The New York herald., 1922-04-23

ourselves.
How beautifully the Mother Goose
Melodies (at least. in their American
remnant) suit the requirements of
the modern kindergart en-! Here are
no horrors, no evL suggestions,
masked or otherwise. No purist can
object to the spotless viftue of little
Miss Moffet. But alas. here is no
art: and no interest beyond the
pointless juxtaposition OF incongru-
tiles. Substitute anything else for
the items mentioned in the Jingle
and you still leave intact whatever
quality 1t possessed in the first place.
You may make equally good varia-
tons of Hey diddle didile all day
long. How's this? Hey nonny
| nonny. the book and the bunny, The
dog slapped the sun With his tail;
The big cow laughed to gee the sport
And the peg ran away with the pail
The highly psychological teacher
might inquire in a superior manner,
Why, then, has Mother Goose lasted
so long if entirely without merit?
Perhaps it is because no one ever
questioned her morality And what
is century or two anyway! Par
ticularly with a kind of Literature
where possession is nine points of
the law. Mother Goose came to
mothers in America who had hither-
to been jingieless; when Hepzibah
Winterbottom grew up she naturally
repeated the jingles OF her childhood
to her own children, and so on. In
spite of Mother Goose's overpower-
ing lack Of immortality. what art
and interest there is in putting to-
gether haphazard things that don't
belong together is very rudimentary
And after Mother Goose what? A
good fairy tale must contain the
| chiid's interest and must meet the
test of literature.
VII.
Meanwhile very serious thing is
happening to our literature. 1t is In
the direction of Imaginative work
that our native literature for chill
dren. supreme in other respects. has
decidedly come short. The lack of a
| copyright law was largely respon-
sible for this In the last century.
People who reaped the fat harvests
or all the folk tales cf the world
were not going to buy sim books of
native material at twice the money.
Stockton and Harris and Pyle crept
before the public by way OF the
magazines. which had not the pub
fishers reasons for avoiding native
material. No sooner was the copy
right law passed than an occasional
book like "The Wizard Of Or" came
to join the joyous family OF "Mopsa
the Fairy" "Lob-Lie-b by the Fire"
"The Happy Prince" AID other mod
ern English fairy tales. But then
suddenly the child-psychologist arose
orandishing the social foundations
of education-the disguised and more
|. terrible form OF the moralist who
has ever been rampant In America.
The books that must be sent to her
to be shifted over for state lists of
recommended reading, whose motto
is safety first, will never go to swell
our slender trickle of imaginative
literature for children. Well, who
cares! say our modern kaisers of
morality. (Though. of course. they
don't put it so straightforwardly-
moralists never doD Like Wilhelm,
| they inquire, What is the Cathedral
OF Rheims compared to one Pome-
ranian soldier?"
Perhaps all this censorship is a
part of the puzzle of our American
civilization. 1t is trifle disconcert-
ing to discover that people SO given
to moral mongering are the most
Iawless OF civilized nations. And that
II prohibition fiourisres here more
than elsewhere. why also does lynch
ing? Perhaps our librarians and kin
dergartners will tell us some day on
what meat we have fed that we have
grown so great. For certain 1t is
that nowhere in the world are Gus
todians of childhood so pernickety-
The fairy tale is an exquisite art
firm md n ne fin a 81. ...i.,. -.