Class U^J±5L Book Gopi^htN". -^7- COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. SOURCES OF INTEREST IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH BY C. EDWARD JONES, Ph.D. ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ALBANY, NEW YORK AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK .-. CINCINNATI .-. CHICAGO LBi63t .3-7 Copyright, 191 2, BY C. EDWARD JONES Entered at Stationers' Hall, London JONBS, INT. IN H. S. BNG. W. P. I ^' V^'' gCI.A30l)635 ^ INTRODUCTION The purpose of this book is to show what relation litera- ture bears to the youth. The subject is treated from the standpoint of the various types of Hterary art forms with a view to determine how the different elements of this art interest the readers, and at what stage of development they are most potent. The particular field covered is the high school period, but the grade immediately preceding this has also been considered, in order to show the transition from grammar to secondary schools. The general subject — relation of literature to children — has been treated before, but under different school condi- tions and with a different literary purpose in view. Clark Wissler {Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 5) conducted an investigation of the reading of some 2000 children in Indiana schools, based upon the selections in the class readers, from the second to the fifth year. He deals with children of an earlier age than those considered in this book, and he makes no attempt to find elements of inter- est in the several classes of Hterature; but his classification of selections is practically the same as this, and the choice of literary works shown in his report is of interest for com- parison with that of older pupils. Clara Vostrovsky made a study of the library reading of -1200 Stockton children ranging in age from 9 to 19 years. While this investigation does not concern itself with the course of study pursued or the grade of work done by the 4 INTRODUCTION readers, it shows some interesting facts regarding juvenile reading and fiction, and touches upon history, biography, and science. In 1896, under the direction of Charles H. Thurber, in Chicago, report was made on the reading of 3000 grammar school pupils from 9 to 15 years of age. This report is of value in showing the relative quantity of different classes of literature read by children of different ages, and forms a basis for comparison with results in high school. It gives no information, however, on sources of interest. Further- more, as the investigation was made in February, that is, in the midst of the school year, it considers only the work of the five previous school months, and for this reason reflects too largely the influence of the teacher. Very little investigation has been made in the high school field. In School Review (vol. 13) Samuel Thurber discusses the voluntary reading of high school pupils. He finds this to consist of 91% light fiction, 5% essays, 1% poetry, and only 2% of what he considers Hterature. He reaches the conclusions that the required reading is too far removed from pupils' normal interests and that ''teachers need to be more sympathetic." His discussion is sugges- tive, but as it is based upon evidence from only one high school, the conclusions are not convincing. Three Colorado cities have given statistics regarding the maximum and minimum quantity of children's reading (R. W. Bullock, National Education Association Report, 1897). The observations, which cover all grades from the third year to the end of the high school course, relate only to stories. These are somewhat artificially classified, and the question of sources of interest has not been considered. No separation is made of high school work, and there is no INTRODUCTION 5 discussion of drama, poetry, the essay, or other literary forms. The upper grades are found to have the maximum amount of reading; but in this case again the evidence does not constitute satisfactory proof. F. 0. Smith gives data from the reading of 2000 pupils in the sixth to the twelfth year in three Iowa cities. He seeks to find the quantity of voluntary reading done, and the relation of such reading to the English course. He gives a record of the number of books read per pupil for the several years, but takes no account of the different classes of books read. His records of the first choice, though not classified, are of interest in showing popularity of individ- ual books. Though he does not make a special study of motives, yet he offers some helpful suggestions on this topic, both for grades and for high schools. He gives some data on the relation between the number of books a pupil reads and the character of his school work, but as this is based upon only 85 records it cannot be thoroughly con- vincing. His final conclusions are not closely related to his data, and they are too general to be of value. Allan Abbott's report also touches on secondary school work. Mr. Abbott bases his Reading Tastes of High School Pupils upon the reading of English in college entrance re- quirements — a limited field. Without analysis of motives he has classified 178 books as ''much liked," "liked," or ''disliked," and has tabulated his results. His conclusion is that teachers should consider boys and girls immature, and give them no literature inconsistent with their develop- ment. He gives some valuable suggestions regarding books to be read, but does not show why these books will con- tribute to the pupil's mental growth. {School Review^ Oct., 1902.) 6 INTRODUCTION The discussion in this book differs from others in these particulars: It deals with the problem distinctly from the high school point of view. It aims to show sources of interest, to explain why these qualities appeal to the reader, to connect the elements of interest with the literature in which they are found, and to relate their potency to the pupil's psychic growth. It eliminates, as far as possible, the teacher's immedi- ate influence by securing the data for a whole year at the opening of school in the fall, after a long vacation has intervened and before the new teacher can make a strong personal impression. The investigation was conducted in seven different cities in the State of New York, all of which were following a uniform syllabus, — the State syllabus of 1905. Since this syllabus conforms to the uniform college entrance require- ments, the conclusions from this study have a general application. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction 3 Questions and Required Reading p Questions for High School Pupils 9 Questions for High School Teachers 10 Required Reading 11 Classification of the Literature 13 Reports of Pupils 15 Eighth Grade, Grammar School 15 First Year, High School 23 Second Year, High School 36 Third Year, High School 45 Titles of^Required Reading 54 Classification of Required Reading 56 Tabulation of Reports 58 Comments on Required Reading 72 Plots Based on Tabulation of Reports 75 Conclusions as Shown in Plots 82 Required Reading 82 Outside Reading 83 First Choice 87 Eighth Grade, Grammar School 87 First Year, High School 91 Second Year, High School „ 98 Third Year, High School 102 Plots of First Choice Selections 109 7 8 CONTENTS PAGE Comments on Plots of First Choice 113 Conclusion 115 Required Reading 116 Outside Reading 120 Comparison of Reading of Girls and Boys 126 Suggestions 128 Other Problems 130 Bibliography 132 Notes and Comments 134 SOURCES OF INTEREST IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH QUESTIONS AND REQUIRED READING Upon the opening of the schools in the first week in September, the following questions were submitted to high school teachers and pupils in seven cities. According to the plan, the first year liigh school pupils reported on eighth grade elementary work, and the fourth year pupils on third year high school work. Hence, this report omits all record of fourth year work but it shows the interesting transition period from the elementary to the high school. QUESTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS 1. Give your name and age. 2. Where were you bom? 3. What grade, or year, were you in last year, and in what school? 4. What is the name of your present English teacher? Of your last year's English teacher? 5. What books, stories, papers, or poems did you read last year as a part of your regular school course? 9 10 QUESTIONS AND REQUIRED READING Which did you particularly like, and why? So far as you can, give the title and the author of each book. 6. What books, stories, or poems, aside from your regular school course, have you read since a year ago? Which did you particularly like, and why? One disturbing factor in other investigations has been the influence of the teacher. To avoid this, as far as pos- sible, the answers were called for at the beginning of the school year. In most cases the teacher under whom the pupil studied the previous year was not the one to whom he gave his answers. It was therefore possible to get an opinion that was not immediately influenced by the teach- er's expression of his own judgment regarding the various books read. The teacher's report was given to show which selections were chosen from the course. That is, among the first year selections are included, — Ivanhoe, A Tale of Two CitieSj and Cranford. The teacher determines which of these the class shall read. QUESTIONS FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 1. Name of school. 2. Name of present English teacher. 3. Name of last year's English teacher. 4. What reading was done last year by the several classes in this school? Indicate after each selec- tion whether it was read as a class exercise or by students outside the class. REQUIRED READING II REQUIRED READING — EIGHTH GRADE GRAMMAR SCHOOL I. Appreciative reading of Warner, C. D. Burroughs, John. Scott, Sir Walter. Or all of the following Longfellow, H. W Macaulay, T. B. Lowell, J. R. Lowell, J. R. Lowell, J. R. I. Prose In the Wilderness. Or Sharp Eyes and Other Papers. II. Poetry The Lady of the Lake. The Skeleton in Armor. Horatius. Singing Leaves. Rhoecus. Under the Old Elm. " Wasliington " — stanza beginning with the line, " Sol- diers, statesmen, rarest union." Browning, Robert. Incident of the French Camp. Lowell, J. R. Under the Willows. The prelude ending with the lines : " And I must follow would I ever find, The inward rhyme to all this wealth of life." Byron, Lord. Apostrophe to the Ocean. Shelley, P. B. To a Skylark. FIRST YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL First Half I. Coleridge. The Ancient Mariner. Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome. Lowell. The Vision of Sir Launfal II. Scott. Ivanhoe. Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. Gaskell. Cranford. 12 QUESTIONS AND REQUIRED READING Second Half I. Irving. The Sketch Book. Lamb. Essays of Elia. Bacon. Essays. II. Browning. Cavalier Tunes, The Lost Leader, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, Evelyn Hope, Home Thoughts from Abroad, Home Thoughts from the Sea, Incident of the French Camp, The Boy and the Angel, One Word More, Herve Riel, Pheidippides. Tennyson. Gareth and L)niette, Lancelot and Elaine, The Passing of Arthur. Palgrave. Golden Treasury (First Series), Book IV, with special attention to Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley. SECOND YEAR, fflGH SCHOOL First Half I. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers in the Spectator. Bunyan. Pilgrim's Progress, Part I. FrankHn. Autobiography. II. Shakespeare. As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night. Second Half I. George Eliot. Silas Marner. Goldsmith. The Vicar of Wakefield. Hawthorne. The House of the Seven Gables. II. Goldsmith. The Deserted Village. Palgrave. Golden Treasury (First Series), Books II and III, with special attention to Dryden, Collins, Gray, Cowper, and Burns. Pope. The Rape of the Lock. REQUIRED READING I3 THIRD YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL First Half I. De Quincey. Joan of Arc and The English Mail Coach. Emerson. Essays (selected). Ruskin. Sesame and Lilies. II. Shakespeare. King Henry the Fifth, JuHus Cae- sar. Second Half "A review of the books read in the preceding terms, with some attention to the Hterary history of the epochs which they represent.'^ CLASSIFICATION The answers to the question, "Where were you born?" were not considered, as so few of the students were foreign- born that the influence of this factor was negligible. The answers to the question concerning the literature read as part of the regular school course were carefully classified under the following groups of reasons assigned for preference: (i) description, (2) moral, (3) plot, (4) char- acter, (5) style or beauty. Some answers came barely within this scheme of classification, while a few fell en- tirely outside of it; but the aim was to bring them, if pos- sible, within this range, because they represent the various elements of content that may be expected to furnish sources of interest. The particular selection under each group was deter- mined by the teacher. That is, when a class reported Ivanhoe and not A Tale of Two Cities, it meant that only the former had been read. 14 QUESTIONS AND REQUIRED READING The answers to the question concerning outside reading were classified as follows: 1. Fiction 2. Poetry 3. Drama 4. History 5. Science 6. Biography Classic Current .01 Classic Tales .02 Short Stories .03 Juvenile Stories Epic or Narrative Descriptive or LyricJ Tragedy Comedy Classic .01 Tales European U.S. Local Animals Plants .01 Tales An additional list of books best likedj with reasons, was made for separate tabulation. Seven cities in New York State are represented, ranging in population from 150,000 to 12,000. The results in these cities by years are shown in the fol- lowing pages; REPORTS OF PUPILS EIGHTH GRADE, GRAMMAR SCHOOL First City No.' Total Age AvG. Age* IIO 1498 13.6 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Almost the entire interest in poetry is in The Lady of the Lake, though a few choose H or alius, Rhcecus, and The Skeleton in Armor. Out of the whole number only 19 select prose. The required prose must seem dull to this grade. OUTSIDE READING. — 1 1 o : 290. This meaus that no boys have read 290 books. A few history tales are read and a little poetry, but almost no drama. The main interest is in fiction, but less in juvenile fiction than is the case in the following cities. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 123 1650 13.4 REQUIRED READING. — There is a vagueness of opinion, many failing to express any choice. OUTSIDE READING. — 1 23 : 382. The chief difference from the boys' reading is in the increase in the amount of cur- rent fiction and narrative poetry. * As the age is given for the time when the report was made and the grade was that of the preceding year, one year must be deducted from the age in each case to make it correspond to the grade. IS l6 REPORTS OF PUPILS Second City No. Total Age Ave. Age Boys 241 3254 13.5 REQUIRED READING. — The tendency of this group shows interesting features. In the Wilderness has a large follow- ing. It is chosen for the description, the lesson, the story, and the characters. The descriptions in Sharp Eyes have made a noticeable impression. Incident of the French Camp finds its only supporters in this city, while The Apostrophe to the Ocean finds admirers here and also in the fourth city. OUTSIDE READING. — 24 1 : 677. Juvenilc stories are prom- inent. There are some science stories and a little poetry, but almost no dramas. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 252 3353 13.3 REQUIRED READING. — It differs little from that of the boys, showing about the same strength and variety. OUTSIDE READING. — 252:835. Poetry and science sto- ries are prominent. Louisa Alcott's books are popular but current fiction is read far oftener than are juvenile stories. Third City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 50 696 13.9 REQUIRED READING. — With both girls and boys the choice is pronounced. Not quite half prefer The Lady of the Lake and the others divide between Sharp Eyes and In the Wilderness. The pupils are inclined to pick out EIGHTH GRADE 17 a particular episode, like the chase, and comment upon that as the thing of most interest. OUTSIDE READING. — 50 : 240. Classic and juvenile tales are prominent, and current history stories have a show- ing. But in every case stories of strong action are preferred. The Spy, The Last of the Mohicans, Ivanhoe, and Treasure Island, are chosen *'for adventure and happen- ings." The Vision of Sir Launjal and Evangeline are read "for the story and the moral." Hero Tales are mentioned *' because of their brave men," and The Man without a Country "because it makes you love your country more." The strongest motives here are physical action and moral force. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 53 715 13.5 REQUIRED READING. — There is little difference from that of the boys. OUTSIDE READING. — 53 : 334. A little more of classic fiction, much more poetry, more drama, and more nature stories have been read. Evangeline is a particular favorite, its interest centering in the heroism of self-abnegation; Uizcle Tom's Cabin "tells how cruel the Southern whites were to the negroes." (This is why the book is prohibited in the Buffalo juvenile libraries.) There is a good showing of girls' books. One girl says, "I like Little Women because Beth is so kind and good to everyone." The girls express pleasure in books with a "sad plot." They seem to prefer patience and endurance, while the boys are interested in action. Int. in H. S. Eng. — 2 1 8 REPORTS OF PUPILS Fourth City No. ToTAt Age Avg. Age Boys 94 1382 14.7 REQUIRED READING. — Sincc the Only prose offered in this year is In the Wilderness and Sharp Eyes, it is not easy to determine relative interest in prose and poetry. Among these boys a large majority favor prose. Only one sees any humor in In the Wilderness; all the others like it for what it tells about birds, animals, and the woods. The poetry may be divided roughly into descriptive and narra- tive. Those who select the poetry do so almost entirely for the story. H or alius ''is exciting," so is Rhcecus, and The Lady of the Lake "is a good story." OUTSIDE READING. — 94 : 268. While the ratio is not large, the report shows a greater imiformity in selection than among the higher grades, and also evidence of control. The proportion of classic selections is large and among them there is more juvenile fiction than is found in the upper classes. There is also a fair proportion of dramas, history, and science stories. Boys' stories are common, with The Half-Back as the favorite. Reasons seem to be about equally divided between moral and physical action. The Man without a Country is next to The Half-Back in favor and has ''lots of common sense and worldly wisdom in it.'' Tony the Tramp has "lots of plot and a good moral." This characterizes the elements of choice at this age. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 86 1260 14.6 REQUIRED READING. — There is Uttle difference from the boys' reading. Those who choose the prose like the stories of birds and other animals. Humor is not mentioned. EIGHTH GRADE 19 Those who choose The Lady of the Lake are particularly interested in Ellen or in some of her affairs. No one has chosen An Incident of the French Camp. OUTSIDE READING. — 86:378. The classic tales are in the majority, with many short stories and juveniles. Some poetry and drama are given. Evangeline and The Mer- chant of Venice are special favorites. The Elsie books and The Birds' Christmas Carol have a following, and also Santa Clauses Partner. The adult novel does not become very prominent this year, but more girls than boys mention it. Nedra ^'is exciting;'' The Pathfinder ^ The Last of the Mo- hicans, and Treasure Island are preferred for some form of adventure. The cheaper current fiction is remarkable for its absence. Fifth City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 32 450 14 plus REQUIRED READING. — Not all give an opinion, and those who do so are not very definite. The study of these papers raises the question, Is the eighth year reading without in- terest to children of this age? The choice is divided about as in the other groups but is not very suggestive. outside reading. — 32 : 164. The outside reading con- tinues to show supervision. There are a few history stories, some poetry and drama, but comparatively little current fiction. The Half -Back, Treasure Island, and The Man without a Country are popular, The Prince and the Pauper "teaches one to be satisfied with his lot " The Merchant 20 REPORTS OF PUPILS of Venice ''is full of excitement," The Brook ''tells what a brook would say if it could," and The House oj the Seven Gables is chosen because it shows "how much mystery and horror can abound in a common house." No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 26 355 13.7 REQUIRED READING. — The record shows little variation from that of the boys. OUTSIDE READING. — 26: 142. Somc poetry and drama and a good number of tales and juveniles are the features of the record. The first choices vary httle from those of the boys. The Man without a Country "teaches love of country," in The Prince and the Pauper "the prince is kind to the pauper and his mother," and The Birds^ Christmas Carol "shows how poor people can be made happy." But The Merchant of Venice is chosen for its excellent EngHsh. This might seem priggish but the writer reports four dramas and from these makes her choice. Sixth City No. Total Age Avg. Age 47 684 14.6 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Several give no reasons for choice, and some say simply "it is easy to understand." Horatius and The Skeleton in Armor find friends because of the heroic or brave characters. EIGHTH GRADE 21 OUTSIDE READING. — 47 : 1 29. The tendency toward ju- venile selections continues. Only a little poetry is read and a few history and nature stories. The Half -Back is the great favorite. Some of Henty's books "are exciting;" Canoemates '^has some brave fellows in it;" Shifting for Himself "shows how a boy can succeed." One mentions Treasure Island as "not quite so dry as other books." Action, courage, and travel as given in The Land of the Long Night seem to be of interest. No, Total Age Avg. Age Girls 49 677 13.8 REQUIRED READING. — Choice and reason for choice are very indefinite. Positive taste seems not as yet to have developed. Sixteen mention the prose selections, 14 give The Lady of the Lake, while a few prefer H or alius, Under the Old Elm, or Rhcecus. OUTSIDE READING. — 49:201. The girls in this group follow the general rule of reading more than the boys do; they read about the same amount of current fiction as of classic fiction. They have read 26 selections of poetry, while the boys have read only 3. They have also read 13 historic tales. Evangeline is a favorite. "It teaches one to be patient, good, and kind," " it is a true love story," "it tells how kind Evangeline was to every- body," and " it is a beautiful story of love." Betty Wales "is thrilHng with excitement;" Two Orphans "shows we should be thankful that we have a father and mother;" The Bow of Orange Ribbon is also popular, "for its picture of life in old New York;" Timothy s Quest ^^is easy to under- stand and shows Timothy's love for his sister." 22 REPORTS OF PUPILS Seventh City No. Total Age Ave. Age 30 425 14.2 Boys REQUIRED READING. — There IS the same lack of opinion here as in the other schools. A few choose Rhoecus and Eoratius, but most prefer The Lady of the Lake or one of the prose selections. OUTSIDE READING. — 30 : 144. The poetry, drama, and history stories together exceed all fiction. Evangeline "is a fine story;" Sheridan's Ride ''is a startling story of a ride;" Miles Standish cleaning his sword is the most attractive part of The Courtship of Miles Standish; The Merchant of Venice "is a good hint to miserly people, especially in the trial scene;" Treasure I stand ^ Buccaneers y and Pirates tell of the daring exploits of pirates. One has read of the different kinds of machinery in boats. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 31 423 13.6 REQUIRED READING. — Except that a larger proportion choose The Lady of the Lake, there is little variation from the boys' record. OUTSIDE READING. — 31:116. The girls have read fewer novels for adults and fewer juvenile stories but more dramas than the boys have read. They have also read poetry and some history tales. Evangeline, Captain! My Captain! and The Merchant of Venice are favorites. Ivanhoe and Uncle Tom^s Cabin are the chosen novels. Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch is admired "for Mrs. Wiggs's character," though the mention of character is rare. FIRST YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL First City No. Total Age AvG. Age 122 1837 15.06 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Of the 122 boys, 84 prefer Ivanhoe. Many of them call it ''exciting " and ''most interesting." It is evidently the action rather than the plot structure that attracts them. Eleven who speak of the Sketch Book "like the descriptions." They show Httle taste for Sir Launfal and The Ancient Mariner and none for Tennyson. OUTSIDE READING. — 122:316. This is rather a low average and there is not much range. The boys mention six poems, but few dramas, no history, no biography, and only six volumes of science. While fiction predomi- nates, the ratio of "classic" to "current" fiction is high. There is a marked tendency for boys' books. Barbour's The EalJ-Back and Tom Sawyer are favorites, also books about athletics and Life at West Point, because it "tells what boys have to do." The Story of a Bad Boy is hked because it deals with a "real boy." The Last of the Mohicans is "great," and Shipwrecked is "full of adventure;" but only one of the Henty books is noted. The Man without a Country is mentioned by several because "it teaches loyalty." The only poet given is Longfellow and he is liked because he is "instructive." Of dramas, Julius Ccesar is most favored, not The Mer- chant of Venice, The boys seem to read few current novels. In fact, Cardigan is the only one mentioned. They also 23 24 REPORTS OF PUPILS comment upon good periodicals, — The Scientific Ameri- can is read for *' its happenings all over the world;" The Youth's Companion for ''variety of articles;" and The Satur- day Evening Post for "variety of contents." No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 140 2159 15.41 REQUIRED READING. — Of the 140 girls, 68 prefer Ivanhoe, The reasons vary, but 27 assign plot in some form as the cause of interest. Some say the story holds them in sus- pense, and frequently add "very exciting; " some comment vaguely "very interesting;" 15 girls speak of the "beautiful and vivid descriptions;" 10 find in the story a moral lesson of bravery, honesty, etc.; 13 admire the characters most, 3 are interested in the customs described, while one likes the book because it is "not too deep." The Ancient Mariner is next in favor. Of the 22 girls who prefer it, all but one are impressed with the m>oral; none see any beauty in the poem itself. Sir Launfal has 20 admirers. Of these, 9 are interested most in the moral, 8 in the description, and 3 in the plot. The Sketch Book finds favor with 17 girls, for a variety of reasons; 7 enjoy the descriptions, 3 like the stories, one finds the characters entertaining, and the others think the language beautiful. Lamb, Bacon, and Browning and the Golden Treasury are entirely omitted. The Idylls of the King is mentioned by II, and of these, 6 like the plot. Evidently no one has read Cranford or A Tale of Two Cities. Interest as a whole centers in dramatic action with a tendency to the moral. FIRST YEAR 25 OUTSIDE READING. — 140:823. Of the 823 books read, 592 are current fiction. The most popular novels are, // / Were King, Brewster's Millions, Coniston, The House of a Thousand Candles, Graustark, The Conqueror, and Beverly of Graustark, The reasons for interest are: "a. fine hero," ''love may wait," ''it is about a throne," "bravery of American girl," etc., all showing interest in the dramatic or emotional elements. There are only a few of the Lena Rivers type, not enough to show any tendency. In 172 of these books, classified as "classic and juvenile," the reasons for interest are: Nicholas NicUehy, "humor and character;" Silas Marner, "a child's relation to an old man;" The Bow of Orange Ribbon, "tale of war times;" John Halifax, "led an ideal life, it ends well;" Lorna Doone, "beautiful descriptions of Scotland;" Rudder Grange ^ "for its humor." It is remarkable that in the books listed as "classics " plot interest is not mentioned. The Man without a Country is quite a favorite, and it has evidently been read under direction. "It teaches us to be loyal to our country." Hans Brinker, another of the sup- plemental books, is enjoyed because it "tells of Dutch life." Of the 30 books in the supplemental list of the State Course only 8 are mentioned. There are 15 reports on poems. Longfellow is the favor- ite for his "beautiful thoughts." The mixture of tragedy and comedy in The Merchant of Venice makes it interesting to some, but others prefer Lamb's Tales, "because they are easy to understand." A few have read some history stories and these generally ex- press a preference for them. This is true also of Bur- roughs's Sharp Eyes, on the supplemental list. 26 REPORTS OF PUPILS Second City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 211 3227 15.3 REQUIRED READING. — The preference here is less marked than in the first city; 145 give Ivanhoe, for such reasons as ''more life/' ''exciting," "lots of action," "adventure;" The Sketch Book is favored by 26 who "enjoy the scenes" or "Hke short stories." Little preference is shown for the other selections. OUTSIDE READING. — 211:1578. This average of nearly 8 books to a boy as compared with 3 to a boy in the first city is misleading, as 55 books were read by two boys. Less current fiction was read, but the list includes 203 vol- umes of classic tales, largely by Hawthorne and Poe. It is remarkable that of the 2 who have read 55 volumes, neither expresses a choice. Again there is a preference for boys' stories. Kidnapped and Treasure Island are liked for "action and suspense" and for "adventure;" The Virginian is "true to western life " and The Honorable Peter Stirling shows "persistence of a man in getting what he wants." This Hst is remarkable for its high grade of literary value. In this city much attention is given to developing a taste for good reading. I No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 236 3542 15.01 REQUIRED READING. — A Smaller proportion express pref- erence for Imnhoe, but there is a diversity of reasons not heretofore found. Some speak of the "beautiful scenes" FIRST YEAR 27 and one of the ''places of suspense." Sir Launfal has more admirers among the girls than among the boys; it is called ''beautiful/' and one likes it because it is "told as a dream." The Sketch Book is liked for its "humor," and because it is "easy to imderstand." A few care for Browning, and 5 have read and prefer As You Like It. OUTSIDE READING. — 236 : 1 702. This is a better showing than that of the girls of the first city. There is also a marked difference in quality, 537 classic and juvenile against 985 current tales. Again one sees evidence of a guiding hand in the English department. There is here a tendency to read history and some science. Classic tales are in particular favor. Wonder Book "teaches lessons," and is "easy to understand," Greek Heroes is "mysterious." Kidnapped has a "strong plot," The Last Days of Pompeii tells "lots of interesting things," Ben Bur is "not like other stories," Nicholas Nicklehy "tells about hardships of other days," and Pickwick Papers "has reality of actions and some funny people." Lorna Doone is mentioned, and again its descriptions impress the reader. Hiawatha also finds favor. Juvenile books are more popular than in the first city. Little Women^ Little Men, The Hoosier Schoolboy, and Betty Wales are all " good stories." Current novels are few and among them are The Crisis, The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, Black Rock, and The Bow of Orange Ribbon. One girl has read 13 Elsie books but has no choice. In nearly every case where a great quantity of current fiction has been read there is Httle or no opinion in regard to it. These girls are in a transition stage from youth to adolescence and as a whole their tastes are guided in healthy channels. 28 REPORTS OF PUPILS Third City No. Total Age Ave. Age 36 549 15.2 Boys REQUIRED READING. — The wholc interest centers in Ivan- hoe. OUTSIDE READING. — 36 : 209. There is Httle to remark upon in this set that is not shown on the chart. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 35 547 15-6 REQUIRED READING. — The age of thcsc girls is slightly above that in the other cities. While in the other groups there was a tendency toward Sir Launfal, here only one mentions it, and she has chosen it for its moral; but Tennyson has relatively a larger following here than in either of the other cities. Seven prefer Idylls of the King, but for various reasons, among which, moral, story, charac- ter, and beauty are all mentioned. For the first time Cran- ford is given, the story being liked for its "rare and quaint sayings." Poetry seems to be read because it is prescribed, but to no educational purpose. Eleven have read As You Like It and show an interest in the characters. Ivanhoe as before has the largest score, but the reasons for pref- erence are less definite than in some other groups. OUTSIDE READING. — 35 : 1 52. There is here a peculiar mixture of classic and current, juvenile and poetic reading. Only 5 prefer the novel of the day. Graustark is "exciting and unreal'' Thelma is chosen for its "fine descriptions," and Janice Meredith because "its language is simple." Louisa Alcott's books "tell of human Hfe and they are FIRST YEAR 29 natural.'^ Lady Eleanor's Ma^itle ''is exciting, it keeps you wondering." This group shows a healthy choice. The pupils have not done so much reading as the others, but their proportion of classic literature is higher, in the ''juve- nile" and "tales" groups, and they have read decidedly more poetry. Fourth City No. Total Age Ave. Age 69 1088 15-7 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Ivanhoe, The Sketch Bookj and The Vision of Sir Launfal are the favorites. Real boys' reasons are given for preferring Ivanhoe. It is "about battles," "has life in it," is "warlike," "the men are brave." Nothing is said of the women or of the romance. No well-marked reasons are given for choosing The Sketch Book. It "gives information," "has pleasing style," and "humor." Possibly more find humor the source of in- terest than anything else. Some like The Vision of Sir Launfal for its descriptions, others for its moral and its plot. ^^V Roger De Coverley finds its second admirer, who Kkes it for its mt. OUTSIDE READING. — 69:224. While a few of the boys have read over 12 books apiece, most of this group have done less reading than the others and six report no reading at all. The highest record is 16 volumes of current fiction, and, as in the previous cases, no reason is given. A large quantity of reading seems to dull the power of choice and 30 REPORTS OF PUPILS discrimination. Where the quantity is not so abundant the quality is better. Then there is another interesting feature, — nearly every one has read some current fiction, but preference is almost entirely for classics. Several of Dickens's novels are mentioned, notably Nicholas Nickleby, in which the '' characters seem real.'' Les Miserables shows the '^beauty of a Christian life." John Halifax is "elevating," and Fisherman's Luck is about "nature with enough action to make it interesting." These pupils give an unusual variety of reasons, not all centered on plot interest; even in Ivanhoe more are in- terested in description than in plot. Yet this does not indicate a weakness or lack of vitality, for a good, strong list of boys' books is given. The Man without a Country "is the best moral story ever read." Tom Sawyer de- scribes a "real genuine boy" and The Deer slayer "has lots of exciting places;" Hans Brinker is a favorite, and several mention The Jungle Book. Other books mentioned are Around the World in Eighty Days, A Study in Scarlet, and A Message to Garcia. This Hst shows either that the boys are of strong intellectual power or that they have had particularly good training. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 71 1127 15.87 REQUIRED READING. — Among thesc girls the choice is narrow. Ivanhoe has by far the most records, and several express no choice at all. The reasons given are unique and with difficulty are grouped under the several classifications. Ivanhoe "tells of real life," "it is exciting," "it is long and romantic," and "has a mixture of funny and serious FIRST YEAR 3I events." The 5 who choose The Sketch Book ^\e several reasons; in fact few seem to know why they like this, though the reasons usually given are *' beauty" or "de- scription." As You Like It is called "hard to under- stand" but "worth trying," and The Merchant of Venice is "real and Hfelike." OUTSIDE READING. — 71 : 265. Here again classic fiction seems to hold its own with current fiction. Dickens is a favorite, with Oliver Twisty Nicholas Nickleby, and A Tale of Two Cities, and the readers speak of the "interesting way" in which the stories are told. This is the general statement regarding Dickens. Treasure Island and The Half -Back are favorites, and there is a decided taste for the tales rather than for longer novels, particularly for Tanglewood Tales. As compared with boys, girls show a stronger preference for poetry. Hiawatha "keeps one excited," showing the value of this poem for adolescents as well as for younger children. Girls choose dramas in about the same propor- tion as the boys do, but for different reasons. The Merchant of Venice "ends so happily," "Bassanio is a fine man," and ^ ' Gratiano is good company. ' ' The Tempest is liked because "it is wild." With the girls, as with the boys, the ratio is lower in this city than in most places, and the quality is higher. The reasons given also show evidence of individual choice. Fifth City No. 18 Total Age 283 AvG. Age 15-7 Boys REQUIRED READING. — These 1 8 boys express vague choice, and mostly for Ivanhoe. One says it has "more of 32 REPORTS OF PUPILS a story to it;" two others, that it is "exciting." In this group the answers are crude and unsatisfactory. OUTSIDE READING. — 18:87. The ratio here is not very high and the Hst shows little but fiction. This may account for the fact that few have definite opinions of the required reading. There are 41 classic volumes mentioned, but they include only Ben Hur, Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn. Only a few current novels are given and the opinions of these are not worth recording. Two of the more extensive readers have no opinion. Apparently the reading has not been guided and it has been of little value. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 20 303 15 plus REQUIRED READING. — The choicc among these girls, though very limited, is wider than among the boys. Only three selections are mentioned, — Sir Launfal has two votes. The Sketch Book, six, and Ivanhoe, the remainder. Poor as this showing is, there is encouragement in the thought that even in this group a few girls care for poetry. OUTSIDE READING. — 20 : 147. Of 147 volumcs mentioned, all but four are fiction, and the average, about 7 to a pupil, is high. There are some interesting records here. One who does not mention Ivanhoe in the required reading has read more of Scott, and prefers Bride of Lammermoor because of its fine descriptions; one is interested in the Hfe of the ''dear old vicar" in The Vicar of Wakefield. The better reading is done by a few. There is some tendency toward girls' books. One has read six of the Elsie series; and another, Alice in Wonderland, which she pronounces FIRST YE.\R 33 *' thrilling." One prefers Step by Step because it is "good and costs but fifteen cents." Sixth City No. Total Age AvG. Age 24 397 16.5 Boys REQUIRED READING. — From only 24 boys it is not wise to draw very broad conclusions. The fact that five tj^es of literature are chosen has some significance; but almost everyone gives a different reason for his choice. OUTSIDE READING. — 24:174. Of this number one has read 15, one 12, and another 8 volumes of current fiction. One prefers The Lion and the Mouse; the one who has read 12 books has no choice either among those or in the re- quired reading. The Merchant of Venice is chosen by two. One has read 7 volumes of current fiction but prefers Kipling's Tales. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 28 438 15.6 REQUIRED READING. — Of thesc 28 girls, 3 prefer The Ancient Mariner, one the Lays of Ancient Rome, and 5 Idylls of the King, The Ancient Mariner is "mysterious" and "shows wonderful imagination;" Idylls of the King is admired for "beauty" and the "story," and The Lady of the Lake is mentioned for its "descriptions." No one finds real active elements. This group is very different from any of the others. Int. inH. S. Eng. — 3. 34 REPORTS OF PUPILS OUTSIDE READING. — 28 : 323. No such amount of read- ing has been done by any other group. Three express no choice, these being among the number who have read most current fiction. Those who prefer poetry in the required reading have read very Httle poetry in their outside reading, but they give a larger percentage of classic fiction. There are two girls' books mentioned, namely, The Sweet Girl Graduate and The Little Maid jrom Canwood. Two hke St, Elmo J one because ^'it is most exciting," and another because she *' hadn't an idea how it would end." David Copperfield, The Mill on the Floss, Uncle Toni's Cabin, and John Halifax are among the favorites. Seventh City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 20 317 15.8 required reading. — Of these 20 boys, 12 prefer Ivan- hoe, largely for its dramatic content. OUTSIDE READING. — 20:99. These boys have read 99 volumes but prefer only the following: Ben Eur, Lorna Doone, "for its descriptions;" Dickens's books, especially David Copperfield, and On Your Mark. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 31 471 15.2 REQUIRED READING. — The notable feature here is the preference for Ivanhoe. Only 3 choose Sir Launjal, and 2 The Sketch Book. OUTSIDE READING. — 31:159. The ratio of classic to current literature is high among these girls; 6 have read FIRST YEAR 35 poetry, and 9 dramas. Swiss Family Robinson^ Louisa Alcott's stories, The Jungle Book, and Little Lord Faunt- leroy are among the favorites. John Halifax *'is the best story ever written, '^ and several of Shakespeare's dramas are preferred. The reading is strong and well chosen. When the quantity is not too large there is a wider range of choice and the opinions are more intelligent. SECOND YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL First Citv No. Total Agb AvG. Age I02 1653 16.2 Boys REQUIRED READING. — With the exception of the second city, this is the only place where Pilgrim's Progress is mentioned. A few favor As You Like It but most prefer The Merchant of Venice. There is a growing interest toward character and away from plot. This is especially true of Silas Marner, The Vicar of Wakefield has a few followers, and 4 boys mention Tennyson. OUTSIDE READING. — 102 : 416. The ratio is low, but the percentage of classic Hterature read is high. This is about equally divided between novels, tales, and juvenile books. A Httle poetry is read, but not so much drama as would be expected from the statements on the required list. The first choice shows no marked characteristics. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 131 2108 16.1 REQUIRED READING. — In few instances does the girls' reading run so far parallel with that of the boys as it does here. The only point of difference is that more prefer Tennyson, and 5 speak of some form of beauty in his poems. OUTSIDE READING. — 131:784. Here the ratio is far above that of the boys. Juvenile literature declines in favor and current fiction rises. Poetry increases slightly, but the whole Hst shows little individuality. The first choices are largely for Graustark and that class of fiction. 36 SECOND YEAR Second City No. Total Age Avg. Age 182 2915 16 plus 37 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Here there is an unusually wide range of reading, more than is prescribed. Many report on part of the first year work. This is because part of the class were ^'2A." Some prefer poetry and the drama. OUTSIDE READING. — 182 : 906. The ratio is not large, but the reading is of a high order and it bears a close rela- tion to the required reading. The teacher of this class for years has exercised a strong influence. He brings out the artistic element in what is read, and this seems to affect the outside reading. There is a high per cent of juvenile reading, including The Crimson Sweater and The Half -Back, No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 194 3202 16.5 REQUIRED READING. — Not all of thcse girls give definite opinions, but those who do express a choice show marked individuality, so much so that their answers cannot be easily grouped. 6*^7^5 If am^/- is the favorite; ''it is true to life," ''shows the influence of the child," "its force is fascinating," "it is easy to read," and "it ends well." It is remark- able that interest does not center wholly in plot. This seems to be owing to training. Of the dramas, As You Like It is more popular than The Merchant of Venice. In this school much dramatic reading is done. Its influence is apparent from the discriminating statements relative to 38 REPORTS OF PUPILS the different characters. The "interest of the story " is not the common reason for preference. Doubtless this reading also accounts for the higher ratio of those preferring the drama. The Deserted Village has 13 votes. Poetry is also of some interest. OUTSIDE READING. — 194 : 1438. Here the ratio is very high, and although current fiction prevails with 728 volumes, it is of a fairly high grade. The Lady of the Decoration shows "the queer part the decoration played;" The Vir- ginian "is about a brave fellow,'' and A Spinner in the Sun "is a good love story;" Richard Carvel is a particular favorite for "its action and adventure;" Black Rock has "lots of conversation and no long descriptions;" Red Rock "is interesting" and the ever-present Grawjtor^ "is a thrilling story." It is again apparent that those who read too much have little taste. One girl who has read 20 volumes of current fiction prefers St. Elmo. Here is another interesting fact, — those who have read the most current fiction express no opinion in regard to the required reading. Too much fiction seems to destroy taste. One has read 23 books, another 17, another 15, and several more than 10 books, yet none of these express a choice. This is not true when the read- ing has been of the so-called classic type. Pupils who read Scott, Dickens, Bulwer-Lytton, Cooper, George Eliot, though in smaller quantities, give definite expression of preference. Kenilworth is particularly popular for its descriptions. This may be due in part to the interest in Ivanhoe in the previous year; John Halifax is liked because the hero is a "perfect gentleman." One girl writes, "I never read a book I enjoyed Hke Jane Eyre; I read it three times." SECOND YEAR 39 Dickens is a growing favorite, and the interest centers in the characters. There is a tendency here in classic fiction to give value to other than plot interest. This is real development. One hundred and twenty-one have read poetry — a large part Idylls of the King. One writes, *'It shows an artistic way of handling a modern story in the guise of an ancient legend;" another, ''The author gives the important facts of life and character in the form of wonderfully musical poetry." This is the most emphatic defense of poetry yet received. Here ^6 prefer the drama in the required reading and they have read 98 plays outside. A large number have read tales — Hawthorne's and Greek Stories. History and science get scant recognition. It is noticeable that girls* books have almost entirely disappeared. For better or worse this reading is given up. Third City No. Total Age Ave. Age 40 649 16.2 Boys REQUIRED READING. — The Merchant of Venice is chosen for its characters; Silas Marner has a wider range of ad- vantage, being "true to Hfe," ''easy to understand," and a picture of "the inner side of Hfe." OUTSIDE READING. — 40 1 83. Three have read dramas, 6 poetry, and the ratio of classic to current fiction is high. The Hoosier Schoolmaster is a favorite for its simple English and humor. 40 REPORTS OF PUPILS No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 43 725 16.8 REQUIRED READING. — While the novcl finds the most favor, there is a decrease in plot interest. Character and style are in some form mentioned. Silas Marner is "true to life" and " to nature." '' Silas is brave, and it is interest- ing to see Eppie grow up." OUTSIDE READING. — 43 : 2o6. Most of tliosc who prefer the dramas in the required reading prefer dramas or poetry in the outside reading. The interest, however, is less in plot. Ben Eur is liked "for its descriptions," and The Spinner in the Sun "for noble characters." John Halifax describes "an ideal life," The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come gives "pictures of life and people," and The Conquest of Canaan is "true to Ufe." Fourth City No. Total Age Avg. A(» Boys 58 1003 17 REQUIRED READING. — There is a narrow range of choice but a dropping away from plot interest. The Merchant oj Venice is mentioned most for its style and its characters. The expressions under this head are of great variety but they show an interest in character and pleasure in the dramatic form. There is also a suggestion of knowledge of dramatic structure, as in the comment, "The climax is fine." OUTSIDE READING. — 58:210. A wider range of choice than in the first year is apparent. For classic tales, Haw- SECOND YEAR 41 thorne is a favorite. Four mention biography and 11 history stories, but give no definite reasons. The influence of Silas Marner is shown in the choice of other books by the same author. Comparison is made, as, ^^Adam Bede is more exciting than Silas Marner.'^ No. Total Age Ave. Age Girls 6$ 1090 16.77 REQUIRED READING. — Two prefer Tennyson and 2 Ivanhoe, the interest of the others being divided between The Merchant of Venice and Silas Marner ^ but the interest widens. Character and style are taking the place of plot; The Merchant of Venice ''has a fine climax," and particular scenes — as the trial — are mentioned; Silas Marner is liked because "it is true to life, it impresses one as a true picture of a lifework." There is little mention of the evolution of character; the pupils are doubtless too young to understand this. OUTSIDE READING. — 65 : 268. Current fiction rises high again. Nine who have read dramas have all read The Merchant of Venice in the required reading. The required dramas seem to influence outside reading more than the fiction does. The frequent reading of Rah and His Friends shows that this is not a child's book, as so many believe. The interest is not in the dog but in the old Scotchman and his wife. One still likes Five Little Peppers. St. Elmo is admired because the author uses "such choice words to connect sentences." 42 REPORTS OF PUPILS Boys Fifth City No. Total Age AvG. Age 23 38s 16.6 REQUIRED READING. — In this year, as in the first, little interest is manifest among the pupils of this city. Ivanhoe, a first year book, is read along with Silas Marner and The Merchant of Ve?iice, though here, as elsewhere, the interest is not all in plot. OUTSIDE READING. — 23 : 1 49. The ratio here is very high, but it is owing to 2 who have read 33 volumes of current fiction but who have no choice nor opinion of the required reading. One has read 6 dramas and in the required prefers The Merchant of Venice. The reader who has read only a fair amount of current and classic literature generally prefers the classic. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 25 415 16.6 REQUIRED READING. — Eight of these prefer Gray's Elegy for its ^'language and beautiful spirit." Eleven Hke Silas Marner, while the others prefer Toanhoe for a variety of reasons. OUTSIDE READING. — 25 .* 234. In this school the girls have read more poetry than the boys. One has read Milton's Minor Poems and prefers them for "the mystical stories they contain." One has read dramas, classic fic- tion, and short stories and prefers The Mill on the Floss, "because of Maggie's character." In one combination of 7 classic stories, i current story, and 6 poems, Dickens is preferred. SECOND YEAR Sixth City No. Total Age Ave. Age 32 528 16.5 43 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Here the entire interest is in The Merchant of Venice or Silas Marner. Despite the weak- ness of the choice there is a tendency even here toward character. OUTSIDE READING. — 32:221. The ratio is high, with much fiction, yet there is a tendency toward drama and poetry. No. Total Age Ave. Age Girls 30 495 16.4 REQUIRED READING. — A monotonous list, The Merchant of Venice and Silas Marner being the favorites. OUTSIDE READING. — 30 1238. Even here poetry is strong, with a few dramas, though there is a high percentage of current fiction. Seventh City No. Total Age Avg. Age 29 502 17.3 Boys REQUIRED READING. — All but two prefer The Merchant of Venice or Silas Marner and a few suggest plot. OUTSIDE READING. — 29 1 203. For the number there are many poems, dramas, and history stories chosen. 44 REPORTS OF PUPILS No. Total Age Avg. Age C^iris 33 519 15.75 REQUIRED READING. — The choice is between The Mer- chant of Venice and Silas Marner, while the interest tends toward character rather than plot. OUTSIDE READING. — 33 : 247. There is a higher ratio of dramas, and those choosing them have preferred The Merchant of Venice in their required reading. Poetry has II counts; Paradise Lost is cited for its *' variety of ma- terial." Dickens is the most popular of classic novelists. This in itself shows interest in character rather than in action. THIRD YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL First City No. Total Age AvG. Age Il6 2020 17.4 Boys REQUIRED READING. — The interest in Ruskin and Da Quincey is slight, but what there is centers almost en- tirely in style. Julius Ccesar is most popular and more for character than for plot. King Henry the Fifth, The Merchant of Venice, and even Silas Marner show the same interest, but in Tennyson only 3 find the style worth men- tioning. OUTSIDE READING. — ii6 : 651. The classic gains on cur- rent reading. Interest in the drama is marked. The required reading has apparently had its effect. There is a scattered interest in history and science, but it does not show any particular tendency. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 112 1940 17.3 REQUIRED READING. — Thcsc rccords differ but slightly from those of the boys. The tendency is away from plot to character and the essays show a dawning interest in style. OUTSIDE READING. — 112:784. There is less juvenile reading than among the boys and decidedly more poetry and drama. Fifteen have read science tales and 22 report on history. 45 46 REPORTS OF PUPILS Second Cit^ No. Total Age Ave. Age 170 2938 17.3 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Strength of selection character- izes this group. Joan of Arc and The English Mail Coach j so noticeably omitted in the other schools, have a fair quota of followers; and the style in each case is emphasized. It is remarkable that in no school is Emerson mentioned. There are 4 that speak of the ''moral truths" of Sesame and Lilies; Julius Ccesar is very popular, but King Henry the Fifth has only 16 admirers. Most of those choosing the former are interested in the principal characters. Fifteen have read Silas Marner, and 5 mention The Vicar of Wakefield. Among the reasons, some are unique. One likes The Vicar of Wakefield because "it is humorous," and another finds Silas Marner interesting because "it is so sad;" 2 do not like Shakespeare, and one finds Sesame and Lilies "an inspiration to better thinking." OUTSIDE READING. — 170:823. There is unusual breadth of choice here, and there are also some positive opinions. Poetry and drama hold a large proportion, with a strong following for science and history stories. Dickens has a large following: Pickwick Papers "is original and funny," Oliver Twist and David Copperfield "have some striking characters." Dumas's Twenty Years After "is chock full of go," and The Three Musketeers "is lively." The Moon- stone appeals because of its "vividness," and nearly all the Leather Stocking Tales are mentioned. Considerable poetry is mentioned. Idylls of the King being chosen for the "beautiful stories." Girls THIRD YEAR No. Total Age AvG. Age 192 3390 17.7 47 REQUIRED READING. — This reading does not differ materially from that of the boys. The girls see more beauty and less plot interest in DeQuincey. They take about the same attitude toward the dramas and toward Sesame and Lilies, but their reasons for choice differ from those of the boys. Several find Julius Ccesar "exciting;" one calls Sesame and Lilies "too dry;" another admires it for its "noble thoughts," another says it is "forcefully written," and another that "there is too much to it." OUTSIDE READING. — 192:1667. This reading does not differ materially from that of the boys except that there is a much higher ratio of poetry. Milton's Minor Poems have been read "a mmiber of times," and Van Dyke's poems are "full of nature." Dickens's works "have more to them than later books;" The Mill on the Floss "is a picture of real life," and the characters in Jane Eyre are "out of the ordinary;" Pride and Prejudice "has an interesting plot, but the characters are weak.^' Of more modern novels Richard Carvel, The Crisis j and The Honorable Peter Stirling are popular. Third City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 33 576 17.4 REQUIRED READING. — In this group De Quincey is pop- ular and in every case he is chosen for his style. How- ever, it is De Quincey and not the essay itself that gives 48 REPORTS OF PUPILS interest. Twenty-one prefer the drama and of these only 8 mention plot interest. OUTSIDE READING. — 33 : 294. This ratio is high for boys and the tendency toward the classic is marked. There are 20 citations of poetry, mostly epic. It seems that the desire for action in poetry persists longer than in prose. A few history and science stories are given. Shakespeare "weaves material together in a way that has never been equaled;" The Pathfinder "is a good lesson in patience;" Letters of a Self-made Merchant "give good and humorous advice;" Hugo and Dumas "are mysterious, deep, out of the ordinary." The Courtship of Miles Stan- dish "shows customs of the Pilgrims." Nothing is said of style. No. Total Age Ave. Age Girls 47 830 17.6 REQUIRED READING. — The taste of the girls is not very different from that of the boys. Eight prefer De Quincey, all but one for his style; 3 prefer Sesame and Lilies ^ and 9 Julius CcBsar. Only one cites King Henry the Fifth as against 1 2 boys. Twenty- two mention Silas Marner, but 1 2 of these like it for the characters. OUTSIDE READING. — 47:326. This is a high ratio and the books are of good grade. In this year, classical gains on current literature, the juvenile fiction is almost extinct, but tales hold their own. Poetry, but not the drama, is more popular than with boys, and only 3 have read nature stories. Here there is a relation between the required and outside reading. Several who prefer Julius Ccesar or King THIRD YEAR 49 Henry the Fifth have read more dramas and express a choice for them. Romeo and Juliet is liked for its action and Mac- heth also for this reason and because "the witches make it like a ghost story." There is a wide and well-chosen variety. Les Miserables "has vivid descriptions;" Ben Eur "has plot and character;" The Lady of the Decora- tion "is simply told;" Silas Marner "teaches a great moral truth;" Uncle Remus "portrays life that will never exist." This is a fine group, — good, healthy books and almost none of the cheaper current fiction. Fourth City No. Total Age AvG. Ace 45 770 17.I Boys REQUIRED READING. — The preference here is almost en- tirely for the drama. There is some interest in plot but that in character predominates, with a tendency toward style. Julius CcBsar is considered "exciting, full of action and instruction," but it is oftenest mentioned for the traits of Brutus or Cassius, or even of some minor character. Idylls of the King is read in this year and there are 15 preferences for it. This would indicate that these poems belong here rather than a year earlier. It is somewhat remarkable that Sesame and Lilies receives 7 votes, and its moral value as well as style is recognized. OUTSIDE READING. — 45:151. This is about the usual ratio and the usual proportion of classic to current literature is found. A few dramas and a little history are given, but the reading in general is without character. Several have Int. in H. S. En«. — 4. 50 REPORTS OF PUPILS read Oliver Twist. The Last of the Mohicans is mentioned and a few other good books, but there is no distinct tendency. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 46 799 17.3 REQUIRED READING. — The choicc of the girls here is quite like that of the boys. Idylls of the King has a good following for a variety of reasons. Some mention the story but several speak of the beauty of the poems as the most interesting characteristic. Yet even here none state in what the beauty consists. Some find plot interest in the drama, but several are attracted by the personality of the characters and others by the style of the drama. Throughout this year there is a tendency mildly to enjoy description. OUTSIDE READING. — 46:67. This ratio is so very low that there must be some particular reason for it, though the reason is not apparent from the records. There is the usual proportion of classic to current fiction and a little history. The outside reading bears no relation to the required reading and the choice does not show any definite tendency. Fifth City No. Total Age Avg. Age Boys 17 290 17 plus REQUIRED READING. — The literary characteristics that depend upon cultivation here excite attention. Under THIRD YEAR 5 1 The English Mail Coach we note ^^description;'' under Sesame and Lilies "description and beauty of structure;" and the drama is cited for both "plot and character." OUTSIDE READING. — 17:110. As the ratio of current fiction falls, that of other reading rises, and at the same time there are more positive expressions of taste. Poetry, drama, Dickens's works, and biography all have a share. Dickens's works "give fine pictures of old England;" The Talisman "portrays the people of the Middle Ages;" even Milton's poems find approval. No. Total Age Ave. Age Girls 15 251 17 minus REQUIRED READING. — Here the girls and the boys make practically the same choice. Joan of Arc is mentioned "for its beautiful sentences," so is The English Mail Coach; Sesame and Lilies "teaches great truths and contains fine descriptions;" Julius Ccesar "shows pictures of old Rome." It looks as though certain forms of composition had been taught here in connection with literature, i.e., " correct models to imitate." OUTSIDE READING. — 1 5 ! 94. Dircct relation between the required and the outside reading is here shown, not only by the class as a whole but also by individuals. Poetry has an important place, and a few are interested in the drama. A little history and some scientific stories are read. The preference is largely for the better fiction. The Mill on the Floss is liked "for Maggie's character;" Rebecca of Sunny- brook Farm "is a true picture of a girl's character;" Lorna Doone and also Milton's poems are favorites. 52 REPORTS OF PUPILS Sixth City No. Total Age Ave. Age Boys 36 630 17.5 REQUIRED READING. — Five prefer De Quincey for style and two find character interest in Sesame attd Lilies but the main interest is in the drama. OUTSIDE READING. — 136 : 270. There is a rise in juve- nile fiction and a strong following for epic poetry. Nature and history stories are well represented. No. Total Age Avg. Age Girls 46 809 17.6 REQUIRED READING. — There is little difference from the boys except in more appreciation of style. OUTSIDE READING. — 46 : 286. The classic fiction con- tinues to increase and interest in epic poetry is strong. Seventh City No. Total Age Avg. Age 28 484 17.2 Boys REQUIRED READING. — Though this group is small, we note that four choose The English Mail Coach; and while 24 others choose dramas, the interest expressed is in char- acter rather than in plot. OUTSIDE READING. — 28 : 65. The reading is without point or indication. There is the usual amount of current fiction and only one expresses any preference. Two have read history but give no indication of interest. Girls THIRD YEAR No. Total Age Ave. Age 35 597 17 plus 53 REQUIRED READING. — Some have reported on first and second year work. Thirteen prefer Joan of Arc or The English Mail Coach. Four see the great moral lesson of the former; the others choose the stories for their style. This is in itself indication of development as compared with the lower years. There is a growing appreciation of literature for its own sake. Julius Ccesar is chosen for character rather than for plot, and Silas Marner for its moral lessons. OUTSIDE READING. — 35:225. Classical fiction is pre- ferred by 84 as compared to 107 who favor current fiction. Classic tales, contrary to expectation, more than hold their own. Poetry is gaining, both epic and descriptive. There are a few dramas and a little history, and 2 report biog- raphy. Some prefer dramas in both required and out- side reading, but no marked tendency is [^apparent. One girl mentions Milton^s poems because "they ring along." Tom Sawyer is "humorous and true to life." Dickens's works are "much drawn out," and one ]jikts David Copper- field "for its excellent characters." , TITLES OF REQUIRED READING The following are the signatures and the titles indicated on the charts of required reading: EIGHTH GRADE, GRAMMAR SCHOOL 1. In the Wilderness. 2. Sharp Eyes. 3. The Lady of the Lake. 4. The Skeleton in Armor. 5. Horatius. 6. The Singing Leaves. 7. Rhoecus. 8. Under the Old Elm. 9. Incident of the French Camp. 10. Under the Willows. 11. Apostrophe to the Ocean. 12. To a Skylark. FIRST YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL 1. The Ancient Mariner. 2. Lays of Ancient Rome. 3. The Vision of Sir LaunfaJ. 4. Ivanhoe. 5. A Tale of Two Cities. 6. Cranford. 7. The Sketch Book. 8. Lamb's Essays of Elia. 9. Bacon's Essays. 10. Browning (Selections). 11. Tennyson's Idylls of the King. 12. Palgrave's Golden Treasury. 54 TITLES OF REQUIRED READING 55 SECOND YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL A. Sir Roger De Coverley Papers. B. The Pilgrim's Progress. C. Franklin's Autobiography. D. As You Like It. E. The Merchant of Venice. F. Twelfth Night. G. Silas Marner. H. The Vicar of Wakefield. J. The House of the Seven Gables. K. The Deserted ViUage. L. Palgrave's Golden Treasury. THIRD YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL M. Joan of Arc. N. The English Mail Coach. O. Emerson's Essays. P. Sesame and Lilies. Q. Kmg Henry the Fifth. R. Julius Caesar. CLASSIFICATION OF REQUIRED READING The following charts show by years the reading done in the several cities. The required reading is classified according to elements of interest. .1 Description. .2 Moral. .3 Plot. .4 Character. .5 Style or beauty. The outside reading is classified according to type of literature. I.I Classic fiction. 1.1 I Classic tales. 1.1 2 Short stories. 1. 13 Juvenile stories. 1.2 Current fiction. 2.1 Epic or narrative poetry. 2.2 Descriptive or lyric poetry. 3.1 Drama — Tragedy. 3.2 Drama — Comedy. 4.1 Classic history. 4.2 European history. 4-3 U. S. history. 4.4 Local history. 4.01 Historic tales. 56 CLASSIFICATION OF REQUIRED READING 57 5.1 Science — Animals. 5.2 Science — Plants. 5.01 Nature stories. 6 Biography. Per cent under required reading is based on the list for each year; e.g,^ p. 60, total for boys, under Ivankoe is .686, which means that 68.6% of all the boys of the J&rst year preferred Ivanhoe to any other of the required reading, and .248 under Ivanhoe (4.3) means that 24.8% preferred it for its plot. Ratio imder outside reading is the ratio of number of pupils to amount read; e.g., p. 61, ratio for boys, current fiction is 3.404. This is found by dividing the number of volumes read, 1702, by the total number of boys, 500, and therefore indicates the average number of volumes of cur- rent fiction read by each boy. 53 TABLE OF READING BY YEARS Eighth Grade— Required Reading Ci llnthe^WUdeoiess 2 Sharp'Eyes 1 3 Ladyof the Late -1 4 Skeleton in Armor : 5 Hocatius 6 Sing&gjte^ves 7Rhoeoia.. 8 Under tlie Old 'Elm 9 Incident of the French Camp 10 Under the Willows 11 Apostrophe to the Ocean 1 12 To a Skylark ies I II 1 in IV V VI VII Totals 1 C'^^n^t 1 B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G its no 123 241 252 50 53 94 86 32 26 47 49 30 31 604 620 .1 5 4 29 38 14 6 48 48 080 077 .2 10 9 21 IG 31 25 .051 .040 .3 10 9 19 16 10 15 15 20 8 16 10 5 6 83 76 .137 1-123 .4 38 21 3 12 41 33 .068J052J 'ot. 15 13 % 84 10 15 53 54 8 16 10 5 6 203 182 .886 292 .1 24 16 2 4 26 20 .043 .032 .2 4 4 1 5 4 .009 .007 .3 10 12 1 G 4 7 6 4 4 28 26 .046 042 ,4 6 7 2 6 8 13 .013 .021 ot. 4 4 30 23 10 12 6 10 6 4 7 6 4 4 67 63 .111 102 .1 1 12 1 12 002 .020 .3 40 49 52 73 21 26 9 13 10 8 10 14 12 16 154 199 .255 521 .4 10 8 16 17 9 35 25 058 .040 .5 3 2 15 16 1 19 18 .031 029 ot. 53 59 83 106 21 26 20 25 10 8 10 14 12 16 209 254 .346 i410 .1 1 1 1 1 .002 .0(J1 .2 4 4 2 4 8 6 .013 .010 'ot. 4 4 1 3 4 9 7 .015 .011 .1 3 2 5 .009 2 2 .003 .3 6 6 4 5 4 18 16 .0301.026 A 3 3 .005 ot. 9 6 5 9 4 5 -1 2 25 19 .042 .031 .1 1 1 4 4 5 5 .009 .008 .2 2 2 2 2 .003 .003 .3 5 7 2 5 5 14 ,009 023 .4 3 3 .005 rot. 5 7 1 3 2 7 3 4 4 12 24 .021 .030 .1 6 5 2 2 3 10 8 .017 .01.3 •^ 10 9 10 9 .017 .015 .1 2 2 .003 .3 3 3 005 .4 2 1 2 .003 'ot. 4 3 4 3 .006 .005 .1 6 6 .010 3 7 2 5 7 009 .011 'ot. 3 7 8 11 7 .019 .011 90 93 22S 234 41 53 100 107 30 19 44 40 127 30 560 576 .9.30 929 TABLE OF READING BY YEARS 59 1 i. i.O ^ 1 ^ o s ^ o i i § i § T-J i 1 1 «3 q CO CO i. s 8 CO 8 i 1 53 i i. o o i i 8 S s 03 O i i i i 13 .2 " s i i 1 CO S3 S CO q; g 0*1 OJ S s CO 3 03 o i CO i i 1 s § i i ^ 2 ^ ^ s CD 03 CO '"' § ?:: t- 03 s -^ 03 > ^ CO CO -* S (^i ^ ■JJ ^ s OS OS 3 n g u 3 3 S J3 ^ -* 03 ^ 03 03 00 o Ol 03 3 > a s (>J O CO ^ g CO 2 CO CO i ytl « ^ § s S ?3 ^ CO CO CO CO CO CO s > - S ?§ s 3 C5 35 -M - '^ CO 2 03 a ?^ ^ ^ s 1 g S .-H CO 00 ^ ^ OS 3 03 03 03 3 1 > g o g 9 i s CO CO o i2 03 03 i-H o i£5 2 1—1 i s C 1 a S CO g CO s ^ (M -M o o «3 OI CO 03 03 'i* 00 1 3 s § g s i s s 55 rS s 03 s s OS OS X! H s 5 ^ s g g O •^ o 03 03 -* 03 o CO 1 ^ % 3 1 1 3 1 § 1 g s OS OS g g § § I- i U o s '^ 2 g i § ■* :;J »o lO CO CO §^ ^ 03 g - u 1 g t- s s § S 55 cS 03 i o o g s ^ ^ 05 8 g 03 03 ^ ^ OS OS i .2 5 > 1 2 f2 1 1 1 1 D &H i 1 3 2 u 1 ca 1 1 c 3 c © R i c o 'B, .a h % ■s .2* Q >> 1 f i 1 1 1 i 2 Q is u 1 O ie e 1 3 2 is 1 u 1 .2 X s CO 1 C < 1 i 1 e i 3 1 s 6o TABLE OF READING BY YEARS First Year - -K .eq uired Read ing Ci Pu l.Andcnt Mariner 2.Lays of r^^^ Ancient Rome^"* 3.Vision of Sir Launfal T 4.1raiihoe T 5.A Tale of Two Cities T 6. Cranford 7. Sketch Book Lamb's '^ 8..£ssay8 of Elia 9. Bacon's Essays 10. Browning- Selections 11. Tennyson's IdyillsoftheKing 12. Palgrave's Golden Treasury A-Sir Roger de Coverly Papers D-As you Like It T E -Merchant of Venice ies I II III IV V VI VII Totals PerCen^ B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G pils 132 140 211 ?M 36 35 69 71 18 20 24 28 20 31 500 561 .1 2 1 2 2 3 .004 .003 .2 6 21 1 6 22 012 ,039 .3 1 4 1 6 .016 .4 .5 Jtal 8 22 6 3 8 31 016 .060 WJ 2 1 1 2 2 1 7 2 .014 .004 .2 2 8 7 20 2 11 28 .022 .050 9 11 18 1 1 7 1 2 2 13 39 026 .069 .3 2 3 9 8 1 3 1 15 12 .030 .021 otal 4 20 27 46 1 4 7 1 2 3 3 39 79 078 140 .1 20 15 23 16 5 10 7 1 3 3 2 3 64 46 .128 ,030 .2 20 10 24 19 5 5 10 4 1 2 1 4 4 66 43 132 .077 .3 28 27 54 58 5 1 19 22 8 3 8 6 2 9 124 126 .248 .22.5 .4 16 13 28 24 5 9 6 8 4 2 2 9 59 67 .118 1 120 .5 3 ir. 16 1 10 5 2 2 2 1 30 28 .060 ,050 otal 84 68 145 133 20 18 55 46 12 12 15 7 12 26 343 310 .686 .55^ .1 1 1 .002 .2 2 2 .004 .3 2 3 2 3 .004 .006 .4 4 2 4 2 .008 .OOJ .5 Jtal 4 2 5 3 9 5 .018 .009 2 2 004 .1 11 7 9 10 1 2 2 3 4 1 22 28 .044 ,050 .2 1 1 2 2 3 3 006 ,005 .3 8 3 7 12 2 1 3 2 1 19 20 .038 .036 .4 1 6 5 6 6 .012 .010 .5 6 4 3 5 9 9 .018 016 )tal 20 17 26 31 1 6 5 5 6 2 4 2 59 66 118 .lie 7 10 7 10 .014 ,01J .1 3 1 2 1 1 2 ,004 .011 .2 2 2 1 1 1 002 .009 .3 6 6 1 1 3 9 018 .014 .4 7 2 2 4 11 .022 .007 Ual 11 14 7 5 8 23 23 [046 .041 .1 1 1 1 .002 .001 .1 3 2 2 2 004 .009 .2 1 2 1 .007 .3 1 .003 .4 1 3 3 .Oi3 >ul 6 5 2 7 2 18 004 032 .4 6 2 8 2 14 (m 024 122 140 211 f;36 36 35 69 71 13 20 24 28 10 31 ml ^ L22 LOO TABLE OF READING BY YEARS 6i o i g i O i i 2 i i 1 g i o CO o CO o 1 S S i 00 3 i ^ 1 1 * rH CO * * • ■ ■ * CO oa g 5 00 s § s 1 i i i 1 g 3 1 1 1 ^ s o 1 i 1 S S »-H CO ' • * lei ^ ^-, ^ M* i CO 2 oJ ^ CO -«*< '^^ s o OS OS CO o ^ J2 ii^ i^ ^ "^ o -^ -^ O Tl* OJ S h n i CO o» s i i s§ u S S s «D 00 m ^ GO S 00 ^ iS s CO «— ^ ^ CO CO IM OS «o ^ ^ (N ^ ^ ^ CO 3 n g CO o •^ X) .^ '* •^ »1 0< g «o '^ o _^ OS la CO 00 CO « OS w o (M 53 dNJ > n ^ :d §? 1 ■<*< ■* 00 0« d t- ^ g -^ Ci g s ^ ^; CO fS «o "> ^ la i •o ^ CO on ^ ^ ■^ m 1 *3 ffl «3 ^~* •"* t- ^ "^ r-t (4 1 d S 23 ^ ^ s 1^ 05 OS -H -^ ^ -^ -^ s fc* '^ n i§ ;d ^ s s s ■^ ■<1< -* o OS 01 (M ■. s ?i ■^ g '-' d o ■ S s cs ?2 rH i i2 lO 05 ^ §s 00 CO ^ 'i* ■n* i CQ S a ^ b- iS § i ^ 23 o «o 2 ^ (N CO 2 CO -- 5 3 2 2 2 2 — < 3 h H H H H H H u Pk ^ t' 1 as u •c 2 i t« 1 1 c 1 1 3 u 1 » e 0, u I 3 > t Q i 1 1 1 6 1 'S c o V a 2 3 is 1 - S 2 X 1 c 1 i 2 c 8 B CO s 1 0. 1 s "* -« «s « «-; »« M M f»: 1- • r« •" — -* *" — ■^ r^ '^ ■» "»■ ^ ■« « *" yB 68 TABLE OF READING BY YEARS Second Year —Required Reading Ci Pu A-Sir Roger de Coverly Papers B-Pilgrim's Progress T C-Franklin's Autobiography D-As you Like It. T E-The Merchant of Venice T F-Twelfth Night G-Silas Marner T H-Vicar of Wakefield T J-House of Seven Gables T K-Deserted Village T L-Palgrave's Golden Treasury 4. Ivanhoe 7. Sketch Boils 102 131 182 194 40 43 58 65 23 25 32 30 29 33 406 521 .1 5 4 5 4 .Oil .007 .2 10 10 .021 .4 4 5 15 19 041 .010 otal 4 5 25 29 5 062 010 .4 8 7 10 5 18 12 039 .023 .1 7 7 .013 .2 .3 6 8 5 29 11 37 023 .071 .4 4 4 9 11 13 15 .028 .029 >tal 10 12 14 47 24 59 .051 113 .1 5 2 2 5 3 4 5 16 .011 .030 .2 3 4 4 2 1 6 8 .012 .015 .3 21 27 17 20 5 5 4 10 8 10 8 5 4 70 74 1,71 142 .4 8 9 5 2 5 6 10 3 5 8 8 6 32 43 .068 .083 .5 4 3 13 9 5 7 2 3 2 27 21 .058 .040 >tal 33 39 30 39 9 15 19 36 13 20 19 16 14 140 162 .300 .310 .1 2 10 10 4 5 1 2 12 22 025 .042 .2 21 4 2 4 2 5 1 2 9 32 019 .061 .3 20 29 17 13 5 9 14 9 4 5 4 2 3 3 67 70 .144 ,134 .4 9 8 4 18 5 9 9 7 1 6 6 3 7 4 41 55 .089 .106 .5 3 2 8 2 13 2 .028 .004 otal 32 37 25 62 24 24 35 25 5 11 10 11 11 11 142 181 305 .347 .2 12 5 12 5 025 010 .3 3 4 7 2 19 11 .041 ,022 .4 4 12 4 12 8 .026 015 otal 3 8 38 16 2 43 24 092 .047 .3 5 14 2 19 2 .041 004 .4 3 4 2 3 6 ,007 .012 >tal 8 4 14 4 22 8 048 .016 .2 .3 .5 5 13 2 7 13 015 025 >tal 5 13 2 7 13 015 025 7 7 .013 .3 15 2 5 6 20 8 042 .015 .1 5 2 4 2 9 .005 018 .3 4 14 3 o 2 9 16 019 ,031 .5 5 3 2 5 5 Oil 010 Dtal 4 19 6 2 2 2 14 21 030 041 .3 8 8 015 .5 T )tal 8 8 015 102 131 182 194 40 43 58 65 23 J5 il 30 il 33 466 521 1,000 1.000 I TABLE OF READING BY YEARS 63 3 1 2 1 s ^ i. 1 1 1 i 1 2 i. i. i CO 5? CD ea i 2 i ^ ^ s CO 1 CJ 1 i i i s i i 1 CO q 1 § t^ 1 g i i 1 S i s 52 -<*< 2 § CO CO t- i CQ 1 5< i 00 i s ^ ^ 1 §3 - e? ^ i^ (N K in s t^ Ci 05 -- -- CO s CO S ^ CO a IS 00 ^ CO ?» t- CO N -* CD IC la i > 8 -ri CO '^ g »^ I— CO CO 01 lO CJ CQ i sa g S a> - s 1 Oi OCi ^^ -^ ■<# CQ "^ Cl U3 i > S S ^ ^ g 8 '^ ro C3 O-l -^ S3 1 a c5 8 s 8 CQ CQ '^ > s S 05 JS CO CI Ci t- en CO a> ?^ i 9 n s S ^ S s c3 l^- C3 05 CQ S CO CQ Oi ^ 1 ^ § g S5 1 ?2 Ci CO c ^ CO i Si cs § S 00 4C ^ CO CO s c a 1 1 s li: fe g If:: CJ s g s CI CI CI CQ 1 ffl S g ?2 5£ 1 5q So g^ s s Ci 8 ^ in a eg CD i - cc S ^ CO i i t- ^ » 05 xra CO CO ^ -- H CQ i 8 - s 1 1 eg CD as. CO b- Ci ^ Ci 10 C3 CQ Ci CO -J" 1 1 "3 2 1 "a 1 2 f2 1 1 6 1 r to s •c S s 1 3 u 1^ > 1 h 1 a i >> 1 Q 1 1 i 1 1 6 a 2 1 1 3 2 1 1 5 S y J2 s ■5 1 1 ! 1 s s X) a 1 s 64 TABLE OF READING BY YEARS Third Year-Required Reading Pu M- Joan of Arc N-The English Mail Coach O •Emerson's Bssays P.Se8ame& Lilies t 0-King Henry the Fifth R-Julhis Caesar D-AsYouXikelt E-Merchant of Venice G-Silas Mamer H-Vicar of Wakefield A-Slr Roger de Covedy Papers ll.Tennyson's Idylls of the King ies I n III IV V VI VII Totals Per Cent 1 B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G B G )ilS 116 112 170 192 33 47 46 46 17 15 30 46 28 35 445 493 .1 3 3 3 3 006 000 .2 2 2 4 7 4 6 13 .014 .026 .3 10 10 .023 .5 7 6 10 7 8 4 1 2 3 6 27 26 .061 053 rot. 9 7 27 17 8 4 1 2 3 10 46 42 .104 .086 .1 4 2 1 2 4 10 3 .023 .006 .2 1 1 .002 .3 5 2 5 2 .011 004 .4 1 1 .003 .6 5 5 10 10 4 3 2 3 5 3 22 28 .049 057 "ot. 5 5 20 15 4 4 2 2 3 5 4 3 38 34 .086 .069 .1 3 1 2 1 2 2 4 7 .009 .014 .2 4 6 1 1 1 5 8 .011 .016 .3 2 1 3 006 .4 2 1 3 2 3 2 2 6 10 .011 .020 .5 3 2 4 5 1 1 3 3 11 11 .024 .023 rot. 3 2 8 18 3 7 6 6 2 5 26 39 .056 .079 .1 2 2 .004 .2 2 2 1 2 3 005 .006 .3 6 2 6 2 2 1 2 2 3 5 3 23 12 .052 .025 .4 9 5 8 15 10 3 3 3 3 4 8 44 27 .098 .056 .5 1 1 2 .004 Pot 16 7 16 22 12 1 5 7 6 9 11 69 46 .155 .094 .1 6 2 1 2 1 4 7 8 .016 .016 .2 5 2 3 2 8 .006 .016 .3 20 24 19 30 4 2 4 6 6 3 4 2 57 66 .129 J34 .4 27 31 28 35 6 6 4 3 12 10 9 8 84 97 .189 197 .6 4 6 15 21 1 2 4 22 30 .049 .061 rot. 51 60 67 93 5 9 IC 17 7 17 13 13 10 172 209 .388 424 .1 1 1 .003 .4 2 2 .004 rot 1 2 1 2 .003 .004 .3 6 6 1 2 2 8 8 .018 016 .4 7 6 2 2 2 3 4 9 16 ,020 .032 'ot 12 11 1 2 4 2 3 6 17 24 .038 .048 .1 1 1 2 2 5 .006 .010 .2 2 2 5 1 2 3 6 6 16 .011 .032 .3 4 6 4 6 .009 .013 .4 8 7 11 6 12 1 1 * 5 25 30 .055 .061 rot. 10 9 15 12 22 2 3 6 8 6 36 57 .080 .110 .3 3 3 006 .4 2 2 .004 .5 2 2 .005 rot. 5 2 5 2 .011 .004 .5 3 3 .006 .1 3 2 C 3 9 5 .020 .010 .2 1 2 1 2 .003 .004 .3 8 8 3 2 3 6 14 15 .031 .030 .4 4 4 5 2 9 6 .020 .013 .5 3 3 4 3 7 .000 .014 rot. 11 11 10 6 2 15 16 36 36 .080 .071 116 112 170 102 33 47 45 46 17 15 30 40 28 35 445 498 .000 iOO( TABLE OF READING BY YEARS 65 .2 OS 1 s i 1 3 CO s i i 1 i i f i i 1 i. ^ i oa i 1 i 1 3 01 s i i 1.0 ^ g § § s 1 5S ^i S i ^• i. i 10 i i sg s i i 2 » S Cl 1 ^ 00 ^ " ^"^ S ^ M< 5 ea 3 -s s 1 cc i S c^ ■s> 1 S s -* 23 cp 1 ""^ c3 ^ i > ^ s ^ s '^ C5 s 05 -• - m g > a ^ ^ 2 10 i S 8 a 18 IC - >c as CO CO 05 t- :o C^J Oi ^ ^ OQ CO -^ (M CO s ffl t- '^i 00 ^ 8 ?j CO I— N. - CO 01 "" iM 01 -* > 2 B g ? UO OJ s 42 3 1 oa i5 (M OJ — ( . ^ i CO 2 1 i 2 1 1 (J- ^ e .2 s § t 2 35 2. 1 1 1 1 > 1 ! b I >• 1 S Q 1 1 15 1 E f 1 1 If, i c a S 5 >> s 'a 1 •c s 5 1 1 C c K 1 S c MS ^ 250-3:3 2^§ o _g o o o o S^ J3 i< K to 8 i P 1 to p p P •:2 p to CO Oi 'x> CO 10 c« 8 p 8 P 8 8 s P 1 JC3 1 1 SI 1 1 2| s 5 5 1 2 V4 31 1 II II -So 3(2 CO Q C5 00 CO p § ? p tH lO 10 ,-1 n 1—1 P p 8 ? ?^ Q >^ H d •0 lU > ^ C^ 2 1 £ 3 1 8 51 P P P p P p Cvl ^ o» 00 c<» ^ 'tJ* ^ i pa Q P p ? 8 09 ci a 1 C 3 ce .2 >> !^ ■Si2 II h5 j^ (M <^ 1—1 00 se p 8 P 8 p CO ^ CO (M • • •s S p 13 « j^ 8 43 s 09 3 4) < .s a ^ 2S 00 >> a = 1 1 2 X (0 S u _. 05 Oi t- lO C5 j^ «o P p P 8 8 8 ^. 01 «o CCi ^ «D t- CO P 8 ■F— 1 P ? P ^ cs 00 CO CO OS 0)* P p I— 1 p 8 8 p s g ^ c < ■M 00 .1 0^ 1 .2 1 1 09 9 ^. fl <^ J -^ CO ^ *2 M JS ri «3 tfi s t>: od 68 TABLE— SUMMARY OF ELEMENTS 1 i lO 0-3 o o Ct5 q 1 CO i T— 1 1— t o o i oo o i 1 i 8 < 3 i X! o « U *« 1 5 0^ w ol S3 3 0) '5 !> c n c X 2 1 2 *c S c ro C i (2 1 1—1 B o CO q q "* ^ i 1—1 1— 1 S s 3. C5 q 1—1 Q < 8 J £ M 2 1 si X) ^ c 21 3 1 2 to C « i i CO 1-4 o T-l O T-i i i s o CO 8 CO i 1 i. i 00 1—1 q i ;4 a is c 9 wis 1 3l S .2 J* 4) 00 1 i CQ i s T-t CO JO lO o i 1 2 1 09 o a 1 •s 1 ro J CO 1 1 1 « 1 s B TABLE— SUMMARY OF ELEMENTS 69 •0 8 1-1 8 1 CO P' i i i i 1 1 3 G a i * i a. « 1 1 2 1 c i s c t J X 2 ! 2 'J 1 § CO i CO 10 1-1 I— I § i 00 1 1 1 1 u 3 3 w 1 c ^ J .a c E c« r3 1 a CO 1 1-H i 8 ISO ^ t 00 1—1 i 1—1 C5 8 T— 1 x; c 1 1 .2 Q 2 'c CQ 00 i § i i i § 00 s CO 00 CO 8 1 s 1 1 1 1 2 5 70 TABLE— SUMMARY OF ELEMENTS o pa 1 i o i. 1 1—1 g 8 CD 1 1 1 i i s 1 S 1 •g 1 1 T3 e « V a 2 1 4) i a si , i 1 >> II in u^ 1 as ? inl^ i 1 o P i 1 i. p 1— 1 o rH r-J D & u 1 'c in u c 1 - 1 US Q 1. |l 1 09 1-C tH p i 1 00 p 00 s 1 1 1 i P 1 1 1 1 1 •s c 2S ft « in TABLE— RATIOS OF OUTSIDE READING 71 o 2 p |i C >.§ d •"< o • ■•-> -sin •?« be o ^ d 3 .• I o -a c3 S 2 o H^. (B S ^ ^ o . l-s § o § « I ^§5 IS <2 t5T3 ii 55 -.0, 0.4) *J r^ O ft P. a go ho •C ? Oi! 5s 51 ao P « COMMENTS ON REQUIRED READING EIGHTH GRADE, GRAMMAR SCHOOL The strongest interest of this year is in plot. It seems, therefore, a mistake to give prose selections with so little of action. The eagerness with which pupils sought for a struggle of some kind in Sharp Eyes and In the Wilderness is almost pitiful. It is true that these children should have interest in nature, but to give such interest requires a preparation which even most teachers do not possess. It would therefore be better for the cultivation of the literary sense to give selections that fall more within the experience of the child. Most teachers use The Lady of the Lake in preference to the nine short poems. There is no apparent reason for this save that it is along the line of least resistance and requires less preparation. The interest is largely in plot. Pupils that find beauty come almost entirely from the second city, where some real work in creation of literary taste is done. The nine poems make a rather discouraging showing. Even Horatius has but few admirers; The Singing Leaves and The Skylark have none. The latter is one of the few EngHsh selections that may be called pure poetry. There- fore the question arises whether pure poetry, or the poetic elements of any poetry, can be taught. The author is convinced that in order to give real appreciation of such elements, poetry must be studied more for its art, — its rhythm, meter, tone values, emotional expressions, — such elements as separate it from other literary types. 72 HIGH SCHOOL 73 FIRST YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL Nobody finds character or beauty in The Ancient Mar- iner. No one mentions Palgrave's Golden Treasury. Idylls of the King is not once cited for beauty. The interest seems to center in plot and character. No one mentions Lamb's or Bacon's essays. The reason is apparent. Appreciation of an essay requires knowledge of literary style and does not depend on either plot or personality. Therefore the essay is not adapted to pupils of this age, and should not be assigned so low down in the course. Most prefer Ivanhoe, a very few A Tale of Two Cities, and none Cranford. The reason for this is found in the degree of plot contained in the several novels, Cranford is fit only for the mature mind, with a cultivated literary taste. It cannot by any means be classed as an adolescent novel. SECOND YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL All have had to read the Sir Roger De Coverley Papers, Pilgrim^ s Progress, or Franklin^ s Autobiography, yet out of 987, only 73 prefer any one of these. But even here is shown evidence of growth in character interest. Of the dramas, none prefer Twelfth Night. Probably most classes have not read it. The Merchant of Venice is easier to teach, yet here some interest is manifested in the characters aside from what they are doing. The novels show about the same reasons for choice as in the first year; the strongest plot has the largest following, still there is also a growth in favor of Silas's character as against the love affairs of Godfrey Cass. A few have read Tennyson and Palgrave and see some beauty in them. This is encouraging, though a small beginning; and it suggests that such poetry should be put further along in the course. 74 COMMENTS ON REQUIRED READING THIRD YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL For the first time, style predominates, in Joan of Arc and The English Mail Coach. Yet Emerson is not once men- tioned. This only confirms what has been said about the essay. De Quincey's essays have dramatic elements, almost a plot structure, therefore they make appeal earlier than do those of Emerson. Of dramas, more have read Julius Ccesar than King Henry the Fifth. The former is easier; and the pupil in his other school work has learned more about the Roman characters. When in this year the selections of the earlier years are read, there is evidence of attention to both char- acter and style, showing that the same selection in different years makes impressions for different reasons. This is especially apparent in Silas Marner and in Idylls of the King, PLOTS OF REQUIRED READING 75 8'h Grade IstYr. 2dYr. 3dYr. 8th Grade IstYx. 2dYr. 3d Yr. 1 .20 .19 P1.0TS -REQUIRED reading! / /■ CBased on Charts pp. 58-70) | / Boys Girls .18 1 '7 / / .57 .56 .55 .54 .53 • 52 .51 .50 .49 AS .47 .46 .45 AA .16 a5 / \ / \ \v \ \ ,14 .13 3.2 w \ W 1 \ u \ \ \1> \ .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 \ \ \ V \ \ \ ^^ 4 \ \ yi < \ \ A f^^ \ Jf /, A .03 .02 .01 .43 ,42 .41 .40 .39 .38 .37 .36 \ I \\ *;\ 1 \\ i\ ' ■ \\ // ^1 V '/ 1 \ / »20 ,19 .18 1 \ \Voi 1 1 \ // \W 1/ \ 1 / ■'A r ,L6 .15 .14 .13 •12 .u 3.0 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 .04 1 1 / \ QA A ' ji / ,\ .33 .32 .31 .30 .29 .28 .57 .26 .25 .24 .23 V // % \ \ \ 1 / V ' \ \ / \ \ j \\ \ \ J \ \ \ \ / Ij \ \ 0^ h^ \ / 0> f- \ // \ \ / \ \ 1 X & "^ i. _ 1 ... L_. _ _ N _ 76 PLOTS OF REQUIRED READING 8th Gd. IsfYr. 2a Yr, ^d Yr. 8tTi Gd. IstYr. 2dYr. 3dYj-. J 1 """ 1 .22 .21 .20 .19 .18 .17 .16 .15 .14 .13 .12 .11 .10 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 .04 .03 / /, QJ J- ■ 1 CJ 7 ' ^/ 1/ / 1 i / 1 / 1 Ls?/ — // ^\\ / "nil / / / '/ Jl!s^ / 'h ^ — //' / lir> // / // / / y / / 1 /" / / / .x-' / / ,^ '' ^ / _^- •- '' y -^ / y' PLOTS OF REQUIRED READING 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. n 3dYf. .58 .57 .h^ .55 .54 .53 .52 .51 .50 .49 .48 .47 .46 .45 \\ — 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ''^ COMPARATIVE CURVES-REQUIRED READING Curves arranged on the same scale of per cents, to show comparative interest in the several literary elements of the \ — ^^ required reading V \ \, ^ s \ \ \ \ 1 \, \ / V \, \ 1 / \, / / \^ .43 .42 M \ ^. / f \ \ \ / / \ \ y ^^ s. \ / / \ \ .39 .38 .37 .36 .35 .34 .33 .32 ■% .39 .28 ;i .25 .24 .23 .22 IJ .19 .18 .17 .16 \ / ^ \ .f> \ ^ y \ \ .<^ ^> / ^^ \ cjs^nzi \ , / / V \^y\y^'\ \S / / \ \ ' z^"- — \ / / ^ '^- ^' v\ / / ^. / / \ \ \ y ^ \ y ^ / ^^ !^\ / y \ y6 \ / / ; °AI r y / v^\ / / A\ /, / / / r > ^, / f^f' ^ >. > V (^ h V /^ A. ^^} ...^ > -•'' ks fy "^'A i^- ^^ "'* ^ ' / \ \^ /M^;> =s= 111 ^ Y ^ V ^ V .15 .14 .-2==. — ■'^Z ^ M — v~ ~ — — — N ^ — — - "' ^ y l^^ "• \ / / .1^ .11 .10 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 ;o1 .02 .01 .00 / \> s. ^ / / // Sy ^> \ / / a- A / s, ■^^r -c / .2M Lor- / / / .,^ K N ^0 __^. i.— — / / \ ^ .d ^ =^i / ^ k' - — ''--- .^^_tj -5 .-- -^^ ' _^ .— • — " s ■^ ■^•^ -^ — - --^ — — "" .-^ -^-^ — -^ \ ^V^' ^^^o;:i --^ - .v' J»^- *■ «7 __ — ___ __ ___ 78 PLOTS OF OUTSIDE READING 8th Gd. IstYr. 2d Yr. SdYr. 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. — OUTSIDE READING ' ' These curves are based on the charts p. 71. The figures indicate the ratio between number of pupils and the amount read. - - ■' — \v .76 .U .72 .70 .68 .66 .64 .62 .60 .58 .56 .54 .52 1 / \i 1 1 1 fe ll X \ \ \ // \ i / ^^ / / 1 \s \ / / ( \^ V / 1 \ 5, \ li w \ ij \^" 48 '\ \f .46 ] 1 \4 ll \ V / <- - \ / \\ / ll \ / .40 .38 .36 \ v/ o \ / /' \ / 1 / \ rl \c / 1 . \ \( - .32 \ i 1 V i 9« \ Ofi \5> \ 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. « . ^-i \ 2.2 2.1 2.0 1 Q 00 \% i- r / \s .20 1 ft f \ \^'''- /i ? \ s ^"lb \ V ^ -' iej > c .16 .14 .12 .10 .08 \ k 1 f Q \ V -'■ ^0. \ r/ \ A V 1.6 1 f^ \ / 'a - \ \ \ b V 1 PLOTS OF OUTSIDE READING 79 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. ■a y-r? t 1.00 .98 .96 .94 .92 .90 .88 ^6 -84 •83 .80 .78 .76 .74 .72 .70 .68 .66 ,64 .62 .60 .58 .56 .54 .52 .50 .48 46 ^1 .60 .58 .56 ,54 .52 .50 .48 .46 1 1 P 1 iS 1 / \ / 1 / t / / / \ t — — / / / f 1 / / \ 1 / / \ / ' y \ / / / \ / ^ ^ \ 1 -^ ^ \ \ f 8o PLOTS OF OUTSIDE READING SthGd. IstYr. 2dYr. 3d Yr. 8fh Gd. 1st Yr, 2d Yr. 3d Yr. I Vlr\1TC! /^•i. 7 .21 .20 .19 .18 .17 .16 .15 .14 .13 .12 .11 .10 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 .04 .03 .02 .01 .03 .02 .01 y >^ .^ ^ ^ ■^ m Pi] J^ Igi, ISz aphv b^ ^ .25 .24 .23 .22 .21 .20 19 / / / \ 1 J \ .18 .17 .16 .15 M 43 .12 .U .10 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 .04 .03 r — -iE _ \ ^j* \ \ \ \ / \ / \ / s s. / ^ '- \ \ ^ s Si \ s. / r — y -V \ % ^1 / V \ / J / %. u y. / '\ ^ \ / -5 / \ S'i 4 ^ V \ 1 I \ \ \ s. V! \ 1 \ \ / 1 1 V i » V 1 ^. 1 1 V 1 ' .^ 1 \ 1 s 1 PLOTS OF OUTSIDE READING Si hGd. 1st. Yr. 2dYr 3d yr. COMPARATIVE CURVES- OUTSIDE READING Curves arranged on the same scale of ratios, to show comparative interestin the several type forms. ._1-J — T — — — '\ / / f^'^ ^p v». — / ■ KT ^r '9^ / N •^ 1 j \ 1 \ \ / 1 \ / / \ / / \ / V % / \. / Y- / s i / \?, / y !\ / / \ JWti ^ -^ ) -»-< 1 C-- 1 1 ..--''^ ^^ ?£i -x: ^ ■^ ^ (^ / ~~' --. — i p \ .^ ^^^^^^^"^ / y s ^^ r 1 1 fcilss' cTi ctic ■^ / / N ^ J / / N y ' . N y / / / / / / ' 1 / ^ 1 y 1 -.p'' <\- ,**' ^S^ li^ P ^ 1 ^ ri >,s 3^' f- •-- — ■^ .tP Ki^' up \ <: -^ Ur: "*'•, -•.^ ""■ ^ ^ \S>J^ :Si :dt a^ a r'^^^^ -^ "*• •^, ^ ^ "^ iz- u .-- ■^ __.i_ u- h-. h — • *•• ' — - -■i^' r ■■*- =:&- -^ r^ Allpoetr .T^ :^ ■^ i^n^ 1 . — ^ ■^ --1:^ [S at5>» ^•;i3- |j[u.v^" ■^- ■^ """" ^ ■ " ' ^. " -e. tor/esr~ — CONCLUSIONS AS SHOWN IN PLOTS REQUIRED READING DESCRIPTION. — Interest rises during the first year. This is probably because it is the form of composition emphasized and drilled upon for regents' examinations at that time. Many selections from, say, Ivanhoe and The Vision of Sir Launfal, are read and analyzed as models. But this interest is evidently unnatural, not developed from the literary side, and therefore rapidly declines during the second year, and during the third also with girls, while it rises but slightly with boys. MORAL. — The term is used broadly and includes teach- ings and lessons as well as morals. Girls rise above the boys the first year and continue to do so throughout the course. In the first year The Aitcient Mariner and The Vision of Sir Launfal are appreciated for the moral. After the first year the moral seems to be absorbed in the character, as in Silas Marner and Julius Ccesar, and there is an admi- ration for and appreciation of these that show a growing interest in moral action, which is not apparent from this curve except as it is studied in connection with that on character. PLOT. — In the eighth grade this is about equal for girls and boys. It falls rapidly through the first year despite the fact that many novels of strong plot are read during this year. The tendency for the course is distinctly downward. It shows a rise in the second year, but this is misleading and is due to the fact that The Merchant of Venice and Silas 82 OUTSIDE READING 83 Marner, the two popular selections, are strong in plot. It is fair to assert that, under ordinary conditions, plot interest decHnes throughout the course. CHARACTER. — This shows little movement in the first year, at the period when there is a marked rise in the moral curve, but during the second and third years it rises rapidly. The reason is to be found in the changing mental state of the pupil. He becomes more interested in nobiHty, truth, honesty, as opposed to mere action, — making war or making love. STYLE. — This is of slow and feeble growth. It is, how- ever, of interest to note that it does grow. The writer has read these reports with an effort to determine how much of this growth is inherent or instinctive and how much is the result of class training. The records are too few for a defi- nite conclusion, but there is little apparent evidence of the culture coming from the classroom. OUTSIDE READING CLASSIC AND CURRENT FICTION. — The writer has not presumed to make anything like an accurate division be- tween these two classes. Probably no two students of literature would agree on such a divison. The term current fiction has been used to indicate not only that which is new, but also that wliich, though it may be in its second or third decade, is considered cheap. Mary J. Holmes and Augusta Wilson have therefore been placed in this class. Classic fiction means not only what is old and tried, but includes some current literature in which merit seems beyond question. The Kentucky Cardinal and The Lady of the Decoration are in this group. Library lists prepared for 84 CONCLUSIONS SHOWN IN PLOTS our large cities have been freely consulted, but the writer has often been compelled to rely on his own judgment. The comparison of these two curves will show a rapid decline in the quality of fiction read during the first high school year. In the grammar grades most of the reading is directed, while there is a freedom in the high school that at first leads to license. During the second year, boys' reading improves and girls' reading about holds its own. In the third year, girls' reading improves slightly and boys' reading slightly retrogrades. This retrogression is, how- ever, apparent only in fiction, and it is so slight that other records would be required to verify it. The general fact is that the reading which is poor in the first year materially improves in the rest of the course. The cause for this improvement is hard to trace. It does not seem to come directly from the English course. After a careful reread- ing of the reports the author inclines to the behef that the improvement is due to greater maturity and to the culture that comes from general education. Current fiction is read almost entirely for plot; this is not true of classics. Those who have read moderately have a wider range and give more intelligent opinions. In the earlier years girls prefer plots emphasizing patience; and many speak of some favorite novel as "deep and mysterious;" while boys look for action, at first physical and later moral. A large amount of cheap literature seems to paralyze and deaden opinion. JUVENILE FICTION. — Girls read less juvenile fiction than boys do. Their fine is continuously downward, and at the end of the third year they have practically finished. Boys seem to read more in the second than in the first year. This is, however, misleading and due to the second city. OUTSIDE READING 85 where the boys evidently had just heard of Barbour's books and proceeded to make up for what they missed before. No attempt was made to separate good juvenile books from poor books. This seemed hardly necessary even if it had been possible. The juvenile literature read is of high order. Even the Alger and the Henty books find Httle favor, and interest seems to center in such homely heroes as the Half -Back and such real boys as Tom Sawyer. POETRY. — The girls throughout the investigation mention more poetry than the boys do. The decline in the first year is hke that of classic fiction, but the rise is constant thereafter. The interest is far greater in epic than in descriptive poetry, and as a matter of fact the story is the strongest element of interest, though poetic form must have some unconscious influence or the line would not rise to such a height. DRAMA. — Very little drama is read in the grades, probably because there is very little that is fitted to be read there. But the rise through the high school course is rapid and constant. This rise with that of poetry goes to effect the decline in fiction mentioned in the upper years. The "recommended" reading of The Merchant of Venice and Julius Coesar may somewhat account for this. But doubtless the stronger reason is, that an art form like the drama, which has lived for thousands of years, furnishes proper nourishment to the normal mind in its regular adolescent growth. HISTORY. — This chart is not readily interpreted. There is no apparent reason for the rise in the third year. Inas- much as the larger part of this reading consists of history stories, the writer is not inclined to draw serious conclusions 86 CONCLUSIONS SHOWN IN PLOTS from it. Yet the fact that girls and boys follow almost parallel lines would suggest that there is some general cause for the tendency. SCIENCE AND BIOGRAPHY. — Scicncc has been limited largely to stories about plants and animals. The girls read more of these in the eighth grade, elementary school, and the third year high school; and the boys more in the first and second years of high school. The biology course of the first year does not seem to have had a very favorable influence upon this kind of literature. Interest in biography is so slight that it is almost negligible and gives no war- ranted conclusion. Throughout the investigation, an effort has been made to ascertain whether the required reading of the English course affects the outside reading. In many individual cases, it appears that it does. There are more instances where this seems true of the drama than of any other type. A great many reports were reread to ascertain the extent of this relation. In the second city this was more apparent than elsewhere, but occurrences were not sufficiently fre- quent, nor the relation close. In the third city there is one notable instance of this. The girls in the second year who like the required drama prefer in outside reading either drama or poetry. FIRST CHOICE Under question 6 the pupil was asked to tell which books, stories, or poems he particularly liked, and why he liked them. The reasons for liking them, where they were unique or suggestive, have already been given by cities under the several years. Below is the list of first choices as given by all who replied to the question. The list is tabulated according to years, and, so far as possible, the titles have been placed under the several subdivisions of fiction, poetry, drama, etc. The numerals after each title give the number recorded, those before show the class of literature to which the selec- tion belongs (see p. 56); e.g., ^'1.13 Being a Boy, 9" means Being a Boy is a juvenile story and 9 gave it as first choice. EIGHTH GRADE, GRAMMAR SCHOOL Boys 1. 13 Alger's Books, 3. 4.3 Boys of 1812, 2. 1. 13 Andy Gordon, i. 2.2 Brook, The (Tennyson), 6 Barnum's Own Story, i. 12. 1. 13 Beautiful Joe, 3. 1.2 Buccaneers and Pirates 1. 13 Being a Boy, 9. of Our Coasts, 2. 1. 13 Birds' Christmas Carol, 1.13 Camping on the St. Law- The, 4. rence, 3. 1. 13 Black Beauty, 9. 1.13 Canoemates, 6. I.I Bow of Orange Ribbon, 1.13 Careers of Danger and The, 16. Daring, 3. 1. 13 Boy's Life on a Prairie, 3. 1.13 Cash Boy, i. 1. 13 Boys of St. Timothy's, 4. 1.13 Cast up by the Sea, i. 87 88 FIRST CHOICE 1. 13 Christmas at Holly Hill, I. 1. 13 Cleared for Action, 3. 1.1 Cooper's Works, iS. 1. 13 Crimson Sweater, The, 10. 1.2 Crossing, The, 3. 1. 13 Don Carlos Ranch, i. 1. 13 Dream of Summer, i. 5 Electrical Books, 2. 2.1 Enoch Arden, 38. 2.1 Evangeline, 41. 6 Farragut's Life, i. 5 Fire, i. 1.2 Flyers, The, i. 1. 1 3 For the Honor of the School, 3. 1. 13 Four in Camp, 3. 1. 13 From School to Battle- field, I. 1.2 Graustark, 3. 1. 13 Guert Ten Eyck, i. 1. 13 Half-Back, The, 20. 1. 1 3 Henty Books, The, 3. 1. 13 Herbert Carter's Legacy, I. I. II Hero Tales, 3. 4.2 History of England, A Child's, 3. I.I House of the Seven Ga- bles, The, 2. 1. 13 Island Refugees, i. I.I Ivanhoe, 22. 1. 1 3 Jack in the Rocldes, 2. 1. 13 Jack, the Young Ranch- man, 2. 3.1 Julius Caesar, 8. 1. 13 Julius the Street Boy, 3. 1. 13 Lakerim Athletic Club, 2. 7 Lamb's Essays, 2. 1. 1 1 Lamb's Tales, 2. 4 Land of the Long Night, The, 5.^ 1. 13 Last Cruise of the Spit- fire, The, I. 1.1 Last of the Mohicans, The, 12. 6 Lincoln's Life, 3. 1. 1 3 Little Colonel Series, The, 3. 6 Lives of the Presidents, 2. 2 Longfellow's Poems, 15. 1.2 Long Trail, The, 2. 1.1 Man without a Country, The, 24. 3 . 2 Merchant of Venice, The, 20. 1 . 1 2 Message to Garcia, A, 1 2. 2.1 Miles Standish, The Courtship of, 30. 6 Napoleon's Life, 3. 5 Ocean, Stories of the, 2. 1. 1 3 On the Firing Line, 4. 1. 13 One of the 28th, i. 1. 1 3 Out on the Pampas, i. 1. 1 Perfect Tribute, The, 6. 1. 1 3 Prince and the Pauper, The, 3. EIGHTH GRADE 89 1.2 Prospector, The, 6. 1. 1 3 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 8. 1.2 Red Rock, 2. 1. 1 3 Robinson Crusoe, 3. 1. 13 Robson Holsom, i. 1. 13 Santa Claus's Partner, 5- 1. 13 Search for Andrew Field, The, 4. 5.1 Seton, Ernest Thompson, Books, 3. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 8. 1. 13 Shifting for Himself, 3. 1.2 Silent Places, The, 2. 1. 1 2 Sketch Book, The, 2. I. II Sleepy Hollow, The Leg- end of, I. 1. 1 3 Slow and Sure, i. 1. 1 3 Soldier Boy, The, i. I.I Spy, The, 7. 4 Stoddard's Books, 5. 1. 1 3 Store Boy, 2. 1. 13 Sustained Honor, 2, I.I TaUsman, The, 7. 1. 1 3 Tom Brown, i. 1. 1 3 Tony the Hero, i. 1. 1 3 Treasure Island, 17. 1. 13 Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, I. I.I Two Years before the Mast, 20. I.I Uncle Tom's Cabin, 14. 1. 13 Under the Mikado's Flag, I. 2.1 Vision of Sir Launfal, The, 8. 5.1 White Fang, i. 2 Whittier's Poems, 28. 1. 13 With Kitchener in the Soudan, i. 1. 1 3 With Roberts to Pre- Girls 1. 13 Beauty and the Beast, i. 1.13 1. 1 3 Betty Wales, 9. 1.2 1. 13 Birds' Christmas Carol, 1.2 The, 17. 2.1 1. 1 3 Black Beauty, 4. 2.1 1.1 Bow of Orange Ribbon, 1.2 The, 40. 1. 13 1. 13 Bravest of the Brave, 1.13 The, I. 2.1 1.2 Brewster's Millions, 8. 1.13 toria, I. Canoemates, 2. Crisis, The, 4. Doctor, The, 2. Dora, 5. Dying Soldier, The, 6. Eben Holden, 3. Eight Cousins, 5. Elsie Dinsmore, 10, Evangeline, 74. Every-day Girls, 2. 90 FIRST CHOICE 2.1 First Snowfall, The, 3. 1. 13 Foreman Jennie, 2. 2.2 Fringed Gentian, The, 3. I. II Grandfather's Chair, 5. 1. 13 Gypsy's Year at the Golden Crescent, 2. 1. 13 Half-a-dozen House- keepers, 5. 1.13 Half-Back, The, 6. I.I I Hero Tales, 3. 1. 1 3 Huckleberry Finn, 4. 1.1 Ivanhoe, 16. 1. 1 3 Jack and Jill, 2. 1.2 Janice Meredith, 6. 2.1 Jessica's First Prayer, 2. 3.1 Julius Caesar, 4. 2.2 Katrina, 2. 1. 13 Kristy's Surprise Party, I. 7 Lamb's Essays, 6. 4 Land of the Long Night, The, 8. 1.13 Larry, i. 1.1 Last of the Mohicans, The, 2. 2.2 Little by Little, i. 1 . 1 3 Little Colonel Series,The, 5- 1. 1 3 Little Women, 16. 2 Longfellow's Poems, i. 6 Makers of History, i. 1. 1 Man without a Country, The, 42. 6 Marco Polo, Story of, i. 3 . 2 Merchant of Venice, The , 26. 1. 1 2 Message to Garcia, A, 9. 1.1 Mill on the Floss, The, 8. 1.2 Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab- bage Patch, 4. 6 Napoleon's History, 4. 1.2 Nedra, 2. 2.1 O Captain! My Captain 15. 1. 13 Old-fashioned Girl, An, 2. I.I Pathfinder, The, 13. 1. 13 Patty Books, The, 5. 2.1 Paul Revere's Ride, 3. 1.1 Perfect Tribute, The, 6. 1. 1 3 Prince and the Pauper, The, II. 1. 1 3 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 4. 1.2 Red Rock, 7. I.I I Rip Van Winkle, 4. 1. 13 Santa Claus'sPartner, 35. 1. 1 3 Search for Andrew Field, The, 8. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 5. 1. 1 2 Sketch Book, The, 3. 1.2 Standish of Standish, 7. 1.1 Talisman, The, 7, 1. 1 3 Timothy's Quest, 12. 1 . 13 Tip Lewis and His Lamp, I. 1. 13 Tom, Dick, and Harriett, 2. 1. 1 3 Treasure Island, 21. 1.2 Two Orphans, The, i. FIRST YEAR 91 I.I Uncle Tom's Cabin, 44. 2.1 Vision of Sir Launfal, The, 8. 1. 1 3 Wreck of the Golden Fleece, The, i. 1. 1 3 Young Rajah, The, i. FIRST YEAR, HIGH 5oy5 4.01 Abbott's History, i. I-I3 1.2 Adrift in New York, 4. 1.2 1.2 Affair Next Door, The, I-I3 16. 1.2 I-I3 American Boy, The, 4. S-i I. II Ancient Heroes, 3. 4 I-I3 Annapolis Plebe, i. I-I3 Arabian Nights, 4. 1. 1 1.2 Arms and the Woman, 4. 2.2 1.13 Around the World in Eighty Days, i. I.I 1.13 Athletics and Hunting, 2. 1.2 6 Autobiography of Ben- I.I jamin Franklin, 3. I-I3 I-I3 Barbour's Books, 3. 1.2 I.I Ben Hur, 5. 1.13 5.1 Biography of a Grizzly, The, 2. 1.2 I-I3 Black Beauty, i. I.I 1.2 Blazed Trail, The, 4. I.I 1.2 Brewster's MiUions, 24. 1.13 I-I3 By Right of Conquest, I.I 6. 1.2 SCHOOL Cadet Days, i. Call of the Wild, The, 12. Captains Courageous, i. Cardigan, 7. Cattle Brands, i. Century Book of Facts, The, I. Choir Invisible, The, i. Concord Hymn, 3. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A, 6. Conspirators, The, i. Cooper's Books, i. Crimson Sweater, The, 3. Crisis, The, 10. Dan the Newsboy, 2. Daughter of Anderson Crow, The, 4. David Copperfield, 5. Deerslayer, 7. Dick Meriden's Ruse, i. Dickens's Works, 5. Doctor, The, 4. 92 FIRST CHOICE 1.2 Donovan, 2. 1.2 English Orphans, The, 3. 2.1 EvangeUne, 2. 1. 1 3 Fighting to Win, i. 1.2 Firing Line, The, 4. 1. 1 2 Fisherman's Luck, 2. 1. 1 3 For the Honor of the School, 2. 1.1 Forest Lovers, 2. 1.2 Glengarry School Days, 2. 1.2 Gordon Keith, 6. 1.2 Graustark, 7. 1. 1 3 Great Year, The, 2. I.I I Greek Heroes, 6. 1. 13 Half-Back, The, 24. 3.1 Hamlet, 8. 1. 13 Hans Brinker, 10. I. II Hawthorne's Tales, 2. 1. 13 Henty Books, The, 4. 2.1 Homer's lUad and Odys- sey, 2. I.I Honorable Peter Stirling, The, I. I.I Hoosier Schoolmaster, The, 8. 2.1 Horatius, i. 1.2 Hound of the Basker- villes, The, 7. 1. 13 Huckleberry Finn, 4. 1.2 In the Sixties, 2. 1 . 1 2 In the Wilderness, 2 . I.I Ivanhoe, i. 1. 1 3 Jacob Faithful, i. I.I John Halifax, Gentle- man, 4. 1. 13 Juan and Juanita, i. 3.1 Julius Csesar, 5. 1. 13 Jungle Books, The, 3. 1.1 Kidnapped, 2. 1.2 King's Pardon, 3. I.I Kipling's Works, i. 4 Land of the Long Night, The, I. I.I Last of the Mohicans, The, II. 1.1 Leather Stocking Tales, I. 1.2 Leighton Homestead, The, 2. 1.1 Les Miserables, 3. 4 Liberty of Texas, 2. 1. 13 Life at West Point, i. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, The, 3. 1. 13 Little Colonel Series, The, 2. 1.2 Little Shepherd of King- dom Come, The, 6. 4 Long Walls, The, i. 2 Longfellow's Poems, 2. 1.1 Lorna Doone, 3. 4 Lost in the Jungle, i. 4 Lure of the Labrador Wild, The, i. 1.2 McGrath's Books, i. 1.2 Maid of the Mohawk, 2. FIRST YEAR 93 1.2 Main Chance, The, 4. 1. 13 Maldng the Nine, 2. 1.2 Man from Glengarry, The, 2. 1.2 Man on the Box, The, 2. I.I Man without a Country, The, 10. 1.1 Marble Faun, The, i. 1. 12 Masterpieces of Elo- quence, I. 3 . 2 Merchant of Venice, The, 20. 1. 1 2 Message to Garcia, A, 2. I.I Nicholas Nickleby, 2. I.I Ninety-three, i. I.I I Old Greek Stories, 2. 1 . 1 3 Oliver Bright's Search, i . I.I Oliver Twist, i. 1. 1 3 On the School Team, i. 1. 1 3 On Your Mark, i. 4 Out on the Pampas, i. 1. 13 Painted Desert, The, i. 2.1 Paul Revere's Ride, 7. 1.2 Peter, 3. 1.1 Pickwick Papers, 2. 1. 1 3 Plebe at West Point, i. 5 Popular Mechanics, 3. 5 Power Boating, 3. 1. 13 Prince and the Pauper, The, I. 1. 1 3 Princess Majestic, i. 1.2 Ranson's Folly, 5. 1.2 Red Rock, 8. 1.13 Red Trail, i. 1.2 Richard Carvel, 4. 1. 1 3 Robinson Crusoe, 4. 1. 13 Roughing It, i. 1.1 Scott's Novels, i. 1.2 Sea Wolf, The, 2. 1.2 Seats of the Mighty, The, 2. 5.1 Sharp Eyes, 3. 1.2 She, 2. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 10. 1.2 Sherlock Holmes, i. 2.2 Ship of State, 8. 1. 13 Shipwreck, i. I.I Silas Marner, 4. 2.1 Sir Galahad, 2. 1. 1 3 Six Girls, i. 1.2 Spinner in the Sun, A, 4. 1. 1 Spy, The, 6. 2 Star-Spangled Banner, The, 6. 1. 13 Story of a Bad Boy, The, I. 1. 13 Story of the Indians, 6. 1. 1 3 Strange Flaw, 2. 1.2 Study in Scarlet, A, 2. I.I Tale of Two Cities, A, 5. 1. 13 Tanglev/ood Tales, 2. 1. 13 Tom Afloat, 2. 1. 13 Tom Brown's School- days, 10. 1 . 1 3 Tom, Dick, and Harriett, 7- 1. 13 Tom Sawyer, Adven- tures of, II. 94 FIRST CHOICE 1. 13 Tom the Reporter, i. 1. 1 3 Tomlinson's Books, i. 1.2 Trail of the Lonesome Pine, The, 2. 1. 13 Treasure Island, 20. 1. 13 Treasury Club, The, 2. 1. 13 Two Little Confeder- ates, 16. 1. 13 Two Little Savages, i. 1.1 Two Years before the Mast, 10. 1. 13 Under Orders, i. 1. 1 3 Vayonne, i. 1.2 Virginian, The, 2. 1. 13 Washington's Young Aids, I. 1.2 Weavers, The, 2. 1. 1 3 West Point Treasure, i. 1. 13 Wetherby's Inning, 2. 1. 1 3 Wetzel the Scout and Indian Fighter, 5. 1. 13 White and the Blue, The, 2. 4 Winning of the West, The, I. 1. 13 With Lee in Virginia, i. 1. 13 Wonder Book, The, i. 1. 1 3 Yankee Sailor Abroad, 6. Girls I.I Adam Bede, 2. I-I3 1. 13 Alcott, Louisa, Works, I. I-I3 1. 13 Alger's Books, i. I-I3 I.I 2 Alhambra, The, 5. I-I3 1. 13 Alice's Adventures in 1.2 Wonderland, i. I-I3 1. 13 Almost as Good as a Boy, I. I-I3 1.2 Anne of Green Gables, 1.2 3. 1.2 1. 13 Arabian Nights, 2. 1.2 1.2 Argosy, The, 2. 3.2 As You Like It, 4. 1.2 1. 13 Barbara's Heritage, i. 1.2 1.2 Barrier, The, i. I.I 1. 13 Beatrice Leigh at Col- lege, I. 1.2 I.I Ben Hur, 3. 1.2 Betsy Ross, i. Betty, a Schoolgirl, i. Betty Alden, 2. Betty Wales, 2. Beverly of Graustark, 2. Birds' Christmas Carol, The, 2. Black Beauty, i. Black Rock, 3. Blazed Trail, The, i. Bow of Orange Ribbon, The, 8. Brass Bowl, The, 2. Brewster's Millions, 2. Bride of Lammermoor, The, I. Brushwood Boy, The, 3. Call of the Wild, The, 2. FIRST YEAR 95 1. 13 Captain of the Kansas, The, 2. 1.2 Cardigan, i. 1.2 Castle Craneycrow, i. 1. 1 3 Christmas Day in the Morning, 2. 1.2 Clansman, The, i. 1. 13 Comrades, i. 1.2 Coniston, i. 1.2 Connor's Books, 2. 1.2 Conqueror, The, i. 1 . 2 Conquest of Canaan,The , I. 1.1 Cooper's Works, I. 1. 1 3 Crimson Sweater, The, 3. 1.2 Crisis, The, 2. 1.2 Crossing, The, 2. 1. 13 Daisy, i. 1.2 Dark Marriage Mom, i. 1.2 Daughter of the Con- federacy, A, I. 1. 13 Daughter of the Rich, A, 3- I.I David Copperfield, 3. I.I Deerslayer, The, i. 1.1 Dickens's Works, i. 1.2 Doctor, The, 3. 1.2 Dr. Ellen, 2. 1.2 Dorothy Vernon of Had- don Hall, i. 1. 13 Down the Ravine, i. 1. 1 Dred, i. 1.2 East Lynne, i. 1. 13 Elsie Books, The, 2. 1.2 English Orphans, The, i. 1. 13 Eternal Boy, The, i. 2.1 Evangeline, 16. 1.2 Fighting Chance, The, i. 1.2 Firing Line, The, 2. 1.2 Four Feathers, I . 1. 13 Freckles, i. 1. 13 Gipsy Books, The, 3. 1. 13 Girl from Montana, i. 1. 1 3 Girl from the Hills, 2. 1. 13 Girls New and Old, i. 1. 13 Girls of the True Blue, 2. 1. 1 3 Grandfather's Chair, i. 1.2 Graustark, 2. 2.2 Gray's Elegy, 9. 6 Great Men and Famous Women, 2. 1. 1 1 Greek Stories, 5. 1. 13 Half-Back, The, 14. 3.1 Hamlet, i. 1. 1 3 Hans Brinker, 14. 1.2 Hearts and Masks, 2. 2.1 Hiawatha, 8. 1. 1 3 Homeless Waif, i. 1. 13 Hoosier Schoolboy, The, I. 1.1 Hoosier Schoolmaster, The, 6. 1.2 Hound of the Basker- villes, The, 2. 1.2 House of a Thousand Candles, The, 2. 1. 1 3 Huckleberry Finn, 4. 1.2 If I Were King, i. 96 FIRST CHOICE 1.2 In the Palace of the King, 2. 1.2 InfeHce, i. 1. 13 Iron Brigade, The, i. 6 Irving, Life of, 4. 1.2 Ishmael, i. 1.1 Jane Eyre, 3. 1.2 Janice Meredith, 3. 1.2 John Halifax, Gentle- man, 8. 1.2 Judith, I. 1. 13 Jungle Books, The, 3. 1. 13 Kathie Series, The, 3. I.I Kidnapped, i. I.I L'Abbe Constantin, 2. 1 . 1 1 Lady Eleanor's Mantle, i . I.I Lady of the Decoration, The, 2. I.I I Lamb's Tales, 8. 4 Land of the Long Night, The, 9. I.I Last Days of Pompeii, The, 4. 1.1 Last of the Mohicans, The, 3. 1.2 Lavender and Old Lace, 2. 1.2 Lena Rivers, i. 1.1 Les Miserables, 2. 1. 13 Lily Series, The, 2. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, The, 3. 1. 1 3 Little Brown Brother, The, I. 1. 13 Little Colonel Series, The, 4. 1.1 Little Dorrit, i. 1. 13 Little Grey House, The, I. 1. 13 Little Lord Faun tleroy, I. 1. 1 3 Little Maid of Concord Town, A, I. 1. 1 3 Little Princess, 2. 1.2 Little Shepherd of King- dom Come, The, 2. 1. 1 3 Little Women, 3. 1.2 Long Arm of Mannister, The, 2. 2 Longfellow's Poems, 8. 1.1 Lorna Doone, 2. 1.2 Maid of Honor, i. 1.2 Major, Charles,Works, i. 1.2 Man from Home, The, i. 1.2 Man of the Hour, The, 3. 1.2 Man on the Box, The, i. I.I Man without a Coun- try, The, 13. 1.1 Marble Faun, The, 2. 1.2 Marcia Schuyler, i. 6 Marie Antoinette, 4. 1.2 Marietta, i. 1.2 Mayor's Wife, The, i. 3.2 Merchant of Venice, The, 5- 1. 1 2 -Message to Garcia, A, 5. 3.2 Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 6. I.I Mill on the Floss, The, 3. FIRST YEAR 97 1.2 Millionaire Baby, The, I. 1.2 Mrs. Wiggs of the Cab- bage Patch, I. 1.2 Mystery of June 13th, The, I. I.I I Myths of Greece, 8. 1.1 Nicholas Nickleby, 4. 1. 13 Old-fashioned Girl, An, I. 1.2 Old Heidelberg, 2. 1.2 Old Mam'selle's Secret, I. 1.1 OUver Twist, 5. 1. 13 Outlaw and the Girls, i. 1.2 Paul, a Herald of the Cross, I. 2.1 Paul Revere's Ride, 3. 1. 13 Peggy, I. I.I Perfect Tribute, The, i. I.I Pickwick Papers, The, 3. 1.1 Pilgrim's Progress, i. 1. 13 Prince and the Pauper, The, I. 1.2 Prospector, The, i. 1.2 Purple Parasol, 2. 1.2 Quincy Adams Sawyer, I. 1. 13 Ragged Dick Series, The, I. 2.2 Raven, The, 4. 1.2 Reckoning, The, i. 1.2 Red Rock, 2. 1.2 Richard Carvel, 2. I.I I Rip Van Winkle, 2. Int. in H. S. Eng. — 7. 1. 1 3 Risen from the Ranks, 3. 1. 1 3 Robin Hood, i. 1. 13 Robinson Crusoe, i. 1.2 Roe, E. P., Works, i. 1. 1 Rudder Grange, 4. 1.2 St. Elmo, 4. 1.2 Samantha at Saratoga, 2. 1. 13 Santa Claus's Partner, 3. 1. 13 Scottish Chiefs, i. 1.2 Sevenoaks, i. 1.2 Shepherd of the Hills, The, I. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 3. 1.2 Shuttle, The, 2. 1. 1 3 Sidney, i. 1.1 Silas Marner, 6. 1. 1 3 Sink or Swim, i. 1. 1 2 Sketch Book, The, 2. 1.2 Sky Pilot, The, i. 1.2 Southerners, The, i. 1.2 Spinner in the Sun, A, 2. 1.1 Spy, The, 4. 1.2 Standish of Standish, i. 1. 13 Step by Step, 3. 7 Stevenson's Essays, 4. 1. 13 Story of a Bad Boy, The, 2. 1. 1 3 Stroke Oar, The, i. 1. 13 Sweet Girl Graduate, A, I. 1. 1 3 Swiss Family Robinson, I. I.I Tale of Two Cities, A, 6. 1 . 1 3 Tales of the Northeast, i . 98 FIRST CHOICE 3-2 1.2 1.2 I.I 1.2 1. 13 1. 1 3 Tanglewood Tales, 2. 1. 13 Tattered Tom, 2. Tempest, The, 8. Tempest and Sunshine, 2. Ten Nights in a Bar Room, I. Thaddeus of Warsaw, 5. Thelma, i. Tom Brown's School- days, 3. 1. 13 Tom Temple's Career, i. 1. 13 Tony the Bootblack, i. 1.2 Trail of the Lonesome Pine, The, i. 1. 1 3 Treasure Island, 2. 1. 1 3 Trust and Try, i. 3.2 Twelfth Night, 8. 1. 1 1 Twice-told Tales, 2. 3.2 Two Gentlemen of Ve- rona, The, 4. 1. 13 Two Little Confeder- ates, I. 1.2 Two Orphans, The, 2. I.I Two Years before the Mast, 2. I.I Uncle Tom's Cabin, 10. 1.1 Vicar of Wakefield, The, 4. 1.2 Virginian, The, 2. 4.3 War of Independence 6. 1. 1 3 When Patty Went to College, 3. 1. 13 Wide, Wide World, The, 4- 5.1 Wild Animals I Have Known, 7. 1.2 Wings of the Morning, The, 2. 1. 13 Wonder Book, The, 2. 1. 1 3 World of Girls, A, i. SECOND YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL Boys I.I Adam Bede, 6. 1.2 Brewster's Millions, 9. 3-2 As You Like It, 7. 1.2 Cardigan, 8. I.I3 Ben Blair, i. 2.1 Courtship of Miles Stan- 5-1 Biography of a Grizzly, dish. The, 18. The, I. 1.13 Crimson Sweater, The, 20 1.2 Blazed Trail, The, 6. 1.2 Crisis, The, 9. SECOND YEAR 99 1.2 Daughter of Anderson Crow, The, 5. I.I David Copperfield, 9. I.I Deerslayer, The, 10. 1.1 Dickens's Works, 9. 1.2 Doctor, The, 4. 5 Electricity, Books about, 2. 2.1 Enoch Arden, 8. 2.1 Evangeline, 5. 1.2 First Violin, The, 5. 1. 13 Five Little Peppers, i. 1.2 Graustark, 4. I. II Greek Heroes, 2. 1. 13 Half- Back, The, 19. 3.1 Hamlet, 2. 1. 13 Hans Brinker, 12. 2.1 Hiawatha, 8. 1.1 Hoosier Schoolmaster, The, II. 1.2 Hound of the Basker- villes. The, 7. 1. 13 Huckleberry Finn, 10. I.I John Halifax, Gentle- man, 12. 3.1 Julius Caesar, 9. 1. 13 Jungle Books, The, 10. I.I Kenil worth, 3. I.I Kidnapped, 9. 3.1 King Lear, 7. 2.1 Lady of the Lake, The, 6. 1. 1 1 Lamb's Tales, 3. 1 . 1 2 Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The, 2. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, The, 6. 3.1 Macbeth, 9. 1.2 Man of the Hour, The, 6. 1.2 Man on the Box, The, 6. I.I Man without a Coun- try, The, 6. I.I Marble Faun, The, i. 1. 1 2 Message to Garcia, A, i. 1. 13 Michael Strogoff, 8. I.I Nicholas Nickleby, 4. I.I Ninety- three, 3. 2.1 Odyssey, The, 10. I.I Oliver Twist, 2. 1.1 Quentin Durward, 4. 1. 13 Robin Hood, 5. 1. 1 3 Robinson Crusoe, 2. 1.2 Rose of Old St. Louis, The, 4. 1.13 Roughing It, 5. 1.1 Scarlet Letter, The, 2. 1. 13 Scottish Chiefs, 4. 5 Seton, Ernest Thomp- son, Works, 4. 1.2 She, 6. 1.2 Shepherd of the Hills, The, 8. 2.1 Sir Galahad, 5. 2.2 Snowbound, 4. 2.1 Tales of a Wayside Inn, 3- 1.1 Talisman, The, 4. 1. 13 Tanglewood Tales, 8. 3.2 Tempest, The, 8. lOO FIRST CHOICE I.I Three Musketeers, The, 1.13 Ulysses, i. II. 1.2 Under the Rose, 4. 1. 13 Tom Sawyer, Adven- 2.1 Vision of Sir Launfal, tures of, 4. The, 4. 1. 13 Treasure Island, 8. i.i Waverly Novels, The, 1. 13 Two Little Confeder- 5. ates, 3. 5.1 Wild Animals I Have I.I Two Years before the Known, i. Mast, 2. 1. 1 3 Young Auctioneer, i. Girls I.I Adam Bede, 5. 1.2 Day of the Dog, The, i. 1. 12 Alhambra, The, 2. 7 De Quincey, 3. 3-2 As You Like It, 9. 1. 1 Dickens's Works, 5. I.I Ben Hur, 4. 1.2 Doctor, The, 3. 5-1 Biography of a Grizzly, 1.2 Edna Lyall's Secret, 3. The, 3- 2.1 Enoch Arden, 12. 1.2 Black Rock, 4. 2.1 Evangeline, 15. 1.2 Blennerhassett, 4. 1.2 Firing Line, The, 2. 1.2 Brass Bowl, i. 1.2 First Violin, 4. 2.2 Brook, The, 6. I-I3 Five Little Peppers, 5. I-I3 Castaway, The, 3. 1.2 Graustark, 6. 1.2 Cattle King, The, i. I. II Greek Folk Stories, 8. 1.2 Come and Find Me, i. I.I Guy Mannering, 4. I.I Connecticut Yankee in 1.2 Half a Rogue, i. King Arthur's Court, 3-1 Hamlet, 8. A, 4. I-I3 Hans Brinker, 7. 1.2 Conquest of Canaan, 1.2 Heart of Jessy Laurie, The, 6. The, I. 1.2 Crisis, The, 5. 2.1 Hiawatha, 9. 1.2 Crossing, The, i. 4 History of Greece, 2. 1.2 Daughter of Anderson I.I Hoosier Schoolmaster, Crow, The, 4. The, 9. SECOND YEAR lOI 2.1 Idylls of the King, 8. 1.2 Indifference of Juliet, The, I. I.I Innocents AbroadjThe, 4. 1.1 Jane Eyre, 9. 1.2 Janice Meredith, 2. 1.2 Jerry Junior, i. 1.2 Joan of the Sword Hand, I. I.I John Halifax, Gentle- man, 10. 3.1 Julius Caesar, 12. I.I Kenilworth, 6. I.I Kidnapped, 6. 3.1 King Lear, 8. I.I Lady of the Decoration, The, 8. 2.1 Lady of the Lake, The, 5. I.I Last Days of Pompeii, The, 5. I.I Last of the Mohicans, The, 5. 1.1 Les Miserables, 6. 4.2 Life in Venice, 4. 1.2 Lightning Conductor, The, I. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, The, 3. 1. 1 3 Little Colonel Series, 4. 1.1 Little Minister, The, 4. 1.2 Little Shepherd of King- dom Come, The, i. 1. 13 Little Women, 3. 5.1 Long's Animal Stories, 8. 1.2 Lords of the World, i. 1.1 Lorna Doone, 6. 2 Lowell's Poems, 11. 1 . 2 Lure of the Mask, The, i . 3.1 Macbeth, 10. 1.2 Madam Butterfly, 3. 2.1 Marmion, 4. 1.2 Master's Violin, The, i. 1. 1 2 Message to Garcia, A, 2. 3.2 Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 7. 1.1 Mill on the Floss, The, 4. 2.2 Milton's Minor Poems, 5. 1. 13 Miss Ashton's New Pu- pil, I. 1. 13 Miss Gray's Girl, i. 1.2 Mr. Crewe's Career, i. 1.2 Mrs. Creighton's Credi- tors, I. 4 My People of the Plains, 3- 1.1 Nicholas Nickleby, 4. 2.2 Captain! My Captain! 5. 1.1 OKver Twist, 4. 1.2 Opened Shutters, i. I.I Other Wise Man, The, 5. 2.1 Paradise Lost, 3. 2.1 Paul Revere's Ride, 2. 5.2 Plants, Stories about, 6. 1.2 Prisoner of Zenda, The, I. 1.2 Queenie's Whim, i. 1.2 Quo Vadis, 2. I02 FIRST CHOICE 1. 1 3 Rab and His Friends, 5. 1. 13 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 6. 1.2 Red Rock, i. 1.2 Reed, Myrtle, Works, i. 1.2 Richard Carvel, 11. 1. 1 2 Rip Van Winkle, 2. I.I Roughing It, 5. 1.1 Rudder Grange, 4. 1.2 St. Elmo, 3. 1.2 Second Generation, The, I. 3 Shakespeare's Plays, 9. 5.1 Sharp Eyes, i. 1.2 Shepherd of the Hills, The, I. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 2. 1.2 Shuttle, The, i. 2.1 Sir Galahad, 2. 1. 12 Sketch Book, The, 2. 1.2 Sky Pilot, The, I. 2.2 Snowbound, 4. 1.2 Spinner in the Sun, A, 3. 4 Stoddard's Lectures, i. I.I3 Sweet Girl Graduate, A, I.I 4. Tale of Two Cities, A, 6. 1.2 Thelma, i. 1.2 Treasure of Heaven, The, I. 1.2 Truth Dexter, i. I. II Twice-told Tales, 7. 1.2 Virginian, The, 2. 5 Walden, 6. 4 Winning of the West, The, 7. 3.2 Winter's Tale, A, 8. 4 Zigzag Journeys, 3. 1.1 Adam Bede, 3. 1. 1 2 Alhambra, The, 6. 2.2 America, 6. 1. 13 Andy Gordon, 2. 3.2 As You Like It, 8. 1.1 Barnaby Rudge, 5. 1.2 Battle of the Strong, The, 2. THIRD YEAR, HIGH SCHOOL Boys 1. 13 Ben Blair, i. 1.2 Beverly of Graustark, 2. 1.2 Black Rock, 3. 1.2 Call of the Wild, The, 2. 1.2 Coniston, 3. 1.2 Conquest of Canaan, 2. 1. 1 Count of Monte Cristo, The, 3. THIRD YEAR 103 2.1 Courtship of Miles Stan- I.I John Halifax, Gentle- dish, The, 8. man, 3. I-I3 Crimson Sweater, The, 6. 3-1 Julius Caesar, 14. 1.2 Crisis, The, 5. I.I Kidnapped, 6. 1.2 Crossing, The, 2. 3-1 King Lear, 4. 1.2 Daughter of Anderson 2.1 Lady of the Lake, The, 2. Crow, The, 3. 1.2 Land of Joy, The, i. I.I Deerslayer, The, 3. I.I Last of the Mohicans, I.I Dickens's Works, 4. The, 6. 1.2 Doctor, The, 5. 1.2 Letters of a Self-made I.I Dumas's Works, 2. Merchant to His Son, 2. 2.1 Enoch Arden, 6. 4.2 Life in Venice, 6. 2.1 Evangeline, 5. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, 1.2 Firing Line, The, 4. The, 4. 1.2 First Violin, The, 2. 1. 12 Little Rivers, 2. 1-13 Five Little Peppers, 2. I.I Lorna Doone, 3. 1.2 Gordon Keith, 2. 1.2 Man from Glengarry, 1.2 Graustark, 2. The, 2. I-I3 Half-Back, The, 8. 1.2 Man of the Hour, The, 2. 3-1 Hamlet, 6. 2.1 Marmion, 8. I.I Henry Esmond, 9. 3-2 Merchant of Venice, 2.1 Hiawatha, 4. The, 10. 4 History of Education, i. 1.2 Michael Strogoff, i. 2.1 Homer's IHad and Odys- I.I Middlemarch, 3. sey, 7. 3.2 Midsummer Night's I.I Hoosier Schoolmaster, Dream, A, 19. The, 2. I.I Mill on the Floss, The, 6. 2.1 Horatius, 10. 1.2 Octopus, The, 2. 4 How the Other Half I.I OHver Twist, 12. Lives, 3. 1.2 Oppenheim's Works, 2. I.I Hugo, Victor, Works, 3. 4 Oregon Trail, The, 10. I.I Hypatia, 4. 2.1 Paradise Lost, 4. I.I Innocents Abroad, 4. 4-3 Parkman's Histories, 26. 1.2 Jane Cable, 2. I.I Pathfinder, The, 8. I04 FIRST CHOICE 2.1 Paul Revere's Ride, 4. 1.2 Peveril of the Peak, 3. 1.1 Pickwick Papers, 4. 1.2 Pit, The, 2. I.I Prince of India, The, 4. 1.1 Quentin Durward, 4. 1.2 Richard Carvel, 9. 1.1 Romola, 9. 1.2 Rose of Old St. Louis, The, I. 1.1 Roughing It, 4. 3 Shakespeare's Plays, 5. 1.2 Shepherd of the Hills, The, I. 2.1 Sheridan's Ride, 9. 1.2 Sky Pilot, The, i. 2.2 Snowbound, 4. 2.2 Star-Spangled Banner, The,s. 1.1 Three Musketeers, The, 10. 1. 1 3 Treasure Island, 9. 3.2 Twelfth Night, 12. 1.1 Twenty Years After, 4. 1. 1 1 Twice-told Tales, 3. 1. 13 Ulysses, 3. 1.2 Under the Rose, i. 1.2 Virginian, The, 4. 2 Whittier's Poems, 9. 1.2 Wings of the Morning, The, I. 4 Winning of the West, The, 10. 3.2 Winter's Tale, The, 7. 1. 13 With Lee in Virginia, 3- 1. 13 Young Carthaginian, The, 4. Girls 1.2 Aunt Jane of Kentucky, 1.2 2. 2.2 1.1 Austen, Jane, Works, 4. 1.2 Barbara Winslow, i. 2.1 2.1 Barrack-room Ballads, 8. 1.2 Barrier, The, 3. i.i 1.1 Ben Hur, 9. 1.2 Beverly of Graustark, 3. 2.1 1.1 Bible, The, i. 1.2 Black Rock, 2. i.i I.I Bow of Orange Ribbon, 1.2 The, 6. 1.2 Brown of Harvard, 2. Chambered Nautilus, The, 7. Coming of Arthur, The, 10. Count of Monte Cristo, The, 5. Courtship of Miles Stan- dish, The, 5. Cranford, i. Crisis, The, 7. Crossing, The, 2. THIRD YEAR 105 I Daniel Deronda, 4. 13 Daughter of the Rich, A, 3. 1 David Copperfield, 10. 2 David Harum, i. 12 Days Off, 3. 1 Dickens's Works, 3. 2 Doctor, The, 3. I Dombey and Son, 4. I Egyptian Princess, An, 1 Emerson's Essays, 2. 2 English Orphans, The, 3. I Enoch Arden, 8. 1 Evangeline, 6. 13 Fairy Tales, 2. 13 Final Reckoning, A, 2. 2 Friend of Ccesar, A, 2. Garden of Allah, The, 3. Girl in Waiting, The, i. Graustark, 2. Guy Mannering, 4. Hamlet, 6. Heart of Midlothian, The, 4. Her Brother's Letters, 2. Hiawatha, 7. Honorable Peter Stirhng, The, I. Hoosier Schoolmaster, The, 7. Hypatia, 4. Idylls of the King, 12. 2,1 Iliad, The, 6. 1.2 In Connection with the DeWilloughby Claim, 2. 1.2 Jane Cable, i. 1.1 Jane Eyre, 6. 1.2 Janice Meredith, 2. I.I John Halifax, Gentle- man, 6. I.I Kidnapped, 2. 3.1 King Lear, 9. 3.1 King Richard the Third, 8. 4.3 Knickerbocker's History of New York, i. 1.2 Knight of the 19th Cen- tury, A, 2. I.I Lady of the Decoration, The, 4. 1.1 Last of the Mohicans, The, 4. 1.2 Lavender and Old Lace, 2. 1.2 Lena Rivers, 2. 1.1 Les Miserables, 6. 1.2 Lion and the Mouse, The, I. 1. 1 2 Little Rivers, i. 1. 1 3 Little Women, 3. 1.2 Little Shepherd of King- dom Come, The, 3. 2.1 Longfellow's Poems, 7. I.I Lorna Doone, 4. 2.1 Lucile, 5. I.I 2 Luck of Roaring Camp, The^ 2. io6 FIRST CHOICE 1.2 3-1 6 1.2 I.I 1.2 2.1 3-2 3-2 Lure of the Mask, The, 2. Macbeth, 5. Makers of History, i. Man from Glengarry, The, 2. Man without a Coun- try, The, 4. Margaret Lisle, i. Marmion, 6. Measure for Measure, 7. Merchant of Venice, The, 3.2 Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 9. 1. 1 Mill on the Floss, The, 6. 2.2 Milton's Minor Poems, 7. 1.2 Mr. Crewe's Career, 2. 1.2 Moonstone, The, 3. 1. 1 Newcomes, The, 4. I.I Old Curiosity Shop, 3. 1. 13 Old-fashioned Girl, An, 4. 6 Oliver Goldsmith's Life, I. I.I Oliver Twist, 9. 2.1 Paradise Lost, 3. I.I Pilgrim's Progress, The, 2. 1. 1 2 Plain Tales from the Hills, I. 1. 1 2 Poe's Short Stories, i. I.I Pride and Prejudice, 2. 2.1 Princess, The, 7. 1.2 Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains, The, 3. 1.2 Ramona, 2. 1. 13 Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, 4. 1.2 Refugees, The, 3. 4.3 Revolutionary War Sto- ries, 2. 1.2 Richard Carvel, 4. I.I Rise of Silas Lapham, The, 3. 3.1 Romeo and Juliet, 12. 1.1 Romola, $. 1.2 Rose of Old St. Louis, The, 2. 1.2 St. Elmo, I. 1.1 Scarlet Letter, The, 5. 1.2 Seats of the Mighty, The, 2. 1.2 Shepherd of the Hills, The, 2. 1.1 Silas Marner, 2. 2.2 Snowbound, 6. 1.2 Spinner in the Sun, A, I. 1.2 Spoilers, The, i. 2.2 Star-Spangled Banner, The, 4. 7 Stevenson ^s Essays, 2. I.I Tale of Two Cities, A, 2. 1. 1 Talisman, The, 2. 3.1 Tempest, The, 8. 2 Tennyson's Poems, 6. 1. 13 Tom Sawyer, Adven- tures of, 2. 1. 1 3 Treasure Island, 2. THIRD YEAR 107 I-I3 Two Little Confederates, i.i Vanity Fair, i. 2. I.I Vicar of Wakefield, The, I.I Twenty Years After, 3. 4. I-I3 Uncle Remus, 2. 1.2 Virginian, The, 3. 1. 12 Van Dyke's Short Stories, i.i Virginians, The, 2. 3. 1.2 Weavers, The, I. io8 TABLE OF "FIRST CHOICE" II a> 'o P ° n^ ^^ t-> -p o d «w ja 00 -t-" ■2^ O eS O m t a £H fee"' .a ,Q § a e3 "^ -t-» O Is S CI o o a- a> o J3 «H O ^ o .► o © u. P H ' .a 2 & ct3 ho ^ "^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ PLOTS OF "FIRST CHOICE" IO9 8th (gar. IstYt. ^d^. ~ 3dYr. 8th Gd. IslTr. S^^Yr ScTYf. r^:>i„ """"* .31 .30 .29 .28 .27 .26 .25 \ \ \ •0 ^^ V> / / \ % .23 .22 .21 .20 .19 .18 .17 .16 .15 .14 .13 .12 .11 .10 .09 .08 .07 .06 .05 .04 .03 / V ti / V S, A ■ f / 9.' ^ \ '^ ^i> ^ // '<^ ff •J\ /* '^'b f«- \ 9/ i r"? \f / */ / .w / 1 c^y 4 / \ \ v// "f-" 1 \ / s ^ J ro / s s\ / /^ / / N V / // \\ \ > / ' \ .\ / / \ / \ / J 1 j no PLOTS OF "FIRST CHOICE" 8fh Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. 8th Gd. 1st Yr. 2d Yr. SdYt. r ... .. 18 17 16 15 1A / .33 .32 •31 .30 .29 .28 .27 f I ^. / --" \ 13 13 11 xo .9 n 6 /5 14 / — \' k / o* \ \ ^f ^1 \' , <. y J 1 \ \ ^/ / V^^ / / .26 \ \ / / .35 .24 .23 .22 .21 .20 .19 .18 \ -V // \ \ -TT- ^ \ V ^ T .35 .24 .33 .33 .31 .30 .19 .18 .17 .16 .15 .14 .13 .13 .11 .10 .09 1 .08 \ I i^ 1_ \- \> \ ^ '\fe \«. r — \ ^v. .17 .16 .15 ,14 .13 .12 .11 .10 .09 .08 \ tM -\« ^ / / 1^ \1 \ \ \ / t ^ \1 : \ / \l \-r \ \ / V \ % ^ / \"^ V \ \ 1 1 / \ \ ^ \ 1 / \ \^ 1 / \ \ \ h f '^N \ / / •07 .06 .05 .04 ''s S // ^N / L _ _ _ _ _ _ PLOTS OF "FIRST CHOICE" III 8th Gd. IstYr. 2d Yr. 3d Tr. 8th Gd. IstYr. 2d Yr. 3d Yr. Rrt-vc z",:-!- .30 .19 .18 .17 .16 .15 .14 .13 .13 .11 .10 .09 f .07 .06 .05 .04 .03 .02 .01 .00 .02 .01 .00 - / ■>, ^^' ^ .r< <^> ^ • \^n «, ^ ^> r / "-«-. ■^ S -?» % ,.'' \ .1^, y y s S ^ irs; ^ >•> .^ By ^ [^ h> .5 Bi ?-l apj n o\L- V .>s^ \ ■> / / ^- •"' ^ 4wi / \ _ ^ z 112 8th Gd. PLOTS OF "FIRST CHOICE" 1st. Yr. 2d Yr. 3dYr. COMPARATIVE CURVES^ FIRST CHOICE ~ Curves arranged on the same scale of per cents lor first choice of outside reading, to show comparative interest in Che several type forms. .36 .35 .34 ,33 .32 .31 .30 .29 .28 ,27 .26 9p; \ dp \ \ ^%r t^<^ \ \ 1 \ o^. r4^-^^' \ \ ^. N, \ v^ tM' '' \ ^ s \ 1 S^ ^ < r ^ '\ \ \ , \ s^ ^ :^^ \ V. *\ \ H i '*s^ s V. ^ X ,y .24 .23 .22 .21 .20 .19 .18 ,17 ^ <^ L \ 1 K ^s^ ^ ^ '' y' \ > ^v fv ' \ ,^ !v ■ y \ y \ \ y J s X^ ' ^ >^ 'n, \ r — ^^ o^^ f \ / y' ^ "<. Li\ ':>' s s // \^ y \ ^1 f^ ^ ^'K ^ \ / \ '"> v; YucX:: fe U^' 4 Q~ \ N I \ ^ \ — > fc \ \ / \ y s \ / K vs / / .46 .15 .14 .13 .12 .11 ^o .09 .08 .07 .06 05 V ff \ / ^ o^' \ y / 7 ' . V >; / / ')• \ "? /- — — / \ ^\ • ''^ / 3J Jra / X \ \ • y \ / / / A / \ / / ) / /»' ' i / '4 > '■"^ / 1 1 V, / / / J ■■' \ / (4' %\ i \ / / '' \ v-- / ^r- % i 1 . / •* -^ \ f / -" — ' ^ > .^^ ^ ^ — ?* :** -^ J io '},"] — .^ . i:^ ^' ^ej pie Stc rie ! — .04 .03 .02 .01 .00 u u _ _ COMMENTS ON PLOTS OF FIRST CHOICE A comparison of the curves of first choice with the curves of the total outside reading is of interest. CLASSIC FICTION. — This falls during the first year, as it does in the ''total;" but with girls it falls lower, and with boys there is no break in the rise after the first year. The course is not materially altered where classic tales and short stories are included. CURRENT FICTION. — There is the same rapid rise during the first year and decline during the years following, with the position of the boys and girls reversed. It is possible that boys take such fiction more seriously. JUVENILE FICTION. — This differs Httle from the former curve, except that while in the second city the second year average for the boys rises it does not rise so high as in the general list. POETRY. — Although a large amoimt of poetry is read in the eighth year, only a small per cent is given first choice. The second and third years also show decrease of per cent of first choice. DRAMA. — These lines, as in the other chart, are continu- ously upward, with a slight difference between boys and girls. Thus far the curves of first choice tend to agree with those of the total outside reading, but in history, science, and biography the reports are so few and the answers so indefinite that no tendency of taste is apparent from the curve. While these curves vary from those of total reading, they Int.inH. S. Eng. — 8. 1 13 114 COMMENTS ON PLOTS OF FIRST CHOICE tend to corroborate the statements and emphasize the gen- eral conclusions reached. FINALLY. — Fiction, poetry, drama, in their several forms, — all of them distinct literary types, with positive and separate elements of beauty, — have a marked influence on the development of the pupil of high school age, de- pendent somewhat upon environment but largely upon mental growth. This relation would also doubtless be seen in the essay were the investigation carried into the college course, where appreciation of the essay becomes possible. It is also highly probable, though not finally proved, that the teaching of English could be made far more potent in this development. The work in the second city and in individual cases gives strong evidence to this effect. The negative side of this is shown from other groups, — history, science, and biography. No distinct tendencies are here apparent, but the interest in them depends upon their literary content, — description, plot, character, etc. If science stories were enjoyed in the early years, the pleasure came from some form of activity that could be translated into plot, and the history of the later years depended not upon the elements belonging solely to history, but upon those related to the art of literature, as character and beauty of structure. CONCLUSION In judging of the value of this evidence there are two con- siderations, — quantity and reliability. About 6000 records were taken; one thousand of these related to lower grade work and gave no results bearing on the problem that were materially different from those of the eighth grade, so they were not considered. About one thousand more were re- jected because they were incomplete or the answers were too vague to be of value. The actual number tabulated is 4210. These are divided among four years and give approximately a thousand to each year. Records are made of required and outside reading and of first choice. The several lists act as check and countercheck, and their con- currence proves the reliability of the results. The state- ments were made early in September after a summer vaca- tion had intervened since the required reading was done. The pupils were now in different classes and in most cases they were not reciting to the teacher of the previous year. The required selections had all been read at least three months before, and there was no impending examination to influence the expression of opinion. The teacher's im- mediate influence or desire, which is always a factor in the pupil's opinion, was minimized; for there was little to be gained from the approbation of work upon which no marks or records depended, or from a teacher who no longer had any direct control of the pupil. Then, school had just opened for the year, so there had been little time for the new work to make itself felt or for the new teacher to impress 115 Ii6 CONCLUSION his personality upon the pupil. These conditions made the statements of the pupils as free from outside influence as it seems possible to secure them during the high school course. REQUIRED READING PLOT. — The results of the required reading show that plot is the strongest element of interest. In each year it is above any other except in the third year, where char- acter surpasses it. The fundamental cause for this is that man^s greatest interest is in human activity, and that he images such activity in his own experience.^* Though there is a gradual decline through the several years in the in- tensity of this element, yet the introduction of selections strong in plot will force the interest upward. The Mer- chant of Venice and Silas Marner do this in the second year, though in the same group there is ample opportunity for other interests. No other element reaches so high a level, moves through so wide a range, and, except for "moral," no other makes a net decline. But in order to get a fair estimate of ''moral influence," "character" must be considered with it.^ Taking the two together, boys start at 25% and rise continuously to 45%. Girls start at 20% and with a setback of 1% in the second year rise to 40% the third. This indicates a growing free- dom from dogmatic teaching and the ability to recognize virtues in character. Lays of Ancient Rome "teach us to be brave" and Ivanhoe "makes one want to fight." These are impressions made in the first year. But by the time the pupil reaches the second year he identifies these quali- ties with the characters possessing them and gets his own moral stimulus from imaginary association with such * Numbers refer to '' Notes and Comments," pp. 134-144. REQUIRED READING I17 characters. Antonio becomes a real friend to the boy- reader and Bassanio is the girl's true lover, while Silas Marner's trials\nd devotion to Eppie touch the heart of the reader and arouse the feeling of sympathy. CHARACTER AND MORAL. — In the eighth year, owing to the course prescribed, an abnormal condition exists. The Lady of the Lake, the strongest in its moral teachings, is not once mentioned under this heading. Its lessons have been obscured by the fact that it is poetry or overbalanced by its plot interest. The only moral mentioned is in Sharp Eyes and In the Wilderness. According to mental growth, there is a gradual transition through the years from plot interest to character interest, from what the char- acters do to what they are. This is apparent when the same book is mentioned in different years. For instance, character interest in Silas Marner when read in the third year is more than twice as great as it is when read in the second year. If books are to do their best work, to estab- lish themselves as factors in shaping the lives of the readers, they should be read at that period in the course when they make their strongest appeal. STYLE. — Under style is included all interest in form of literature, as distinguished from content. This is very slight in the eighth year, yet it rises continuously without check from 4% to 20% in the third year. At its highest, however, it is below plot at its lowest. This seems remark- able, as no subject in the whole course of study is receiv- ing apparently so much emphasis as English composition. The force of figurative language of the Idylls of the King was quite unknown, and no one had heard the significant tones of The Lady of the Lake. The strength and dignity of the finest passages of Shakespeare made slight conscious Il8 CONCLUSION impression, and Ruskin's paragraphs meant nothing. Even sentence structure received little recognition. Yet the elements of prose and poetic style are specifically men- tioned as subjects for study throughout the high school course. Unity and coherence and function of the para- graph are called for in the first year; topic sentence, transi- tion, loose, periodic, and balanced sentences, and rhetorical questions in the second. In the third year the pupil is expected to discriminate literary types and values and to be conversant with the development of the paragraph. This work is either done superficially or else it is so isolated from literature that it does not contribute to a strong and healthy literary taste. Yet the rise is positive and continuous throughout the four years and shows growing apprecia- tion of beauty, though the degree of this is sHght. In the eighth grade and the first year only two selections are mentioned at all for style, in the second year four, and in the third year eight. The highest per cent is for Joan of Arc, and though there is almost no interest in essay content throughout the course, the essays Jomi of Arc and The English Mail Coach have almost one half the style interest for that year; and again, though there is almost complete ignorance of specific poetic form, yet the only selections given for style in the eighth year are The Lady of the Lake and The Apostrophe to the Ocean. In fact, the poem and essay, both neglected for content, furnish here the main source for style interest. With no evidence of instruction in style, it seems from this that enjoyment of Hterary beauty is instinctive.^ The study of form is seriously pro- claimed in the syllabus, but the reports give no evidence that classes have had instruction in this phase of the work. So what enjoyment there is, is natural and original. The REQUIRED READING 1 19 rhythm of Joan of Arc and The English Mail Coach, the grace of Sesame and Lilies, the tone, rime, and alliteration of the poems, have had to do their work alone without the responses that should come to even an immature mind trained to receive them. It would be interesting to see what they might have done under cultivation. DESCRIPTION. — The treatment of description has been left till the last because it bears a peculiar relation both to the several types of literature and to the composition work of the syllabus. It is a factor in the sketch, the drama, and the poem. It is also the form of composition emphasized in the first year in high school. In the eighth year, interest in description is found almost entirely in In the Wilderness and Sharp Eyes, with almost none in The Lady of the Lake. In the first year, over half the interest in description centers in Ivanhoe, though The Vision of Sir Launfal, Idylls of the King, The Sketch Book, and The Ancient Mariner are also mentioned. In the second year there is a rapid decline, Silas Marner being almost the only story mentioned. The third year interest is peculiar. There is a slight rise with the boys and a slight decline with the girls. This is not so significant as the fact that while in the second year only four books are mentioned, eight are mentioned in the third year. Were it not for the influence of Silas Marner in the girls' second year, there would be a rise in the third year for both boys and girls; therefore it seems fair to conclude that the normal tendency of taste is for descrip- tion to rise in the third year. Now, during the eighth grade and the first year composition, description is em- phasized with models drawn from the prose selections. These models were evidently recalled, and therefore the subjects were held to be of interest because of this element. 120 CONCLUSION But the fall in the second year and the few books mentioned show that when the composition stimulus is removed there is little tendency to find interest in this form of writing.^ In the third year, with the one exception noted, the ten- dency is upward, and the variety of titles cited under this head indicates that the power to appreciate description — feeble though it is — begins to develop in the third year, much later than does the appreciation of plot. This also is in accord with the psychic principle that the mind does not respond at so low a stage of development to a scene as it does to action. It is evidently easy to teach description dogmatically in the first year, but since the natural un- trained taste is manifest in the third year, if composition is to vitalize and intensify the literature so that description gives not only bare and cold images but impressions en- riched by the personality of the writer, then it should come later in the course, or at least be reviewed at the later period from the literary viewpoint.^ OUTSIDE READING Now that the place and force of the elements of compo- sition have been considered in the required reading, it is possible to pass to the broader field of the outside reading. CLASSIC AND CURRENT FICTION. — In order to draw re- liable inferences from this, it is necessary to consider to- gether the amount read and the ^' first choice" on this reading. In the first year there is a general rise in the ratio of current reading and a fall in that of classic reading. In the second and third years this condition is reversed. (See p. 78.) The high school reading is not so completely under the teacher's control as it is in the grades.^ This fact accounts for the rapid rise in popular fiction. But OUTSIDE READING 121 at the same time it raises the question, Why should these pupils desire this reading? They are practically all in their fifteenth year, a period in adolescence when emotion is strong and seeks satisfaction through imagination by means of reading.^ The fiction most popular is that in which strong plot holds a large place in proportion to the other elements of novel structure. First year teachers seem to recognize this. The plot of A Tale of Two Cities is less vigorous than that of Ivanhoe, but far more so than that of Cranford. The ratio of these three first year novels is as follows: IVANHOE A TALE OF TWO CITIES CRANFORD Boys 671 : 18 : Girls S7I • 7 • • 4 Here the teacher's as well as the pupiFs influence is seen, for the teacher chooses which of the three shall be read, while the pupil states whether he prefers the selection to the others of the year's course. In novels that have proved themselves classic there is a fair proportion of personaHty, — portrayed as in David Copperfield, or developed as in Romola. Now it has been shown that character interest is of later growth than plot interest.^^ This is due to the fact that certain generalizations are necessary, depending upon a more advanced stage of mental power.^^ In order to under- stand what Tito is, the reader must generalize from his actions and motives; and to comprehend the change in character he must reason from cause to effect without any great amount of conscious effort. This is apparently the basis of solution for these two curves, ''current" and ''classic." But in this connection the curves under "first choice" show an interesting condition: namely, the per 122 CONCLUSION cent here is higher in ^'classic" than in '^current/' not- withstanding the fact that the ratio representing the num- ber of books read per pupil is much higher for '' current" fiction. This statement generaHzes what has been com- mented upon in individual cases, — that the reading of a large quantity of cheap fiction deadens the power of analysis and discrimination. ^2 xhe more definite ideas were expressed by those who did the better but smaller amount of reading. On the same basis of mental growth, it may be argued that in the second and third year there is a rise in interest in classic fiction and a decline in interest in current fiction. ^^ How much of this is the result of the English work, and how much that of natural growth in power, it is not pos- sible to determine. There seems no reason why the first year reading should be of poorer quality than that of the eighth grade. The high school teacher who has the liter- ary confidence of his pupils should be able to make The Deerslayer and David Copperfield as popular as Treasure Island and Two Years before the Mast are in the eighth grade.^^ ^^ JUVENILE FICTION. — Exccpt for the popularity of the Barbour books in the second year of the second city, the course of juvenile fiction is continuously downward. This is to be expected. Youths do not like to do "childish'' things. It will be seen that girls read less of this class than boys do, and after the first year fewer give it as first choice.^^ This is due, no doubt, to the fact that, though the girls and the boys are nearly of the same age, girls develop and tend to feel "grown up" somewhat earlier than boys do.^^ No attempt was made to separate current from classical literature in the juvenile group. Such a division seemed unnecessary, because juvenile reading was of a higher order OUTSIDE READING 123 than was expected. Such books as Tom Sawyer and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm were favorites. There were few of the Henty, Alger, or Harry Castlemon type, nor of the weak '^girly" Elsie books. Previous experience with grade literature leads the writer to infer that such books belong to an earlier grade. Yet Little Women and Tom Sawyer are read from the fifth grade upward. This fact again shows that the better the book, the wider its range in power to interest, hence Robinson Crusoe belongs to all ages and all times. POETRY. — Poetry was divided into epic — narrative and lyric — and descriptive, but there was so little of the latter read that it is almost a negligible quantity. The curves in the "outside reading" and in the ''first choice" are so similar that their direction is particularly worth consider- ation. The ratios when compared with those of fiction are low, but one is forced to believe that the sources of interest are similar. In the primary grades the interest in poetry is largely sensuous — in rime, rhythm, and alliteration.^^ At the close of the grades it is fair to expect a mixture of sensuous and intellectual, that is, interest in knowing the story, with a tendency through the high school years to an appeal to the emotions — love, sympathy, patriotism, morality — and even to the aesthetic emotions.^^ This expectation is not realized, as the lines follow close in the direction of those of classic fiction. That is, the poems read are good stories. From the chart on style (p. 76) there is further evidence that poetry for its own sake occupies a small place in high school education. In the eighth grade only The Lady of the Lake and one of the other nine poems are mentioned. 124 CONCLUSION Though the first year high school syllabus is rich in its list of poems, not one of them has been chosen. The second and third years are but little more encouraging. The Deserted Village and Idylls of the King are mentioned, but Palgrave is entirely omitted. Nevertheless, throughout the course there were occasional expressions of a positive love for poetry for the poetic elements. Some of these no doubt were due to home influence; but unless teachers do their part most children will never acquire a love of poetry for its own sake. DRAMA.* — The drama tells quite a different story from that of poetry. Its range is narrow, practically all Shakes- pearean, but no other type shows so constant and uniform a rise in total reading and first choice. There is no juvenile drama, *' popular" dramas are not put up in book form for general reading, and the novelized drama has not seriously influenced the youth. How is this increase in interest to be accounted for? To say that the drama is one of the oldest forms of literature, and that it has always had an audience, only forces the question back one step further. Why has it had an audi- ence? The laws of mind growth have not changed since the Greek tragedies and comedies were written. It there- fore seems possible to account for interest in the classic drama strictly on the principle laid down for source of interest for Hterature in general. The plot comes first. First year pupils enjoy the Casket Scene of The Merchant of Venice or the battle of the opposing forces in Julius Ccesar. In the second year there is the added satisfaction * While tragedy and comedy were recorded separately, they were con- sidered together because their difference does not seem to bear any relation to the problem. OUTSIDE READING 12$ of feeling the personality of the scheming Shylock, the loyal Antonio, the shrewd Cassius, or the brilliant Mark An- tony. In the third year we get statements that bear on dimax or catastrophe, on the artistic treatment of plot or scene, and on the beauty of phrasing, all of which indicate a slight tendency toward interest in style. The records on style for Julius Ccesar in the required reading show the same tendency .^^ ^^ THE ESSAY. — Although it is not very satisfactory to argue from negative results, yet, in regard to the essay, that is the only course open. In outside reading there were not enough records to warrant tabulation, and in required reading there was no record of Lamb, Bacon, or Emerson. Now the essentials of the essay are not plot, character, or description, the elements that enter so largely into the other forms of prose composition. The essay deals more largely with generalizations. It may use incident, episode, narrative, or description, by way of illustration, but its plan is generally deductive. This does not mean that the high school pupil lacks the power to draw general conclusions or to comprehend them when drawn by others. But in this investigation he never exercised his choice in favor of the essay. He was following the mental line of least re- sistance.^^ It is safe to predict that an investigation of this character carried into college would lead to some positive conclusions. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND SCIENCE. — In history, biog- raphy, and science the records formed no basis for definite conclusions so far as these subjects in themselves are con- cerned. Science in the lower years consisted of stories, — Long's, Thompson Seton's, or in a few instances Burroughs's. In the upper years it was of more economic character, as 126 CONCLUSION books on electricity, or how to build a boat. Biology is a first year subject taught in most schools and by the labora- tory plan, yet there seemed no relation between this sub- ject and the outside reading. In the grades, American History is one of the required subjects for a preliminary certificate, and in the high schools there are definite courses in Ancient, European, EngHsh, and American History. Yet none of these seemed to affect the reading.^ In the earher years the choice was for story, as Coffin's Story of Liberty and Boys of 'y6?^ This was not true to so great an extent in the upper classes. Here there was an occasional mention of some standard histories, — Motley, Fiske, or Eggleston. Interest in biography was slight, and related to story, plot, or personaHty. In fact, except when this group served economic needs, interest depended on form, not on content. It is generally contended that boys at this age are inter- ested in facts of science and history. This is doubtful ex- cept when the facts are put in literary form that appeals to them.2^2^^^ The nearest approach to natural science in the course is in Sharp Eyes and In the Wilderness, and when a pupil ventured an opinion in regard to these he showed that he was trying to find a story. ^^ ^^ COMPARISON OF READING OF GIRLS AND BOYS It is frequently asserted that girls' reading differs in quality from that of boys. This investigation tends to prove the contrary. In Hterary elements the curves (pp. 75, 76) show that there is but slight difference. The general direction in description, moral, character, and style is the same. Such difference as exists is so slight that it OUTSIDE READING 127 may be attributed to local or special conditions. The plot curves are nearly identical and furnish strong proof of ^he conclusions reached in regard to plot. Under types of Hterature (pp. 78-81 and 109-112) the similarity is not quite so marked, yet the general tendency is the same. There is, however, an apparent sex difference in reasons for choice. In the same plot, girls enjoy the emotional elements, and boys the elements of physical action; boys admire the man that can do, and girls the one that can endure, both frequently naming the same character for these different traits.^^ ^^ ^^ Boys read but few distinctly girls' books, though there is occasional men- tion of Louisa Alcott, but girls read Huckleberry Finn, The Crimson Sweater, and admire the humor, daring, and cour- age of the characters even more keenly though not so ex- tensively as do the boys.^^ The only diversity appears in the second year, and this is a special condition due to the delayed popularity of Barbour in the second city. In each year girls read more poetry than boys do. The writer's experience in primary grades indicates that so long as the interest is mainly sen- suous, boys enjoy poetry and read as much as girls do; but when interest is dependent upon the emotions, the girls more readily respond, though with boys the response, once secured, is as positive as with girls. The per cent of first choice in poetry is low, but the curve tends to verify the same conclusion. In history, science, and biography there is no marked tendency either of similarity or diversity, which again strengthens the conclusion that these depend for interest not upon the class of matter they contain but upon the form in which it is given. The history curve (p. 80) is the one exception, but as the ^' first choice" in this 128 CONCLUSION (p. Ill) shows quite a different direction, any conclusion drawn would be doubtful .^^ ^^ SUGGESTIONS This thesis does not aim to determine the contents of an English high school course either in the composition or in the selections to be read, but the reports give some evidence that is worthy of comment. The relation between the reading and the writing needs to be closer. The pupil doubtless studies development of the paragraph, narration, types of sentences, and other elements of prose structure so as to answer the questions of fact relating to them. But he is bound to fail on the side of literary appreciation and enjoyment unless he sees how an author in his work has mastered the art of writing. Then in his own writing he must imitate the master. When he has done this, pro- vided he has followed the lines indicated throughout the discussion, he will have a cultivated taste instead of one that shows Httle more than natural tendencies. There is no evidence to warrant comment on exposition and argu- mentation, the more advanced work in writing, but the requirement for description in the third year should be met seriously. The pupil should become familiar with master- pieces of description and learn to imitate them. It is a little presumptuous to suggest change or innovation in the customary order of teaching types of composition, — narra- tion, description, exposition, and argumentation; but the continuous interest in the drama points to the conclusion that pupils should learn to write in dramatic form.^^ This would give zest to narration, furnish purpose for description, and establish a motive for exposition and argumentation. The selections to be read conform in general to the normal SUGGESTIONS 129 growth in interest. The poetry is well chosen, but the course should be continuous and include selections in the third year where none are now given. The interest in poetry is feeble, but it can be in- creased by proper teaching. The final purpose of poetry is to arouse emotion. The teacher must realize this and not make The Lady of the Lake a matter of fiction only, or treat Shelley's To the Skylark like a bit of bone and feathers. ^^ It is a mistake to furnish no fiction in the eighth grade. Sharp Eyes and In the Wilderness are interesting to adults who have had some experience with nature, but the effort made to find some story in these shows a hunger for plot that needs to be satisfied. Cranford does not belong in the course. Its plot interest is too feeble, its characterizations are too delicate, and its humor so subtle that it requires a mature mind trained for the finer appre- ciation of Hterature. Pilgrim's Progress may be read for the pictures and the story several years earHer, or for the allegory and the lesson several years later. It does not belong here. High school pupils will never care for it.^^ If the essay is to contribute to lit^ary appreciation, its content must be dramatic, its form: poetic, or in some way it must meet the requirements of the adolescent mind more fully than it can when it follows the conventional plan of generalization and illustration. Finally, this investigation does not show that, imder pres- ent conditions, teaching is a potent influence in develop- ing literary taste, but it indicates the possibility of such influence.^^ It does show that types of Uterature according to the elements they possess are adapted to different stages of Int. in H. S. Eng.— 9. I30 CONCLUSION mental growth, and it points the way for a broader and deeper appreciation of literary values.'"^ ^^ ^^ If the evidence here given can aid in showing how to modify courses in composition and how to select literature, it has served its purpose. OTHER PROBLEMS In the solution of the problems of this thesis, other problems have become apparent. The discussion of history was largely from the negative side. Now let it be taught as a humanity, not as a compilation of bare facts; let it be supplemented by the Uterature of history and note the results. The course of study in most cities makes pro- vision for such teaching, but only in a few schools is advan- tage taken of it. Though biology is a compulsory first year study, it showed no influence upon the literature selected. Choose some schools where the teachers know the literature of the profession as well as the details of the laboratory. Let these teachers give their pupils a taste of what the great natural- ists have written. Then compare the outside reading in such schools with that in schools where only the work of the syllabus is done. Poetry is more difficult to test. But individual cases known to the writer convince him that it is possible to teach poetry for its own sake. Select schools where this is done and then see whether poetry follows the same curve as fiction. Show whether under such teaching, to the pupil, poetry is ''good" only in proportion to the story it contains. All of these experiments would assist in solving that larger question, How far can the teacher of English influ- ence the formation of permanent literary taste? This is the OTHER PROBLEMS 131 serious question raised in the discussion. There are occa- sional suggestions on this point, but no definite answer to the question. It is a common practice to make positive statements about the influence of the teacher. How far are they true? How does the outside reading of the pupils whose teacher really loves the literature differ from that done by those whose teacher does the work mechani- caUy?43 Closely connected with this point is the question that arose from the study of the fiction curves, — What would be the results if the high school teacher guided the out- side reading of pupils as carefully as the grade teacher does ? The same investigation extended to college work should show results that verify the principles laid down, and vary in accord with the more highly developed power.^ In regard to the essay, in particular, it should give positive instead of negative results. It should furnish more con- vincing evidence in regard to description and add new chapters on exposition and argumentation. In fact, two serious problems are made apparent in the discussion of this thesis: (i) How far will an investigation in more ad- vanced work verify and amplify the conclusions herein reached, and (2) What is the real organic influence of class English under direction of the teacher upon permanent taste and character of the pupil ?^^ BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, Allan. Education, Oct., 1901; School Review, Oct., 1902, Sept., 1904; Teachers' College Record, 1908. Atkinson, F. W. Reading of young people. Library Journal, 1908, vol. 33. Brockway, H. Children's literature. Child Study Monthly, 1900, vol. 7. (Comments on what children ought to read.) Bryan, E. B. Nascent stages. Pedagogical Seminary, 1900, vol. 7. Bullock, R. W. Some observations on children's reading. N. E. A. Proceedings, 1897, vol. 37. BuRNiTE, Caroline. Good and poor books for boys and girls. Public Libraries, 1906, vol. 11. Chase, S. F. Adolescence: its problems and experiences ap- plied to the choice of reading matter for the early adolescent years. Child Study Monthly, 1901, vol. 6. Cone, Mrs. K. M. Children's Uterature. Education, 1898, vol. 18. (A good account of the growth of juvenile Uterature.) Dana, J. C. Children's reading. U. S. Commissioner of Edu- cation Report, 1897-98, vol. i. (Tells how teachers can help in the choice of good reading.) Forbush, W. B. Some recent studies of boys' tastes in reading. How to Help Boys, July, 1902, vol. 2. (Valuable comments from several writers.) Gayley, J. G. Classics for children. Pedagogical Seminary, 1894, vol. 3. (Makes a plea for classic literature in the grades.) GoDLEY, E. C. Century of books for children. Living Age, 1906, vol. 249. (Review of children's books for a century, showing how style has changed to fit the child's taste.) Griffith, George. Course of reading for children. Educa- tional Review, 1899, vol. 17. Gulick, Dr. Luther. Pratt Institute Monthly, April, 1901. 132 BIBLIOGRAPHY 133 Hall, G. S. Children's reading as a factor in their education. Library Journal, 1908, vol. 33. N. E. A. Proceedings, 1905. Adolescence, vol. 2. KiRKPATRiCK, E. A. Children's reading. Northwestern Monthly, 1899, vol. 9. Lamont, H. Reading of children. Nation, 1906, vol. 83. (It pleads for more classics of the old type, and shows how the goody Cjiiild book is passing away.) Lancaster, E. C. Psychology and pedagogy of adolescence. Pedagogical Seminary, 1897, vol. 5. Lawrence, Isabel. Children's interests in literature. N. E. A. Proceedings, 1899. Leland, Claude G. How New York guides its children through good reading. Harpers' Weekly, Dec. 26, 1908, vol. 52. (Suggestive for grades.) Lowe, May. Evolution as applied to children's reading. Edu- cation, 1899, vol. 19. Repplier, Agnes. Little Pharisees in fiction. Scribner's, 1896, vol. 20. (Shows the danger from cheap children's stories.) ScHREtBER, M. E. How to direct children in their reading. N. E. A. Proceedings, 1900. Shaw, Adele. Reading of children. Critic, 1906, vol. 48. SivnxH, F. O. Pupils' voluntary reading. Pedagogical Semi- nary, 1907. Thurber, C. H. Plan for a study of children's reading. N. Y. Supt. of Public Instruction Report, 1897, vol. 2. Thurber, Samuel. Voluntary reading in the classical high school. School Review, 1905, vol. 13. VosTROvSKY, Clara. Study of children's reading. Pedagogi- cal Seminary, 1899, vol. 6. Winterburn, F. H. The child's taste in fiction. New Eng- land Magazine, 1902, vol. 33. Wissler, Clark. Interests of children in the reading work of the elementary schools. Pedagogical Seminary, 1898, vol. 5. NOTES AND COMMENTS (i) Allan Abbott, of the Horace Mann School, notes, among third year pupils, interest in plot, character, description, senti- ment, moraUzing disUked, personality of author and exaggera- tion disliked. — Teachers' College Record. (2) F. W. Atkinson furnishes the only records of vacation reading (Springfield High School). On the opening day of the Springfield High School (1897) all pupils were asked these questions: What books have you read during the summer? Which of these do you specially like? This investigation was conducted in only one school, had to do with a brief period, and made no attempt to determine motive. Nevertheless, the writer is positive in concluding that high school teachers need to give more attention to their pupils' voluntary reading. (3) " The native interests which underlie a taste for htera- ture are interests in life itself. ... It only remains to select the best books to fit such interests, and then verify the selection by an inductive study of its effect." — Isabel Lawrence. (4) Wissler found that the children in the lower grades had httle interest in moral precepts, but 23% of those in the fifth reader preferred stories in which the purpose was distinctly moral. (5) " Artists would fain have us believe that aesthetic tastes are somewhat accidental structures. Could we take the taste for Uterature in the cultivated brain and remove the last straw blown to it, and the next to the last, and so on to the very center of the complex and compact accretion of years, we should find at the beginning native interests." — Isabel Lawrence. (6) There was very little interest in stories of description 134 NOTES AND COMMENTS I35 among Wissler's children till they reached the highest reader, when 30% selected such stories. (7) " The answers tend to indicate an agreement between the motives which prompt voluntary reading and different stages in the development of the child's instincts. Adventure is the leading motive in the grades below the high school. Later, this crude instinct for nature is followed by the beginning of an appreciation of beauty and sentiment as represented in descrip- tion of nature in forms of expression and in the analysis of character." — F. O. Smith. Without going into details, Mr. Smith has asserted fimda- mental sources of interest for high school pupils, — description, style, character. (8) Mr. Atkinson regrets that " the high literary taste formed by the grammar school teacher is not maintained by the teachers of the high school." The upper class work is of low grade, but " all have interest in the portrayal of strong personality." (9) " Parents seldom realize the intensity of this desire to read. Those who feel it and are not provided with reading, some of which is even sensational in the best sense of the word, may take up the worst kind of sensational reading. It is the golden opportunity to cultivate the taste and inoculate against the worst forms of the reading habit. The curve of this intense desire to read begins at 8, rises to 10, then more rapidly from 11 to 14, culminates at 15, then falls rapidly, nearly reaching the base line at 18." — E. C. Lancaster. Statement based upon records of 453 persons ranging in age from 12 to 25 years. (10) " The special aims in studying fiction are: to enjoy the story; to picture life portrayed; to judge character portrayed; to trace character development." — M. E. Schreiber. (11) "The most prominent feature of adolescence is the emotional life. The emotional nature seems to mature rapidly and nearly reach its maximum before the intellectual or rational 136 NOTES AND COMMENTS side, if they may be separated, has developed. The growth of the ethical nature, and the deep, broad intellectual interests, root in the emotional hfe of adolescence. If the instinct emo- tions are properly guided, they will pass over into permanent intellectual interests." — E. C. Lancaster. (12) C. H. Thurber finds the same relation between history and light fiction that we do between classic and current fiction. The more history a child reads the more apt is he to give history positive first choice, while the more light fiction he reads the less apt is he to give fiction or anything else a positive preference. He says, " If more historical and biographical Kterature of an interesting character were placed in our school libraries, some of the lighter classes of fiction could be dispensed with." (13) " The testimony of about 75 normal students questioned on this point indicates, as do these figures, that the 'reading craze ' most frequently begins at about 1 2 years of age and con- tinues at least three or four years. Later, it is often opposed by increased responsibiUty in the way of home duties, school requirements, or social duties, and is often diminished in quan- tity and generally becomes more discriminating as to quaUty.'* E. A. KiRKPATRICK. (14) All investigators find the greatest interest in fiction. This is doubtless because it is the truest portrayal of Hfe in its emotions and activities, which the reader can understand and with which he can sympathize. Wissler's range of choice is 66 to 36% for girls and 74 to 32% for boys. The decline is doubtless due not so much to the child's taste as it is to the fact that the upper grade reading books contain a large proportion of biography, history, science, and poetry. Miss Vostrovsky finds a continuous rise in fiction in Hbrary choice with both boys and girls from 12 to 19 years of age. C. H. Thurber shows a rise in amount of fiction read for children from 9 to 15 years, with the girls somewhat in advance of the boys, In the upper grades, however, there is a decline in NOTES AND COMMENTS 137 first choice." This is due to the large number of foreign children who in the upper grades prefer history, biography, and science. Then, children of this age normally belong in the high school, so that this upper grade record can hardly be relied upon as showing a general condition. (15) ''The pubescent reading passion is partly the cause and partly an effect of the new zest in and docihty to the adult world, and also of the fact that the receptive are now and here so unanimously in advance of the creative powers. Now the individual transcends his own experience and learns to profit by that of others. There is now unsolved a penumbral region in the soul more or less beyond the reach of all school methods, a world of gUmpses and hints, and the work here is that of the prospector and not of the careful miner. It is the age of skip- ping and sampling, of pressing the key Hghtly. What is ac- quired is not examinable but only suggestive." — G. S. Hall, Adolescence, vol. 2, p. 474. Dr. Hall bases his statements regarding adolescent reading on the records of R. W. Bullock, C. H. Thurber, E. A. Kirk- patrick, and Miss Vostrovsky. (16) "The love story is usually the dividing fine between the juvenile and the adult room " (for girls). — Caroline Burnite. (17) The most positive account of juvenile fiction is given by Miss Vostrovsky. Her record from 9 to 17 years is: for boys, 100% to 35%; and for girls, 100% to 9%. The girls stop reading somewhat earlier than do boys, and after the 17th year neither boys nor girls give any records. George Griffith's records of the Utica schools show the same tendency away from juvenile Hterature and toward the novel of strong plot. Abbott also finds taste maturing in the same manner. (18) " The love of rime and verse comes into being with the first breath and outlasts mumps and measles, cold days and wet." — A. M. Shaw. 138 NOTES AND COMMENTS Miss Shaw deals entirely with elements of interest in stories for young children. (19) Wissler finds a continuous rise in poetry interest from the second reader to the fifth for both boys and girls, though the interest of girls is the greater. In the lower grades, children select poems almost entirely for the sensuous elements, but the popularity of Evangeline and Thanatopsis in the upper grades shows the influence of sentiment. C. H. Thurber's grammar school children, on a basis of 1000, show a rise from 89 at 9 years to 435 at 15 years for boys and 27 to 460 for girls. (20) "The basis for judgment of children's books (i.e., whether children should be allowed to read them) is first the ethical, second the dramatic, and after that atmosphere and style." — Caroline Burnite. Miss Burnite deals \vTth younger children, but her article is suggestive of motives in the choice of reading. (21) "Both sexes have a period in the earher or perhaps middle teens when they are fascinated with reading, a kind of craze or intoxication of trying their wings in the great field of hterature, to know what the great world is about, in the pin- feather stage, just before they are ready to launch upon it. The arduous work of the high school, as we know, distinctly tends to check this passion; sometimes doubtless for good and sometimes otherwise." — G. Stanley Hall, N. E. A. Report, 1905. Our records find this "craze" to be for fiction in the first year. To say, without quaUfication, that it is "checked" seems mis- leading. It gradually tends to other channels. It is doubtful if this change, or check, comes from the "arduous work of the high school." It seems more probable that it comes from a higher degree of mental culture to which of course the "arduous work" contributes. (22) Allan Abbott tested several hundred high school pupils on the required college entrance English to ascertain their likes NOTES AND COMMENTS 139 and dislikes. He found that all the essays had the highest percentage of dislikes and in the following order: Carlyle's Essay on Burns. Macaulay's Essay on Addison. Burke's Canciliatiojt Speech. De Quincey's Tartar Tribe. Macaulay's Essay on Milton. In concluding his paper he makes the following statements: "A man in authority once told me that the critical essay was put on the list mth the object of killing two birds with one stone, — the essayist and his subject. Apparently the effect had been successful, for both, to the boys, are dead." " The common fault of all these books from the boys' stand- point is that they presuppose a reflective turn of mind, wide reading, and interest in the subtleties of style at a time when boys are naturally impulsive, ill-read, and scarcely masters of any style at all, even the simplest." — Education. (23) G. Stanley Hall says (N. E. A. Report, 1905): "The history teacher, even in the high school, is often too universitized in methods and ideals to recognize this need " (narration and biography). Dr. Hall believes boys and girls should read in the field of nature and modem science, but regrets that there are few suitable books on these topics. (24) " In history and history stories, the most popular authors are Pratt, CoflSn, Yonge, Henty, Abbott, Blaisdell, Plutarch, Montgomery, Scudder, and Sarah K. Bolton." E. A. KrRKPATRICK. (25) Emphasizing the need of reaching history by the story, Miss Lowe says: "Leath&r Stocking Tales lead very naturally into Brooks's story of the American Indian, and that again into the history of the Indian wars and the early history of our country. When your boy reaches this stage he may be left to the path alone." I40 NOTES AND COMMENTS (26) Forbush quotes Elmer E. Brown from his report of the Oakland schools as follows: "While considerable interest in historical narrative can be counted on from the fifth grade upward, the clear superiority of such natural interest of the children does not come out till the ninth grade." (27) "The history stories and the myths of the earlier stage bring the child naturally to the more careful and detailed study of history. The work at this time should be full of human interest. The time has not come for the more abstract studies of treaties, constitutions, and government documents. In the study of American history, the beginnings of our history appeal very strongly to children of this age. Well-written stories of the voyages of Columbus; of the expeditions of Drake and De- Soto; of the work of La Salle and Marquette; of the landing of the Pilgrims; of the founding of Jamestown and St. Augustine; the winning of the West; the stories of David Crockett, Daniel Boone, and George Rogers Clark, have a very great fascina- tion for the child at this age and will be retained with remark- able tenacity. This is the blood-and- thunder age of the child." — E. B. Bryan. It seems from the results of this investigation that even the high school pupil would prefer a Httle "blood and thunder" in his history. (28) "The most surprising and lamentable fact appearing in these answers is that almost no scientific books are being read and few that may be classed as scientific and Uterary, such as Burroughs." — E. A. Kirkpatrick. (29) There is irregularity and indefiniteness in all records of biography, science, and history. Wissler with his 2000 children makes little of them, and Miss Vostrovsky's rates are very low. (30) "Girls have greater interests in the fields of action where affection and kindness are striving for the noble and true, and boys in that field of action where strength, courage, and NOTES AND COMMENTS 141 honesty of purpose struggle against the more material environ- ment." — Clark Wissler. (31) Mr. Abbott concludes that "girls and boys have a common meeting ground in books rich in both feeling and inci- dent, that both like the current novels and enjoy the nearness of daily life (as in Miss Alcott or Hughes)." — School Review, 1902. (32) "The heroes in the boys' stories who are most popular, who secure the most unbounded enthusiasm from the boy, are those scouts or detectives or sea captains who, forgetting their own safety, risk their lives for someone else. The person who is merely selfish is never a popular hero to the boy of these years. In the same way with the girl, while the emphasis is upon romance, mere self-achievement, the winning of wealth or power or position, does not in itself characterize fairly their leading heroes." — Luther Gulick. (33) R. W. Bullock asserts that boys seldom read girls' books but girls read boys' books. (Others agree.) Miss Vostrovsky found that more standard works were drawn by boys than by girls. (9 to 19 years.) (34) E. A. Kirkpatrick in an investigation of 5000 children from the fourth to the ninth grade finds that girls read more poetry and stories than boys do, but boys read more travel and history. The poetry curves for boys and girls, however, are parallel throughout the grades. He beUeves that if history and travel gave more attention to what women have been and have done, girls would be more interested in these subjects. (35) G. Stanley Hall says {Library Journal, 1908): "Dif- ferences in reading tastes between boys and girls, which are very slight in early childhood, appear several years before puberty and thereafter increase rapidly." I do not find that they increase so rapidly as he indicates. Throughout the high school course there is a difference in taste, but the curves on classes of literature and elements in these classes are so nearly parallel for boys and girls that I beheve 142 NOTES AND COMMENTS most classic literature interests one sex about as well as it does the other. He further says that boys read more history, science, and travel than girls. What difference there is I beHeve is due to the fact that boys are interested in their own sex; more men travel and history tells more of men's adventure than of women's. But, after all, interest in these subjects is not a question of sex. It is determined for all by the form in which the matter is given. (36) "Young children care most for motor images, and as the image tends to react in movement the dramatic interest is strong." — Isabel Lawrence. (37) " Poetry portrays the emotional side of life. It breathes the joys, hopes, fears, sorrows, strivings, and aspirations of humanity. It gives us the divine fire of genius, and teaches us the love of the beautiful, swings us into the world of imagina- tion, and encourages us to do and to be. A poem is a work of art to be admired and enjoyed and felt. Music, beauty, imagina- tion, passion, insight, inspiration, and faith are the essential characteristics of poetry; and these are what should be studied." M. E. SCHREIBER. Miss Schreiber has had experience as Ubrarian and as teacher of English, so her suggestions on both matter and method are of value. (38) Mr. Abbott makes similar comment in regard to the Wonder Book and Gulliver^ s Travels. "When we are young, we simply swallow the story as a story. When we reach our high school days, we can no longer do this, without the suspicion of something beyond. . . . Why should high school pupils, in- deed, care for the skill with which Bunyan selects his types of moral conflict or the art whereby Hawthorne drapes the pure forms of classic story with the iridescent robes of romance?" — School Review, 1902. (39) " Patient inquiry would discern in every normal child an instinctive appreciation of the good and the beautiful, at least NOTES AND COMMENTS 143 equal to the guiding light of our own adult experience. There is in fact a curious likeness between the poor impulse of a simple understanding and the aspirations of a mind broadly cultivated." — F. H. WiNTERBURN. (40) "I believe there is a greater necessity for looking after the matter of reading during the adolescent period when habits of a Ufetime are formed than for any other period." — F. W. Atkinson. (41) "It is probable that the special reading tastes of boys and of girls may have their foundation in the history of the race. This does not mean that these preferences, however good in themselves, do not require direction." — Clara Vostrovsky. (42) Dr. Chase, commenting on the records of early reading furnished by several hundred men and women, says: "It is a matter of common mention that the tastes for reading change. Sometimes it is at the advent of puberty, sometimes at the very crest of adolescence. A deep significance is given when we note that this adolescent change often becomes the determining taste for Hfe." In her concluding article (No. 4) she summarizes her groups as follows: "Three distinct reading stages are noted: ^' First. Fairy lore and children's stories, from 7 to 13. Second. Greed for quantity as well as for excitement, com- pHcated plots, quick action, love passion, from 13 on; the later limit is not easily fixed. "Third. More serious reading habits, noticeably at 16 and well marked by 18 or 20." (43) " Anyone interested in giving high school pupils an ap- preciation of literary style should read of Mr. Abbott's work in the Horace Mann School." — School Review, 1904. (44) "In later adolescence severe logical study should take the place of browsing. ... If, in early years, natural interests have been seized at the right time, not the few but the many may 144 NOTES AND COMMENTS take possession of their rightful heritage in the noblest thought of the ages."— Isabel Lawrence. (45) "The large amount of reading done by children outside of school, especially from twelve to fifteen years of age, the inequality of reading done by pupils in the same classes, the difference between the reading of boys and girls, the difference in kind of reading found interesting at different ages, the ex- traordinary influence of school association and school work upon the reading of pupils, and the effect of extensive reading upon the work of the school, all emphasize in the strongest degree the importance of teachers and superintendents giving a large amount of attention to this question. No question of courses of study in school or methods has half the significance in the mental and moral development of children that the question of children's reading outside of school has." — E. A. Kirkpatrick. AK 26 1912 1.1 019 746 190 f