CONTAMINATING LITERATURE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 19, 20 May 1912, Page 4

CONTAMINATING LITERATURE.

There has. of late, been quite a lot of talk regarding the evil influence of certain books and the extraordinary ease with which questionable and contaminating literature may be procured by children. It is of interest to note in this connection, the message which Miss Marie Corelli has addressed to the teaching profession in an issue of the "Teachers' World." She says: "No one will deny that even fiction may have its instructive uses, either to uplift or debase the reader. Women teachers know this far better than I do. They are in constant touch with the young and growing minds of the age; they know the impression which good and bad literature can make on tihe sensitive imaginations of inexperienced boys and girls, and they, as a class, above al! others, must realise the importance of 'suggestion' as an educational influence. Therefore, the message I would send to all the brave women who undertake the noble, honourable, but difficult task of teaching and training the young is this: Teach them to read with, intelligence, care, and appreciation the works of the noblest and best authors, such as Scott and Dickens, Eliot and Bronte; train them in the learning and love of the great

poets—Shakespeare, Keats, Shelley, Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, and other: of high thought and splendid attainment; and instill into their minds those twin forces of intellectual happinessimagination and reverence."