SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1202, 15 March 1895, Page 17

SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

[Contributed.]'"' \ ,

“ Except a living- mdn, v there/is", nothing: more wonderful than a book—a message tons from the dead—froni human souls whom we never saw, who lived perhaps' thousands of miles away, and yet these in those little sheets of paper speak to us, amuse us, vivify us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers.”— EINGSi/ET. John Bright wrote: “My own impression is that there is no greater blessing that can be given to an artisan’s family than a love of books. The home influence of such a possession is one which will guard them from many temptations and many evils.” Another great man, Herschel, said : “If I were to pray for a taste which should stand • me in stead under every variety of circum- 1 stances, .and he a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life, and a shield, against its ills, however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading.” Education

which does not encourage a love of reading is defective. A boy without, a taste for books considers his education finished when he leaves school, whereas it is only beginning, as the thoughtful, studious and observing boy soon discovers, for himself. The Education Department has always encouraged the growth of school libraries, and the Wellington Education Board has gone further in doing practical work in this direction in the district over which it rules. It has in various ways assisted more than 60 country schools to form libraries, so that now out of a hundred schools in the district only a few, and those mostly ‘f aided” schools in the poorer and more sparsely settled country districts, are without a library.', ) The inspectors have made a point of encouraging this movement, and their efforts have been most ably supported by the teachers',, upon whom the work of establishing and maintaining these libraries have fallen. As “'the choice of books like 'that of friends is serious duty,” Mr Lee some time ago drew up and published a list of books suitable for the young,* This list, besides serving as a guide to teachers and committees in the selection of books, also prevented the inclusion in some libraries, of the works of authors unsuitable for young people. Every head teacher was asked some time ago to furnish a return giving information about the library in his school. This return is not as absolutely reliable as statistics of births, deaths and marriages, but the information .furnished may be taken to be generally correct. . From the returns which have come in from 72 schools possessing libraries, we learh that the t.otal number of books in these schools is 11,511. As about 500.; books have been added since the beginning of the year, it may be said that the number of books in the school libraries of the Wellington district is about 12,000. Of the children from standard four and upwards 3971 children taee out books, and as in many schools the children , of standards two and three also take out books, we are under the.mark when we say that 4000 children make use of the school library. Generally speaking it may be said that more than three-fourths of the children of the higher standards take out books. Robinson Crusoe, the book which has delighted every reading Englishman since Defoe’s time, has been read by 1600 children, and next to It come Uncle Tom’s Cabin, The Swiss Family Robinson, Andersen’s and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, Pilgrim’s Progress and the Arabian Nights, in the order named. The Vicar of Wakefield has been read.by only 179 children.. Other favourite books are Little Lord Fauntleroy, Masterman Ready, Oliver Twist, The Coral Island, Little Women, The Wide Wide World, The Basket of Flowers, Alice in Wonderland, Alice -through .the Looking Glass, and fairy tales of all kinds, including Longman’s different- editions and Mr Tregear’s Fairy Tales of New Zealand. Of novelists. Dickens appears to be the favourite; 1102 children professed to have read at least one of .his works. ’ Next in order come Kingston, Ballantyne, Scott, Kingsley, Marryat and Cooper. Of Dickens’ books Oliver Twist is decidedly the favourite, btxt dhe- Christinas Carol, The Old Curiosity Shop, and even David Copperfield find many readers:'' Of Scott, Ivanhoe, Kenilworth and the Talisman are perhaps the books best known. Nearly all of Kingston’s, and Ballantyne’s are favourites.* ;Of Marryat’s at present Masterman Ready appears to be the book most in demand, but The Children- of the New Forest, Peter Simple and Midshipman Easy are also read by many. Kingsley’s Water Babies, Here ward the Wake and Westward Ho are largely read, the last mostly by children of the seventh standard. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare, Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast, Miss Metford’s Our Village, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Southey’s Life of Nelson, Anson’s Voyage Round the World, Cook’s Voyages, and; even Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre have been read by some.;,: , . v■ .v; "V;*

Grey town : School'heads the, list in the number of books, 638; followed by Te Aro, 500; Clyde quay, 480; Masterton, 450; Terrace, 380 ; Thorndon, 372; Fernridge, 350; Mount Cook Girls’, 343; Petone, 316; and Mauriceville West, 307. Twenty-four schools have each more than two hundred books. The inspectors have at various times reported that they obtain the best composition and receive the most intelligent answers in all subjects at examination, time from those schools where the teachers make a strong point of encouraging the children to read for themselves. The use of a library extends the general knowledge of the children, enables them to take a broader and consequently a truer view of life, gives variety to their school-life and makes it. more interesting and tnore valuable. Sir John Lubbock states that he has been “ good humouredly laughed at more than -once for having expressed the opinion that in the next generation the great readers would be our artisans and mechanics,” but if those who laughed so good humouredly at him came to New Zealand they would at once see that his remark is truer than they believed it to be. , He also says, “ The reasons for educating our children apply equally to the grownup. We have now all over the country good elementary schools. We do our best to educate our children. We teach them to read, and try to give them a love of reading. Why do we do this ? Because we believe that no one can study without being ~ the better for it, that it tends to make the plan the better workman, and the workman thq Letter man. But education ought and-'the library is the school for ' If the library-V;be ; the school for the grown-up, the young must be trained to the" love of bdbßp' and if. efforts were not made to encourage' the growth and use of school libraries our education system would lose more than half its value. -