LITERATURE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1
Sin,—Your correspondent " A Lover of Books" has called attention to a want which might easily be remedied. The strictures of the French author really apply to us as much as to the French. There need be no delay in the establishment of school libraries, neither will there be, if those who profess so much about education mean what they say. Time is required to train masters, to build schools, to overcome the apathy of parents, but " books " can be obtained at once. Some time ago, at a meeting of the College of Preceptors, the Rev. E. A. Abbott, M.A., men- tioned this want. He said :—" Is it too much to ask that even in the lowest classes, as soon as boys can read fluently, some book should be assigned, not to be studied, but to be read at home.
Sandford and Merton,' Robinson Crusoe,' Swiss Family Robinson," Evenings at Home,' &c., represent the kind of books I would suggest for this purpose." Although Mr. Abbott was not speaking of elementary, but of secondary schools, his remarks apply equally to both. Schoolmasters and school managers are much to blame for not putting good, pure, wholesome literature into the hands of boys and girls, instead of letting them amuse themselves and pervert their minds with the unwholesome, trashy —I had almost said obscene—literature to be seen in the windows. of newspaper shops in any back-street of our large towns. Per- haps, however, one cannot blame the poor, under-paid, over-worked master, who would do more had he his own way, but whose hands are tied, and who is compelled to " turn the handle of the patent. Government machine" to a monotonous tune of 4s. per pass.—
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