"Boys or men become brave, and hardy, and true, not by being told to
be so, but by being nurtured in a brave and hardy and true way,
surrounded with objects likely to excite these feelings, exercised in
a manner calculated to draw them out unconsciously. For all true
feeling is unconscious in proportion to its perfection." Building up
knowledge without cultivating the power to use it is of small value.
Impression should go hand in hand with expression. Knowledge does not
become power until you use it. Children should read a great deal and
reading should be made attractive to them. The amount of real
literature suited to their taste and comprehension is not large and
as much as possible of it should be read. Matthew Arnold says that
school reading should be copious, well chosen and systematic. There is
often a great difference between the books which the child reads when
under observation, and those to which he resorts for solace and
comfort and turns over and over again when he is alone. The latter are
the ones that stamp his character. The school and the public library
can never take the place of the home library. It is the books that we
own that influence us. The child should know the joy of the ownership
of books and there is no better way to interest him in them, than by
giving them to him one by one as he reads them. He should have a place
where he may keep them in safety and should be taught to respect them
and to keep them clean. His books should have all the charm that
pretty and durable binding, clear type and bright pictures can give
them. When trash is served up in so many alluring forms something must
be done to make literature attractive. It is not enough that the child
is reading what will do him no harm, his attention should be
concentrated on the permanent classics which are suited to his
comprehension and taste. He who does not read Aesop and Robinson
Crusoe and the Wonder Book in youth will very likely never read them
at all. There are a number of books like The Pilgrim's Progress, which
are constantly referred to but seldom read. A great deal of the time
and mental energy of children is wasted. The total freedom from books
and from all other refining influences during vacations is as
unnecessary as it is deplorable. An hour a day wisely employed and
directed during the summer would give a boy or girl an acquaintance
with Longfellow or Hawthorne, that would be a joy and inspiration in
all after life. The study of the author's biography in connection with
his works has an educational value which nothing else can replace.
Consider the influence of a thorough acquaintance with Longfellow or
Lowell. The atmosphere which surrounded them, the things that
interested them, the sources of their inspiration, the way in which
the common experiences of life grew beautiful under the influence of
their poetic imagination would be a civilizing force throughout life.
That chance is to but a small extent a factor of success, that nothing
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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