Miss Ruth Cameron has fittingly said: "Start a child to reading some of the really fine books written for children, and some of the really fine books not written especially for them but simple enough to interest them, and by and by you will have a grown man or woman capable of enjoying good literature." The list might be amplified by citing the works of Jules Verne, Erckmann-Chatrian, and of others, but is of sufficient length to start along the right road:

(1) Esop's Fables. (2) Alcott, Louisa-Little Men, Little Women, Under the Lilacs. (These three books are considered far and away her best.) (3) Aldrich-The Story of a Bad Boy. (4) Andersen and Grimm-Fairy Tales. (5) Arabian Nights. (6) Barbour-For the Honor of the School. (7) Barrie-Peter Pan; Peter and Wendy. (8) Bunyan-Pilgrim's Progress. (9) Burnett-Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Little Princess. (10) Carroll-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass. (11) Child's Bible. (12) Cooper-Last of the Mohicans, Leather Stocking Tales. (13) Crockett-The Lilac Sunbonnet. (14) Daskam-Sister's Vocation, Memoirs of a Baby. (15) Defoe-Robinson Crusoe. (16) Dickens-David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, Old Curiosity Shop, Tale of Two Cities, Christmas Carols. (17) Doyle--The White Company. (18) Dumas-Monte Cristo. (19) Eggleston-Hoosier School Master. (20) Evans-Saint Elmo, Beulah. (21) Ewing-Jackanapes; Lob-lie-by-the-fire. (22) Fox-The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. (23) Garland, Hamlin-The Long Trail. (24) Gaskell Cranford. (25) Haggard-King Solomon's Mines. (26) Hale-Man Without a Country. (27) Hawthorne-Tanglewood Tales, Wonderbook. (28) Henty-March to Magdala. (29) Hughes-Tom Brown's Schooldays. (30) Jackson, Helen Hunt-Ramona. (31) Kingsley-Water Babies. (32) Kipling -Jungle Book, Captains Courageous. (33) Lamb-Tales from Shakespeare. (34) Lytton, Bulwer-Last Days of Pompeii. (35) Macleod-The Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights. (36) Marryatt-Masterman Ready. (37) Page,

Thomas Nelson-Old Creole Days. (38) Quiller-Couch-The Splendid Spur. (39) Raspe-The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. (40) Ruskin-King of the Golden River. (41) Scott -Ivanhoe, Kenilworth, Quentin Durward, The Talisman. (42) Selections from Les Miserables. (43) Stevenson-Child's Garden of Verse, Treasure Island, Kidnapped. (44) SwiftGulliver's Travels. (45) Sydney-The Five Little Pepper Series (Earlier ones). (46) Twain, Mark-Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, Huckleberry Finn. (47) Van Dyke-The First Christmas Tree. (48) Wallace, Lew-Ben Hur. (49) Wiggin -Polly Oliver's Problem, Birds' Christmas Carol. (50) Wyss -Swiss Family Robinson.

NOTE: The claims based on so-called experiments with the National Education Association alphabet made by Mr. Guy M. Whipple, and described in his pamphlet, "Relative Efficiency of Phonetic Alphabet, have been effectively disposed of by Professors Raymond Weeks, James W. Bright, and Charles H. Grandgent in their "Review of the Whipple Experiments."

X

Writing for Publication

IN the art of writing for publication no short cut leads to success. Everyone who expects to succeed at it must serve a long and sometimes a tedious apprenticeship, during which his patience will be sorely taxed and his powers of perseverance severely tested. Ability to tell a story well is helpful, but this quality must be supported by a knowledge of the principles of correct composition. Good composition is the result of correctly using well-chosen words, and of so arranging them that their meaning can be readily understood.

The successful writer invariably has personality and character. It is by the exercise of that dynamic force which we call "will" that he is able to achieve what he sets out to do. Native or developed genius, keen observation, vivid imagination, a lively sense of humor, ability to properly appreciate the picturesque, and power to concentrate thought—these are the qualities that help to make for success in writing. These qualities are not usually all found in one person, but such as are lacking may be acquired, developed, and cultivated by application. Among men of average education there are very few who are able to find "sermons in stones and books in running brooks," even though they be optimistic enough to declare that they can find good in everything. Some persons are impressed by scenery; others are controlled by sentiment; some are

influenced by contact with their fellow men and women; others are affected by their surroundings and home influences. As a rule, the dunce that has been sent to roam excels the dunce that has been kept at home.

Every writer should cultivate the habit of accuracy, for, at the very best, there are few persons who can relate even the most trivial of circumstances as they really occurred. "The writer who would write for immortality," wrote Vergil, "should study with accuracy the plan of his work, the propriety of his characters, and the purity of his diction." To Emerson we owe this advice: "If you would write to any purpose you must be perfectly free from within; give yourself the natural rein; think on no pattern, no patron, no paper, no press, no public; think on nothing, but follow your impulses; give yourself as you are, what you are, and how you see it; every man sees with his own eyes, or does not see at all; this is incontrovertibly true. Bring out what you have; if you have nothing, be an honest beggar, rather than a respectable thief.”

Such grammarians as embrace the art of composition in their treatises invariably state that style is the manner in which a writer expresses his conceptions by means of language; style, they say, is not to be regulated altogether by rules of construction, and then they proceed to enumerate the different qualities of style. It is not wise for a beginner to hamper the natural flow of his thoughts with these at the outset. In time he will be able to determine for himself the difference between the natural and the forced, the concise and the diffuse; the perspicuous and the obscure. If he thinks clearly he will, in all probability, write naturally and concisely, and perspicuity will follow as a matter of course. But, before putting pen to paper he must have

or acquire a thorough knowledge of the matter about which he purposes to write. Care and perseverance are qualities essential to accuracy. Exactness of thought results more often than not from ability to analyze details and to exercise sound judgment. Strong convictions and the power to absorb often lead to forceful writing, which is the result of feeling and earnestness of purpose. The foundation of all good creative work is feeling; eliminate feeling and whatever you write will lack individuality and interest; nothing but a lifeless mass of words will remain, possibly icily correct so far as grammar and rhetoric are concerned, but nevertheless colorless and without spirit.

Purity of style restricts one to the use of only those words and phrases which belong to our language. To secure this one must abstain (1) from using foreign words or idioms, and give preference to the native English term whenever that exists; (2) from using archaic, obsolescent or obsolete words; (3) from using colloquialisms and slang; (4) from using hybrid terms or nonce words; (5) from bombast or affectedness which only serve to make one ridiculous. Roger Ascham sought to discourage the use of foreign words in the introduction to "Toxophilus" (1544)'.

Propriety of style is secured by selecting the right words to use and by using them correctly in constructing sentences to express thought. This correct use is in general based upon the best usage as found in the works of the great masters. When writing prose one should take care (1) to follow the natural order of things or events; (2) to refrain from using equivocal and ambiguous expressions; (3) to avoid making use of the language of poetry-morn and eve, oft and stilly are words that belong to the poet's

1 "Toxophilus," Arber's reprint, p. 18. See also p. 77 of this book.