Evening star., 1928-03-31

3
Readers. TO probably Q out of 10
average Americans, what taste OF liter
allure they got from MCGunevS was all
they ever had. what literature the chill
drCn brought into the home in Nc
Gutley'S Readers was all that ever
came, Broad classical reading was de
Cidcdly not general. MCGufTey in
short, because Of the leverage of his
Readers. had a large part in forming
the mind of America A compiler who
selects, from the entire body of Eng
liSh literature. enough to fill six small
books may put into the process as
much personality as many an author
Of original works, McGufey. his COM
piIations reveal had a very definite
mind and a temperament which ne
expressed in what he selected and in
what he omitted
The material Of the Readers is en-
tightening. often amusing. TO us Of a
later day. The common virtues of in
dustry. unSelhShnesS. honesty self
control, were stressed Every tale had
moral The Primer and First Reader
were for the youngest children of an
age 10 read at all How Doth the
Little Busy Bee, up. Up, Lucy" The
Idle Boy The Boys Who Did Mischief
for Fun" and The Passionate Boy"
were some Of the favorite selections
Kindness TO animals was taught By
such verses as Il love my dear puss.
Her fur is SO warm. And If / don't
hurt her. She'll do me no harm AMI
mails were held up as examples To little
children In the verses beginning Birds
in their little nests agree" and others
OF the same sort The Truant" and
The Diligent Scholar" presented
contrast obvious TO any child and con-
tanned respectively the reflections,
"Wretched are the parents of such
Soni' and Happy are the parents of
such a son. In the Second Reader
was the story of George Washington
and the cherry tree. The Third Reader
had a cover picture showing Napoleon
seated on a rearing charger and con-
tanned Scots "Bonaparte Crossing the
Alps Death at the Toilet" preached
a lesson against vanity by telling the
story of a girl who died while applying
artificial beautiliers 10 her complexion
and welding the curling irons on her
hair Poems OF sadness and death
were evidently intended 10 direct the
thoughts OF the young to serious mat
ters Bryant's poem The Melancholy
Days Are Come, was common to most
of the school readers. Nature poems
we're among the best selections Lucy
Larcoms The Brown Thrush and
LoWeH'S The First Snowfall" had the
necessary combination of Joy in nature
and moral conclusion The Fifth and
Sixth Readers contained more adj
vanced selections from standard au-
thors. adapted 10 memorizing and reci-
tatton at Friday afternoon school eXer-
cises, The Sixth Reader offered 1873
selections from Ill different authors.
including Shakespeare, Scott. Long
fellow, Bryant. Irving. Webster, Whit
tier. Dickens. Johnson. o w, Holmes
Milton. Tennyson Macaulay, Pee and
Emerson!
Charlotte Haldanc. author Of Moth
Crhood and Its Enemies" is the wife of
j H. s. Haldane. Cambridge don and
biologist The HaldaneS live i'll an
eighteenth century house which, IN ear
lier days. was Just outside the luriS-
dictlon of the proctorS. who perform
the function of police toward the uni-
verSity students The house was then
a village inn, called Big Hell. and the
house across the road was called Little
Hell, because both were the hauntS OF
the widest undergraduates, III the
HQhanc house there Is stu a room
without windows. which was used for
cocknghttng The place has now been
sufficiently mOdclni2cd and converted
into a delightful country home. with
lawns sloplng 90 the river. Here Mrs
Haldaue does her writing and assists
IN the supervision OF the Science News
Service OF which her husband and
Julian Huxley are directors.
one of the last pieces OF work per
formed by the Earl Of oxford and AS
quith was the selection and editing OF
a volume Of Speeches the ones by
which he cared to be- remembered The
speeches show great accuracy aud fair
ness. qualities for which the former
prime minister was reputcd He had
not the eltt ut oratnrv of Gladstone
Bright or Dlsraell but he could always
aualy6r a question under discussion and
emphasize the salient points, with rea-
son free from emotlonallSm Ills
speeches were always brief, rarely eN~
cecding 20 minutes The subjects in
cludcd in this volume range from bud
get speeches 10 attacks on political OPP
ponents. from cabinet precedence to
an ultmatum to Germany
q y
The coming OF the presidential vlrc
ton Is foreshadowed by the announce
meuts OF more than one hrm of pub
fishers one house, the Century Go.
viii shortly publish i've hooks dealing
with the great game Of American party
politics These include the following
The Democratic Party, ii History" hy
Frank II Kent the newspaper corre~
apondent. The Republican Party. Il
History" Dr William starr Myers at
Princeton University. Drifting Sands
ot Party Politics" by former Senator
oscar w Underwood reminiscent
biography at Herbert Hoover hy VIII
Irwin. Claaamnte ut Secretary
Houvtrs at Stanford University, aud
"rhe Challenge" hy William gibbs Mc-
Adoo. il series ut papers ON the q,ea-
ton ol prohibition
4 "
The Heatona1eld discussion has
broken aut again, awakened perhaps.
by the interest In Mauruia' "niSfaeit"
"R a. y, " writing 10 the Saturday Re
view. says that "hevkonstleld" Is the
only pronunciation she has heard among
university aeholura Ia Engilsh 81 his
tory nut another correspondent 10
&, &