CHAPTER XVII
Journeys Through Bookland in Its Relation to the High School

Introduction

All high school students are expected to be well grounded in good literature. It is part of every well planned course of study and the basis of much of the work in every year. Yet very few high schools are able to furnish the material for every student to read, and often the methods of instruction are inadequate to the large classes or fail in character and execution. There is contained in Journeys practically all the real literature that is necessary for the foundation of a broad culture, and though much of it is simple and elementary, it is no less interesting and valuable. As a matter of fact, few high school students have ever read the simpler classics in a manner that brought to them the full message of the selections. Accordingly the most elementary things are often the newest and the most valuable. The simplest of the nursery rhymes, as may be seen by the comments and explanations given in another part of this volume, are full of interest to high school boys and girls, and in not a few schools form the basis of many serious lessons. The fables, the myths and the literature of the legendary heroes are not only interesting, but are of sufficient breadth in meaning to justify hard work on the part of anyone who has not already mastered them. It is a mistake to think that the simple things do not interest young men and young women. The people who scorn the elementary literature of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and fables are the immature boys of thirteen or fourteen years to whom everything juvenile seems beneath their dignity and newly acquired independence.

The reader of Journeys will notice, however, that the quantity of matter that may be called really juvenile is small in comparison with the grand total. As a matter of fact, the selections of the last six volumes are worthy the reading by anyone, old or young, at any time, and to be fully appreciated they must be read with care and discrimination by everyone. The sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth volumes are all high-class literature for adults as well as young children and the studies are worthy a place in any high school.

The older a person grows the more he loves the things that were a delight to his childhood and the more keenly he realizes his loss if he never had the opportunity to become well acquainted with the great masterpieces that have been the comfort and inspiration of such countless thousands of people. Men and women of judgment never criticize the selections in Journeys on the ground that they are too simple or are childish. Good literature never dies, never loses its interest. It lives in a day-by-day intimacy with every one of its acquaintances, and the love for it increases year by year for everyone who will listen to its teachings.

Doubtless some high school students will be glad to have pointed out to them more in detail the things which are especially applicable to their work in school and which will help them in the mastery of the subject so that their school work will be made easier and they may raise their rank in the eyes of their teachers and companions.

A

Nearly all of the studies in the other volumes and all of them in this volume are of value to high school students. If they are not difficult enough to cause work they at least suggest ways of reading that will be valuable. In the ten volumes the studies are scattered so that young children may not see too much of the machinery of instruction as they read. On the other hand the high school student wants the material systematically arranged and easy of access.

Accordingly the following arrangement of the studies in this and the other volumes of Journeys will be of assistance:

  1. I. Studies in Character:
  2. (1) Cinderella, Volume I, page 224.
  3. (2) The Hardy Tin Soldier, [X, 158].
  4. (3) Rab and His Friends, [X, 177].
  5. II. Studies in plot:
  6. (1) The Snow Queen, Volume II, page 124.
  7. (2) The Gold Bug, IX, 232.
  8. (3) Cinderella, [X, 150].
  9. III. Studies in description:
  10. (1) The King of the Golden River, Volume II, page 405.
  11. (2) The Reaper’s Dream, VII, 345.
  12. (3) The Recovery of the Hispaniola, VII, 352.
  13. IV. Method of analysis:
  14. (1) The Gettysburg Address, Volume IX, page 321.
  15. (2) Braddock’s Defeat, [X, 227].
  16. V. General studies involving several or all of the main points:
  17. (1) Incident of the French Camp, Volume IV, page 174.
  18. (2) The Tempest, VIII, 468. (Extensive studies following the drama.)
  19. (3) The Passing of Arthur, [X, 214].
  20. VI. Studies in rhyme, meter and melody:
  21. (1) The Country Squire, Volume VI, page 474.
  22. (2) To My Infant Son, VI, 478.
  23. (3) The Daffodils, VII, 1.
  24. (4) The Old Oaken Bucket, VII, 11.
  25. (5) Bannockburn, VII, 15.
  26. (6) Boat Song, VII, 17.
  27. (7) The Bugle Song, [X, 287].
  28. VII. Studies in interpretation, giving various methods and considering different phases of the subject:
  29. (1) Christmas in Old Time, Volume VI, page 356.
  30. (2) The Recessional, VII, 164.
  31. (3) The Cubes of Truth, VII, 406.
  32. (4) America, VIII, 60.
  33. (5) A Descent Into the Maelstrom, VIII, 95.
  34. (6) Dream Children, VIII, 335.
  35. (7) The Vision of Mirza, IX, 285.
  36. (8) Pippa Passes, IX, 293.
  37. (9) Rab and His Friends, [X, 225].
  38. (10) The Reaper and the Flowers, [X, 272].
  39. (11) Adventures in Lilliput, V, 8.
  40. (12) David Crockett in the Creek War, VIII, 37.
  41. (13) The Impeachment of Warren Hastings, IX, 32.
  42. (14) A Christmas Carol, VI, 244.
  43. VIII. Biographical sketches of authors, suitable for class use:
  44. (1) Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume I, page 128.
  45. (2) Eugene Field, I, 242.
  46. (3) Aesop, II, 1.
  47. (4) Hans Christian Andersen, II, 81.
  48. (5) Henry W. Longfellow, IV, 62.
  49. (6) Alice and Phoebe Gary, IV, 116.
  50. (7) Nathaniel Hawthorne, IV, 180.
  51. (8) Jonathan Swift, V, 1.
  52. (9) Sir Walter Scott, VI, 26.
  53. (10) John Howard Payne, VI, 221.
  54. (11) John Greenleaf Whittier, VII, 381.
  55. (12) William Cullen Bryant, VII, 391.
  56. (13) Oliver Wendell Holmes, VII, 398.
  57. (14) James Russell Lowell, VII, 411.
  58. (15) Elizabeth Barrett Browning, VII, 419.
  59. (16) Washington Irving, VIII, 216.
  60. (17) Charles and Mary Lamb, VIII, 328.
  61. (18) William Shakespeare, VIII, 468.