SCHOOL BOOKS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13277, 4 May 1907, Page 7

SCHOOL BOOKS.

READING BOOK-CHALLENGED. To the Editor of the "TimaruiHerald." Sir, —-In one of the high schools in South Canterbury, ij is not necessary to particularise winch, the pupils have • had to provide themselves lwit.li three books for ilie special study of English literature. Two of . .these are " Silas, Marner," by George jSliot,' arid "Lorna :Doone,-" by Blackmor;:. To these no exception can be tak^n; 'the yare works* that have an assured; jlace in'.our literature,- and they are well suited for the purpose required. But the same cannot, be said of the third on theVlist, " The ISky Pilot," by Ralph Connor. Those of ycur readers who have read this-bwk will that it is so permeated -with theology as. to be quite unfit for use in schools where the teaching is supposed to be purely secular, it has an aggressive, narrow, evangelical, ultra-Protestant Christianity that will be. highly offensive to many of the Christians themselves, to say nothing of the nonChristians. The latter --will be dissatisfied with the. impudent assumption that, only Christians can be good men. This is even directly asserted. Listen to this put into the mouth of the hero of the book, the sky pilot, himself (a back blocks missionery) " Men can't live without Him, and be men." And this to' the people that have known Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, G. 3. Hollyoake;' and Herbert Spencer, now dead, and John Morley and John Burns, alive. . Is there no true''man in Japan? Surely ' Mr Connor has much to learn. And there is a curiously unscientific flavour about the book, for a modern work. For example he talks of certain personages going up into Heaveh." This carries us back to. the times of our forefathers when the earth'was- supposed to be fla\like a pancake; but even the average high school boy nowadays knows how ridiculous it is to speak. of "up " in this connection. He knows that what is " up " pointing from- the earth now will be in an entirely different direction when pointing into space in say twelve hours lime. Nor is his morality any better than his science. We are treated ' to an account of a deal in horseflesh,, whera three worthies enter into a conspiracy', and by shamming drunkenness and a bogus sale, sucoeecPin getting a long way more than the actual value for the animal. Because the mor.ey is to go to help to build a. " Gosp?l shop" (the phr.i'e is Mr Connor's and not mine). ■This' trickery is condemned, and the transaction is' tfeated as a meritorious and praiseworthy business. Again his me hrris of making converts to his creed is touching in its simplicity. To one gentleman who had the temerity to inquire as to what foundaifci'm there was for believing a certain proposition to be true, this reply wn<- vouchsafed : "Will, how do you know a hi-'inke'l son of a she jackass when you :ee him?" The gallant defender of the faith, getting, no satisfactory reply to this pertinent query, continued " . . . • it's by the sound he makes when he opens

his blanked jaw. But .these courtesies were only the prelude to more energetic action. Physical violence was promptly resorted to unitil the '■ struggling wretch" gracefully recanted. ' Luckily he was not built of the stuff of which martyrs are made or probably we should have been treated to a repitition of the Smithfield horrors. Then our author cheerfully chortles over the "remarkably fudden and lasting conversation," and .it is a relief to lisar that "(here-was no more agnosticisai in the little group." Perhaps the most painful part of the iJcok is where a brave girl meets with a serious -accident in endeavouring to save a lad from a mob of cattle. Just previously she had said in a, petulant mood " I have-always done as I like, and I shall do as I like till I die.". This is construed into a challenge to the Almighty, and the accident is referred to as her " challenge accepted." And later on the Sky Pilot answers in I]ie affirmative her direct 'question, "Was it God let me fall?" So perious was the accident that thebrave girl could not hope to be ever again able : to ride, or. even to walk, arid th i book quktly • postulates a Deity who deliberately inflicted this pain in order "to break her proud spirit." Mr Connor should exercise his ingenuity in finding a job for a devil. Probably the book was adopted as a text book withoutsufficient consideration, but, -as it is a vulgar 1 , vicious, and immoral . book, arid as it teaches a theology of a particularly obnoxious type, it ought to be- withdrawn at once, it ha.s been tour proud boa? it hitherto that each and all of our citizens whether Jew or Gentile. b°liever ; or agnos-; tic, Protestant or Catholic, could allow Oieir children to sit side by side satisfied that nothing would be taught that- would offend the conscience of any one. 'We wish this happy state of things to be con-, tiniied. ' I am,. etc.," BON-ACCORD.