Holiday House: A Series of Tales

A SERIES OF TALES. Dedicated to Lady Diana Boyle.
BY CATHERINE SINCLAIR, AUTHORESS OF “MODERN ACCOMPLISHMENTS,” “MODERN SOCIETY,” “HILL AND VALLEY,” “CHARLIE SEYMOUR,” &c. &c.
“Young heads are giddy, and young hearts are warm,
And make mistakes for manhood to reform.”
Cowper.
NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY ROBERT CARTER, NO. 58 CANAL STREET. 1839.
“Of all the paper I have blotted, I have written nothing without the intention of some good. Whether I have succeeded or not, is for others to judge.”
Sir William Temple.
The minds of young people are now manufactured like webs of linen, all alike, and nothing left to nature. From the hour when children can speak, till they come to years of discretion or of indiscretion, they are carefully prompted what to say, and what to think, and what to look, and how to feel; while in most school-rooms nature has been turned out of doors with obloquy, and art has entirely supplanted her.
When a quarrel takes place, both parties are generally in some degree to blame; therefore if Art and Nature could yet be made to go hand in hand towards the formation of character and principles, a graceful and beautiful superstructure might be reared, on the solid foundation of Christian faith and sound morality; so that while many natural weeds and wild flowers would be pruned and carefully trained, some lovely blossoms that spring spontaneously in the uncultivated soil, might still be cherished into strength and beauty, far excelling what can be planted or reared by art.
A prejudice has naturally arisen against giving works of fiction to children, because their chief interest too often rests on the detection and punishment of such mean vices as lying and stealing, which are so frequently and elaborately described, that the way to commit those crimes is made obvious, while a clever boy thinks he could easily avoid the oversights by which another has been discovered, and that if he does not yield to similar temptations, he is a model of virtue and good-conduct.