Evening star., 1932-02-06

Happy is the man who knew George
Washington was a great man without
waiting for the Bicentenntal Commits
sion to tell him so.
Happy is the reader who has loved
Alice In Wonderland" since his child
hood days, although he may not have
realized until recently that grea
MANY people felt the same way about 1t
We would like to consider today
briefly, the belief on some peoples
part that children themselves do moi
care for this grand old classic OF chill
dren's literature and its successor
Alice Through the Looking Glass
Children have kept them alive, as
matter of fact.
Without the interest Of the little ones
In Alice and her delightfully."- absurd
adventures, 1t is safe to say that there
would be no plethora Of editions IN thc
stores, no celebrations in honor OF the
memory of the writer.
Where people make their mistake. we
believe, who insist that average Doys
and girls do not care for Alice Is In
expecting all children to like all books
little readers no more do that than
big readers.
There is no book ever written which
makes exactly the same appeal tc
everybody alike. That is one OF the
many reasons why books are the de-
lightful things they are.
There Is another reason, too, why
some children fail TO appreciate Alice
in Wonderland"
They are given editions with illus
trations other than the original
There never has been, in our opinion
and there never will be, illustrations
for Alice like those provided by Sil
John Tenniel.
We have seen many editions, some
by renowned artists. We have seer
them with illustrations colored and IL
plain black and white. We have seer
a motion picture" edition, and we
have seen Lewis CAROLS" own illus
tration.
But not one of them has managed
to catch the spirit Of the story, tC
achieve that close relationship to the
text which is the province OF the nap
piest illustrations.
A book had much better be without
pictures than provided with those
which somehow fail to catch the spirit
Mere prettiness will not do.
1t Is the same in music.
what would SULLIVAN MlkhQo Ue
without the words by Gilbert? Woulc
the late Victor Herbert have achieved
a like success with his music II the
| words for SO many Of his songs hac
not been written by Harry B. Smith?
4
! 1t is probably true that some, at least
! Of the best part OF Alice in Wonder
/ land" will be missed by all except tht
most precocious juvenile readers. Bu
that makes no difference. There is still
a world of good left for the little reader
| Nor are children such dummies. VIZ
are convinced, as many grown up:
would like to make them out. Boy
and girls do have the most astonishing
grasp Of good books. They can tell yol
why a book is good as well as any one
| And for the same reasons.
| 1t is safe to say that the children whC
do like Alice in Wonderland" are quit,
as we'll aware of its transcendant tom
foolery as any adult reader who eVel
read It,
| The supreme nuances may BE- missec
/ by them, but those, after all. are no
so much in the book as the result o.
! the book upon experience
| A great book, whether heavy or ligh
| in tone, must contain much which ha'
been set down in the light of experience
! 1t has life in 1t. In ancient times they
/ had a way of saying, not that a persor