A very interesting book on this subject is ent.i.tled "Libraries and Schools. Papers selected by Samuel S. Green. New York (F. Leypoldt), 1883." It contains the following subjects: "The Public Library and the Public Schools;" "The Relation of the Public Library to the Public Schools"; "Libraries as Educational Inst.i.tutions"; "The Public Library as an Auxiliary to the Public Schools"; "The Relation of Libraries to the School System"; and "A Plan of Systematic Training in Reading at School."

"_Books for the Young, a Guide for Parents and Children._ Compiled by C.

M. Hewins. New York (F. Leypoldt), 1882," is an extremely useful little book. It contains a valuable list of books arranged in cla.s.ses. Certain marks are used to indicate the character of the books, thus the letter (_c_) indicates that the book is especially suitable for children under ten, (_b_) that it is especially suitable for boys, and (_g_) that it is especially suitable for girls.

Prefixed are eight sensible rules as to how to teach the right use of books.

Perkins's "Best Reading" contains a good list of books for children (pp.

299-303).

The children's books of the present day are so beautifully produced that the elders are naturally induced to exclaim, "We never had such books as these," but probably we enjoyed our books as well as our children do theirs. What a thrill of pleasure the middle-aged man feels when a book which amused his childhood comes in his way: this, however, is seldom, for time has laid his decaying hand upon them--

"All, all are gone, the old familiar faces."

The children for whom Miss Kate Greenaway and Mr. Caldecott draw and Mrs.

Gatty and Mrs. Ewing wrote are indeed fortunate, but we must not forget that Charles and Mary Lamb wrote delightful books for the young, that Miss Edgeworth's stories are ever fresh, and that one of the most charming children's stories ever written is Mrs. Sherwood's _Little Woodman_.

A short list of a Child's Library is quoted in the _Library Journal_ (vol.

viii. p. 57) from the _Woman's Journal_. The family for whom it was chosen consisted of children from three to twelve, the two eldest being girls.

The books are mostly American, and but little known in this country--

Snow-bound. Ill.u.s.trated. Whittier.

Life of Longfellow. Kennedy.

A Summer in the Azores. Baker.

Among the Isles of Shoals. Celia Thaxter.

The boys of '76. Coffin.

The boys of '61. Coffin.

Story of our Country. Higginson.

Sir Walter Raleigh. Towle.

Child's History of England. d.i.c.kens.

Tales from Shakespear. Lamb.

Tales from Homer. Church.

The Wonder-book. Ill.u.s.trated. Hawthorne.

Young folks' book of poetry. Campbell.

Poetry for childhood. Eliot.

Bits of talk about home matters. H.H.

The Seven Little Sisters. Andrews.

Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. Dodge.

Room for one more. Mary T. Higginson.

King Arthur for boys. Lanier.

Doings of the Bodley family. Scudder.

Mother-play and Nursery-rhymes.

Children's Robinson Crusoe.

The four-footed lovers.

Mammy t.i.ttleback and her family. H.H.

The Little Prudy books. Six volumes.

The editor of the _Library Journal_ remarks on the list, "Guest's Lectures on English History is better than d.i.c.kens's, and the 'Prudy' children are so mischievous, so full of young Americanisms, and so far from being 'wells of English undefiled,' that they are not always good companions for boys and girls. I have known a child's English spoiled by reading the Prudy books."

Some of the old-fashioned children's books have been reprinted, and these will generally be found very acceptable to healthy-minded children, but some of the old books are not easily met with. No Child's Library should be without a good collection of Fairy Tales, a careful selection of the Arabian Nights, or Robinson Crusoe. Gulliver's Travels is very unsuited for children, although often treated as a child's book. Berquin's _Children's Friend_, Edgeworth's _Parent's a.s.sistant_ and the Aikins's _Evenings at Home_, will surely still amuse children, although some may think their teaching too didactic. It is only by practical experience that we can tell what children will like. _Sandford and Merton_ is, I believe, usually considered as hopelessly out of date, but I have found young hearers follow my reading of it with the greatest interest. _The Pilgrim's Progress_ will always have as great a fascination for the young as it must have for their elders; but there is much preaching in it which must be skipped, or the attention of the hearers will flag.

CHAPTER IX.

ONE HUNDRED BOOKS.

In the Fourth Chapter of this Volume two lists of selected books are given, viz. The Comtist's Library, and a list of one hundred good novels.

Since that chapter was written and printed, much public attention has been drawn to this branch of our subject by the publication of Sir John Lubbock's list of books which he recommended to the members of the Working Men's College, when he lectured at that place on "Books." The comments by eminent men, which have appeared in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, have also attracted attention, and it seems desirable that some note on this list should appear in these pages.

The list issued by the _Pall Mall Gazette_ is as follows:

NON-CHRISTIAN MORALISTS.

Marcus Aurelius, _Meditations_.

Epictetus, _Encheiridion_.

Confucius, _a.n.a.lects_.

Aristotle, _Ethics_.

Mahomet, _Koran_.

THEOLOGY AND DEVOTION.

Apostolic Fathers, _Wake's Collection_.

St. Augustine, _Confessions_.

Thomas a Kempis, _Imitation_ Pascal, _Pensees_.

Spinoza, _Tractatus Theologico-Politicus_.

Butler, _a.n.a.logy_.

Jeremy Taylor, _Holy Living and Holy Dying_.

Keble, _Christian Year_.

Bunyan, _Pilgrim's Progress_.

CLa.s.sICS.

Aristotle, _Politics_.

Plato, _Phaedo_ and _Republic_.

aesop, _Fables_.

Demosthenes, _De Corona_.

Lucretius.

Plutarch.

Horace.

Cicero, _De Officiis_, _De Amicitia_, and _De Senectute_.

EPIC POETRY.

Homer, _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_.

Hesiod.

Virgil.