wealth of the world is yours You NAV
feast on nightingales tongues on plates of
gold in baronial hall. You may roll around
yourself in silken robes as you step from
your perfumed bath, while your valet decides
which one of your forty-seven different va
r1eties of suits he will put on you.
Are you homely, dried-up, shabby little
old maid, who earns her living by her needle.
and to whom no breath of romance has ever
come? open {, book, and you become young
and beautiful Helen whose face launches
a thousand shipc. Suitors sigh at your feet
The very air breathes love and passion, and
you glow, and thrill, and trembIe at the COM
ing OF your lover, and half sh DON with Joy
as MS strong arms close about you and your
heart finds its home on his breast r.
Do you long to ,travel, and ar. you held
fast to some particular spot which you can
never hope to leave? Open a book and the
whole wide world is yours. You may sail
through tropic SEAS and sniff the cherry
blossoms OF Japan, and watch the reverend
ing procession through the treets of Pekin
and the faithful come down to pray at the
Ganges, and roam the boulevards of Paris,
and listen to the bells Of st. Paul in Lon
don.
Books give us all ve ask of life, and he
VINO mas them IL rich, though he has nothing
else and he who has them not is Door in
deed, no matter what else he possesses.
1t is, therefore, of the utmos. Importance
that children should have a love of books
1nculcated in them in their earliest youth and
should be taught the habit of reading them
Most parents seem to be Of the opinion
Of Dogberry, that reading and writing come
by nature, and in the guise of talent, such
as tenor voice, or ability to draw pic
lures that can be recognized at sight There
fore, they rejoice, and brag abou it, when
little Johnnie and Mary are bookworms, but
they feel they have no responsibility when
Johnnie and Mary prefer balls and dolls to
perusing the nice little volumes they got on
their birthdays, The parental attitude Is
that some children are "bookish" and some
are not, just as some children have curls
and some have straight hair. 1t is fate. Kis-
met! And they let it go at that.
The truth is that very few children are
born with a love of books. 1t is one of the
graces of life that has to be cultivated in
them, like speaking the truth, and kindness
to dumb animals The point is that it can
be cultivated in them, and that once we have
established the habit of reading, it is the
most unbreakable habit in life.
And it's the habit that will do more to
keep girl of boy out of mischief than all
the ten commandments. For it is the lack
of something interesting to do, some way to
fill in the time, that leads young people into
bad company, and SO on down the road to
ruin.
The boy who loves to read can pass a
pleasant evening at home. He doesn't have
to foregather with the gang the corner.
The girl who can find pleasure in a book
isn't out on a perpetual still-hunt for any
KIND OF Deau VINO Will take her around to
dance halls and any place Of amusement
where there is something doing.
And when ones youth is passed and one
comes to middle life, books ar the bulwark
Of the home. Not without reason has the
conventional picture of domestic bliss repre-
sented the happy family gathered about the
evening lamp.
The reading man is never the man who
wanders away from his home fireside as soon
as he swallows his dinner, to seek for di-
version. The reading woman is never the
woman whose idea of earthly bliss is to chase
around from cabaret to cabaret and restau-
rant to restaurant.
Perhaps even the most middle-aged and
married Of people, have their passing mo-
ments when they yearn for adventure, and a
whiff of romance, but if they are reading
people, they do not follow the reckoning fin
per in person. They get down their favorite
novel and take their romance vicariously
through their most alluring heros and her
Dimes. And all Is we'll.
For these, and million other reasons,
teach your children to love books. 1t is the
sure ticket to the realms of the blessed.