, 1921-07-30
WHAT BOYS KNOW.

Alfred C. Rolfe has contributed to The Atlantic
Monthly, a very interesting story about boys, written
from the experience as principal of a boys prepare
tory school 1t is worth passing along because what
is true of the boys under his care is true of boys
everywhere. Mr.. Rofe says: '"For some year, it
has been part of my job as master in a large pre-
paratory school for boys to make out each year two
information. tests" and to superintend the correc-
ton of the papers. Each test contains 100 questions
and presupposes on the part of the pupil a bowinS
acquaintance with the masterpieces of English liter
ature, including the Bible, some knowledge of the
political doings of the day at home and abroad, and
smattering of what is politely, but vaguely styled
general information" which comes from the habit of
keeping open the eyes and ears.
The boys who take the tests range from ~ to 10
years of age and are for the most part sons of
wealthy parents. They have enjoyed all the advan-
tages that money can buy. Many have travelled wide
ly. Not a few have been exposed to the society Of re-
fined and cultured persons.
After reading some hundreds of these general in
formation papers / am forced to conclude that the
average boys ignorance Of literature. especially of
the Bible, is profound, not to say abysmal. The un-
plumbed depth of the abyss may, perhaps, be assigned
to the youth who gave as his version of the third COM
mandment, Thou shalt not commit Deuteronomy
Every boy has a few favorite authors, whom he
holds responsible for all that has been written in
prose or verse since Shakespeare day, Longfellow
heads the list, with Tennyson and Kipling following
closely; and many are the crimes that are committed
in their names. There is some reason for attributing
The Vision Of Sir Launfal' to Lord Tennyson, for he
sang Of knights and their visions; but why should he
be made to father Two Years Before the Mast,
Westward Hoi' and The Ancient Mariner Evident
ly, in the minds of many boys, the sea is his, and
he made it,
There are, however, two poems which every boy
halls with joy as his very own. These are 'Hiawatha"
and The Raven" Few boys have read them, and
fewer could quote a line of them, but the majority
identify without difficulty quotations from either.
when history and geography of the United States
are in question, the answers are equally astounding.
The largest city of Ohio is Detroit. st. Louis, 'Sinsin-
natah.' and '0merhaw.' 1.-THE average boy refuses
to be. a slave to photography Washington, Lincoln,
Garfield. Mckinley and Roosevelt were all impeaehed.
Farrsgut was admiral in the Spanish war, and Mr..
Taft was the third president of the United States.
In the youthful mind "a hundred years are as a day,
and it matters little whether Lee surrendered at APP
poElattox or Yorktown.
These are out-of-doors boys, living in a world of
motor cars, airplanes and wireless. Many a boy who
could not for his life name a member of Mr.. Harding's
cabinet can, by the sound of the engine, spot every
motor car made in this country, improvise an aerial
from the springs of his bed, or draw a model of a
gasoline engine that would do credit to a mechanical
engineer. Children of Martha, they are concerned
with matters hidden-under the eartheline their affairs
lie
Perhaps they have chosen the better part. Who
can say? At any rate, they are content to leave let
tiers to those who love them; to let their secretaries
do their spelling- and politicians. manage their gov
ernments while they finger death at their gloves
end"