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Show r THE AOG OF FICTION. H 1 The reading of fiction used to be H condemned in unmeasured terms in H ' years that have gone by, as a prac- V" ticc that was not only a waste of B"- time, but an injury to the memory. H It being maintained that ttie world H was too full of realities to spend B time in reading about things that H never "liad any existence. This was B- in the days of such men as Brigham H Young, Ilcbcr C. Kimball, Orson B j Pratt, George Q. Cannon, Erastus B ! Snow and others of that class, of HH pioneers whose training had been BA preeminently along practical lines B and in whose busy lives there had B j no time been found for indulging in L explorations in the realms of myth- B ology, fable, or romance. As the H circumstances of the people in this "" state havejbecoinc more affluent, and 1 belter opportunities for education V are afforded, and the old pioneer lea- H ders have gone on to the "Great V i beyond," a change has come about, B j and things that in those days were P" forbidden are now recomended. B, To one who has been trained in the Bv r tt old school it is much more difficult B gf,. f 4 to become reconciled to tr.'e new or H v der of things than it is to account B k (3 ;for it. That the reading of HT" 4 works of fiction isA pleasure, can BjyJ-j VtlUPh uu denied, bftt that it is. profi- Tjj J 1"" ""-" icis'ftrfotherfjuestion; anil even "y i i ' though this be conceded the ques- r j tiou still remains, is it the most pro- BK " Citable use that can be made of the time that is devoted to the habit B, or pastime? H We are aware that in calling this B-1 a pastime we are speaking in what m will be considered a disrespectful manner by some advocates of the V practice, for there arc people who H call it work. It must be an in- Hif dolent person indeed, who funis Hl the reading of an interesting ro- TJ- ' mance work; unless indeed the iiuli B, vidua! has an antipathy to reading B of any sort.'or is so prejudiced as to H be doing great violence to his feel- Bj ings by reading anything that is not B facts. Granting however that fie H tion reading is permissible, and not - only permissible but advisable und M ' er ordinary circumstances, we still H ' have to consider whether or not it is H wise and right to introduce it in ' our schools. It may not be gener- B ) orally known to our people that the B reading of fiction is a part of the re- B gular training exercises in the (lis- B trict school every morning in most B ' if not all of the departments. This B I s called literature as wcare inform B j cd, and is considered nscessary to B the symmetrically developement of B the youthful intellect, and is also B , restored to as a means of creating Bm-"' an interest in school in the less slu- m dious. Of course this is all in the H regular plan of study that has been H' provided by the wise men and wo- m (c- men who have some years ago ar- H ; ranged the educational mould in - , Which all the rising generation must B be cast B Therefore our local teachers are B no more responsible fortius practice B , than they are for any other of the B, I rules that they arc required to fol- Bi, low. It will be deemed presump- B T A tious for a country editor to question B , the wisdom of that which hasreceiv- B s ed the sanction of such a body of B 1 wise people as composes the educa- B ' tional fraternity of our state, but B ! & the practice of using the time that is B- ' - provided by the school law for the B' Hi education of our children in the B. i. ;- branches of learning such as wc have been accustomed to see taught in the common schools, for the reading read-ing to scholars works of romance, mythology or fables, wc do most emphatically say is a waste of the children's time and the people's money. It seems to us just about as reasonable to claim that the chil-drencanbe chil-drencanbe learned to spell write and "cypher" by watching the teacher do those things, as to claim that they will learn reading by the teacher reading to them; and as for the val ue of such subject matter as those readings contain, they would be quite as well without it as with it. |