DEAR JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT: I wish some of the boys and girls who
think they never have any chance to read could know a little
fellow of my acquaintance, named George. He is fourteen years old
and employed as errand boy in a business house in New York. All
day long he runs, runs,--up-town, down-town, across town,--until
you would suppose that his little legs would be worn out. But,
always on the alert as he is, and ready to do his duty whether
tired or not, he still keeps constantly before his mind the idea
of self-improvement, in business and out. Through a friend he has
of late been able to procure books from the Mercantile Library.
Although his time during the day, as I have said, is wholly taken
up with his duties, yet he managed, during the evenings of last
fall and winter (in five months), to read twelve books, some of
them quite long ones and some of them in two volumes, all selected
with his friend's assistance. From the list, I fancy the little
fellow had an eye to enjoyment as well as profit, for they are not
all what are called instructive books, although every one of them
is a good book for a boy to read, and George tells me he enjoyed
them all heartily.
As many of your youngsters, friend Jack, may like to know just
what books the little fellow has read, I will give you the list
that he wrote out at my request. It does not seem a very long
list, perhaps, but I think very few hard-working boys in New York
have read more than George in the same space of time. Here is the
list:
"Robinson Crusoe;" "Benjamin Franklin," 2 vols.; "Life of
Napoleon," 2 vols.; "Schoolmaster Stories;" "Hans Brinker;"
"Swiss Family Robinson;" "Dickens's Child's History of England;"
"Kenilworth;" "The Scottish Chiefs;" "The Boy Emigrants;" "Sparks'
Life of Washington;" "Glaisher's Aerial Navigation."
This letter, dear Jack, is sent, not by way of puffing George, but
as a sort of spur to studious boys and girls who may follow his
example, if somebody puts them up to it.--Yours truly,