Adolescent, Socio-Moral Life and Behaviour of the. Marion Dowd Allegiance to Highest Pedagogic Standards. Eugene B. Willard 173 American Notes-Editorial 54, 118, 182, 253, 314, 376, 441, 506, 571, 626 Architecture versus Librarianship. Jackson E. Towne Art, An Apology for. Hewitt B. Vinnege Athletics, Intramural; Aims and Values. George M. Smith Book Man, The, As An Educator. Stephen G. Rich Child Who Is Failing in School, How to Treat Him. Roscoe Pulliam Education for Character in Secondary Schools. Walter H. Adams Educational Principles Illustrated by Objectives and Activities in Education in Japan. A Survey. Harry Emerson Wildes Figurative Speech, The Origin of. E. Schultz Gerhard French, Principles Applied to the Teaching of. K. A. Sarafian 479 Geography in Teachers Colleges. Lynn H. Halverson Intelligence, As Viewed by Industry. William L. Hunter Intelligence, Some Symptoms of. Harold T. Eaton Intelligence, Temptations of. Horace G. Wyate Junior High School in Washington, The. W. M. Kern Knowledge, Is It Practical? Norman Maier Librarianship, Architecture versus. Jackson E. Towne Negro Child's Interest in Writing Poetry. Harvey C. Lehman Objectives and Activities in the Extra-Curricular Field. M. Bar- Extra Personality Guidance. Edwin H. Paget Plays and Games for Earlier Grades. Josephine Weatherly Positions, How May Teachers Help Students Secure Them? 583 561, 602 346 522 Rubber, World Production and Consumption of. Olive Nolan Ruskin, the Educator. Jason Almus Russell Schoolmaster, The,-Thinks About God. Major R. J. Gale Social Science Curriculum of the Junior High School, Recent Trends in. Raymond G. Patterson 257 Teacher, and His Investments, The. Charles A. King Teacher-Training Courses, The Need For. R. H. Eckelberry Teacher Training in City Schools, General Policy of. Erich Selke Teaching a Respected Profession. Carl P. Berkelo Teaching, The Point of View In. R. Ray Scott Walt Whitman Speaks for Himself. Major R. J. Gale. PAGE 618 608 385 Lodging in Grasmere. Dr. Frederick Herbert Adler Lost Visions. Dr. Frederick Herbert Adler Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature VOL. XLIX. of Education SEPTEMBER, 1928 No. I Huckleberry Finn versus The Cash Boy* B WARREN BECK, LAWRENCE COLLEGE, APPLETON, WISCONSIN. OUND to Rise," "Do and Dare," "Brave and Bold," "Making His Way," "The Cash Boy," these current juvenile publications will be recognized by many a mature man as of the works of one Horatio Alger, Jr.; even now they are making their bid to a second and third generation of readers. I know that these stories found favor in the days when automobiles were still novelties, for despite parental frowns and the protests of schoolmarms, my boyhood acquaintances and I persisted in bootlegging certain maculate copies from barn to barn. I presume that Horatio Alger's books must be widely read now, else how explain recent unlimited editions under the auspices of so acute a business man as Mr. S. S. Kresge? One of these little books-this same "Do and Dare," bound at Mr. Kresge's behest in a robins-egg blue scarcely suited to its aggressive title-came my way at a jocose Christmas party, and reminded me of the author I had almost forgotten. *My dear Mr. Palmer: Herewith is an essay in which I have endeavored to comment upon the philosophy of cultural education, particularly as concerns the imagination. I have used two boys' books to furnish a sort of text. My attempt is not to develop a definitive thesis, but rather to indicate a fundamental point of view and to stimulate what I should call imaginative thinking about it. I shall be delighted if you find this essay acceptable for "Education." Yours very truly, Warren Beck. Then a maid, perhaps inspired by the label, shelved the work next to Christopher Marlowe's plays, whence it met my astonished gaze weeks later. It came out to furnish, unexpectedly, a fable for college men. But first it provided a merry hour, for the creator of the cash boy is a real curiosity, especially if one's tastes be both literary and morbid. Descending into an age given over to impressionistic writing, Horatio Alger, Jr., stands unique by reason of the painstaking candor of his method. He never suggests when he can state. He makes all transitions with loud trumpetings. "Before describing the appearance of Herbert and George Melville upon the scene," he says, "I will go back a few minutes and relate what happened at the farmhouse." Sometimes he goes back a few years, but he always gives written notice. He watches with a parent's care over his reader's intelligence and doesn't let it do any heavy lifting. "The sheet of stamps contained twenty-five three cent stamps, representing in value seventy-five cents." What more than that, you may ask, could any author do for his customers? One phrase, of his, merits particular notice the "representing in value seventy-five cents." That is Algerian for "worth seventy-five cents." Alger writes a thick and clotted language. "Our hero," does not eat his meals, he "partakes of" them. A tramp does not steal the silver, he "possesses himself of it." Herbert does not merely come, or even arrive; he "puts in an appearance." You and I would ask the ticket agent, "How much to Chicago?" but Eben is "heard to inquire, 'What do you charge for a ticket to Chicago'"; and when Eben finds he has enough money he says further, "You may give me one." It is to be hoped that the agent gave him two, both hard ones. Not that Eben is the worst sinner. He is merely the juvenile villain of the piece; our hero is even more punctiliously prosy. However, it is not this overstuffed style which first sickens the young devotee of Alger; rather, it is the everlasting stacking of the cards in favor of a happy fate for all those present. |