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VOI- XLI-NO. 3.
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CLriJ.22ZR3CLYDY OmEAKDERSOZr
By KATE 11 SCHWASTZLANDEE,
km Chrs of Um Oiildrem's Department at ttw Omaha
Pnblic Ubrarr.
T WOULD Mem, sayi a modern writer.
' Uit aa the world crows older It takea
mora and more lntereat in the things
that are yoons."
"It la certainly true that the warm
lntereat today In child-life is a purely
modern deTelopment," says Miaa Kate
Bwarulauder, children's librarian at the Omaha Pub
llo Library. "The ancient Greek seldom cared to
represent children with chisel, pen or brush. Nor to
the Roman was the child anything more than a future
'ten. Later among nations semi-barbarous, which
were constantly struggling with each other in that
desperate contest, ending in the surnval of the fittest,
the child was still of little account. Now the world
has turned to occupy Itself with childhood. And
among the many signs of deep Interest In child-life
and all that concerns it one of the most noticeable is
the growth of children's literature during the last
ceitury-"
Some year ago Robert Louis Stevenson wrote a
poem which la Tery short and very true. He said:
The world is so full of a number of things
I am sure we should all be as happy as kings.
And one of the things It is particularly full of now
adays In books; in fact, so enormous has been the
flood, of books poured forth for the children's benefit
that the elders of our own generation watch it with
something like dismay instead of happiness.
The father who looks at his children's many dainty
volumes, bound. Illustrated and decorated with more
skill than some of the classics of his own youth, sees
most often how lightly these are turned over, glanced
at or read once at most and then put aside on the
shelves already full. He remembers his own three
or four little volumes, and how he loved them, for
they were to him book friends, and their influence on
hi own life wan a powerful one. They were read
11
The Meeting Place of Old Days
S CBTCO to go to meeting there. We did not
a ri call it attending church or divine service
W I tba- b4 not got cultivated out of
calling things by their right names, says a
writer In the Philadelphia Inquirer.
. meeting house stood on a windy
The
hill, with ".the graveyard behind It and back of
thai a grove of'pine trees where the older folks went
to eat their lunch In the morning and the youngar
folks went to do a little sly Girting and exchange the
harmless gossip of the times.
The meeting-house was a square structure, en
tirely guiltless of any eccentric eurvea and gables and
angles and it was painted white and it had four im
mense windows on each aide and there were forty
eight panes of glass in each window, for we always
seed to amuse ourselves by counting them when ever
the sermon dragged out nnwontedly long and we got
eut of patience waiting for the welcome "And
finally, my brethren."
The glass was plain, honest glass and through it
w eould see the sunlight playing over the grain fields
j' .... ..1. I. th. .. .-A .v.
tall dark tops ot the spruoea cut clear against the
aky aa they lifted up their heads on the distant moun
tain peak, it seemed to us smong the clouds them
selves. T&s minister believed what ha preached and his
hearers felt it. His sermons were oftentimes two
hours long; and everybody nearly collapsed under the
'affliction, but they would have died rather than
said so. .
the soiema-faced deacons who aat In the
rail! spec jastj in front of the pulpit and listened
nrmrr.
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HIT.m.LVfflXWr BEETHAJEZ
and reread until the Idea they contained were sunk
into the very depths ot his consciousness and the au
thors', thoughts and 'views were his own.
IX the child with the larger selection of books does
not show such great devotion to one or two, and If
his books are not read as often, he has a broader cul
ture and wider range of Ideas than the child with
three or four volumes.
The concern" felt In regard to the great outpour of
children's literature, some good and some mediocre,
is surely warranted, but still there has never been as
conscientious, intelligent and purposeful work done
for children as in the last fifteen or twenty years; and
if an overwhelming flood of trash has been given us
along with the better things, we must accept the in
evitable. From this variety we must choose those that min
ister most to the children's development Into true
manhood and womanhood. "Let not memory, -imagination
or reflection be neglected," says Kate Douglas
Wlggin in her book of "Children's Rights. "If chil
dren get into the habit of reading silly, cheap or care
less literature they gradually lose the power to read
what la strong snd true and fine, and if they do not
get the aste for good literature when they are young
they run the risk of never acquiring it."
Style la a matter of importance even at the earliest
stages of a child's reading. Mothers sometimes for
get thst their children cannot read slipshod, awkward,
unnatural verse for ten or twelve years and then take
kindly to the best things afterward. Long before a
child Is conscious of such a thing as purity, delicacy,
directness or strength of style he has been acted upon
unknowingly, so that when the period of conscious
choice comes he is either repelled or attracted by
what is good, according to his training.
"Mother Goose" Is the universal children's classic
and there are few children who could not at some
time count it among their books. There sre many
good editions of it and many poor ones. "The Nur
sery Rhyme Book." edited by Andrew Lang. Is sa ex
ceptional collection of the ancient rhymes, songs.
with closed eyes would have been scandalized to death
if anybody had hinted that they were sound asleep
from the time the text of six verses was given out
until e time the benediction, fifteen or twenty sen
tences -Tig, was pronounced.
waa a long- gallery back of the pulpit
where t& angers sat and there was more than a
score of them and there was a big man in spectacles
who played the baas viol and a short little man with
puffy cheeks and a swallow-tailed, brais-buttoned
coat, who payed the clarionet and there was a tail lank
bodied chorister, who stood In front and beat time
and ahook all over with the music till even his boot
heels clicked resyonsively to every note; and the old
meeting-house fairly rung with Coronation and Ba
lerma and New Jerusalem; and the spiders' nests ia
the gallery waved In the breese made by the singing,
and all the singers fanned themselves with turkey-tail
f& when they sat down, and whispered together aa
if congratulating themselves on having got safely
through and nobody killed or wounded.
And when the afternoon meeting was out. and
the wagona were brought to the door, what friendly
greetings were exchanged! What cordial invitations
to "Come over and spend the day were given!
Feather rheumatism, and Mary Jane's croup, and the
"raising" at Deacon Permentera, and Mrs. Jones'
aullUng were all talked over; and then the minister
came out and ahook hands all round, and everybody
invited tlxa to com ever to "our school-ho use and
hold a meeting. and then, the people went home and
talked the sermon over and by the time they had got
it thoroughly digested. Sunday had come again, and
the doors ol the old meeting-house were open
mare.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORXIXO. JULY ,
1911.
i rr r-n
cmLBSSJrS SOOH-aaABA
charms and lullabys, illustrated with Interesting pic
tures by Leslie Brooke.
The fables and folk stories also belong to the
early period of childhood. The reasons way fables
should to rm a child's first reading are obvious lu
shortness appeals, aa an entire story can be read at
one sitting; it Is about animals, and animals are a
child's natural companions, while the human proper
ties of the animals, and occasionally Inanimate ob
jects, appeals. Last, but not least, In the moral les
son to be learned, the child who reads the classic
fables has begun his acquaintance wiih permanent
literature. He Is spplying his powers to that which
is worth while. A most attractively illustrated edi
tion of Aesop's fables, with good print, is edited by
Joseph Jacobs. He has unearthed for children a per
fect treasure-trove of fairy tales and has done for the
British Isles a service similar to that of the Brothers
Grimm for Germany. There are the "Celtic," "More
Celtic." "English," "More English" and "Indian Fairy
Tales." all Illustrated by J. D. Batten, whose illustra
tions are nearly as delightful as the stories them
selves. The folk and fairy tales are the legitimate fiction
for childhood. In them, as in the works of the great
masters ot fiction, the cardinal virtues are illuminated
and held up for imitation; the worth of ambition,
perseverance, generoeity, patience and friendship is
shown, while their opposite are portrayed in "such
frightful mein that to ba hated they need only to be
seen." Grimm shows in many ways how by being
dissatisfied with what we have we risk even that. And
Andersen's lesson, using his own words, is "Whatever
your lot is, make the best of it, and do not pine for
that which God has not seen fit to give you."
The North American Indian and negro has fur
nished us with many charming folk tales. It is need
less to mention Longfellow's use of them in "Hia
watha." There is a little book by G. L. Wilson called
"Myths of the Red Children." containing traditions
of the various tribes gathered from the best sources.
Another little book, "Old Indian Legends." by Zitkala
Sa. give legend of the Old Daliota story-teller.
The child who Is .cot allowed to read fairy tale
is to be pitied. For aside from the unbounded delight
children have In them there la an Important Influence
on their mental development. All race have their
period et myth, fairy, fable and folk tales; they ar
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their beginning In literature a they are the chil
dren's. But as the ages went by there loomed up on
great hero around whom was woven many ot th tra
dition and folk tale of th race; he towered above
all other heroes; he was th nation' Ideal, great in
power, pur In heart, geutl In spirit, glorious in form
and person and was protected by the gods, but subject
to pain and sorrow, and eventually death. Such
heroes we find in Siegfried, Ulysses, Roland, King
Arthur, Hiawatha and Boewulf. In the stories about
these heroes we have an example of the growth of
children's literature.
There la no more fascinating chapter of literature
for children than that of the old English ballads. Not
bound to any author or date, coming from "out of
everywhere" and welcomed wherever they chanced
to be sung, they were handed down from singer to
singer, changing with the fancies of the singer and
th passing generations. The ballads picture a sim
ple people, loving the primitive virtues of endurance
in the woman and valor in the man; of faithfulness
In the servant and generosity in the lord. The people
who dwell in ballad land have a hearty relish for
humor and a healthy love for the out-of-doors; they
have a robust sense of Justice, though somewhat
crude, for they see no fsult In Robin Hood taking
from the rich to give to the poor. Eva March Tap
pan, whose work for children Is extremely good, ha
a delightful book entitled "Old Ballads In Prose." as
well as a "Robin Hood."
Those who write humorous stories for a child must
take the child' point of view and enter thoroughly
Into th child's world. Lewis Carroll was able to do
this so admirably In "Alice ia Wonderland" and
"Through th Looking Glass" that they are more pop
ular today than forty-five years ago, when first pub
lished. Every child should have an opportunity to know
the world' great stories, such as "Robinson Crusoe,"
"Swiss Family1 Robinson," "Gulliver Travels' and
"Pilgrim' Prfpr," being sure In each case he ha
1 II Jr-:
Two Russian Captains of Industry
WO notable figures In th great business
T I world of Russia hav just died, Nicholas
1 I Boukhroff, the "grain king," who died at
Nljnl-Novgorod, and Alexander Mantaahoff
who made his fortune In naphtha and died
In St. Petersburg. He left an estate ot
more than $40,000,004 rubles, according to dispatch
to the New York Sun.
Mantashoff's personality is connected is s curious
way with a recent phase of the Internal history ot
Russia. In 1905 he paid s large sum to be escorted
by Russian cavalry, re-enforced by Maxim gun, from
Tin Is to the Austrian frontier on his way to Paris,
where he lived until two years ago. His reason for
leaving Russia was that during the revolution In the
Caucasus he wss too good a prixe to be let alone.
Terrorists and brigands offered him their protec
tion at a price conveyed In blackmailing letter. For -s
month or two he paid; but within ten days he
found that he had handed out 0, 000 ruble to nearly
a score of organisations he decided thst he could live
cheaper and calmer abroad, provided he could get
there.
He owed the making of his fortune to luck and
daring. Hi father waa an Armenian storekeeper at
Baku. Young Alexander bought an unpromising
naphtha claim and by pluck and persistence turned
It Into probable' producer. Then he grew rich not
In days, but in hours, as they aay. Until bis death
he was on th council ot th most prosperous of th
Russian commercial and Industrial banks, th Asott
Don bank.
He wa very generous to Armenia Institution.,
Over fifty bursaries or scholarships were founded by
him to enable young Armenians to go through th
tuUverxitj coun, When la Puis he turniahsd th
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the proper text; that is. If th full version is not used
It must be selected parts, but never a writing down
ot a great book under the supposition that the child
cannot understand the original. If h 1 not ready
tor th original, give him something els good, not
Imitations; th written -down version, instead ot at
tracting and preparing the way for th great original,
take the spirit out of th great stories, lower the lit- -erary
standard you are endeavoring to set up and In
jur the taste for better thing.
Till their ninth or tenth yer we find boy and
girls reading th same class of books, the fairy tale
and hero stories. After this ge there 1 more pro
nounced chsnge in their reading the boy demand
the war end Indian stories and stories of adventure,
while the home and school story appeal to th girl.
It Is not ss great a problem to keep th boy supplied
with good books as the girl, for the books of adven
ture, war and animal life are many and good. This
Is fortunate, because if it were not so we could not
Induce a boy to read a good "girl's book, while many
girls enjoy the stories of adventure and history.
None of the great novel have been mentioned
which should form part of every young person's
literature, for If they ar not read in youth often ther
will be no time and desire for reading them later.
On who ha had years of experience teaching and
working with young people say. "Youth 1 th tim
to read Scott." Ivanhoe was the only one he had ac
cess to In youth, and sine he has tried to read oth
er by that author, but without much enthusiasm.
M. V. O'Shea paid a splendid tribute to good book
when he said: "I have come to believe that all sort
ot spirttusl 111 can be cured and errors avoided only
by the right sort of occupation, and so I think It ot
the greatest importance that every Individual from
T or 8 onward should have at hand for his leisure
moments some book suited to his capacity and Inter
ests, snd that has lived because It has encouraged
and Inspired and ennobled people."
money for building the beautiful Armenian chares
there, and the chief Armenian theater la Russia, at
Tiflls, 1 a present from him. He was keen amateur
of th drama, and until his final illness used t se
all th new plays In St. Petersburg.
Of entirely different stamp was th other man of
million, Nicholas Boukhroff. In hi external he wa
a mujlk merchant. He wore the top boot, th trad
er's kaftan coat and overcoat la one, fitting cloe
up to the neck end reaching to the kntr
and th embroidered cotton shirt without
starched collar which ar the historio garb ot th
Volga traders, men who carry as much, as 10,000
rubles In notes stuck In the leg ot boot and who
distrust th documentary machinery of credit. Boukh
roff 's greet fortune compelled him to handle Invest
ments and bank paper, but he was la sympathy wtta
th old simple wsys. He was la fact an 014 Believer
and devout churchgoer who lived hi religion.
In hi housekeeping he lived on much th asm
scale a an ordinary hand worker la comfortable em
ployment. He gave away millions ot rubles la charity,
but wa close fisted in personal outlays. Th porters
at Nljnl-Novgorod and elsewhere avoided him a they
saw him step from a train. He would never pay
them more then 10 cent tor carrying hi baggage
When he met great personage he "thoaed" them,
he did everybody else, keeping to th Old Believer.
Quaker-like form of address. HI integrity la busi
ness wa of th highest.
He would lecture men In his employment If ther
pent five kopeck needlessly. His patriarchal way
had sometime weloom aid. He exacted aaqaea
tioniag obedience to hi Instruction; hat every now
and then a man wh had served hint well for om
years would recetv a draft tor Xs.090 tf St,,
rubles vita no further remark
1
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