Great mistakes have been made in writing books for children. When Sir
Walter Scott was about to write his _Tales of a Grandfather_, he
remarked: “I am persuaded both children and the lower class of readers
hate books which are written _down_ to their capacity, and love those
that are composed for their elders and betters. I will make, if
possible, a book that a child shall understand, yet a man should feel
some temptation to peruse should he chance to take it up.... The grand
and interesting consists in ideas, not in words.” Again, “the problem of
narrating history is at once to excite and gratify the curiosity of
youth, and please and instruct the wisest of mature minds.”[82]
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Footnote 82:
Lockhart’s _Life of Scott_.
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