-though the two are one--I ask this,
for in that case, our profession would soon be elevated in its general
tone by the elimination from it of those who ought never to have entered
it.

Passing from the intuitional epoch to the age when the imagination and
emotion become the ruling powers, we next arrive at the time at which it
becomes necessary for parents to see to it that plenty of good reading
is provided for the eager child. It makes not so much difference what
kind of books she reads, but they should always be the very best of
their kind, for this is the time in which the formation of a correct
taste becomes, perhaps, the most important duty of the educator. To
poetry, either in verse or not, each child inclines naturally, as did
the race in its childhood, and the stories of the Old Testament and
Homer are never wearisome. Generally, "the proper classical works for
youth are those which nations have produced in the earliest stages of
their culture."

Now is the season for fairy stories, and the Germans, who, of all
nations best understand the needs of children, have them ready furnished
to our hand. I do not mean the absurd, aimless, and meaningless fairy
tales with which modern writers endeavor to supplant the fairy classics,
and which, for the most part, the instinct of a child at once condemns.
I doubt very seriously whether it is possible at the present time, and
in America, to write a fairy story which shall have the true ring in it,
any more than it would be possible for any one to write a genuine epic
poem. The circumstances favorable to the production of both have passed
away with modern times, but the productions are left us, a perpetual
legacy of delight and charm to every little girl.

We are too apt to forget that the child must live through certain stages
of thought and feeling in order to arrive at maturity. And perhaps
Americans are more liable to this error than any other nation. We might
as well expect the full bloom of the rose to burst from the root without
the intervention of stem and bud, and the slow passing of the years. It
is right that the children should devour fairy stories, and she, who, at
this period of life, fails to read the _Arabian Nights_, must miss
forever a most valuable part of her mental education: for this period,
once past, never returns. Don Quixote and Gulliver's Travels may be also
mentioned here. It is true that they were not written for children, but
so true and gen