; his playmates affect him more; the example and
instruction of his parents form his habits, thought and character to a
still greater extent; but more than any one, as much as the three
combined, does his home reading shape his destiny.

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That this last statement is no exaggeration is proved by the testimony
of many a wise and thoughtful man, by the observation of teachers
everywhere. When a child has learned to read, he possesses the
instrument of highest culture, but at the same time the instrument of
greater danger. Bad books or bad methods of reading good books lead the
reader's mind astray or stimulate a destructive imagination that affects
character forever; but good books and right methods of reading make the
soul sensitive to right and wrong, improve the mind, inspire to higher
ideals and lead to loftier effort.

Here is the one fertile field wherein teacher, parent and every other
person interested in the welfare of children and youth may meet and work
together in the noblest cause God ever gave us the grace to see.

"I have a notion," said Benjamin Harrison, "that children are about the
only people we can do anything for. When we get to be men and women we
are either spoiled or improved. The work is done." One of the best
things we can do is to create a taste for good reading and cultivate a
habit of reading in the right manner. It is an easy and a delightful
task.

How many parents do it? Let them live with their children in the realm
the little ones love. Let them read the fairy tales, the myths, the
stories, the history that childhood appreciates, not in a spirit of
criticism or in the role of a dictator but as a child of a little larger
growth, a man or woman with a youthful mind.

How many teachers assist? By so teaching that reading becomes an
inspiration in itself; that only mastery contents; that beauty, high
sentiment, lofty ideals may be found and followed; by making the reading
recitation the one delightful hour of the day.

If any mature person at home can spend each week a few hours in reading
and talking with the children about what has been read he will be
surprised to find how lightly the time passes and how quickly his own
cares and anxieties are dissipated. He will find greater delight than he
has ever known in the society of his equals; and the younger ones, whose
minds glow with helpful curiosity and absorbing interest will be kept
to that extent from the street and i