The mention of poetry reminds us that it must be ranked with the
story as an educator of the imagination. Some persons do not care
for poetry, others like one poet and dislike another. There are many
who care nothing for any of the fine arts, whether the eye or the ear
is appealed to. The reason of this is that imagination is by no means
THE LIBRARY IN THE HOME.
127
a universal quality, and that a vast number of human beings are
esthetically blind and deaf. Yet it is not possible to overrate the
influence of the imagination upon every phase of human life. It has
founded empires and destroyed them ; it has built cities, temples and
palaces, and laid them waste; it has given impetus to commerce,
and discovered continents. A quick, vivid and reason-tempered
imagination is the most powerful weapon for success in life. A
warped, perverted, feeble, irresolute imagination will never get from
the shadow to the substance. Hence, so many lives are spent in
dreaming and nothing else. That only is true imagination which
sets the will in motion and leads to definite results.
Poetry comes in as proper food for this divine gift and wonderful
faculty within us. It is foolish to be always asking others such ques-
tions as who is their favorite poet, and whether they think this poet
better than the other. Every one has his own taste in literature as in
all else, and especially in poetry. Too much even of wholesome food
is bad ; we ought to digest thoroughly whatever we eat. Indiscrim-
inate reading leads to mental dyspepsia, but a moderate meal of
stimulating food gives lustre to the eye and energy to the mind.
After Shakspeare, the poets I should next think of placing in my
little library would be Wordsworth, Byron, Scott, Tennyson, Mrs.
Browning and Longfellow, Bryant and Whittier. Others would be
sent for when we had more room.
This training of the imagination before the life and character are
formed is, perhaps, the most solemn responsibility that can devolve
upon parents and teachers. If once the youthful imagination is made
familiar with gross and sensual thoughts, the heavenly dew of purity
is brushed rudely off it. "Can a man touch pitch and be undefilcd?"
Hence, the deadly poison of much of the cheap sensational fiction
and debased journalism of the time. Let us fill our children's minds
with angels, lest devils enter in and dwell there.
To write well for children, as to be a good oral teacher of children,
the author must have the child's feelings fresh in himself, through the
power of sympathy and imagination. Charles Kingsley once went
128 THE hearthstone; or, life at home,
Page 77
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The mention of poetry reminds us that it must be ranked with the story as an educator of the imagination. Some persons do not care for poetry, others like one poet and dislike another. There are many who care nothing for any of the fine arts, whether the eye or the ear is appealed to. The reason of this is that imagination is by no means
a universal quality, and that a vast number of human beings are esthetically blind and deaf. Yet it is not possible to overrate the influence of the imagination upon every phase of human life. It has founded empires and destroyed them ; it has built cities, temples and palaces, and laid them waste; it has given impetus to commerce, and discovered continents. A quick, vivid and reason-tempered imagination is the most powerful weapon for success in life. A warped, perverted, feeble, irresolute imagination will never get from the shadow to the substance. Hence, so many lives are spent in dreaming and nothing else. That only is true imagination which sets the will in motion and leads to definite results.
Poetry comes in as proper food for this divine gift and wonderful faculty within us. It is foolish to be always asking others such questions as who is their favorite poet, and whether they think this poet better than the other. Every one has his own taste in literature as in all else, and especially in poetry. Too much even of wholesome food is bad ; we ought to digest thoroughly whatever we eat. Indiscriminate reading leads to mental dyspepsia, but a moderate meal of stimulating food gives lustre to the eye and energy to the mind. After Shakespeare, the poets I should next think of placing in my little library would be Wordsworth, Byron, Scott, Tennyson, Mrs. Browning and Longfellow, Bryant and Whittier. Others would be sent for when we had more room.
This training of the imagination before the life and character are formed is, perhaps, the most solemn responsibility that can devolve upon parents and teachers. If once the youthful imagination is made familiar with gross and sensual thoughts, the heavenly dew of purity is brushed rudely off it. "Can a man touch pitch and be undefilcd?" Hence, the deadly poison of much of the cheap sensational fiction and debased journalism of the time. Let us fill our children's minds with angels, lest devils enter in and dwell there.
To write well for children, as to be a good oral teacher of children, the author must have the child's feelings fresh in himself, through the power of sympathy and imagination. Charles Kingsley once went
128 THE hearthstone; or, life at home,