Part 10

=The Age of Stories=.--It is not necessary or proper to wait until a child can read, before introducing it to the best literature. Most of the books written for children have no permanent value, and most of the reading books used in primary and grammar schools contain little or no genuine literature, and what they do contain is in fragments. Portions of good books are useful, if the story of each part is complete, but children do not like the middle of a story without the beginning and end; they have the sense of entirety, and it should be satisfied. And it is not difficult to do this. Literature affords a multitude of beautiful stories of exceeding interest to children, and of permanent attractiveness through all the after years of their lives. Such literature is as available, as a means of teaching the art of reading, as is the trash in dreary droning over which the precious years of childhood are spent in our public schools. The development of the child mind follows the same course as the development of the mind of the race. The little boy loves the wonderful and the strong, and nearly everything is wonderful to him except himself. Living things especially interest him. Every child is a born naturalist; his heart turns to birds and beasts, flowers and stars. He is hungry for stories of animals, giants, fairies, etc. Myths and fairy tales are his natural food. His power of absorbing and retaining them is marvellous. One evening a few weeks ago a little boy who is as yet scarcely able to read words of two and three letters asked me for a story. I made an agreement with him that whatever I told him, he should afterward repeat to me, and then gave him the story of the elephant who squirted muddy water over the cruel tailor that pricked his trunk with a needle. No sooner had I finished than he threw his arms around my neck and begged for another story. I told him eight in rapid succession, some of them occupying three or four minutes, and then asked him to tell me about the elephants, dogs, bears, etc., that I had spoken of. He recited every story with astonishing accuracy and readiness, and apparently without effort, and would have been ready for eight more bits of Wood or Andersen, if his bedtime had not intervened. If parents would take as much pains to satisfy the mind hunger of their children as they do to fulfil their physical wants, and give them the best literature as well as the best beef and potatoes, the boys and girls would have digested the greater part of mythology, natural science, and the best fiction by the time they are able to read. Children should be fed with the literature that represents the childhood of the race. Out of that literature has grown all literature. Give a child the contents of the great books of the dawn, and you give him the best foundation for subsequent literary growth, and in after life he will be able to follow the intricate interweaving of the old threads throughout all modern thought. He has an immense affinity for those old books, for they are full of music and picturesqueness, teeming with vigorous life, bursting with the strange and wonderful. In the following list parents and teachers will find abundant materials for the culture of the little ones, either by reading aloud to them, or still better by telling them the substance of what they have gathered by their own reading of these famous stories and ditties. Pictures are always of the utmost value in connection with books and stories, as they impart a vividness of conception that words alone are powerless to produce. One plea for sincerity I must make,--truth and frankness from the cradle to the grave. Do not delude the children. Do not persuade them that a fairy tale is history. I have a sad memory of my disgust and loss of confidence in human probity when I discovered the mythical character of Kriss Kringle, and I believe many children are needlessly shocked in this way.

_List of Materials for Story-telling and for the Instruction and Amusement of Childhood._

"Mother Goose," "Jack and the Bean-Stalk," "Jack the Giant-Killer," "Three Bears," "Red Riding-Hood," "The Ark," "Hop o' my Thumb," "Puss in Boots," "Samson," "Ugly Duckling," "The Horse of Troy" (Virgil), "Daniel in the Lion's Den," etc.

Andersen's "Fairy Tales." Delightful to all children.

Grimm's "Fairy Tales."

De Garmo's "Fairy Tales."

Craik's "Adventures of a Brownie."

"Parents' Assistant," by Maria Edgeworth, recommended by George William Curtis, Mary Mapes Dodge, Charles Dudley Warner, etc.

"Zigzag Journeys," a series of twelve books, written by Hezekiah Butterworth, one of the editors of the "Youth's Companion." As might be supposed, they are among the very best and most enduringly popular books ever written for young people.

Wood's books of Anecdotes about Animals, and many other works of similar character, that may be obtained from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 19 Milk Street, Boston. The literature distributed by this Society is filled with the spirit of love and tenderness for all living things, and is one of the best influences that can come into a child's life.

Mary Treat's "Home Book of Nature." One of the best books of science for young people.

Bulfinch's "Age of Fable." A book that is exhaustive of Greek and Roman mythology, but meant for grown folks.

Bulfinch's "Age of Chivalry."

Fiske's "Myths and Myth Makers." Brief, deep, and suggestive.

Hawthorne's "Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales." Books that no house containing children should lack.

Cox's "Tales of Ancient Greece."

Baldwin's "Stories of the Golden Age."

Forestier's "Echoes from Mist Land." An interesting study of the Nibelungenlied.

Lucian's "Dialogues of the Gods." Written to ridicule ancient superstitions.

Curtin's "Folk Lore of Ireland."

Stories of Greek Heroes, Kingsley.

Stories from Bryant's Odyssey.

Stories from Church's "Story of the Iliad."

Stories from Church's "Story of the AEneid."

Stories from Herodotus, Church.

Stories from the Greek Tragedians, Church.

Stories of Charlemagne, Hanson.

Stories from "Arabian Nights," Bulfinch.

Stories from "Munchausen," and Maundeville.

Stories from Chaucer, especially "Griselda." (From Chaucer, or from Mrs. Haweis' book.)

Stories told to a Child, by Jean Ingelow.

Stories from the "Morte D'Arthur," Malory or Lanier.

Stories from Lanier's "Froissart."

Stories from Shakspeare.

Stories of the Revolution, Riedesel.

Stories from American and English History about the Magna Charta, Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, Cromwell, Pitt, Gladstone, Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Washington, Rebellion, Lincoln, etc.

Stories of American life, from "Oldtown Folks," "Sam Lawson's Fireside Stories," and from the best novels.

Stories from the "Book of Golden Deeds," Miss Yonge.

Stories from Bolton's "Poor Boys who became Famous," and "Girls who became Famous."

Stories from Smiles's "Self-Help." Full of brief, inspiring stories of great men.

Stones from Todd's "Students' Manual."

Stories from Irving's "Sketch Book," Rip Van Winkle, etc.

Stories from Green's "Short History of the English People."

Stories from Doyle's "History of the United States." One of the very best brief histories.

Stories from Mackenzie's "History of the Nineteenth Century."

Stories from Coffin's "Story of Liberty."

Stories from Freeman's "General Sketch of History."

Stories from the "Stories of the Nations." (Putnam's Series.)

Stories from the books of Columns 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, and 14 of Table I.

The story of Christ and his Apostles. (It is scarcely needful to mention Bible stories in general. Every child born into a civilized family is saturated with them; but the simple story of Christ's life as an entirety is too seldom told them.)

The story of Buddha, from the "Light of Asia."

The story of Mahomet, Irving.

The story of Confucius.

The story of Socrates drinking the hemlock, from Plato, or from Fenelon's "Lives of the Philosophers," which contains many splendid Greek stories.

The story of Prometheus, from AEschylus.

The story of Diogenes in his Tub.

The story of Thermopylae and other battles, from Cressy.

The story of Carthage, from Putnam's series of the "Stories of the Nations." (Nine to eleven years.)

The story of Roland, Baldwin.

The story of the Cid, Southey.

The story of the Nibelungenlied. (See Baldwin's "Story of Siegfried.")

The story of Faust, from "Zigzag Journeys."

The story of "Reynard the Fox," Goethe.

The story of Pythagoras and the transmigration of souls.

The story of Astronomy, from Herschel, Proctor, etc.

The story of Geology, from Lyell, Dawson, Miller, etc., or from Dana's "The Geological Story, Briefly Told."

The story of Athena, Pluto, Neptune, Apollo, Juno, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Charon, Vulcan, Zeus, Io, Orpheus, and Eurydice, Phaeton, Arachne, Ariadne, Iphigenia, Ceres, Vesta, Herakles, Minerva, Venus, Scylla and Charybdis, Hercules, Ulysses, Helen, Achilles, AEneas, etc., from Bulfinch's "Age of Fable," "Zigzag Journeys," etc.

The story of William Tell, the Man in the Moon, etc., from S. Baring Gould's "Curious Myths."

The story of the Courtship of Miles Standish.

The story of the Nuernburg Stove, from Ouida's "Bimbi."

The story of Robert Bruce.

The story of Circe's Palace, from "Tanglewood Tales."

The story of Pandora's Box, from the "Wonder Book."

The story of Little Nell, from "The Old Curiosity Shop."

The story of the Boy in "Vanity Fair."

Many other books might be placed on the list of parent-helpers. Indeed, the perfect guidance of youth would require a perfect knowledge of literature throughout its breadth and depth; but the above suggestions, if followed in any large degree, will result in a far better training than most children now receive.

THE FORMATION OF A GOOD READING HABIT.

As the child learns to read by itself, the books from which were drawn the stones it has heard may be given to it, care being taken that every gift shall be adapted to the ability of the little one. The fact that the boy has heard the story of Horatius at the Bridge does not diminish, but vastly increases, his desire to read the "Lays of Ancient Rome." When he comes to the possession of the book, it seems to him like a discovery of the face of a dear friend with whose voice he has long been familiar. I well remember with what delight I adopted the "Sketch Book" as one of my favorites on finding Rip Van Winkle in it.

Below will be found a list of books intended as a suggestion of what should be given to children of various ages. The larger the number of good books the child can be induced to read each year, the better of course, so long as his powers are not overtaxed, and the reading is done with due thoroughness. But if only four or five are selected from each year's list, the boy will know more of standard literature by the time he is sixteen, than most of his elders do. Each book enters the list at the earliest age an ordinary child would be able to read it with ease, and it may be used then or at any subsequent age; for no books are mentioned which are not of everlasting interest and profit to childhood, manhood, and age. Many of the volumes named below may also be used by parents and teachers as story-mines. There is no sharp line between the periods of story-telling and of reading. Most children read simple English readily at eight or ten years of age; many do a large amount of reading long before that, and nearly all do some individual work in the earlier period. The change should be gradual. For the stimulus that comparison gives, story-telling and reading aloud should be continued long after the child is able to read alone; in truth, it ought never to cease. Story-telling ought to be a universal practice. Stories should be told to and _by_ everybody. One of the best things grown folks can do is to tell each other the substance of their experience from day to day; and probably no finer means of education exists than to have the children give an account at supper or in the hour or two following, of what they have seen, heard, read, thought, and felt during the day. In the same way reading _solus_ should lap over into the early period as far as possible. One of the greatest needs of the day is a class of books that shall put _solid sense_ into _very_ simple words. A child can grasp the wonderful, strong, loving, pathetic, and even the humorous and critical, long before it can overcome the mechanical difficulties of reading. By so much as we diminish these, we push education nearer to the cradle. Charles Dudley Warner says, "As a general thing, I do not believe in books written for children;" and Phillips Brooks, Marietta Holley, Brooke Herford, and others express a similar feeling. But the trouble is not with the _plan_ of writing for children, but with the execution. If the highest _thoughts_ and feelings were written in the simplest words,--written as a wise parent _tells_ them to his little ones,--then we should have a juvenile literature that could be recommended. As it is, most writers for babies seem to have far less sense than the babies. Their books are filled with unnatural, make-believe emotions, and egregious nonsense in the place of ideas. The best prose for young people will be found in the works of Hawthorne, Curtis, Warner, Holmes, Irving, Addison, Goldsmith, Burroughs, and Poe; and the best poets for them are Longfellow, Lowell, Whittier, Burns, and Homer. Books that flavor sense with fun, as do those of Curtis, Holmes, Lowell, Holley, Stowe, Irving, Goldsmith, Warner, Addison, and Burroughs, are among the best means of creating in any heart, young or old, a love for fine, pure writing. P. T. Barnum, a man whose great success is largely due to his attainment of that serenity of mind which Lowell calls the highest result of culture, says: "I should, above almost everything else, try to cultivate in the child a kindly sense of humor. Wherever a pure, hearty laugh rings through literature, he should be permitted and taught to enjoy it." This judgment comes from a knowledge of the sustaining power a love of humor gives a man immersed in mental cares and worriments. Lincoln is, perhaps, the best example of its power.

It is often an inspiration to a boy to know that a book he is reading has helped and been beloved by some one whose name is to him a synonym of greatness,--to know, for example, that Franklin got his style from the "Spectator," which he studied diligently when a boy; that Francis Parkman from fifteen to twenty-one obtained more pleasure and profit from Scott than from any other writer; that Darwin was very fond of Mark Twain's "Treatise on the Frog;" that Marietta Holley places Emerson, Tennyson, and Eliot next to the Bible in her list of favorites; that Senator Hoar writes Emerson, Wordsworth, and Scott next after the Bible and Shakspeare; that Robert Collyer took great delight in Irving's "Sketch Book," when a youth; that the great historian Lecky is said to be in the habit of taking Irving with him when he goes to bed; that Phillips Brooks read Jonson many times when a boy, and that Lockhart's Scott was a great favorite with him, though the Doctor attaches no special significance to either of these facts; that Susan Coolidge thinks "Hans Brinker" is the best of all American books for children, etc. Similar facts may be found in relation to very many of the best books, and will aid much in arousing an interest in them.

Plato, Bacon, Goethe, Spencer, Emerson, and many others of the best are for the most part too difficult to be properly grasped until the mind is more mature than it usually is at sixteen. No precise rules, however, can be laid down on this subject, I have known a boy read Spencer's "First Principles" and Goethe's "Faust" and "Wilhelm Meister" at sixteen, and gain a mastery of them. All I have attempted to do is to make broad suggestions; experiment in each case must do the rest.

_Literature adapted to a Child Six or Eight Years of Age and upward._

Little Lord Fauntleroy. A book that cannot fail to delight and improve every reader.

King of the Golden River, Ruskin.

"Rosebud," from "Harvard Sophomore Stories."

Christmas all the Year round, Howells.

Mrs. Stowe's "Laughin' in Meetin'." An exceedingly funny story.

"Each and All" and "Seven Little Sisters," by Jane Andrews. Used in the Boston Public Schools as supplementary reading.

Classics in Babyland, Bates.

Scudder's "Fables and Folk Stories." Fine books for little ones.

AEsop.

Rainbows for Children, Lydia Maria Child.

Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell. The autobiography of a splendid horse, and the best teacher of kindness to animals we know of.

Burroughs' "Birds and Bees." In fact, all his beautiful and simple stories of Nature--"Pepacton," "Fresh Fields," "Wake Robin," "Winter Sunshine," "Signs and Seasons," etc.--are the delight of children as soon as they can read.

Winslow's "Fairy Geography."

By Sea-side and Wayside, Wright.

_Literature adapted to a Child Eight to Nine Years of Age and upward._

Sandford and Merton, Day. One of the very best of children's books.

Play Days, Sarah Orne Jewett.

Andersen's "Fairy Tales." Cannot be too highly praised.

Stories from King Arthur, Hanson. A good foundation for the study of Malory, Tennyson, etc.

"Winners in Life's Race," and "Life and her Children," by Miss Arabella Buckley. Books that charm many children of eight or nine.

Fairy Frisket; or, Peeps at Insect Life. Nelson & Sons.

Physiology, with pictures.

Queer Little People, Mrs. Stowe.

Kingsley's "Water Babies." A beautiful book, as indeed are all of Kingsley's.

Longfellow's "Building of the Ship."

The Fountain, Lowell.

Ye Mariners of England, Campbell.

Carleton's "Farm Ballads and Farm Legends." Humorous, pathetic, sensible.

_Literature adapted to a Child Nine to Ten Years of Age and upward._

Story of a Bad Boy, Aldrich. A splendid book for boys.

Boys of '76, Coffin. An eight-year-old boy read it five times, he was so pleased with it.

New Year's Bargain, Coolidge.

Pussy Willow, Stowe.

Hanson's "Homer and Virgil." Brief, clear, simple, clean.

Stories from Homer, Hanson.

Stories from Pliny, White.

Grimm's "Fairy Tales."

Legend of Sleeping Beauty.

Clodd's "The Childhood of the World." A splendid book to teach children the development of the world.

"Friends in Feathers and Fur," "Wings and Fins," "Paws and Claws," by Johonnot. Books much liked by the little ones.

First Book of Zoology, Morse.

Halleck's "Marco Bozzaris."

Wordsworth's "Peter Bell."

Mary, Queen of Scots, Strickland.

The Prince and the Pauper, Twain. A book that mingles no small amount of sense with its abounding fun and occasional tragedy.

_Literature adapted to a Child Ten or Eleven Years of Age and upward._

Being a Boy, Warner.

Little Women, Alcott. One of the most popular books of the day.

A Dog's Mission, Stowe.

Two Years before the Mast, Dana. Recommended by Sarah Orne Jewett, George William Curtis, and others.

Ten Boys on the Road, Andrews. A great favorite with the boys.

Jan of the Windmill, Ewing. The story of a poor boy who becomes a famous painter.

Hawthorne's "Celestial Railroad."

Little People of Asia, Miller.

Hawthorne's "Tanglewood Tales" and "Wonder Book" should belong to every child old enough to read ordinary English.

Adventures of a Brownie, Craik.

Stories from Chaucer, Seymour.

Stories from Livy, Church.

Lives of the Philosophers, Fenelon. An excellent book.

What Darwin saw in his Trip round the World in the Ship Beagle.

Fairy Land of Science, Miss Buckley. An author who writes for children to perfection.

Animal Life in the Sea and on the Land, Cooper. Very fine indeed.

Darwin's chapter on the "Habits of Ants" (in the "Origin of Species") is very interesting and amusing to little ones, and together with Burroughs' books prepares them to read such works as Lubbock's "Ants, Bees, and Wasps."

Ragozin's "Chaldea." One of the indispensable books for children.

Longfellow's "Psalm of Life."

Longfellow's "Hiawatha."

Lowell's "Under the Old Elm."

Wordsworth's "White Doe of Rylstone."

Lamb's Essay on Roast Pig. A piece of fun always enjoyed by boys and girls.

_Literature adapted to a Child Eleven to Twelve Years of Age and upward._

Shakspeare's "Merchant of Venice."

Marcus Aurelius. In a school where the book was at their call children from ten to thirteen carried it to and from school, charmed with its beautiful thoughts.

Hans Brinker, Mary Mapes Dodge. One of the very best stories for children.

Dickens' "Christmas Carol."

Hawthorne's "Great Stone Face." Highly appreciated by the young folks.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Mrs. Stowe. A book that every child should have as soon as he is able to read it.

Another Flock of Girls, Nora Perry.

At the Back of the North Wind, Macdonald. A beautiful story, with a high motive.

A Hunting of the Deer, Warner.

Crusade of the Children, Gray. A thrilling story.

Bryant's translation of the Odyssey.

Story of the Iliad, Church.

Stories from Herodotus, Church.

Mary Treat's "Home Book of Nature."

Half Hours with the Stars, Proctor.

Guyot's "Earth and Man." A most excellent book.

First Book in Geology, Shaler.

First Steps in Chemistry, Brewster.

First Steps in Scientific Knowledge, Best.

Abou Ben Adhem, Hunt.

Scott's "Lady of the Lake."

Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome."

Longfellow's "Tales of a Wayside Inn."

Whittier's "Snow Bound."

How they Brought the Good News to Aix, Browning.

Wordsworth's "We are Seven."

Franklin's Autobiography.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech.

Samantha at the Centennial.

_Literature adapted to a Child Twelve to Thirteen Years of Age and upward._

Shakspeare's "Julius Caesar."

Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan. Indispensable.

Meditation of Thomas a Kempis. A strong influence for sweetness and purity.

Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith. Full of fun and good feeling; one of the most indispensable of books.

Cooper's novels, especially "The Spy" and the "Last of the Mohicans." Books that are fascinating and yet wholesome.

"My Summer in a Garden," and "In the Wilderness," Warner. Very humorous.

"The Dog of Flanders," from "Little Classics."

Picciola, Saintine. A great favorite.

The Story of Arnon, Amelie Rives.

Drake's "Culprit Fay."

Dr. Brown's "Rab and his Friends."

"The Man without a Country," "My Double and How He Undid Me," etc., by E. E. Hale. The cast is extremely funny.

The Hoosier Schoolmaster, Eggleston.

Boots and Saddles, Mrs. Custer.

Story of the AEneid, Church.

Stories from Greek Tragedians, Church.

Plumptre's "Sophocles."

Ruskin's "Athena."

Boys and Girls in Biology, Stevenson.

Other Worlds than Ours, Proctor.

Captains of Industry, Parton.

Lowell's "Vision of Sir Launfal." One of the great poet's finest productions.

Byron's "Eve of Waterloo."

Longfellow's "Evangeline."

Scott's "Marmion."

Milton's "Comus."

"The Two Runaways," "The Born Inventor," "Idyl of Sinkin' Mountain," etc., by Edwards. Very funny.

_Literature adapted to a Child Thirteen to Fourteen Years of Age and upward._

Shakspeare's "Coriolanus" and "Taming of the Shrew."

Scott's "Ivanhoe," "Heart of Midlothian," "Guy Mannering," etc. It is the making of a boy if he learns to love Scott. He will make a gentleman of him, and give him an undying love of good literature.

Journal of Eugenie de Guerin. Full of delicacy and quiet strength.

Tom Brown, Hughes. An universal favorite.