BIBLIOGRAPHY ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY AS A BASIS FOR TRACING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REALISTIC STORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Most of the authors in the following list wrote other books of a realistic nature, in some cases greater books than the one mentioned. The book named is usually the first important one in this field by its author and has, therefore, unusual historical value. 1765. Goldsmith, Oliver, The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes. 1783-1789. Day, Thomas, The History of Sandford and Merton. 1792-1796. Aikin, Dr. John, and Barbauld, Mrs. L. E., Evenings at Home. [?]-1795. More, Hannah, The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain. 1796-1800. Edgeworth, Maria, The Parent's Assistant, or Stories for Children. 1808. Lamb, Mary and Charles, Mrs. Leicester's School. 1818. Sherwood, Mrs. M. M., The History of the Fairchild Family. 1840. Dana, Richard Henry, Two Years Before the Mast. 1841. Martineau, Harriet, The Crofton Boys. 1856. Yonge, Charlotte M., The Daisy Chain. 1857. Hughes, Thomas, Tom Brown's School Days. 1863. Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T., Faith Gartney's Girlhood. 1864. Trowbridge, J. T., Cudjo's Cave. 1865. Dodge, Mary Mapes, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates. 1867. Kaler, James Otis, Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus. 1868. Alcott, Louisa May, Little Women. 1868. Hale, Edward Everett, The Man without a Country. 1871. Eggleston, Edward, The Hoosier Schoolmaster. 1876. Twain, Mark, Adventures of Tom Sawyer. 1878. Jackson, Helen Hunt, Nelly's Silver Mine. 1879. Ewing, Juliana Horatia, Jackanapes. 1882. Hale, Lucretia P., Peterkin Papers. 1883. Stevenson, Robert Louis, Treasure Island. 1887. Wiggin, Kate Douglas, The Birds' Christmas Carol. 1890. Jewett, Sarah Orne, Betty Leicester. 1895. Bennett, John, Master Skylark. 1897. Kipling, Rudyard, Captains Courageous. 1899. Garland, Hamlin, Boy Life on the Prairie. 1906. Stein, Evaleen, Gabriel and the Hour-Book. 1908. Montgomery, L. M., Anne of Green Gables. 1912. Masefield, John, Jim Davis. 1917. Crownfield, Gertrude, The Little Taylor of the Winding Way. 1920. Latham, Harold S., Jimmy Quigg, Office Boy. SECTION VIII. REALISTIC STORIES INTRODUCTORY Origin. The history of realistic stories for children may well begin with the interest in juvenile education awakened by the great French teacher and author Rousseau (1712-1778). He taught that formal methods should be discarded in juvenile education and that children should be taught, to know the things about them. The new method of education is illustrated, probably unintentionally, in The Renowned History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, the first selection in this section. Rousseau directly influenced the thought of such writers as Thomas Day, Maria Edgeworth, Dr. Aiken, and Mrs. Barbauld. The stories produced by these authors in the last quarter of the eighteenth century are among the first written primarily for the purpose of entertaining children. To these writers we are indebted for the creation of types of children's literature that modern authors have developed into the fascinating stories of child life, the thrilling stories of adventure, and the interesting accounts of nature that now abound in libraries and book stores. The didactic period. When we read these first stories written for the entertainment of children, we can hardly fail to observe that each one presents a lesson, either moral or practical. The didactic purpose is so prominent that the term "Didactic Period" may be applied to the period from 1765 (the publication of Goody TwoShoes) to 1825, or even later. The small amount of writing for children before this period was practically all for the purpose of moral or religious instruction; hence it was but natural for these first writers of juvenile entertainment stories to feel it their duty to present moral and practical lessons. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that these quaint old stories would not be interesting to children today, for they deal with fundamental truths, which are new and interesting to children of all ages. In addition to the writers already mentioned, and represented by selections in the following pages, there were several others whose books are yet accessible and now and then read for their historical interest if not for any intrinsic literary value they may possess. One of these was Mrs. Sarah K. Trimmer (1741-1810), who, associated with the early days of the Sunday-school movement, wrote many books full of the overwrought piety which was supposed to be necessary for children of that earlier time. One of her books, The History of the Robins, stands out from the mass for its strong appeal of simple incident, and is still widely popular with very young readers. Hannah More (1745-1833) occupied a prominent place in the thought of her day as a teacher of religious and social ideas among the poorer classes. Her Repository Tracts, many of them in the form of stories, were devoted to making the poor contented with their lot through the consolations of a pious life. "The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain" was the most famous of these story-tracts, and there are still many people living whose childhood was fed upon this and like stories. Mrs. Sherwood's History of the Fairchild Family has never been out of print since the date of its first publication (1818), and in recent years has had two or three sumptuous revivals at the hands of editors and publishers. The almost innumerable books of Jacob Abbott and S. G. Goodrich ("Peter Parley") in America belong to this didactic movement. They were, however, more devoted to the process of instilling a knowledge of all the wonders of this great world round about us, and were considerably less pietistic than their English neighbors. The Rollo Books (24 vols.) are typical of this school. The modern period. Charles Lamb apparently was one of the first to get the modern thought that literature for children should be just as artistic, just as dignified in its presentation of truth, and just as worthy of literary recognition, as literature for adults. In the hundred years since Lamb advanced his theory, students have gradually come to recognize the fact that good literature for children is also good literature for adults because art is art, whatever its form. In this connection, Lamb's feeling about the necessity for making children's books more vital found expression in a famous and much-quoted passage in a letter to Coleridge: "Goody Two-Shoes is almost out of print. Mrs. Barbauld's stuff has banished all the old classics of the nursery; and the shopman at Newbery's hardly deigned to reach them off an old exploded corner of a shelf, when Mary asked for them. Mrs. B.'s and Mrs. Trimmer's nonsense lay in piles about. Knowledge insignificant and vapid as Mrs. Barbauld's books convey, it seems must come to a child in the shape of knowledge, and his empty noodle must be turned with conceit of his own powers when he has learnt that a horse is an animal, and Billy is better than a horse, and such like; instead of that beautiful interest in wild tales, which made the child a man, while all the while he suspected himself to be no bigger than a child. Science has succeeded to poetry no less in the little walks of children than with men. Is there no possibility of averting this sore evil? Think what you would have been now, if, instead of being fed with tales and old wives' fables in childhood, you had been crammed with geography and natural history!" The danger Lamb saw was averted. The bibliography on a preceding page indicates that about the middle of the nineteenth century many writers of firstrate literary ability began to write for young people. Among the number were Harriet Martineau, Captain Marryat, Charlotte M. Yonge, Thomas Hughes, and others. As we pass toward the end of that century and the beginning of the twentieth, the great names associated with juvenile classics are very noticeable, and with Miss Alcott, Mrs. Ewing, "Mark Twain," Stevenson, Kipling, Masefield, and a kindred host, childhood has come into its own. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING For tracing the stages in the development of writing for children consult the books named in the General Bibliography (p. 17, II, “Historical Development.") 378 Among those authors of the past whom the present still regards affectionately, Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) holds a high place. At least five of his works-a novel, a poem, a play, a book of essays, a nursery story— rank as classics. He had many faults; he was vain, improvident almost beyond belief, certainly dissipated throughout a part of his life. But with all these faults he had the saving grace of humor, a kind heart that led him to share even his last penny with one in need, a genius for friendships that united him with such men as Burke and Johnson and Reynolds. Always "hard up," he wrote much as a publisher's "hack" in order merely to live. It was in this capacity that he probably wrote the famous story that follows-a story that stands at the beginning of the long and constantly broadening current of modern literature for children. While it has generally been attributed to Goldsmith, no positive evidence of his authorship has been discovered. It was published at a time when he was in the employ of John Newbery, the London publisher, who issued many books for children. We know that Goldsmith helped with the Mother Goose's Melody and other projects of Newbery, and there are many reasons for supposing that the general attribution of Goody Two-Shoes to him may be correct. Charles Welsh, who edited the best recent edition for schools, says it "will always deserve a place among the classics of childhood for its literary merit, the purity and loftiness of its tone, and its sound sense, while the whimsical, confidential, affectionate style which the author employs, makes it attractive even to children who have long since passed the spelling-book stage." The version that follows has been shortened by the omission of passages that have less importance for the modern child than they may have had for that of the eighteenth century. The story is thus rendered more compact, and contains nothing to draw attention away from the fine qualities mentioned above. The quaint phrasing of the title, in itself one of the proofs of Goldsmith's authorship, furnishes a good comment on the meaning of the story: "The history of little Goody TwoShoes/otherwise called Mrs. Margery TwoShoes/ the means by which she acquired her learning and wisdom, and in consequence thereof her estate; set forth at large for the benefit of those/ Who from a state of Rags and Care, And having Shoes but half a Pair; Their Fortune and their fame would fix, And gallop in a Coach and Six." [For the benefit of those who may overlook the point, it may be explained that "Mrs." was formerly used as a term of dignified courtesy applied to both married and unmarried women.] THE RENOWNED HISTORY OF LITTLE GOODY TWO-SHOES ASCRIBED TO OLIVER GOLDSMITH All the world must allow that TwoShoes was not her real name. No; her father's name was Meanwell, and he was for many years a considerable farmer in the parish where Margery was born; but by the misfortunes which he met with in business, and the wicked persecutions of Sir Timothy Gripe, and an overgrown farmer called Graspall, he was effectually ruined. These men turned the farmer, his wife, Little Margery, and her brother out of doors, without any of the necessaries of life to support them. Care and discontent shortened the days of Little Margery's father. He was seized with a violent fever, and died miserably. Margery's poor mother survived the loss of her husband but a few days, and died of a broken heart, leaving Margery and her little brother to the wide world. It would have excited your pity and done your heart good to have seen how fond these two little ones were of each other, and how, hand in hand, they trotted about. They were both very ragged, and Tommy had no shoes, and Margery had but one. They had nothing, poor things, to support them but what they picked from the hedges or got from the poor people, and they lay every night in a barn. Their relatives took no notice of them; no, they were rich, and ashamed to own such a poor little ragged girl as Margery and such a dirty little curlpated boy as Tommy. But such wicked folks, who love nothing but money and are proud and despise the poor, never come to any good in the end, as we shall see by and by. Mr. Smith was a very worthy clergy- | man who lived in the parish where Little Margery and Tommy were born; and having a relative come to see him, he sent for these children. The gentleman. ordered Little Margery a new pair of shoes, gave Mr. Smith some money to buy her clothes, and said he would. take Tommy and make him a little sailor. The parting between these two little children was very affecting. Tommy cried, and Margery cried, and they kissed each other an hundred times. At last Tommy wiped off her tears with the end of his jacket, and bid her cry no more, for he would come to her again when he returned from sea. As soon as Little Margery got up the next morning, which was very early, she ran all round the village, crying for her brother; and after some time returned greatly distressed. However, at this instant, the shoemaker came in with the new shoes, for which she had been measured by the gentleman's order. Nothing could have supported Little Margery under the affliction she was in for the loss of her brother but the pleasure she took in her two shoes. She ran out to Mrs. Smith as soon as they were put on, and, stroking down her ragged apron, cried out, "Two shoes, mamma, see, two shoes!" And she so behaved to all the people she met, and by that means obtained the name of Goody Two-Shoes, though her playmates called her Old Goody Two-Shoes. Little Margery was very happy in being with Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who were very charitable and good to her, and had agreed to breed her up with their family. But at last they were obliged to send her away, for the people who had ruined her father commanded them to do this, and could at any time have ruined them. Little Margery saw how good and how wise Mr. Smith was, and concluded that this was owing to his great learning; therefore she wanted, of all things, to learn to read. For this purpose she used to meet the little boys and girls as they came from school, borrow their books, and sit down and read till they returned. By this means she soon got more learning than any of her playmates, and laid the following scheme for instructing those who were more ignorant than herself. She found that only the following letters were required to spell all the words in the world; but as some of these letters are large and some small, she with her knife cut out of several pieces of wood ten sets of each of these: abcdefghijklmnopqrstu v w x y z And six sets of these: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP QRSTU V W X Y Z |