EYES AND NO EYES AND OTHER STORIES

Book excerpt: Whatever will stimulate the observing tendencies of the young cannot but be of value to them. “Eyes and No Eyes” does this in a delightful way. The story is so natural that the child is wrapped up in it, and so it makes a deep impress upon him. Much less could be accomplished by simply telling him to observe, or lecturing upon the value of keeping one's eyes open. But when the reader sees how much more William gets out of his walk than Robert, and what marvellous things exist everywhere if one is on the lookout for them, he is himself incited to examine with greater care the many more or less ordinary things he has neglected heretofore. William and Robert become very real individuals to the child, and there is no doubt which of them he will choose to emulate. The author relies upon the force of concrete example to determine the conduct of children, and this is certainly sound in theory and endorsed by experience. The story is told in a very agreeable style, which is at once attractive and affords a good model for imitation. The dialogue gives an opportunity to present information without its seeming dry and didactic. “The Three Giants” cannot be too highly commended. I find children are greatly interested in it, and they get a valuable lesson which they could not gain quite so well in any other form. The story has that literary touch which marks it as of permanent value. The story of “A Curious Instrument” will offer the child a good chance to try his imaginative wings, so to speak, and will also afford him a useful lesson. It cannot but be desirable for the young to begin early to think upon the wonderful construction of the human body, although they must not be carried into the detailed anatomy too far. The child must rather be led to see how marvellously efficient the various organs of his body are, and what they accomplish to promote his welfare. The object here indicated is attained very well in this story; the child's curiosity is greatly stimulated to find out what the wonderful instrument can be, and this leads him to appreciate the uses to which it may be put. In this way he gains useful knowledge while being pleasantly entertained. “Travellers' Wonders” will excite hardly less curiosity in the reader than “A Curious Instrument.” He marvels that any people can do as they are said to in the story; and when he discovers that they dwell all about him, it is a revelation to him. He usually does not think upon these familiar topics; he takes them all as matters of course. But it is a good thing for him to view them in another light once in a while; and there could hardly be any more effective means of getting him to do this than is illustrated in this selection. Formal lessons do not get the hold upon the child that a dramatic story of this sort does,—one that sets him to solving a puzzle. There is really no exercise that so stimulates the mind of the young as something of the puzzle character; and when the outcome of the puzzle is profitable, it makes a valuable method of teaching...FROM THE BOOK.