and
experience, and draws his inspiration from the noble works of the
world's greatest writers.

2. _Reading Stories_

In the development of literary taste, fiction plays as prominent a part
as fact, and to fiction, considered in its broadest sense, every child
is deeply indebted. Many err in thinking that a stern diet of facts is
the only nutriment the child mind needs, and still others err only in a
less degree when they look upon fiction as perhaps a necessary evil, but
one which must be avoided as much as possible and set aside at the
earliest possible moment. All fiction has in it some elements of truth,
and they are the sources of the inspiration which comes to children
when, in their world of make-believe, they live with their beautiful and
heroic friends of the story books.

To read fiction properly is to get from it the truth, which, however, is
often liable to be lost by the reader in the excitement of the tale, or
to pass undetected in the easy-running sentences. As fictitious
narratives in prose and poetry in the great majority of cases form the
larger part of children's reading, it is to them we should turn our
attention. Before we begin their specific study a few principles claim
our attention:

Good stories are the most helpful things a child can read.

The more intelligently and sympathetically a story is read, the more
powerful for good it is.

The imagination of a child is the most powerful agent in the development
of his mind.

The imagination acts only to combine, enlarge, or diminish ideas that
enter the mind. It never creates.

On the nature of the ideas presented will depend the character of the
imagination.

A vivid imagination fed with bad ideas is most destructive to human
character. Good stories with high ideals can do no harm: but evil
stories, particularly if attractive and entertaining, will undo the
careful teaching of years.

As evil must appear in life, it may appear in stories, but it must be
brought in in such a way that it is known as evil, and children must be
taught to recognize it as evil.

The motives which govern the words and actions of the persons who appear
in a well-written story are more easily discerned than the motives which
actuate the human beings around us. Thus a child who reads intelligently
is helped to discover in the words and deeds of the people whom he meets
the elements of real character. A study of the heroes of fiction is a
study in human lif