,,children ,,and ,,their         ,,books
          ,,by         ,,james ,,hosmer 
,,penniman1 ,,litt4 ,d4  ,illustration3 
,school ,bulletin ,publications emblem  
,,syracuse1 ,n4 ,y4         ,c4 ,w4     
,,bardeen1 ,,publisher     ,copyright1  
#aiba1 by ,c4 ,w4 ,,bardeen             
,,children ,,and ,,their ,,books   ,the 
most vital educational problem will     
always be how to make the best use of   
the child's earlier years1 not only for 
the reason that in them many receive    
their entire school training1 but also  
because1 while the power of the child to
 learn increases with age1 his          
susceptibility to formative influences  
diminishes1 and so rapid is the working 
of this law that ,president ,eliot      
thinks that      the temperament1       
physical constitution1 mental           
aptitudes1 and moral quality of a boy   
are all well     determined by the time 
he is #ah years old4  ,great waste of   
the child's time and mental energy in   
the precious early years is caused by   

disregard of the way in which his mind  
unfolds4 ,not only are children set at  
work for which they are not yet fitted1 
but frequently they are kept at         
occupations which are far below what    
they might profitably engage in4 ,the   
child should be guided1 not driven2 to  
force his mind is an educational crime4 
,long continued attention and           
concentration are injurious1 but by     
using tact a great deal may be          
accomplished without strain4  ,at first 
the aim should be not so much to fill   
the mind with knowledge as to develop   
the powers as they are ready for it1 and
 to cultivate the ability to use them4  
,the plasticity of the child's mind is  
such that a new impression may be erased
 quickly by a newer one2 his character  
receives a decided bent only through    
repeated impressions of the same kind4  
,the imaginative faculty is one of the  
earliest to appear1 and a weakness of   
our educational systems is the failure  
to realize its importance and to pay    

sufficient attention to its development4
 ,it is well known that imagination is  
the creative power of the mind which    
gives life to all work1 so that without 
it ,newton would never have found the   
law of gravitation1 nor ,columbus have  
discovered ,america4 ,the world of      
make-believe is filled with delight for 
the small child4 ,he loves stories of   
imaginary adventure that he can act out 
in his play1          ,now with my      
little gun ,i crawl         ,all in the 
dark along the wall1         ,and follow
 round the forest track         ,away   
behind the sofa back4         ,i see the
 others far away1         ,as if in     
fire-lit camp they lay2         ,and ,i1
 like to an ,indian scout1              
,around their party prowled about4      
,cultivate his imagination by helping   
the child to image what he has read4    
,let us play that we are sailing with   
,columbus in a little ship over the     
great green ocean4 ,when we look far off
 from the top of a wave we see nothing  

but sky and white-capped water2 all     
around us are angry faces and angry     
waves4  ,it is easy to work on the      
emotions of a little child and          
thoughtless persons may find it amusing 
but it is a serious matter1 for it has  
an injurious effect upon his nerves4    
,ghost stories and books which inspire  
fear of the supernatural often do much  
harm to imaginative children4  ,the     
boundless curiosity of the child may be 
aroused and stimulated so that he gets  
to know himself and the world about him 
in a way that furnishes him with        
constant and delightful employment4 ,the
 growth of his mind is rapid and        
healthful1 because he is reaching out to
 comprehend and verify and apply to his 
own purposes the knowledge that he      
derives from books and that which he    
obtains from observation4 ,it is not    
easy to realize the ignorance of        
children4 ,dr4 ,g4 ,stanley ,hall found 
by experiments with a large number of   
six-year-olds in ,boston1 that #ee      

percent did not know that wooden things 
are made from trees4 ,the world is      
strange to them2 they must grope their  
way1 they are attracted by the bright1  
the flashy1 the sensational1 and their  
tastes will develop in these directions 
unless they are taught better4          
,grown-ups estimate in terms of previous
 experience2 the child has had little   
previous experience to which to refer4  
,edward ,thring says3  ,the emptiness of
 a young boy's mind is often not taken  
into account1 at least emptiness so far 
as all knowledge in it being of a       
fragmentary and piecemeal description1  
nothing complete4 ,it may well happen   
that an intelligent boy shall be unable 
to understand a seemingly simple thing1 
because some bit of knowledge which his 
instructor takes it for granted he      
possesses1 and probably thinks          
instinctive1 is wanting to fill up the  
whole4  ,to impart the desire for       
knowledge and the power of getting it is
 next to character-building the most    

important work of the school4 ,encourage
 self-activity to the fullest extent4   
,when the child asks a question be      
careful not to put him off or discourage
 him1 but if it is possible to show him 
how to find the answer for himself do   
so1 even at the expense of considerable 
time and trouble4 ,aid that quenches    
curiosity retards mental growth4 ,many  
children ask questions merely for the   
sake of talking1 and forget the question
 before they have heard the answer4 ,as 
the child gradually becomes able to use 
them show him how to employ books as    
tools4 ,keep reference books on low     
shelves or tables in convenient places1 
where it is easy to get at them4 ,show  
the child that the dictionary1 the      
atlas1 and the encyclopaedia contain    
stores of knowledge accumulated by the  
work of many scholars for many years and
 laboriously classified and arranged for
 the benefit of seekers after           
information4 ,show him how to           
investigate a subject under several     

different titles and how to get what he 
needs from a book by the use of the     
table of contents1 index1 and running   
head lines1 and how to use card         
catalogues and ,poole's ,index4 ,help   
him to look up on the map the places he 
reads about4 ,explain the scale of miles
 and teach him to use his imagination in
 making the map real2 show him that the 
dots represent towns and cities with    
churches1 parks1 and trolley cars1 and  
that the waving lines are rivers on     
which are steam boats carrying the      
productions of one section to another4  
,as he grows older teach him to draw his
 own conclusions from conflicting       
statements and to preserve the happy    
medium between respect for the authority
 of books and confidence in his own     
observation4 ,most boys and girls do not
 observe and they do not think2 they    
have no opinions except those made for  
them by others4 ,we are too apt to      
cultivate the memory and to neglect     
observation1 imagination1 and judgment4 

,the result is a wooden type of mind    
which has too great respect for printed 
matter and little initiative in accurate
 observation and in using the           
imagination and the judgment in making  
what has been observed and read         
practically useful4  ,encourage the     
child to talk about what he reads in a  
natural way1 but do not allow him to    
become a prig by saying what he supposes
 you would like to have him rather than 
what he really thinks4  ,do not be too  
eager to stamp your individuality upon  
the child2 he has a right to his own4   
,find out what his tastes and           
inclinations are and develop him through
 them4 ,ascertain what he is really     
interested in2 very often it is         
something quite different from what you 
suppose4 ,his point of view is different
 from yours4 ,translate what you wish   
him to be interested in into terms of   
his own life and experience4 ,success in
 education comes to a great extent from 
skill in establishing relations between 

what the child already knows and that   
which you wish him to acquire4  ,no part
 of education has more to do with       
character-building than the inculcating 
of a love of good literature4 ,s4 ,s4   
,laurie calls literature the most potent
 of all instruments in the hands of the 
educator1 whether we have regard to     
intellectual growth or to the moral and 
religious life4 ,it is easy1 he says1 if
 only you set about it in the right way1
 to engage the heart of a child1 up to  
the age of eleven or twelve1 on the side
 of kindliness1 generosity1             
self-sacrifice2 and to fill him1 if not 
with ideals of greatness and goodness1  
at least with the feelings or emotions  
which enter into these ideals4 ,you thus
 lay a basis in feeling and emotion on  
which may be built a truly manly        
character at a later period--without    
such a basis you can accomplish nothing 
ethical1 now or at any future time4 ,but
 when the recipient stage is past1 and  
boys begin to assert themselves1 they   

have a tendency to resist1 if not to    
resent1 professedly moral and religious 
teaching2 and this chiefly because it   
then comes to them or is presented to   
them in the shape of abstract precept   
and authoritative dogma4 ,now1 the      
growing mind of youth is keen after     
realities1 and has no native antagonism 
to realities merely because they happen 
to be moral or religious realities4 ,it 
is the abstract1 preceptive1 and barren 
form1 and the presumptuous manner in    
which these are presented that they     
detest4 ,how1 then1 at this critical age
 to present the most vital of all the   
elements of education1 is a supremely   
important problem4 ,it is my conviction 
that you can only do so through         
literature2 and the ,new ,testament     
itself might well be read simply as     
literature4 ,the words1 the phrases1 the
 ideals which literature offers so      
lavishly1 unconsciously stir the mind to
 lofty motives and the true perception  
of the meaning of life4 ,we must not1 of

 course1 commit the fatal blunder of    
making a didactic lesson out of what is 
read4 ,we take care that it is          
understood and illustrated1 and then    
leave it to have its own effect4        
,children behave better when their minds
 are occupied2 an interest in literature
 has proved in numerous instances to be 
an aid to discipline in the schoolroom4 
,it is sad to think how little that is  
refining and elevating comes into the   
lives of many children4 ,the attitude of
 the average school boy toward life is  
shown by the fact that he refers to any 
stranger as a guy4 ,the rough horse play
 of the movies fills such a boy with    
exquisite delight4 ,to see on the screen
 a man have a lot of dough slapped in   
his face is the highest form of humor4  
,his mind is active but it has no       
suitable nourishment4 ,what is needed is
 to direct it4 ,president ,angell has   
told us how boys were inspired by that  
great teacher ,alice ,freeman ,palmer3  
,i attended a class in ,english         

,literature which she was teaching4 ,the
 class was composed of boys from fifteen
 to eighteen years of age1 in whom one  
would perhaps hardly expect much        
enthusiasm for the great masters of     
,english ,literature4 ,but it was soon  
apparent that she had those boys        
completely under her control and largely
 filled with her own enthusiasm4 ,they  
showed that at their homes they had been
 carefully and lovingly reading some of 
the great masterpieces and were ready to
 discuss them with intelligence and     
zest4  ,mind grows1 says ,carlyle1 like 
a spirit--thought kindling itself at the
 fire of living thought4  ,to keep the  
heart open to elevating influences1 to  
enjoy really beautiful things1 to take a
 dignified and noble view of life1 these
 are the results that must follow       
association with the best thoughts of   
the best minds1 which is literature4    
,and it is one of the wonders of        
literature that some of the best of it  
is adapted to every order of            

intelligence4 ,when one gets older his  
mental field widens1 he cannot then read
 all the best1 he must choose2 but the  
classic books for children are not so   
numerous that the child may not read and
 reread them4  ,cultivation of the      
literary taste of the child may begin as
 soon as he can talk4 ,he will early    
take an interest in simple stories and  
poems and sooner than many suppose1 he  
may be taught to read those which he has
 already learned by heart4 ,from the    
beginning reading should be easy and    
interesting4 ,the child should look     
forward to it with pleasure4 ,he loves  
stories1 let him see that the best of   
them are in books told by better story  
tellers than he can find elsewhere4     
,help the child to appreciate the book1 
to take an intelligent interest in it1  
and gradually lead him up to that love  
of the best which is the foundation of  
culture4 ,do not think that he can see  
all there is to enjoy at the first      
reading2 a book is classic because it   

may be read over and over and always    
show something that was not seen before4
 ,there is a distinction which teachers 
and parents do not always recognize     
between books1 which are beyond the     
child merely because of the hard words  
in which the idea is clothed and those  
in which the thought itself is above his
 comprehension4 ,children possess an    
unestimated sensibility to whatever is  
deep or high in imagination or feeling  
so long as it is simple likewise4 ,it is
 only the artificial and the complex    
that bewilder them1 said ,hawthorne1 and
 because of his knowledge of this fact  
he wrote his exquisite classics for     
children4 ,the phraseology of books is  
frequently different from that to which 
the child is accustomed4 ,he must be    
taught to understand thought as         
expressed in printed words1 his         
vocabulary is limited2 in reading aloud 
he will often pronounce words correctly 
without any idea of what they mean and  
far more frequently than you imagine he 

will receive a wrong impression by      
confusing words like zeal and seal of   
similar sound and totally different     
meaning4 ,a teacher accidentally found  
out that her class supposed that the kid
 which railed at the wolf in ,aesop's   
fable was a little boy1 and ,i have had 
a child tell me that he saw at ,rouen   
the place1 where ,noah's ark was burned1
 of course he meant ,jeanne d',arc4 ,the
 mastery of words1 says ,miss ,arnold1  
is an essential element in learning to  
read4 ,our common mistake is1 not that  
we do such work too well1 but that we   
make it the final aim of the reading    
lesson1 and lead the children to feel   
that they can read when they are merely 
able to pronounce the words4            
,observation has convinced me1 wrote    
,melvill ,dewey1 that the reason why so 
many people are not habitual readers is1
 in most cases1 that they have never    
really learned to read2 and1 startling  
as this may seem1 tests will show that  
many a man who would resent the charge  

of illiteracy is wholly unable to       
reproduce the author's thoughts by      
looking at the printed page4  ,children 
make their first acquaintance with books
 from the pictures4 ,they like plenty of
 them with bright colors and broad      
simple treatment and prefer a rude      
sketch with action to the finest work of
 ,walter ,crane or ,kate ,greenaway4    
,illustrations should help the child to 
understand the story4 ,pictures of      
historic places and objects and adequate
 reproductions of works of great artists
 are of value later1 for1 while the     
aesthetic sense of the child may be     
cultivated by surrounding him with the  
beautiful--flowers1 pictures1 books1 a  
recognition of the fact that the love of
 the artistic is of comparatively late  
development1 will prevent much          
discouragement4  ,the child learns from 
his reading what kind of a world he     
lives in1 through books he also becomes 
acquainted with himself and with his    
tastes and abilities and sometimes he   

finds out from them what he is fitted   
for in life4 ,when carefully directed1  
reading may be made to cultivate common 
sense1 self-reliance1 initiative1       
enthusiasm1 and ability to turn one's   
mental and physical capital to the best 
advantage and to make the most of one's 
opportunities--qualities which ensure   
success in life1 and it also should     
cultivate the affections and those      
kindly feelings which make the world a  
better place to live in4 ,try to        
interest the child in books which give  
true and noble ideas of life where      
wrong-doing brings its natural          
consequences without too much preaching4
 ,the moral should not be dragged in1   
the day of the sugar-coated pill in     
literature is past4 ,the right books are
 those that teach in a straightforward  
way that character is better than       
superficial smartness1 that success does
 not always mean the accumulation of a  
large amount of money and that it is not
 a matter of luck but that it depends   

upon perseverance in faithful work2     
books which develop the child's         
sympathies by teaching consideration for
 the feelings of others1 kindness to    
animals and to all weak and dependent   
creatures4 ,lack of reverence is common 
in the youth of today and books and     
papers which ridicule old age1 filial   
duty and other things which ought to be 
respected are all too common4 ,few have 
added more to the happiness of mankind  
than he who has written a classic for   
children4 ,it takes very unusual        
qualities to write for them4 ,sympathy  
with the child3 brightness and          
simplicity of diction are much rarer    
than one would suppose until he seeks   
for them with the child4 ,the first     
requisite of a book is that it should   
interest the child1 the next is that it 
should inspire and uplift him4 ,the     
imparting of information is less        
important1 but whatever information the 
book contains should be accurate and    
useful4 ,when a child has learned to    

appreciate those classics which are     
suited to his comprehension he will not 
be likely to waste his time on such     
futile things as tales of imaginary     
adventure thickened with a little       
inaccurate history4 ,he will prefer     
books which describe what really        
happened to those which tell what       
someone writing long after thinks       
possibly might have happened4  ,we have 
a good deal of nervous prostration      
now-a-days but little refining leisure4 
,shorter days of labor give more spare  
time and the schools can render a great 
service to the nation by teaching how to
 make the best use of this time and by  
creating the desire to devote a part of 
it to the reading of good books and     
especially to the reading of the        
,american classics4 ,how few resources  
most persons have in themselves and how 
flat and unprofitable their lives are4  
,they devote their moments of leisure to
 killing time1 when association with the
 right reading in early life would have 

taught them to cultivate that inward eye
 which has been called the bliss of     
solitude4 ,he who has a love of reading1
 however limited his means or however   
restricted his opportunities may give   
himself1 if he will1 a good education4  
,he1 who has a taste for good books in  
youth1 will rarely read anything else in
 maturer years4  ,from the total        
training during childhood1 says         
,president ,eliot1 there should result  
in the child a taste for interesting and
 improving reading1 which should direct 
and inspire its subsequent intellectual 
life4 ,that schooling which results in  
this taste for good reading1 however1   
unsystematic or eccentric the schooling 
may have been1 has achieved a main end  
of elementary education2 and that       
schooling which does not result in      
implanting this permanent taste has     
failed4 ,guided and animated by this    
impulse to acquire knowledge and        
exercise his imagination through        
reading1 the individual will continue to

 educate himself all through life4      
,without that deep-rooted impulsion he  
will soon cease to draw on the          
accumulated wisdom of the past and the  
new resources of the present1 and as he 
grows older1 he will live in a mental   
atmosphere which is always growing      
thinner and emptier4 ,do we not all know
 many people who seem to live in a      
mental vacuum--to whom indeed1 we have  
great difficulty in attributing         
immortality because they apparently have
 so little life except that of the body8
 ,fifteen minutes a day of good reading 
would have given any one of this        
multitude a really human life4 ,the     
uplifting of the democratic masses      
depends on this implanting at school of 
the taste for good reading4  ,the great 
men of letters have usually been those  
who have been accustomed to good books  
from the mother's knee4 ,where the taste
 for reading has not been inherited it  
must be acquired by continuous effort   
and some of the world's greatest        

achievements have been made by men who  
toiled on in poverty and distress to    
improve their faculties4 ,there is no   
fact more uniformly evident in the      
biographies of great men than that they 
read great books in youth4 ,nicolay and 
,hay say of ,abraham ,lincoln3--  ,when 
his tasks ended1 his studies became the 
chief pleasure of his life4 ,in all the 
intervals of his work--in which he never
 took delight1 knowing well enough that 
he was born for something better than   
that1 he read1 wrote1 and ciphered      
incessantly4 ,his reading was naturally 
limited by his opportunities1 for books 
were among the rarest of luxuries in    
that region and time4 ,but he read      
everything he could lay his hands upon1 
and he was certainly fortunate in the   
few books of which he became the        
possessor4 ,it would hardly be possible 
to select a better handful of classics  
for a youth in his circumstances than   
the few volumes he turned with a nightly
 and daily hand--the ,bible1 ,aesop's   

,fables1 ,robinson ,crusoe1 ,the        
,pilgrim's ,progress1 a history of the  
,united ,states1 and ,weem's ,life of   
,washington4 ,these were the best1 and  
these he read over and over till he knew
 them almost by heart4 ,but his voracity
 for anything printed was insatiable4   
,he would sit in the twilight and read a
 dictionary as long as he could see4 ,he
 used to go to ,david ,turnham's1 the   
town constable1 and devour the ,revised 
,statutes of ,indiana1 as boys in our   
day do the ,three ,guardsmen4 ,of the   
books he did not own he took voluminous 
notes1 filling his copy-book with choice
 extracts1 and poring over them until   
they were fixed in his memory4 ,he could
 not afford to waste paper upon his     
original compositions4 ,he would sit by 
the fire at night and cover the wooden  
shovel with essays and arithmetical     
exercises1 which he would shave off and 
then begin again4 ,it is touching to    
think of this great-spirited child1     
battling year after year against his    

evil star1 wasting his ingenuity upon   
devices and makeshifts1 his high        
intelligence starving for want of the   
simple appliances of education1 that are
 now offered gratis to the poorest and  
most indifferent4 ,he did a man's work  
from the time he left school2 his       
strength and stature were already far   
beyond those of ordinary men4 ,he       
wrought his appointed tasks             
ungrudgingly1 though without enthusiasm2
 but when his employer's day was over   
his own began4  ,boys like ,abraham     
,lincoln may be relied upon to direct   
their own reading1 but the average child
 is unable to do this4 ,an important    
thought which is not always kept in mind
 by educators is stated thus by         
,huxley3--,if ,i am a knave or a fool1  
teaching me to read and write won't make
 me less of either one of the           
other--unless somebody shows me how to  
put my reading and writing to wise and  
good purposes4 ,it is not easy to       
interest in real literature a child     

whose father reads nothing but          
newspapers and whose mother derives her 
intellectual inspiration from novels1   
but such a child at least lives in a    
home where there are books1 though of an
 inferior kind1 and there is warmth and 
good lights and leisure to read in quiet
 and comfort4 ,how different is the case
 of the poor child1 who comes from a    
tenement where a large family congregate
 in one room1 where the wash is drying1 
where younger children are playing1     
there is little light1 and no books of  
any kind4 ,it is with the occupants of  
such homes that the children's librarian
 does the most wonderful work4 ,to see a
 ragged1 barefooted child come into a   
palatial public library1 knowing that he
 has a right to be there and going      
directly to the shelf choose a book and 
sit down quietly to enjoy it gives hope 
for the future of our country4 ,consider
 the influence of such a child in his   
home2 he not only interests his brothers
 and sisters in good books1 but also his

 father and mother4 ,one such child     
asked a librarian ,will you please start
 my father on some new fairy tales1 he  
has read all the others4 ,according to  
the ,new ,york ,public ,library ,reading
 room books have done more to secure    
clean hands and orderly ways from       
persistently dirty and disorderly       
children than any remedy hitherto tried4
 ,there should be enough copies of      
suitable books and they should be kept  
on low shelves where the children can   
have direct access to them4 ,when we    
spend millions teaching children to     
read1 we should be willing to go to some
 expense in order to provide them with  
what is worth reading4 ,it is impossible
 for those who have not studied the     
subject to realize the quantity of inane
 trash with which many children stultify
 their minds4 ,they read so much that   
their thought is confused and they      
cannot even remember the names of the   
books whose pages are passing before    
their eyes4 ,the market is flooded with 

books ranging from the trivial to the   
harmful which1 unless he is properly    
directed1 will divert the child from the
 real books which he should read and    
read again4 ,ninety children out of one 
hundred in the public schools below the 
high school1 says ,caroline ,m4 ,hewins1
 read nothing for pleasure beyond       
stories written in a simple style with  
no involved sentences4 ,nine out of the 
other ten enjoy novels and sometimes    
poetry and history written for older    
readers1 and can be taught to appreciate
 other books1 but not more than one in a
 hundred1 has a natural love of the best
 literature and desires without urging  
to read the great books of the world1   
and she adds ,stories of the present day
 in which children die1 are cruelly     
treated1 or offer advice to their       
elders1 are not good reading for boys   
and girls in happy homes4  ,to form an  
impression on the white page of the     
child's mind is a great privilege as    
well as a grave responsibility4 ,he who 

makes sin attractive in a child's book  
or dims the clear-cut distinction       
between right and wrong will never be   
able to measure the far-reaching        
consequences of his work4 ,the child's  
reading should be constructive rather   
than destructive4 ,he should learn what 
to imitate rather than what to avoid1   
but it is preferable that he should get 
necessary knowledge of the evil side of 
human nature from a classic like ,oliver
 ,twist than from his own experience or 
from cheap thrillers4 ,the boy needs to 
be kept from the vulgar cut-throat      
story1 the girl from the unwholesome    
romance4 ,girls should read books that  
exalt the sweet home virtues4 ,cheap    
society stories are not necessarily     
immoral but they give false ideas of    
life1 warp the mind and encourage       
selfishness4  ,the normal boy reads the 
easiest and most exciting thing that    
comes to hand1 he devours detailed      
accounts of baseball and football       
matches and is familiar with the record 

of every player4 ,the books he reads    
deal with deeds rather than             
descriptions4 ,he likes a story that he 
can act out with not too many characters
 and with one central figure1 he        
identifies himself with the hero and    
undergoes in imagination his dangers and
 triumphs1 he likes play with a purpose 
to it1 he is always trying to make      
something1 to accomplish something2 he  
feels unconsciously that he is part of  
the organic whole of the universe and   
has work to do4 ,the charm of books like
 ,robinson ,crusoe and the ,swiss       
,family ,robinson consists in the fact  
they personify and epitomize the        
perpetual struggle of mankind with the  
forces of nature4 ,the boy takes up     
fads2 for a while all his interests are 
concentrated in boats1 then in postage  
stamps1 then in something else4 ,his    
mind must be occupied1 if we cannot fill
 it with good the bad will get in4      
,encourage the boy to read books like   
,tom ,brown1 or ,captains ,courageous   

which show moral worth expressed through
 physical activity4 ,when he has been   
interested in the deeds described in    
such a book have him do something of a  
similar character to impress the lesson 
on his mind1 for1 as ,herbert ,spencer  
states3--  ,not by precept1 though it be
 daily heard2 not by example1 unless it 
be followed1 but only through action1   
which is often called forth by the      
relative feeling1 can a moral habit be  
formed1 and ,edward ,thring says3--     
,boys or men become brave1 and hardy1   
and true1 not by being told to be so1   
but by being nurtured in a brave and    
hardy and true way1 surrounded with     
objects likely to excite these feelings1
 exercised in a manner calculated to    
draw them out unconsciously4 ,for all   
true feeling is unconscious in          
proportion to its perfection4 ,building 
up knowledge without cultivating the    
power to use it is of small value4      
,impression should go hand in hand with 
expression4 ,knowledge does not become  

power until you use it4 ,children should
 read a great deal and reading should be
 made attractive to them4 ,the amount of
 real literature suited to their taste  
and comprehension is not large and as   
much as possible of it should be read4  
,matthew ,arnold says that school       
reading should be copious1 well chosen  
and systematic4 ,there is often a great 
difference between the books which the  
child reads when under observation1 and 
those to which he resorts for solace and
 comfort and turns over and over again  
when he is alone4 ,the latter are the   
ones that stamp his character4 ,the     
school and the public library can never 
take the place of the home library4 ,it 
is the books that we own that influence 
us4 ,the child should know the joy of   
the ownership of books and there is no  
better way to interest him in them1 than
 by giving them to him one by one as he 
reads them4 ,he should have a place     
where he may keep them in safety and    
should be taught to respect them and to 

keep them clean4 ,his books should have 
all the charm that pretty and durable   
binding1 clear type and bright pictures 
can give them4 ,when trash is served up 
in so many alluring forms something must
 be done to make literature attractive4 
,it is not enough that the child is     
reading what will do him no harm1 his   
attention should be concentrated on the 
permanent classics which are suited to  
his comprehension and taste4 ,he who    
does not read ,aesop and ,robinson      
,crusoe and the ,wonder ,book in youth  
will very likely never read them at all4
 ,there are a number of books like ,the 
,pilgrim's ,progress1 which are         
constantly referred to but seldom read4 
,a great deal of the time and mental    
energy of children is wasted4 ,the total
 freedom from books and from all other  
refining influences during vacations is 
as unnecessary as it is deplorable4 ,an 
hour a day wisely employed and directed 
during the summer would give a boy or   
girl an acquaintance with ,longfellow or

 ,hawthorne1 that would be a joy and    
inspiration in all after life4 ,the     
study of the author's biography in      
connection with his works has an        
educational value which nothing else can
 replace4 ,consider the influence of a  
thorough acquaintance with ,longfellow  
or ,lowell4 ,the atmosphere which       
surrounded them1 the things that        
interested them1 the sources of their   
inspiration1 the way in which the common
 experiences of life grew beautiful     
under the influence of their poetic     
imagination would be a civilizing force 
throughout life4 ,that chance is to but 
a small extent a factor of success1 that
 nothing is attained by the brightest   
mind without that infinite patience and 
labor which in itself is genius1 the    
brave way in which such men met trial   
and adversity3--these are lessons which 
are not studied as they should be4      
,because the imagination is developed   
early1 children are able to find a real 
delight in poetry even when it is beyond

 their complete understanding4 ,sir     
,walter ,scott says3--,there is no harm1
 but1 on the contrary1 there is benefit 
in presenting a child with ideas beyond 
his easy and immediate comprehension4   
,the difficulties thus offered1 if not  
too great or too frequent1 stimulate    
curiosity and encourage exertion4  ,as a
 melody once heard keeps on repeating   
itself in the ears1 so a beautiful      
thought makes an impression upon the    
mind that may never be effaced4 ,charles
 ,eliot ,norton says3--  ,poetry is one 
of the most efficient means of education
 of the moral sentiment1 as well as of  
the intelligence4 ,it is the source of  
the best culture4 ,a man may know all   
science and yet remain uneducated4 ,but 
let him truly possess himself of the    
work of any one of the great poets1 and 
no matter what else he may fail to know1
 he is not without education4  ,the     
inspiration and delight derived from    
familiarity with the best poetry is one 
of the most precious results of         

education4 ,the child should be made to 
understand that school training is but  
the preparation for the broader         
education which it is his duty and      
should be his pleasure to acquire for   
himself2 and to this end it is essential
 that he be so taught that after leaving
 school he may look not to the newspaper
 and the last novel for his ideals1 but 
to the high and worthy thoughts of the  
classics and especially of the poets of 
,america4 ,many of the most inspiring   
deeds of our history have been embodied 
in poems like ,paul ,revere's ,ride with
 which every child should be familiar4  
,the works of ,longfellow1 ,whittier1   
,lowell and ,holmes abound in teachings 
of the highest form of ,american        
patriotism and in character studies of  
the great men who have made our country 
what it is4 ,the poetry that we have    
known and loved in childhood has from   
its very association a strength and     
sweetness that no other can have4 ,it is
 to be regretted that children are by no

 means as familiar with poetry as they  
should be and that the old-time custom  
of committing poetry to memory is not   
more general4 ,bryant has wisely        
remarked that the proper office of      
poetry in filling the mind with         
delightful images and awakening the     
gentler emotions1 is not accomplished on
 a first and rapid perusal1 but requires
 that the words should be dwelt upon    
until they become in a certain sense our
 own1 and are adopted as the utterance  
of our own minds4 ,the value of reading 
poetry aloud is very great4 ,few school 
children do it well1 and it is          
especially difficult for them to avoid  
reading in a sing-song way with a       
decided pause at the end of every line4 
,accuracy of diction1 says ,ruskin1     
means accuracy of sensation1 and        
precision of accent1 precision of       
feeling4 ,reading poetry aloud is       
therefore an accomplishment worthy of   
earnest cultivation4 ,of equal honor    
with him who writes a grand poem is he  

who reads it grandly1 ,longfellow has   
said1 and ,emerson1 ,a good reader      
summons the mighty dead from their tombs
 and makes them speak to us4 ,to sit    
still and listen attentively is a polite
 accomplishment and to reproduce        
accurately what one has heard is as     
practically useful as it is unusual4    
99       99       99       99       99  
,transcriber's ,notes3  ,punctuation    
normalised4  ,page #ah1 she changed to  
the 7in which the7  ,page #bc1          
rep-spected changed to respected 7to be 
respected7  ,page #bd1 leis-sure changed
 to leisure 7little refining leisure7   
,page #dd1 is changed to it 7reads it   
grandly7