CHILD'S LIBRARY.
The idea of a Child's Library is to a great extent modern, and it is not
altogether clear that it is a good one, except in the case of those
children who have no books of their own. It is far better that each child
should have his own good books, which he can read over and over again,
thus thoroughly mastering their contents.
It is a rather wide-spread notion that there is some sort of virtue in
reading for reading's sake, although really a reading boy may be an idle
boy. When a book is read, it should be well thought over before another is
begun, for reading without thought generates no ideas.
One advantage of a Child's Library should be that the reader is
necessarily forced to be careful, so as to return the books uninjured.
This is a very important point, for children should be taught from their
earliest years to treat books well, and not to destroy them as they often
do. We might go farther than this and say that children should be taught
at school how to handle a book. It is really astonishing to see how few
persons (not necessarily children) among those who have not grown up among
books know how to handle them. It is positive torture to a man who loves
books to see the way they are ordinarily treated. Of course it is not
necessary to mention the crimes of wetting the fingers to turn over the
leaves, or turning down pages to mark the place; but those who ought to
know better will turn a book over on its face at the place where they have
left off reading, or will turn over pages so carelessly that they give a
crease to each which will never come out.
For a healthy education it is probably best that a child should have the
run of a library for adults (always provided that dangerous books are
carefully excluded). A boy is much more likely to enjoy and find benefit
from the books he selects himself than from those selected for him.
The circumstances of the child should be considered in the selection of
books; thus it is scarcely fair when children are working hard at school
all day that they should be made to read so-called instructive books in
the evening. They have earned the right to relaxation and should be
allowed good novels. To some boys books of Travels and History are more
acceptable than novels, but all children require some Fiction, and, save
in a few exceptional cases, their imaginations require to be cultivated.
It will soon be seen whether children have healthy or unhealthy tastes. If
healthy, they are best left to themselves; if unhealthy, they must be
directed.
It is easy for the seniors to neglect the children they have under them,
and it is easy to direct them overmuch, but it is difficult to watch and
yet let the children go their own way. We are apt, in arranging for
others, to be too instructive; nothing is less acceptable to children or
less likely to do them good than to be preached at. Moral reflections in
books are usually skipped by children, and unless somewhat out of the
common, probably by grown-up persons as well. Instruction should grow
naturally out of the theme itself, and form an integral part of it, so
that high aims and noble thoughts may naturally present themselves to the
readers.
One of the chapters in the United States Libraries' Report is on "School
and Asylum Libraries" (pp. 38-59), in which we are informed that New York
was the pioneer in founding school libraries. "In 1827 Governor De Witt
Clinton, in his message to the legislature, recommended their formation;
but it was not till 1835 that the friends of free schools saw their hopes
realized in the passage of a law which permitted the voters in any school
district to levy a tax of $20 to begin a library, and a tax of $10 each
succeeding year to provide for its increase."
Another chapter in the same Report is on "Public Libraries and the Young"
(pp. 412-418), in which Mr. Wm. J. Fletcher advocates the use of the
library as an addition to the school course. He writes, "It only remains
now to say that, as we have before intimated, the public library should be
viewed as an adjunct of the public school system, and to suggest that in
one or two ways the school may work together with the library in directing
the reading of the young. There is the matter of themes for the writing of
compositions; by selecting subjects on which information can be had at the
library, the teacher can send the pupil to the library as a student, and
readily put him in communication with, and excite his interest in, classes
of books to which he has been a stranger and indifferent."
A very interesting book on this subject is entitled "Libraries and
Schools. Papers selected by Samuel S. Green. New York (F. Leypoldt),
1883." It contains the following subjects: "The Public Library and the
Public Schools;" "The Relation of the Public Library to the Public
Schools"; "Libraries as Educational Institutions"; "The Public Library as
an Auxiliary to the Public Schools"; "The Relation of Libraries to the
School System"; and "A Plan of Systematic Training in Reading at School."
"_Books for the Young, a Guide for Parents and Children._ Compiled by C.
M. Hewins. New York (F. Leypoldt), 1882," is an extremely useful little
book. It contains a valuable list of books arranged in classes. Certain
marks are used to indicate the character of the books, thus the letter
(_c_) indicates that the book is especially suitable for children under
ten, (_b_) that it is especially suitable for boys, and (_g_) that it is
especially suitable for girls.
Prefixed are eight sensible rules as to how to teach the right use of
books.
Perkins's "Best Reading" contains a good list of books for children (pp.
299-303).
The children's books of the present day are so beautifully produced that
the elders are naturally induced to exclaim, "We never had such books as
these," but probably we enjoyed our books as well as our children do
theirs. What a thrill of pleasure the middle-aged man feels when a book
which amused his childhood comes in his way: this, however, is seldom, for
time has laid his decaying hand upon them--
"All, all are gone, the old familiar faces."
The children for whom Miss Kate Greenaway and Mr. Caldecott draw and Mrs.
Gatty and Mrs. Ewing wrote are indeed fortunate, but we must not forget
that Charles and Mary Lamb wrote delightful books for the young, that Miss
Edgeworth's stories are ever fresh, and that one of the most charming
children's stories ever written is Mrs. Sherwood's _Little Woodman_.
A short list of a Child's Library is quoted in the _Library Journal_ (vol.
viii. p. 57) from the _Woman's Journal_. The family for whom it was chosen
consisted of children from three to twelve, the two eldest being girls.
The books are mostly American, and but little known in this country--
Snow-bound. Illustrated. Whittier.
Life of Longfellow. Kennedy.
A Summer in the Azores. Baker.
Among the Isles of Shoals. Celia Thaxter.
The boys of '76. Coffin.
The boys of '61. Coffin.
Story of our Country. Higginson.
Sir Walter Raleigh. Towle.
Child's History of England. Dickens.
Tales from Shakespear. Lamb.
Tales from Homer. Church.
The Wonder-book. Illustrated. Hawthorne.
Young folks' book of poetry. Campbell.
Poetry for childhood. Eliot.
Bits of talk about home matters. H.H.
The Seven Little Sisters. Andrews.
Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. Dodge.
Room for one more. Mary T. Higginson.
King Arthur for boys. Lanier.
Doings of the Bodley family. Scudder.
Mother-play and Nursery-rhymes.
Children's Robinson Crusoe.
The four-footed lovers.
Mammy Tittleback and her family. H.H.
The Little Prudy books. Six volumes.
The editor of the _Library Journal_ remarks on the list, "Guest's Lectures
on English History is better than Dickens's, and the 'Prudy' children are
so mischievous, so full of young Americanisms, and so far from being
'wells of English undefiled,' that they are not always good companions for
boys and girls. I have known a child's English spoiled by reading the
Prudy books."
Some of the old-fashioned children's books have been reprinted, and these
will generally be found very acceptable to healthy-minded children, but
some of the old books are not easily met with. No Child's Library should
be without a good collection of Fairy Tales, a careful selection of the
Arabian Nights, or Robinson Crusoe. Gulliver's Travels is very unsuited for
children, although often treated as a child's book. Berquin's _Children's
Friend_, Edgeworth's _Parent's Assistant_ and the Aikins's _Evenings at
Home_, will surely still amuse children, although some may think their
teaching too didactic. It is only by practical experience that we can tell
what children will like. _Sandford and Merton_ is, I believe, usually
considered as hopelessly out of date, but I have found young hearers
follow my reading of it with the greatest interest. _The Pilgrim's
Progress_ will always have as great a fascination for the young as it must
have for their elders; but there is much preaching in it which must be
skipped, or the attention of the hearers will flag.