[Illustration]
The world is flooded with the cheapest and most pernicious literature
for children and youth. Go with me to the book store and see if we can
find a sensible, illustrated book for the children. Notice the rotten
paper used, and the quality of the work in both printing and binding.
Who would think of buying such stuff for grown people?
But worse than all the rest is the nature of the literature contained
in many of these books. It is as unreal and meretricious as the
material is of poor quality and the workmanship bad. And right at
the time of life when character is forming for time and eternity,
the brains of these little people are filled with fairy stories, and
grotesque pictures of nondescript animals, and the impossible doings of
impossible people.
The effect on the impressible, unformed minds of the young is to create
unreal sentiments and a feverish imagination. Look at the eagerness
with which the little hands grasp the atrocious colored illustrations
of the Sunday newspaper.
People say the children must be amused. In this we agree, but claim
that it is not necessary to descend to this demoralizing stuff to
interest them. We claim that the things that are true, the things that
are uplifting, the things that will lay the foundation for a useful
education and training for life, can be made just as interesting for
these little men and women as is the stuff usually imposed upon them.
We must remember that the bad literature for the children is training
their impressible minds in wrong directions, and developing a dwarfed
character. No true education can be built upon such a foundation. It
must all be eradicated, and the evil effects overcome before there is
any hope for a proper, useful education. It will take years to do this;
it may never be accomplished. Many will carry through life and to the
grave the taint of these early lessons.
The Nashville Book Company was organized for the express purpose of
providing for the children and youth a clean, uplifting, educating, yet
intensely interesting literature. That our efforts have been successful
is attested by the eagerness with which the books are read and re-read
by the little men and women, and the influence for good the lesson
stories are having upon their lives, as attested by parents into whose
homes these books have found their way. The books now ready are:--
“_Tiger and Tom, and Other Stories for Boys._”
Suitable for boys from eight to twenty years of age, and for grown-ups
as well. Contains 224 pages, printed from new plates on good, heavy
paper, with more than one hundred illustrations, engraved expressly for
this book, many of which are full page, all printed in colors. Prices
and Bindings:--
Vellum de Luxe Cloth, marbled edges, 50 cts
Paper Cover, in three colors, 25 cts
“_The King’s Daughter, and Other Stories for Girls._”
“Companion to Tiger and Tom.” Same styles and prices
“_Gospel Primer No. 2._”
Ninety-six pages of short, attractive Bible stories. Each page
a chapter. The chapters connect in forming a continued chain of
historical stories. For children from six to fifteen. Printed on heavy
paper, handsomely illustrated by over 100 engravings, printed in
colors, in the following styles of binding:--
Red Vellum de Luxe Cloth, red edges, embossed in three
colors, 50 cts
Board sides, cloth back, cover printed in three colors, 25 cts
“_Spring Blossoms._”
For children from four to ten. Contains Bible stories, interesting
stories from every-day life, puzzles, and drawing lessons. Printed from
large type, handsomely illustrated in colors. Sixty-four pages, each
double the size of “Tiger and Tom.” Bound in heavy board sides, cloth
back, cover beautifully printed in four colors,