Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

SHALL THEY BE CUT OR KILLED?

THE following question has been a

Tperplexing one for some time.

I endeavor to teach English to high school pupils. The work is divided into two parts: 1, study of grammar and rhetoric; 2, reading of good literature, such as is usually assigned to children of this age. Of course it is only to be expected that a majority of them will drift into positions where their efforts at English composition will rarely be called for.

On the other hand, I hope that the taste for good reading will stay by them and in future years they will go to libraries and call for some of the standard fiction, travel, biography, and poetry instead of wandering in, seeing a pretty book cover and some illustrations of people in up-to-date dress, and calling for books that are nothing but the typical light fiction which is read in an hour and melts from the mind like the snow in the April sunshine.

To cultivate this taste, or at least to let the pupils know that something does exist beside this light stuff, I have a reading list of books by the so-called "Standard Authors," also some of the better class of modern fiction, biography, travel, etc.

Like the proverbial horse which won't drink are a great many of these children, and quite as helpless as the horse's master am I. For instance, I read portions of "David Copperfield" to the classAunt Betsy and the Donkeys, David at the Peggottys, and other scenes which delighted me in my early teens. They listen attentively and enjoy the passages, but when they pursue the suggestion that they read the whole book outside they find that it has so many pages and such fine print that they are discouraged. One boy preferred to lose 10 points from his mark for the month's work rather than to read "any of those dry old things" and wanted to know why I didn't let them read books with some "pep." (Pep with its concomitant "jazz" is hardly found in Dickens!)

All pupils are not like this. Out of 50 there might be found a saving remnant of 5 who read and really like good books, 10 more who read them and are indifferent or hostile, and 35 who infinitely prefer to read nothing at all or a little popular fiction.

I have had to compromise. I ask one biography, one book of travel, and one standard novel, however painful the dose may be, among the eight books required during a school year of ten months. That leaves a leeway of five books which may be taken from a list carefully compiled in council with an experienced librarian. This has such names as "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," "David Harum," Bret Harte, Sherlock Holmes, any historical novel that has a sufficient setting of adventure and romance to be a good story, from "Boy Captive in Deerfield" to "The Crisis."

Even with this latitude, in came a little freshman boy of Polish descent

with a note-book containing the names of his own personal book list. All were apparently of the class of cheap fiction of five to twenty years ago, except "Two Years Before the Mast," which I grasped at as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Many a time and oft ("far, far too oft") a child brings in some pretty little book grabbed hastily from the public library and wants credit for it. "No," say I; "read that for fun, if you will, but for school credit you must read something worth while."

It seems a pity that a boy who loves adventure stories should not have Oliver Twist's doings with Fagin, Jean Valjean's miraculous escapes, and the host of delightful people of fiction in an attractive form.

The chief objection in the mind of the average child is the fine print and the huge number of pages. The remedy is that some publisher take the better-liked works of the standard writers, cut them down a third at least, leaving the plot and necessary description of characters, but omitting the moralizing and philosophizing, and issue them in good-sized print.

I believe that there would be a growing demand for them. Of course it is in the nature of a compromise, and

Traming for Authorship

How to write, what to write, and where to sell.

Cultivate your mind. Develop your literary gifts.Master the art of self-expression. Make your spare time profitable. Turn your ideas into dollars. Courses in Short-Story Writing. Versification, Journalism, Play Writing, Photoplay Writing, etc., taught personDr. Esenwein ally by Dr. J. Berg Esenwein, for many years editor of Lippincott's Magazine, and a staff of literary experts. Constructive criticism. Real teaching. Frank, honest, helpful advice.

One pupil has received over $5,000 for stories and
articles written mostly in spare time-"play work," he
calls it. Another pupil received over $1,000 before
completing her first course. Another, a busy wife
and mother, is averaging over $75 a week from
photoplay writing alone.

There is no other institution or agency doing so much for writers, young or old. The universities recognize this, for over one hundred members of the English faculties of higher institutions are studying in our Literary Department. The editors recognize it, for they are constantly recommending our courses.

We publish The Writer's Library, 13 volumes; descriptive booklet free. We also publish The Writer's Monthly, the leading magazine for literary workers; sample copy 25 cents. annual subscription $100. Besides our teaching service. we offer a manuscript criticism service.

150-Page illustrated catalogue free. Please Address

The Home Correspondence School
Dept. 58, Springfield, Mass.

[blocks in formation]

"Half a loaf is better than no bread," The Pratt Teachers Agency
but this step would help to increase
greatly both the reading and the sale of
the better books.

So

I know that some people will object to this cutting down. Very well. do I. If people will read the originals, that is a far better thing to do. But this plan of cut editions in good print and attractive bindings is to win the ninety-seven per cent who are not now reading them. Young people, both American and foreign-born, are drifting away from the old books and the old standards. How can we get them to give up an evening at the movies once in a while because they would rather stay at home and read?

This plea seems not half so strongly put as it should be, but if some farseeing editor would follow this suggestion he would win the approbation of teachers of English, of librarians, and of the young people themselves, who could make new and delightful companions among the people of fiction. Why should not David Copperfield or D'Artagnan seem as real as Richard the Lion-Hearted?

Of course, all this will take time, but it seems as if a good hustling editor and publisher could start these books coming from the press within a few months.

An additional argument to strengthen the plea is that the very few novels that have been shortened and put into use in high schools are among the best-liked books in the course; for instance, "A Tale of Two Cities," or "Quentin Durward." or "Lorna Doone."

Here you have the problem and the solution. Won't some editor please start in at once? LUCY ESTELLE TRIPP. Easthampton, Massachusetts.

[One, and perhaps the best, solution to this teacher's problem was given in The Outlook for August 16. Mr. Hubert

70 Fifth Avenue, New York Recommends teachers to colleges, public and private schools. Advises parents about schools. Wm. O. Pratt, Mgr.

SCHOLARSHIPS

available, partial, endowed, for promising students, girls above 12, in a high-grade boarding school; college preparatory. College town. Send school record and references. Talent preferred. Box 8,205, Outlook.

GUNSTON HALL

In the National Capital

A Girls' School With an Atmosphere of Quiet Refinement and Culture Washington offers many unusual advantages in Art Exhibits, Concerts, Social and Governmental Activities.

Gunston Hall stands for Character Building as well as Scholastic Attainment.

General Academic, College Preparatory, PostGraduate and Elective Courses. All branches of Athletics. For catalog address

Mrs. BEVERLEY R. MASON 1938 Florida Ave.,

Washington, D. C.

The WESTPORT HOME SCHOOL

FOR YOUNG BOYS

45 miles from New York on the N. Y., N. H. and H. Railroad Admission age 6 to 10 years. Family life. Close attention to health and conduct. Latin begun early. Catalog. EDWARD D. MERRIMAN, A.M. (Yale), Westport, Conn.

The McCarter School

Cranford, New Jersey

[graphic]

For little children from four to eight years of age. Ideal home and school life. Alice McCarter.

UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BROADWAY AT 120TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY

The charter requires that "Equal privileges of admission and instruction, with all the advantages of the Institution, shall be allowed to Students of every denomination of Christians." Eighty-seventh year begins September 27th, 1922. For catalogue, address THE DEAN OF STUDENTS.

St. John's Riverside Hospital Training School for Nurses

YONKERS, NEW YORK

Registered in New York State, offers a 23 years' courseas general training to refined, educated women. Requirements one year high school or its equivalent. Apply to the Directress of Nurses, Yonkers, New York.

Physical Standards

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

This is the "Height-Weight" system whose description in The Outlook of March 15 gained such wide and favorable opinion from school-heads, physical directors, schoolnurses, medical examiners, and parents This hand-book contains the tables complete for boys and girls, and young men and women, with complete directions. It enables one to judge an individual according to the type of build, to make obvious where special exercise is advisable, and to distinguish actual improvement from mere growth. $2.00, Postpaid

The Academy Press, Carteret Place, Orange, N. J. (Individual record blanks and containers supplied by the Academy Press)

[graphic][subsumed]
[blocks in formation]

Reg. Trade Mark

McCutcheon's Choice Linens for Winter Entertaining HALF THE JOY of entertaining lies in the

possession of sheer, beautiful Table Linens. The discriminating hostess is assured that at McCutcheon's Linen Store she can obtain Linens of the purest quality, exclusive in design, sturdy and reliable in service.

Ever since 1855 McCutcheon's has been known as "The Greatest Treasure House of Linens in America." The completeness of its selections, their high standard of excellence and superiority of workmanship, have been traditional with the house since the beginning. Prices are extremely moderate, considering the superlative quality of the goods.

Send for the New

Fall and Winter Catalogue No. 35

You will be interested in this new Catalogue No. 35, which shows not only a wealth of exquisite Linens, but of delightful articles of Household and Personal use, as well. We will gladly send it to you on your request.

James McCutcheon & Co.

Fifth Avenue & 34th Street, New York

(Continued)

Coryell, in his article entitled "What Books Do Boys Recommend to Each Other?" told how he made his boys not only swallow the classics but swallow them whole.-THE EDITORS.]

[graphic]

CONTRIBUTORS'
GALLERY

G. LEACH gained his first intimate

H.G

knowledge of Scandinavia while traveling in that country on a fellowship from Harvard, following four years spent at Princeton and his graduate work toward his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard University. He was for many years Secretary of the AmericanScandinavian Foundation, and during that time he secured economic support for the exchange of forty students annually between the United States and Scandinavian countries. He has been made Knight of the North Star in Sweden and Knight of the Dannebrog in Denmark. Mr. Leach is the author of several books on Scandinavian subjects.

То

Frederick M. Davenport has been given the ability to see clearly and judge accurately. His character study of Governor Nathan L. Miller of New York, published in this issue of The Outlook, is something which no citizen interested in our Government should fail to read. Mr. Davenport was educated at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and at Columbia. He is now Professor of Law and Politics at Hamilton and is holding office as New York State Senator for the third term.

AROLINE ELIZABETH MACGILL is a

Came which may perche be un

familiar to our readers. Miss MacGill makes her first appearance in The Outlook in this issue, although she has contributed to the "North American Review," "Scribner's Magazine," and the "Independent," and has written monographs for various historical and economic series. After gaining her A.B. degree at Cornell in 1904 she did graduate study at the President White School of History and Political Science and at the University of Wisconsin, and later became instructor in economics at Rockford College and the University of Wisconsin. For eight years she served as a research worker, editor, and collaborator on the staff of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Since 1915 she has been engaged in literary and social work.

EVERAL weeks ago Mr. Roger C. Hoyt,

S Eastern Advertising Manager of The

Outlook, gave a talk on the function of advertising over the radiophone at the Westinghouse broadcasting station at Newark. Despite the proverbial hostility which is supposed to exist between editors and their business office, we have urged him to put his remarks on paper for the benefit of those who did not hear him speak. Mr. Hoyt joined the advertising staff of The Outlook in 1906 after graduating from Williams College.

MRS. HARDING

T

HE OUTLOOK joins in the heartfelt expressions of hope and sympathy which are pouring into the White House from all parts of the country elicited by the gallant struggle of the Presidential family against the ravages of disease and the threats of death.

At this writing the condition of Mrs. Harding, while still serious, is more encouraging. That this great anxiety should be thrust upon the President at a time when he is confronted with some of the most serious political perplexities and problems that any President has ever faced is pathetic, and the pathos is increased by the fact that he has been sustained and strengthened during his public career by a very fine family life.

The family is still the ideal unit of American life, and the country is proud, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously, of the fact that the White House is full of associations of dignity and happiness in the relations of husbands and wives-George and Martha Washington, John and Abigail Adams, Grover and Frances Cleveland, William and Ida McKinley, Theodore and Edith Roosevelt. Warren and Florence Harding have continued this fine tradition in a way that has commanded the respect and admiration of their countrymen and countrywomen.

ORGANIZING THE
IRISH FREE STATE

STEP forward was taken in setting

A up the Government of the Irish

Free State at the meeting of the Dail Eireann which convened in Dublin on September 8. This is the first representative body brought together in Southern Ireland since the London Treaty was indorsed by a great majority of the voters. The minority members elected-that is, those who insist upon fighting to the bitter end for a completely independent Irish Republic-refused to take their seats in this assembly with the exception of one anti-treaty member, Lawrence Ginnell, who appeared for the sole purpose of making a disturbance, but refused to qualify as a member and was ruled out of the body.

The shadow of the deaths of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith cast a regretful but not a hopeless tone over the assembly. The new head of the Provis ional Free State Government is William T. Cosgrave, who has been in charge of

SEPTEMBER 20, 1922

the civil side of affairs since Collins was killed. The only opposition to the election of Mr. Cosgrave and of the men named as his associates in the new Provisional Cabinet was the vote cast against him by a few labor members. The other most notable figure in the new Cabinet is Richard Mulcahy, who is to be Minister of Defense. Thus he is a successor to Michael Collins, while Cosgrave may be regarded as a successor to Grif

WILLIAM T. COSGRAVE AT THE FUNERAL OF HIS LATE CHIEF, MICHAEL COLLINS

fith in that he is really the head of civil affairs, while Collins, whom he nominally succeeds, was really the head of military affairs.

In accepting his election Mr. Cosgrave declared that it was his intention to push forward the London Treaty which has been sanctioned by the Dail and the electorate, to help in enacting a constitution for Southern Ireland, and also "to assert the authority and supremacy of Parliament, to support and assist the national army in asserting the people's rights, to ask Parliament, if necessary, for such powers as are deemed essential for restoring order and suppressing

crime, to expedite as far as lies in the power of the Government a return to normal conditions, and, having established the country on a Free State constitutional basis, to speed the work of reconstruction and reparation."

There is still a good deal to be done to put the Free State into complete operation. The most important thing is an agreement with the British Government on a form of constitution which will carry out the substantial provisions of the London Treaty. The armed opposition still existing in Southern Ireland seems to be decreasing and to be largely the work of comparatively small bands of irregulars.

[graphic]

THE TRIUMPH OF THE TURKS

HE victory of Kemal Pasha over the

Te vets is on For the most complete

and sweeping military successes of modern times. The Greek army was more than defeated, it was crushed and dispersed. The Turks under Kemal followed up their successes rapidly. Smyrna, the military and naval base of the Greek forces, was evacuated by the Greeks in disorder and the Kemalist troops entered the city on September 9. Scores of thousands of refugees, mainly Greeks and Armenians, had fled to Smyrna for refuge, fearing slaughter by the Turks. Just how far Kemal Pasha has been able to keep his troops under discipline is not positively known, but he at least issued the proper formal orders to refrain from slaughter of the Greeks.

The reaction of this depressing defeat of Greece by her ancient enemy was instantly felt in Athens. The Ministry under which this disgrace was possible resigned. A new Ministry was formed under the leadership of Triantafillakos. The new Minister announced that his policy would be to defend the Greek interest at the peace conference, but the constitution of the new Cabinet indicates that the Government still represents the old régime and the policy of King Constantine. Naturally, the alarmed and excited Greeks are turning to Venizelos as a possible leader, and it is not at all impossible that the popular demand and perhaps a plebiscite of the voters will recall the statesman to undo the work of those who drove him from Greece. Venizelos is now in Paris, and is quoted as saying:

I have seen America and have been amazed to observe how a free people

with free institutions can work out their own salvation. It is my ambition to make Greece an America in Europe. For a few months I had the United States of Greece in my hands, only to have them wrested away by European politics. Perhaps our next attempt will be crowned with better

success.

The basic comment on this new and threatening situation in the Near East is that the Allies missed their opportunity, just as they did in Russia, to agree upon a definite, sane and safe policy and to enforce it with united power and vigor. Now Turkey, as represented by the Nationalist or Angora Government headed by Kemal Pasha, is urging radical claims for a settlement that would again make Turkey a menace in the Balkans and in Europe and would restore the old rule of the Turks over Constantinople. Kemal has already issued a statement as to his demands. It includes Adrianople, all of Eastern Thrace up to the Bulgarian border, supremacy in Constantinople, and a control in the interest of all countries over the Dardanelles, in which apparently the Turks should have the chief part. Recent despatches declare that there is now a movement of Kemal's army in the direction of the Straits and that the military question there is serious.

Kemal's victory was celebrated in Constantinople by noisy demonstrations. There was rioting which threatened to be dangerous, when the Allied authorities put a stop to it.

Thus the Turkish rule, marked for centuries by slaughter, pillage, and hatred of all Christians, is again a disturbing and threatening factor in European as well as in Asian affairs. The Entente Powers had hoped to confine that rule to parts of Asia Minor, but, because of lack of unity of purpose and because of jealousy between the Powers, the situation has been allowed to become dangerous and extremely difficult of adjustment.

with a non-member of the League like the Kemalist Government? There is a certain class of critics of the League, including Lord Robert Cecil, who regard the League as a substitute for the Governments, replacing the Foreign Offices and the War Department and occupying itself with all sorts of political questions, besides every branch of welfare work."

So far the Assembly has discussed in a general way and with no definite results large international questions like German reparations, disarmament (the League reports a reduction in Poland of a million men, in France of 200,000, and substantial reductions in Italy, Sweden, and Japan), the disposition of Austria (a destitute orphan among nations and sorely in need of a protector), but it seems more likely to do some positive good in its proposals on what may be called world welfare projects. About these projects a staff correspondent of The Outlook wrote from Geneva just before the League Assembly met:

"The League's campaign against the white-slave traffic has been far more successful than that against large armaments. In 1904 and 1910 certain international agreements with regard to this subject were concluded, but, unfortunately, did not secure a general adhesion; only thirteen nations signed them. Due to the League's praiseworthy energy, not only was a new and im proved agreement drawn up, but thirtythree signatories have already been secured.

"A special tragedy is that of the fate of the several hundred thousand women (mostly Armenian Christians) whom the Turks have seized and imprisoned in their harems. In view of such a horrible destiny, the League has brought about co-operation among the interested Powers; it has even tried to bring moral pressure on the unspeakable Turk, and has established homes for those who have been rescued.

"As the campaign against opium and A LEAGUE AT SEA other habit-forming drugs largely origiHE discussion between Lord Robert nated in America, under the leadership

Cecil and the Earl of Balfour at the

third annual meeting of the Assembly of the League of Nations now going on at Geneva illustrates the natural limitations of action in the League. Lord Robert, as quoted in the reports, thought the League was doing splendid work, but its large machinery was used for too small matters. He wanted the League, now that the time to forget war had come, to enter on a higher plane. And he especially thought it a reproach that the League had done nothing to restore peace in the Near East. Balfour replied: "The League has neither ships. men, nor money, so how could it deal

of the late Dr. Hamilton Wright, it in

natural that we should take particular interest in the League's efforts to coordinate international activity in this respect. Mrs. Wright, herself an expert, has been appropriately appointed to the League's Advisory Board. The League invites all states, whether member-states or not, to ratify the Hague Convention (which was framed by Dr. Wright), and would enforce a law throughout the world that no opium shall be exported or imported without a written certificate from the country of importation that it is needed for legitimate purposes. Meanwhile the amount of opium necessary to

be grown for such purposes is being ascertained by reports from the various countries as to their annual requirements. The information thus obtained will provide the League with a basis for further measures for the better execution of the provisions of the Hague Convention. The League is also extending inquiries, through its Opium Commission, as to all harmful drugs.

"There are at least three reasons why Western Europe now contains Russian refugees. The first reason is because of the movements of armies in 1914, 1915, and 1916 to and fro across the Russian frontiers. The second reason is because of Bolshevist outrages. The third reason is because of famine and starvation. At least a million and a half of refugees need aid. What shall be done with them? There is not enough work to go round and the refugees are generally at a long distance from the few countries, like Bulgaria, for instance, where employment is to be had and where the cost of living is low. With regard to these unfortunate men, women, and children, the League of Nations has already accomplished a good work among its own member-states. England and France have agreed to support small groups of students and children; Jugoslavia has made arrangements to give employment to over half of the many refugees within its borders; Bulgaria has offered to receive twenty-six hundred new refugees and Czechoslovakia to receive no less than five thousand agricultural laborers, besides a thousand students and a number of children. Finally, our own American Relief Administration has approached the League, proposing co-operation with regard to some fifteen thousand Russian refugees who are in a peculiarly pitiable condition in Constantinople. It contributed $100,000 conditionally upon the League's raising half as much again to transfer the refugees to other countries. The League did raise a third of this sum, but, as the prospect of getting more was not bright, American donors generously offered to make good the balance."

LAFAYETTE DAY

IN

N accordance with the custom established early in the European war by the Lafayette Day National Committee, September 6 was celebrated in New York and other cities as the anniversary of both the birth of Lafayette and the Battle of the Marne. In New York exercises were held in the forenoon at Union Square near the statue of General Lafayette. Dr. John H. Finley, formerly Commissioner of Education for the State of New York, and now one of the editors of the New York "Times" and author of a notable book on French culture

« AnteriorContinuar »