Children's Literature Part 151

Jordan, David Starr, _Science Sketches_.

Kellogg, Vernon L., _Insect Stories_. _Nuova, the New Bee._

Kingsley, Charles, _Madame How and Lady Why_.

Kipling, Rudyard, _Just-So Stories_. _The Jungle Book_ (Two Series).

London, Jack, _The Call of the Wild_.

Long, William J., _Wood-Folk Comedies_. _A Little Brother to the Bear._

Miller, Joaquin, _True Bear Stories_.

Miller, Olive Thorne, _The Children's Book of Birds_.

Mills, Enos A., _Scotch_. _The Thousand Year Old Pine._

Muir, John, _Stickeen_. _Our National Parks._

Ollivant, Alfred, _Bob, Son of Battle_.

"Ouida" (Louisa de la Ramee), _Moufflou_. _The Dog of Flanders._

Paine, Albert Bigelow, _Hollow-Tree Nights and Days_. _Arkansaw Bear._

Potter, Beatrix, _Peter Rabbit_. _Benjamin Bunny._

Roberts, Charles G. D., _Kings in Exile_. _Children of the Wild._

Saunders, Marshall, _Beautiful Joe_.

Segur, Sophie, Comtesse de, _The Story of a Donkey_.

Seton, Ernest Thompson, _Wild Animals at Home_. _The Biography of a Grizzly._

Sewell, Anna, _Black Beauty_.

Sharp, Dallas Lore, _Beyond the Pasture Bars_. _A Watcher in the Woods._

Terhune, Albert Payson, _Lad: A Dog_.

Th.o.r.eau, Henry David, _A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers_.

Walton, Izaak, _The Compleat Angler_.

White, Gilbert, _The Natural History of Selborne_.

The three books that stand at the end of this brief list are probably not ones that any teacher would recommend indiscriminately to pupils of the grades. They are the greatest of the cla.s.sic books in nature literature and, in a way, const.i.tute the goal of nature lovers.

SECTION IX. NATURE LITERATURE

INTRODUCTORY

_What it is._ In recent years teachers have heard much talk about "nature study" in the grades. The demand for this study has led publishers to print many so-called "nature books" that have neither scientific fact nor literary worth to justify their existence. Confusion may be avoided and time may be saved if teachers will remember that nature literature, as here defined, is a form of _literature_, and that its purpose therefore is primarily to present truth (not necessarily facts) in an entertaining way.

The selections in this section are not intended to furnish material for a scientific study of nature. They are nature literature. Some of them present scientific facts that add to the literary worth by making the stories more entertaining, but the selections are given because they ill.u.s.trate various types of nature literature and the work of famous writers of nature literature, not because they present scientific facts.

_Some types of nature literature._ One of the oldest forms of nature literature is the beast tale in which animals are represented as talking and acting like human beings. Stories of this type entertain while they reveal the general nature of various kinds of animals. Fables should not be called nature literature, because their chief purpose is to criticize the follies of human beings. Some of the Negro folk tales that Joel Chandler Harris collected are nature literature of this type. Beast tales, however, are not all old. Stories by such modern authors as Thornton W. Burgess and Albert Bigelow Paine, who are represented in this section, may be called beast tales. They are popular in the primary grades.

Another type of nature literature, quite different from that just discussed, has been produced during the last century by students of nature who endeavor to hold strictly to facts in their writing. This may be called realistic nature literature. Henry Th.o.r.eau, John Burroughs, Olive Thorne Miller, and Dallas Lore Sharp may be mentioned as writers of this kind of literature. As we read their books, we usually feel that they are endeavoring to relate incidents as they actually occurred. Also we recognize that they are great students of nature, for they perceive details that we might not notice and they draw or suggest conclusions that we may accept as true, although we might never think of drawing the conclusions. Nature literature of this kind may be no less entertaining than fairy tales, for it may, in a pleasing way, reveal wonders in nature. The selections by Dallas Lore Sharp and Olive Thorne Miller in this section are of this kind. Most of the writings of Henry Th.o.r.eau and John Burroughs are in a style too difficult for pupils in the grades.

A third type may be called nature romance. Its purpose is both to entertain and to awaken sympathy and love for animals. Stories of this kind, like other romances, idealize the characters and may have a strong appeal to the emotions. Of the stories in this section, we may cla.s.sify as nature romance Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit," Sewell Ford's "Pasha, the Son of Selim," Ouida's "Moufflou," and Rudyard Kipling's "Moti Guj--Mutineer."

A fourth kind of nature literature, sometimes called nature fiction, has been developed within the last quarter of a century and is already recognized as excellent. The plot is created by the author, although it may be based on fact, and usually is simple and rambling. One purpose of these stories is to show truly how animals live and act, just as one purpose of a novel or typical short story is to show truly how people live and act. If the author is a skillful story-teller and a good student of nature, the story may make the reader feel that he has become acquainted with a particular kind of animal and even with an individual animal. For example, the story "Last Bull," by Charles G. D. Roberts, has an effect on the reader not entirely unlike that of one of Cooper's _Leatherstocking Tales_. Prominent among the authors of this very interesting and instructive form of literature may be mentioned Charles G. D. Roberts, Ernest Thompson Seton, William J. Long, and Dallas Lore Sharp.

_Its place in the grades._ Nature literature seems to have a place of increasing importance in schools, especially in grades above the third.

Many excellent books of what we have called the fiction type and the realistic type have a charming spirit of outdoor life and adventure that makes them pleasing subst.i.tutes for the objectionable dime novel. One should not a.s.sume that these nature stories would be of less interest and value to the country child than to the city child. Too often country children have not been taught to think of animals as "little brothers of the field and the air." These nature stories, without any spirit of preaching or moralizing, show children how to enjoy nature, whether it be in the country or the city. They teach the child to form habits of observation that encourage healthful recreation. A boy who has understood the spirit of Roberts, Seton, and Sharp is not likely to find the village poolroom attractive. Nature literature, however, need not be taught merely for moral and practical purposes, for it has come to be literature of artistic worth, and as such it has earned a place among other kinds of literature for children.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

A good summary article is "The Rise of the Nature Writers," by F. W. Halsey, in _Review of Reviews_, Vol. XXVI, p. 567 (November, 1902).

The most valuable critical article is "The Literary Treatment of Nature" in John Burroughs, _Ways of Nature_ (also in _Atlantic Monthly_, Vol. XCIV, p. 38 [July, 1904]). In the violent controversy about "nature-faking"

which raged some years ago, two articles will give clearly the positions of the contending parties: first, the attack by John Burroughs in "Real and Sham Natural History," _Atlantic Monthly_, Vol. XCI, p. 298 (March, 1903), and, second, the reply to Burroughs by William J.

Long in "The School of Nature Study and Its Critics," _North American Review_, Vol. CLXXVI, p. 688 (May, 1903).

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One of the most popular series for very young children is that known as the _Peter Rabbit Books_ after the favorite hero of the early tales. The author is Beatrix Potter, an Englishwoman. In plan these little books resemble the "toy-books" of the eighteenth century in having a bit of text on the left-hand page face a picture on the right. The entire text of "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" is given, but of course text and pictures are so completely one that much is lost by separating them. Children should meet Peter Rabbit before their school days begin.

THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT

BEATRIX POTTER

Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.

They lived with their mother in a sand bank, underneath the root of a very big fir tree.

"Now, my dears," said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, "you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden. Your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor. Now run along, and don't get into mischief. I am going out."

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.