Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-15
Homer in the Home
by Frederic ]. Haskin.


, works, he cnn find out by referring to the
filed reports of $4,000 average Americans
| who are pursuing the home reading courses
| of the Bureau of Education
There are seventeen Of these courses
| but fully threc-fourtha Of the govern
| menta readers ARE registered for the course
| IN classical books This fact might pleas
autly thrill the authors Of the classics, for
| If they keep mp with the times. they must
notice that the dust s more apt 10 gather
| on their immortal works than on The
| novels Of Robert w. Chambers and Ethel
! M Dell
The immortsls would doubtless be
| pleased with the comments on their art.
| Most Of the readers record their impress
sions in terms flowery and flattering, and
| in the respectful tone prescribed for one
who speaks of "the classics"
Now and again, however, more daring
mortal departs from adiectives and
| superlativcs 10 insert nm original idea into a
| report. Such one In the young woman
| who thinks that the Inst chapter of Hom-
er's fliad must have been lost before it got
| 10 the prin ter's, because the fate Of Troy
| and that Of Priam are only vaguely ex-
| plained.
II in hard TO say what Shakespeare
would think Of the reader who thinks IL
interesting to compare the insanity of
Hamlet with that Of Ophelia Maybe he
would say carelcssly, well, perhaps did
mean Hamlet % be crazy, but ! forget
| now, You see, | or was it Baoon2
have written so many plays"
LITTLE oRorEALIrY.
The great majority Of impressions in
spired by the classics are monotonouslv
favorable None Of the readers seem 10 be
poring over antique literature for the un-
holy JOY of iinburdening a Dhilistine soul
in a scathing report. The home reading
division would certainly not accept any
report written in slanderous vein On
the other hand, il does feel that the Ameri-
can public is prone TO put on a fixed atti-
tudc Of mind, a sort Of pious prejudice.
when IL opens n classic This precIides
my unbiased or original thinking
HIf people would only take m these
books as if hey had never heard Of them"
said Miss Ellen Lombard, director of
home reading IF the reader would come
to Shakespeare and Milton with an open
mind, he would begin 10 like them for the
qualities which appeal 10 him, and not
spend his time trying 10 see whit other
people have found
Still, Miss Lombard believes that people
are getting a great deal out Of the courses
that they read thoughtfully. and are SIM
cere IN their conventional admiration All
are reading the recommended lists be-
cause IL will add 10 their knowledge and
enjoyment Those who send in reports do
so because il is required If they are 70 re-
ceiye n certificate from the bureau on com
pletion of the course Many more, out
side Of the II, 600 now registered as trying
Tor certificates, send for the outlines and
read without making reports
Some of the governments readers are
children as young as nine and ten years Of
age. some are over seventy Some are
college graduates, and many more never
reached high school The childrens : re-
ports are especially interesting They are
not yet overawed hy the fact that Ivan
hoe or The Merchant Of Venice' are on
the immortal list, and they say what they
think IN emphatic terms.
THEY ALL LOOK ron MORALS.
The greatest Emergencies Of opinion
seem to be over Alice n Wonderland. "
which is on the list OF books for girls. One
girl Of IL thinks the book Is clever, but
very odd ard queer Another learned
from Il that when people are ont in the
open air they have good dreams 4 girl
Of around ten thinks Alice a good enough
book for Young children who like fairy
tales, but that il is not interesting for
older children; while fourth gathers a
moral from Alice adventures with magic
bottles and cakes and says, it teaches me
not to be curious and to thInk before
dong things
The boys aud girls almost invariably
twist i moral ont Of story ard hold it lIp
as their Justification for the book : exist
ence "Evangelinc teaches boy of Ii
that people ought 10 be all kind 10 one
another 4 girl says OF Little Women
1t has many things III il glrI could learn.
learned to be patient with children. and
also learned many good morals. The
often repeated opinion about Little
Women is that ii Is a good book Tor
girls TO read
George kliot's 'tAIill on the Floss con
vinces Il boy reader that when We got
plenty, never try to get more A girl
who has just finished The Furnishings 81
4 Modest House, discovers that when
furnishing home It Is not the money thar
is needed as much rs the common sense.
\ few boys ard girls frankly state that
they do not hke- -i book Dislike is at
tributed mainly 10 TOO much description,
though III some eases the story IS voted
dry Few If the children have
difficulty IN summarizing the points OF
the story or describing their impressions as
required Only one hoy writes (of Pride
and Prejudice / like this book but |
can t tell why because don know why.
MOTHERS ARE sTUDIoUs.
Voluminous reports from the parents
reading course indicate careful study. In
one California community $50 mothers
banded themselves into a club and have
met regularly for four years to read and
discuss in turn each book on the parents
course. If the mothers remember and
practice all that they have read Of child
welfare, their children should be exception
ally healthy and happy
Fhe course for parents, started six
years arn WIS the herinninc nf the R11rean,