In order to stimulate interest in forming the nucleus of a home library the farmer should either make or purchase a small set of book shelves. Important as it may seem to build a first-class house for the thoroughbred hogs, this matter of the children’s reading is even more important and should be attended to first, before it becomes too late to catch the attentive ear of the boys and girls.
A SELECTED LIST
The following lists are taken chiefly from those selected by such well-known critics as Mary Mapes Dodge, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Edward Everett Hale, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and Hamilton W. Mabie.
Ages Four to Six Years
Various Authors. Boston Collection of Kindergarten Stories. J. L. Hammett Company, Boston. 50 cents.
Bryant. Stories to Tell to Children. Houghton, Mifflin Company.
Holbrook. Hiawatha Primer. 50 cents. Houghton, Mifflin Company.
Eggleston. Story of Great America for Little Americans. 35 cents. Houghton, Mifflin Company.
Scudder. Fables and Folk Stories.
Stevenson. A Child’s Garden of Verses.
Lang. Blue Fairy Book.
Ruskin. King of the Golden River.
Field. Lullaby Land.
Wiggin. The Story Hour.
Sewell. Black Beauty.
Ages Six to Seven Years
Norton and Stephens. The Heart of Oak Books, No. 1. 25 cents. Heath.
Gilbert. Mother Goose.
Carroll (Charles L. Dodgson). Alice in Wonderland. $3. Harper. 35 cents. Crowell.
Andrews. The Seven Little Sisters. 60 cents. Ginn.
Kingsley. Water Babies.
Kipling. The Jungle Book.
Greene. King Arthur and his Court.
Ages Seven to Eight Years
Grimm. Fairy Tales. Translated Mrs. E. Lucas. $2.50. Lippincott.
Goldsmith. Goody Two-Shoes. 25 cents. Heath
Æsop. Fables. Selected by Jacobs. $1.50. Macmillan.
Harris. Nights with Uncle Remus. $1.50. Houghton, Mifflin.
Bible Stories. 60 cents. A. L. Burt Company, New York.
Hawthorne. Wonderbook and Tanglewood Tales.
Irving. Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, or The Sketch Book.
Ages Eight to Nine Years
Baldwin. Fifty Famous Stories Retold. 35 cents. American Book Company.
Longfellow. Hiawatha, The Village Blacksmith, The Children’s Hour, etc.
Mabie. Norse Stories Retold from Edda. $1.80. Dodd, Mead.
Miller. Out-of-Door Diary for Boys and Girls. Sturgis-Walton Company.
Ages Nine to Ten Years
Norton and Stephens. Heart of Oak Books, No. 4. 45 cents. Heath.
Hodges. The Garden of Eden. (Bible Stories.) $1.50. Houghton, Mifflin.
Mathews. Familiar Trees and Their Leaves. $1.75. Appleton.
Burroughs. Wake Robin.
Ages Ten to Eleven Years
Higginson. Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic.
Dana. How to know the Wild Flowers. $2. Scribner.
Blanchan. Bird Neighbors. 35 cents. Doubleday, Page.
Norton and Stephens. Heart of Oak Books, No. 5. 50 cents. Heath.
Church. Stories from Virgil.
Morley. A Song of Life.
Stevenson. Treasure Island.
Ages Eleven to Twelve Years
Alcott. Little Women. $1.50. Little Men. $1.50. Little, Brown & Co.
Lucas. A Wanderer in London. $1.75. Macmillan.
Aldrich. Story of a Bad Boy. $1.25. Houghton, Mifflin.
Shakespeare. The Tempest.
Scott. Tales of a Grandfather. The Talisman.
Edgeworth. Parent’s Assistant.
Ages Twelve to Thirteen Years
Kipling. Just So Stories. $1.20. Doubleday, Page.
Seton-Thompson. Wild Animals I have Known. $2. Scribner.
Wyss. Swiss Family Robinson. 60 cents. McKay; also Dutton.
Palmer. The Odyssey. $1. Houghton, Mifflin.
Goldsmith. The Vicar of Wakefield.
Dickens. A Christmas Carol. The Cricket on the Hearth.
Hughes. Tom Brown at Rugby.
Ages Thirteen to Fourteen Years
Swift. Gulliver’s Travels. $1.50. Macmillan.
Longfellow. Evangeline.
Dana. Two Years before the Mast. $1. Houghton, Mifflin.
Norton and Stephens. Heart of Oak Books, No. 6. 55 cents. Heath.
Lamb. Tales from Shakespeare.
Coffin. Old Times in the Colonies.
Franklin. Autobiography.
Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Ages Fourteen to Fifteen Years
Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. $1. McLoughlin. $1.50. Harper.
Bunyan. Pilgrim’s Progress.
Norton and Stephens. Heart of Oak Books, No. 7. 60 cents. Heath.
Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
Thoreau. Walden.
Ages Fifteen to Sixteen Years
Cooper. Leather Stocking Tales.
Burroughs. Birds and Bees. 15 cents. Strawbridge and Clothier.
Pyle. Robin Hood. 60 cents. Scribner.
Scott. Ivanhoe. 60 cents. Appleton. Lady of the Lake. 35 cents.
Ginn. Lay of the Last Minstrel. 25 cents. Macmillan.
Sixteen Years Old and Older
Irving. The Alhambra. 25 cents. Macmillan.
Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome. 75 cents. Macmillan.
Kipling. Captains Courageous. $1.50. Century.
Nicolay and Hay. Boy’s Life of Lincoln. $1.50. Century.
Eggleston. Hoosier School Boy. $1. Scribner; also Heath.
In addition to the foregoing, there is beginning to come from the press a mass of juvenile literature that promises to furnish most practical inspiration and guidance to the juvenile mind on the farm. Much of this new rural life literature may be had for the asking or for the mere price of publication. The following are recommended:—
The Rural School Leaflet. Edited by Alice G. McCloskey, and issued under the general direction of L. H. Bailey at Ithaca, N.Y.
The Country Life Publications, issued by D. W. Working, Superintendent of Agricultural Extension, Morgantown, W.Va.
The series published by A. B. Graham, Superintendent of the Extension Department, Ohio University, Columbus.
The annual reports of County Superintendent O. J. Kern, Rockford, Ill., and of County Superintendent George W. Brown, Paris, Ill.
The Wisconsin Arbor and Bird Day Annual, issued by State Superintendent C. P. Cary, Madison, Wis.
The Extension Departments of many of the state universities and nearly all of the state agricultural colleges are now issuing a series of small pamphlets on such matters as stock judging, grain breeding, soil testing, and home economics. This literature should be given the widest possible circulation in the country home, as it will prove helpful both to the young and to the parents in their direction of the young.
Literature on Child-rearing
Parents who are seriously in earnest in the matter of developing the lives of their children will find great assistance and much inspiration through the reading of books and magazines on the child-rearing problems. In fact, it may be put down as a practical certainty that the work of child training cannot go on effectively and continue in its interest except one have some aids of the kind just named. Therefore, the interested parent should cast about for the books and magazines that promise to serve in the solution of the particular problems at hand. It happens that the author has collected a large number of books and periodicals of this class and that he has made a somewhat critical examination of them.
In listing the titles below, a word or phrase is used to indicate the contents or purpose of the text.
1. Periodicals on Child-rearing
The American Baby. American Publishing Company, 1 Madison Ave., New York City. $1 per year, 10 cents per copy. Contains much detailed and most helpful instruction on the care of the child.
American Motherhood. Coopertown, N.Y. $1 per year, 10 cents per copy. Helpful and sympathetic. Especially strong in respect to health and sanitation and in methods of instructing children in regard to the secrets of life.
The Child-Welfare Magazine. Official organ of the National Congress of Mothers, 147 North 10th Street, Philadelphia. 50 cents per year, 10 cents per copy.
The educational pamphlets published by the Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 9 E 2d Street, New York City. Excellent monographs, each treating some urgent child problem in relation to morals, sanitation, and the like.
The Home-training Bulletins, prepared and issued by William A. McKeever, Professor of Philosophy, State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kan. 5 cents each. Each of these pamphlets contains about sixteen pages and covers a particular home-training problem. The numbers thus far issued are:—
1. The Cigarette Smoking Boy.
2. Teaching the Boy to Save.
3. Training the Girl to Help in the Home.
4. Assisting the Boy in the Choice of a Vocation.
5. A Better Crop of Boys and Girls.
6. Training the Boy to Work.
7. Teaching the Girl to Save.
8. Instructing the Young in Regard to Sex.
Others are in course of preparation.
2. Books on Child-rearing
Holt. Care and Feeding of Children. $1 Appleton. Most helpful and practical.
Curley. Short Talks with Young Mothers. $1.50. Putnams. Helpful from the medical side.
Harrison. A Study of Child Nature. $1. Chicago Kindergarten College. Excellent. A standard help.
Allen. Civics and Health. $1.25. Ginn & Co. Most helpful on the side of sanitation.
Hall. Youth. $1.50. Appleton. A great book on child study by one of the world’s leading authorities.
King. Psychology of Child Development. $1. University of Chicago Press. A Fundamental work for those who wish to make a scientific study of child life.
Ritchie. A Primer of Sanitation. 60 cents. World Book Company. A clear, helpful presentation of the facts.
Chance. The Care of the Child. $1. Penn Publishing Company. Full of detailed information about infants, especially.
Mangold. Child Problems. $1.25. Macmillan. Presents the matter ably and in the light of the freshest information.
Call. The Freedom of Life. $1. Little, Brown & Co. A great and inspiring book. Will give rest and poise to tired mothers.
Gulick. Mind and Work. $1. Doubleday, Page & Co. A companion book to the one above, only more suitable for the father.
Saleeby. Parenthood and Race Culture. $2.50. Moffat, Yard & Co., New York. A remarkably instructive volume on race improvement.
1. The Cigarette Smoking Boy.
2. Teaching the Boy to Save.
3. Training the Girl to Help in the Home.
4. Assisting the Boy in the Choice of a Vocation.
5. A Better Crop of Boys and Girls.
6. Training the Boy to Work.
7. Teaching the Girl to Save.
8. Instructing the Young in Regard to Sex.
Others are in course of preparation.
REFERENCES
How to Direct Children’s Reading. Mae E. Schreiber. Annual volume N.E.A., 1900, p. 637.
A Suggestive List for a Children’s Library, 483 titles. Helen T. Kennedy. Democrat Printing Company. Minneapolis.
A Mother’s List of Books for Children. Catherine W. Arnold. A. C. McClurg & Co.
Children’s Rights. Kate Douglas Wiggin. Pages 69 ff. “What shall Children Read?” Houghton, Mifflin Company.
Fingerposts of Children’s Reading. Walter Taylor Field. McClurg & Co. Gives extensive lists.
Books for Boys and Girls. Brooklyn Public Library, New York. A carefully selected list of 1700 titles, 200 of them being especially marked for their value.
CHAPTER VII
THE RURAL CHURCH AND THE YOUNG PEOPLE
There was never a greater demand for efficient leadership in the rural communities than there is to-day. The country has continued for many years past to become richer in farm products and equipment, but it has steadily grown poorer in social and spiritual values. In fact we have unconsciously acquired a distorted idea of values. Hogs are too high in proportion to boys. Beef cattle are absorbing too much interest in proportion to the time and money expended in perfecting the character of girls. It has long been the proud boast of the Middle Western states that they could feed the entire country. And we have continued so long in this way as now to regard big crops and the great abundance of farm animals and other such material possessions as ends in themselves. So it is high time that we ask ourselves what this material wealth is all for. Looked at from at least one high vantage point, it may be properly regarded as so much encumbrance unless we shall be able to convert it into a means to some worthy and spiritual purpose.