34:6 Report of Farmers' Institutes 



story of adventure in Egypt; let liim go with Franck on his 

 " Vagabond Journey around the World " and on his search for 

 experiences strange as " Zone Policeman 88." '' The Land of 

 Little Rain," by Mary Austin, will give a good idea of a bit of 

 our western land; and *'A Bird Lover in Mexico " will teach him 

 many things about both birds and country. The many books which 

 are written for both boys and girls about school life cannot fail 

 to attract and to serve their purpose. One story of school life 

 stands as a classic — ''Tom Brown." 



Unfortunately, the books for girls incline more to the senti- 

 mental. Yet, sentiment has its place. The love story has been 

 condemned; but now, knowing that it is necessary, we try merely 

 .to place in the hands of the lads and lassies the wholesome books 

 of love. I was much impressed by the remark of a college girl 

 that if both boys and girls could read such books as " The Crimson 

 •Sweater," " Harry's Island," and " Tom, Dick, and Harriet," 

 where the true comradely relations of the growing boys and girls 

 were sketched in an attractive story, there would be far less demand 

 for the extremely sentimental story. Probably no finer love story 

 is read today than " Lorna Doone," a book perhaps little appreci- 

 ated by those who read it as part of the required reading of the 

 school, yet fine and true in every line. " Mother Carey's 

 Chickens," " The SigTi of the Fox," and the short stories by Henry 

 Van Dyke and by Mary Andrews, are all good. For this age it is 

 far better to read a love story pure and simple, where all goes well 

 ,and they are married and live happily ever after, than to read the 

 more profound work which introduces social problems and shows 

 us many evils, without really satisfactorily solving them. 



Throughout childhood and youth there should be a constant 

 opportunity for the child to read poetry. After " Mother Goose " 

 will come the poems by Eugene Field and Stevenson. Oliver 

 Wendell Holmes will delight with his quaint humor. Longfellow's 

 " Saga of King Olaf " will appeal to the lover of the adventurous, 

 as will Tennyson's " Defence of Lucknow." 



What has been said applies especially to the young, for it is in 

 youth that the reading habit is formed. If a person has not a 

 taste for good reading before he is thirty, he rarely acquires it. 

 The mature reader has learned that there are some books he out- 

 grows, while others grow with him; his library will perhaps be 



