Evening star., 1930-12-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

| perfect for boys. it is perfect for their
elders. too. 1t is story of which every
man, woman and child in the world has
heard, but an amazing number of per-
sons have not read it, we believe.
We beseech all such to get a copy of
Robinson Crusoe' in order to read one
! of the most interesting of elemental
stories. 1t is timeless It occupies a
place which no other book fills. for it
tells story which none other can with
out being an imitation. While "The
Swiss Family Robinson" may be the
children's favorite, they love Robinson
Crusoe," too, and no child's shelf of
books can be said to be complete with
out 1t.
"Alce in Wonderland" is another
necessary child's book, which. alas,
some children do not like! This is
unfortunate but true. Perhaps it is as
unreasonable to expect every little one
to like any given book as it is to ask
all adults to unite in universal praise
OF some one production. such as Dante s
Divine Comedy" for instance. There
are many scholarly, book-loving people
who will confess freely that they can
''see nothing to the Divine Comedy "
There are others, of no more learning
nor appreciation, who profess to be-
lieve 1t one of the worlds masterpieces,
as it is commonly regarded.
Alice in Wonderland" and its twin,
Through the Looking Glass" belong
to that class of children's books the
individual members of which are even
more beloved Of older persons than the
youngsters. While this may be said Of
all the books named here in our select
list, it is true of Alice in Wonderland
to an exceptional degree. No other
book, of any type. has been parodied
more, especially for the purpose of poll
tics It's wisdom IS Of such a nature
that its divine foolery pleases both the
adult and the infant mind.
y
The two volumes of fairy tales on our
list also belong to the number of time
less books. There have been hundreds
of fairy tale collections put on the mar
ket during the past quarter of CEN
tury, some OF them good. some indif-
ferent. some poor, but 1t Is safe to say
that none has ousted the stories Of the
German brothers or the Danish tale
teller. The fairy tales of this trio sum
up all the good that such tales possess.
They have the droll something which
makes even the most grisly recital,
such as that of Big Claus and Little
Claus" by Hans Christian Andersen,
thing of delight to the smallest chill
uIen. III Is WOnQer GnaJ JEeSe stories
have escaped the onslaught of those
misguided persons who somehow feel
that there is much harm in innocent
folk tales. They have escaped, we be-
lieve, because the good they do so far
outweighs the bad that no one has
noticed the latter element, even If 1t
exists, which We would be the last to
admit.
The "Gulliver's Travels" is an old
time favorite with all readers. De-
signed by cynical man for adult read
ers, 1t was taken over bodily by the
children for their own and thus taught
tl47 world a lesson, If the world is will
ing to learn it, that cynicism may re-
bound in curious directions. Dean
Swift would have been an amazed man
If he could have known that count
less innocent children the world over
would look upon his story as a fairy
tale written expressly for their pleasure.
Stevenson'S Treasure Island" re-
mains the classic tale OF pirate adven-
ture, not too realistic, not too romantic,
but one of those happy blends of both
which come but once in a lifetime of
writers and readers. One has but to
compare this masterful work with any
of its imitators to see the difference.
AS for BLACK Beauty" 1t is very old
fashioned, indeed. but we like it, and
believe that almost every one should.