, 1921-08-13
Most Material Designed
For Reading by Children
Is Worthless-Literature
Abounds With Material
Which, When Selected,
Has a Strong Appeal

| NAAAAAA Gil Ltddg 10
w most children naturally
love to do, why should not
they read good books, espe-
cially when there is so much
in good literature which can
DO made attractive to the child as
quickly as tho worthless stuff that
constitutes so much Of the reading
material prepared for children? Lillian
Whiting in The World Beautiful in
Books" offers some valuable sugEes
tons along his line. The following
is taken from the first chapter of her
book:
There is much in even the greatest
literature that tho child in the nur-
sery may easily learn to apprcci-
ate and love. Familiarity with noble
thought and beautiful expression in.
~ftuences tho unconscious nature to
a degree Of ungucssod potency. and
irresistibly leads the spirit thus finely
touched onward to all fine issuea
\ Numberless arc tho passages in
Shakcspearc-as the description of
Clcopatra's barge. the scene OF the
witches health in Macbeth" tho for.
am In Julius Caesar"-whilch will
enthrall the Imagination OF the child
M enlist a far deeper interest than
docs the silly and meaningless rhyme
too often thrust o juvenile read,
ers.
Ancients and Moderns.
There are cantos of Homer: there
arc passages in Virgil. as that. for
Instance. descriptive Of tho Cave OF
the Winds; there are beautiful lyrics
OF Longforow. Lowell. Holmes. and
Tennyson: of Louise Chandler Moul
ton, Aldrich and Whittier: and even
Emerson has nan a stanza that the
childish mind would appreciate. espe.
cially IL given TO him under the
beautiful Interpretation by Charles
Malioy. Take the lines
Around the man who seeks a noble
n
Not angels. but divlnities attend"
The heroic ballads of literature. AS
of Scott, Macaulny. Holmes. Whittier,
and many another-among the i'm
should always be included the i'm
1 NV WI ftAAAAt ~ - aAAd
Ward Howe. and the stately and i'm
pressive "Recessional" OF Rudyard
k~iplinE-win ave their influence on
the youthful mind in n way OF in
|cnlculable spiritual inflorescence.
and Mrs. Browning's poem, king Vic
obscure as he Is. has stanzas that
may well be selected for the child;
and Mrs. Brownin's poem. Kind Vic
tor Emmanuel Entering Florence,
1850" is one that may easily appeal
to the juvenile imagination.
Lyric on Abraham Lincoln.
Richard Henry Stoddard's noble
lyric on Abraham Lincoln should be
universally familiar to every boy and
| girl: as might well be Louise Imogen
lGuimey's sonnet. ION Entering West
| Minister Abbey and the opening lines
of her Sanctuary" which are good
TO enshrine in cmory-
High above Hate 1 dwell.
o storms. FAREWELL
The description OF natures moods
as found in Wordsworth Bryant. By
ron, Scott and numberless other
poets-such les Of taesc Of Whit
tiers
I'VE rose and slowly homeward
turned
While down the West the sunset
burned.
And in its light. hill. wood and tide
And human forms seemed glorified.
The village homes TRANSPORTED
stood.
And purple bluffs, whose betting
wood
| Across the waters leaned. / hold
The yellow leaves like lamps of gold"
Or these lines
THE moon above the eastern wood
Shone at its fun; the hill-range stood
TRANSPORTED in the silver flood"
And the rich color and pictorial i'm
pr~essiveness of the lyric
1.-THE splendor falls on castle walls
And snowy SUBMITS old in story.
The long light shakes across the lakes
And the wild cataract leaps in
glory.
The exquisite music in that line
''The horns of Elf-land family blow
l ms NbitA ahN t~ IS"
I felt in the words
BLOW. lot US hear the purple glens
replying:
Low, buglc; answer echoes. dying.
dying dying"
such p%icturins as Tennyson gives
tn these wonderful lines Offers Tie
finest suggestion M stimulus TO th'
miro OF the Child.
Importance OF Early Reading.
One of tho most perfect and *
quisite poetic works for children Is
''The Hidden Servants" by Frances
ca Alexander. Need n dwell at
length on stirring passages from
Scott. and even Milton; lines from
Keats and Shelley and Wordsworth.
and many from William Blake
Kipling's Jungle Tales and a
great deal OF Scott. both from his
poems and romance. peculiarly ar
peal to the child. "Marimon" and
many portions OF the Lay OF the
Last Minstrel" as well as 'Ivnnhoe."
ran host h. road in early youth. This