Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 May 1880 — Beading for the Young. [ARTICLE]

Beading for the Young.

The influence exerted upon youth by (heir chosen companions, in forming their tastes, opinions and characters, can hardly be overestimated. It has come to be so generally appreciated that few thoughtful parents and guardians now leave wholly to chance the quality of this influence. There is, however, another companionship, more silent and unobtrusive, bat none the less influential! n moulding our young men and Women —that of books. Indeed, in some respects, this is the more potent influence of the two. In the play of conversation there is somewhat more air stirring to blow away noxious vapors—the continual interchange of sentiment, thought and feeling, always varying, and often conflicting, tends to dissipate much that is frivolous, expose much that is absurd, and throw doubt upon much that is contradictory. In reading there is no snch friction, the attitude is mainly receptive. the suasion is all on one side, the reader is passive rather than active, he is impressed by the author, and makes *do reply. ; From the time when the little child first? acquires the power of amusing himself by reading, it should be the aim of the parent and teacher to cultivate and elevate his taste by a wise selection of books for his perusal. The amount of juvenile literature is largo and varied, and there is enough of what is pure in thought, simple in style, high in principle, and sweet in spirit, to aatify the needs of the most eager little student. If all that is impure and exciting, and even simply trashy, be carefully excluded from our children’s libraries; if we form in them the habit of reading and enjoying the best and most ennobling books suited to their age; and if a love for the pure, the true, and the beautiful be developed in their hearts, the surest blow will nave been struck against the unwhoieeome influence of impure and frivolous literature.