8 Colorado College Studies. 



the Book itself, where they turn to their plays from the read- 

 ing of a paraphrase of the stories written expressly for chil- 

 dren. The truth is, as Miss Burt has stated it in her book, 

 which contains so many wise words: "Age has little to do 

 with the ability of children to receive classic thought.'' Illus- 

 trations of this fact could be given by almost any teacher who 

 has enough of the literary spirit in himself to be competent 

 to teach literature. 



It has been wisely said that a taste of a great thought is 

 worth far more than the full comprehension of a small one. 

 No teacher ought to expect, or to desire, the full comprehen- 

 sion on the part of a child of a great work of the imagination. 

 Nothing is so inimical to the development of a genuine literary 

 appreciation as the insincerity which a teacher will invariably 

 foster by such expectations. But in literature it is not true 

 that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. A little 

 glimpse into a large and generous world is far better than the 

 full understanding of a mean and paltry one. The child needs 

 something that will expand his nature, something he can grow 

 to, not leave behind. One would hardly think of citing Dr. 

 Johnson as an authority on the education of children, espec- 

 ially when it is remembered that it was he who had the most 

 to do with making our English orthography such a terror to 

 young and old alike, but no one ever said a truer word on the 

 subject than this: " Babies do not want to hear about babies; 

 they like to be told about giants and castles, and of somewhat 

 which can stretch and stimulate their little minds." 



Of course, what has just been said does not mean that all 

 pieces of great literature are equally fitted to a child's mind 

 at any period in its life. But it does mean that it is not nec- 

 essary to go outside the world's great literature for fit mental 

 food for a child's imaginative and emotional nature. 



The problem, then, as Mr. Horace E. Scudder has put it, 

 is not one of creation, but one of selection. " The task is to 

 find literature for the child, not to make it. The permanent 

 in literature springs from the necessity of the writer to create, 

 not from the attempt to fit the creation to the needs of the 

 reader." 



