| Show PP professor V of M literature LITERA TURC SAM has gone into a new business not satisfied with coining money raising chickens acting as messenger boy doing a real estate business and at 7 tending to a thousand a d and one other jobs which he has selected for or himself he be has decided to become a professor of literature in the university of the common people to this end he has just instituted one of the most novel schemes ever inaugurated a course in literature for the benefit of all the people of 0 the united states and its insular possessions the bureau ot of education Is at the head of 0 this university of literature era ture a university where the sole cost of tuition Is to evince interest in the lessons a university which confers certificates of merit in lieu of degrees and guarantees that all students will receive benefits in direct ratio to their application dr P P claxton commissioner of education Is the man who Is at the head of the literature in movement ov ement and from all indications the course will be an exceptionally tio nally popular one we are receiving scores of applications every day from persons BOO desire to share in the benefits of our reading courses doctor claxton told me when I 1 inquired as to the response which the movement was meeting with it if the applications continue to come in at their present rate and there Is hardly a day that does not show an increase over the me day before we shall be hard put to handle all the correspondence corresponded corres ce attached to the courses and congress will have to make additional appropriations for the betterment of the literary taste of the people it was in order to bring about this betterment in the state of the reading public continued doctor claxton that the bureau of education decided to institute this series of courses in literature at present we have ten divisions of the main course mapped out these are the great literary bibles masterpieces of the worlds literature A reading course for parents miscellaneous reading for boys boysif miscellaneous reading tor for girls thirty books of great fiction some of the worlds heroes american literature biography history seven of these courses have been completed and we are engaged in answering hundreds of 0 queries concerning them the other three will be finished in a short time and then the government govern mint will be in a position to do a most humane thing thang to tell persons of every age what they ought to read ulcey desire to improve their minds raft ids that of 0 course is the primary object of this literary course and we firmly believe that it if only a fraction of the persons who have already evinced interest in this movement apply themselves to the work which we e have mapped out the improvement in tile the literary taste of the country at large will be marked ro rn discussing the first of 0 these courses doctor claxton said among all the books of the world a few are so preeminent pre eminent for content and style that they deserve the right to be called the great literary bibles the foundation stories stones upon which rests the entire literature of the world of 0 whatever ahat hat ever language or age ir av PIP mand toray av boar there are the iliad and odyssey of homer the divine comedy of dante and the great dramas of shakespeare the merchant ot of venice macbeth Ha hamlet and othello and goetges Go ethes faust these books should be read by all who would know the worlds best literature and life the bureau of 0 education therefore has chosen them for its first course in reading and we have been very pleasantly surprised to note not that the majority of persons who ho have evinced interest in this movement have inquired particularly about the bibles and their supplements the literary masterpieces we have been of the opinion that the majority of people would find these selections a little heavy tor for their reading and would prefer the borks listed under the fiction heading dut but nearly every inquiry which has reached us from adults has specified thal tha the writer desired particularly to familiarize himself with the first firs two courses to everyone who inquires concerning the course we send a blank to be filled out and kept as a record in washington and a list of the books of the special courses designated we advise that the reading begin as soon as possible and that when possible sible the books be taken in the order named but th taij Is not essential to 0 o the obtaining of the certificate of merit given by the government in lieu of the usual college or university diploma or degree when the student completes the entire course and submits satisfactory evidence of having read all the books on the first two lists within three years from the time of joining the reading circle the second course is intended as a supplement to the first and includes nine books job isaiah deuteronomy prometheus bound of aeschylus aeneid Ae neld the cervantes don quixote a number of plays by mollere and Mil tons paradise lost completion of these two courses will firmly ground the student in what are usually known as the classics and will enable him the better to appreciate the othar and lir lighter liter reading to be found in the other lists the reading course tor for parents which Is under the direct supervision of 0 miss ellen C lombard secretary of the home educational division in eludes a number of books dealing with problems of 0 everyday life in the home the volumes on this list in elude clude books on practical motherhood marriage development ot of children care of 0 babies domestic economy shelter and clothing domestic science and a number ot of pamphlets and bul letine issued by the department ol of agriculture and dealing with the can ning and preserving of 0 fruits and vegetables the boys course includes a few of the more exciting books upon the lists of american literature and worlds fiction und and in addition such books as hans brinker the jungle book westward hol ho biographies of lincoln lee and franklin addresses by lincoln and washington cleveland moffetts moffette etts careers of dangers and dar ing and age of chivalry the careful perusal of these books will we feel pay large dividends not only upon the moral character of the boy himself but upon the future vel tare fare of the country at large the girls course includes only one or two of the books recommended tor for boys but it parallels the other course in that it advocates the reading of 0 a selected few of the worlds master pieces of fiction and the more juvenile u of the american authors works alice in wonderland little V women V omen the mill on the floss evangeline helen rollers kellers story of her life and the tour four books dealing with house furnishing ni the preparation of food and the physical side of girlhood and womanhood are among the other books recommended om |
