376 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [14:9— Dec, 1918 



is to live in the future. He may have to perform some duty in 

 the dark but lacks the courage because fiction has preceded fact. 

 The Br'er Rabbit stories of Joel Chandler Harris are valuable 

 records of the folk-lore of the African Americans. They were 

 told by negro mammies to silence their picaninnies or to rouse 

 them into delight. The triumph of these imaginations over fact 

 in the mind of the negro has made him superstitious and awry. 

 That method of child discipline is not necessary or desirable. 

 Neither is it a prerequisite for raising rabbits. Folk-lore stories 

 are illustrative of old methods and are rich in material for the 

 mature student. I believe that they have no place in the primary 

 grades and above all things should never precede the true story. 



As the criticism of these readers may be thought to be severe, 

 verbatim samples of their nonsense have been selected. 



"A little bee cried, 'Buzz, Buzz,' all the way home." The author 

 was so impressed with the little pig and wee wee that the same 

 style was extended to bees and other animals. 



"Can I pat the fat cat? Did the dog see the frog on a log?" Here 

 the writer is obessed with the phonic idea at the expense of good 

 sense. I am not an authority on the matter but have been taught 

 that can means to be able or to be competent to do something. 



" 'Why, why, why!' said Goosey Loosey." This reminds me of a 

 friend who took great pleasure in using baby talk with his baby 

 girl. He would say: "De boomps want wa wa!" Translation: 

 Does baby want water? Cute? Yes. But, why waste time in 

 learning two vocabularies ? Why keep the little one in that early 

 confused stage of acquiring words? The aim of the parent or 

 teacher should be to help the child over complex places and not 

 to prolong the period of difficulty. 



"// all the world were apple pie, 

 And all the sea were ink, 

 And all the trees were bread and cheese, 

 What should we have for drink." 



Children read and listen to this foolishness while Hooverism 

 is a vital part of our existence. 



"Once a cat ate a kid." Quite a fete-cham-petre for a cat. 



'"Little Mouse, will you have some milkV says Mrs. Cat." How 

 modest as compared with the cat mentioned in the preceding 

 quotation. Cats are not usually so considerate with mice. 



