STORIES FOR THE LITTLE ONES.
By Lillien Sartain
LILLIEN SARTAIN. (Helena, Mont.) THE childish mind is highly imaginative, and seems to have an insatiable demand for stories. The world answers this demand with a flood of fairy tales and fictitious stories containing more or less error. The Mother Goose rhymes, rehearsed in almost every nursery in America, are received with delight by the little ones, but are of no benefit to them, and often give them an unreal idea of things. Why not turn the little minds into a different channel, and teach them truth instead of fables? There is an inexhaustible fund of interesting incidents in the Bible which can be utilized by the story-teller, and with a little judicious word coloring, one can hold the child's interest just as well as with “Cinderella,” or “Jack and the Beanstalk.” These fictitious tales interest the mind, but lay the foundation for novel-reading. Once formed, this habit is difficult to overcome. Many a bright young man or woman has been ruined by the pernicious habit. The novel fiend lives in another world than the practical, every-day world, and the petty annoyances of, and the economies daily practiced in, the home make him long for the luxury and ease described in his books, and thus unfit him for any sphere of usefulness. Bring up the child with a pure mind, unsullied by the vain imaginings of some one who might expend his mental energies in a better cause, and much discouragement and unhappiness will be avoided when he gets from under the parental care.