r itself; yet it is not presumption to
undertake to say what are the essential conditions of its rise and the
probable traits of its character. It must grow out of our civilized
Christian mind under the peculiar circumstances and dispositions of our
children, according to the great laws of God, as they bear upon our
sensibilities, tastes, faculties, and associations. It is already
showing unmistakable signs of its quality, and none the less so,
although we must allow that its best specimens are fugitive stories,
stray poems, and magazine pieces, rather than any conspicuous
master-works of literature that rival the old standards.

The American child is undoubtedly in some respects peculiar alike in
temperament, disposition, and surroundings. He is somewhat delicate and
sensitive in organization, and not as tough and thick-skinned, surely,
as his English cousins. He grows up in the midst of excitement, with an
average amount of privilege and prosperity unknown heretofore to the
mass of children in any community. Our children are generally supplied
with pocket-money to an extent unknown in the good old times; and the
books that circulate among them at holiday seasons, and are sometimes
found in school and Sunday libraries, often have a richness and beauty
that were never seen fifty years ago on the parlor tables or shelves of
parents. Reading begins very early among us; and the universal hurry of
the American mind crowds children forward, and tempts them in pleasure,
as in study and work, to rebel at the usual limitations of years, and
push infancy prematurely into childhood, childhood into youth, and youth
into maturity. The spirit of competition shows its head unseasonably,
and there is a precocious fever of ambition among those who are taught
almost in the cradle to feel that here the race for the highest prizes
is open to all, and the emulation of the school is the forerunner of the
rivalry of business, society, and politics. Our heads are apt to be much
older than our shoulders, and English critics of our juvenile literature
say that much of it seems written for the market and counting-room
rather than for the nursery and play-ground. Yet we are not disposed to
quarrel with the American child, or put him down at the feet of the pet
children of Europe. He is a precious little creature, with rare
susceptibilities and powers, whose very perils indicate high aptitudes,
and whose great exposures should move us to temper not