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Untitled Article
Kind designs are more generally accompanied by modest distrust of the author ' s right to dogmatize , and the reader is occasionally entrusted with the privilege of drawing his own inferences from his own experience . We cannot , however , rejoice without many deductions from the satisfaction now expressed .
No . 1 , is one of those very annoying . publications which grieve us in proportion to our belief in the sincerity of the author ' s desires to do good . Its lengthy speeches and sentimental tone would sufficiently disgust us ; but , in addition to this , we think it is chargeable with the great error of inculcating the charity of the purse and the charity of self-interest , rather than the spirit of genuine benevolence . To refuse the relief of money to the poor , is not the fault of our day ; on the contrary , such charity is ,
strictly speaking , fashionable , and necessary to the maintenance of a certain degree of reputation . A school , and a fund for the relief of the poor , are such common appendages to the estates of our landed proprietors , as almost to be now considered in a certain rank as necessary parts of the establishment ; and we believe that the state of ignorance in which Miss Macauley has placed her hero , is a state perfectly unnatural and improbable . We should never think of saying that the wants of the poor are neglected in our
day , but we believe that they are not regarded in a right spirit . There is very little of self-sacrifice in our charity ; children are taught to give , but not to know the poor . They stretch out their hands as from an eminence , and think they have condescended sufficiently when they have heard and relieved , but they rarely have opportunities of entering into the privations and peculiar circumstances and feelings of their poor fellow-creatures . No . 2 , ** Cousin Elizabeth , " is a very pleasing , a very amiable book ; the authoress , who , though she has thought proper to publish this little volume in America , will not readily be renounced by her countrymen , has plenty of acquired and much natural qualification for the office of a writer for children . We like her pleasant teachings , and trust she will not quench her own light . All her pictures of children are deli ghtful ; they are drawn from the life , and have life . The conversations turn rather more upon books and grave opinions than we like , though , with the manner of
pursuing them , little fault is to be found . What we deli ght to see in pictures of childish life , is , the growth of the little beings themselves . We do not want to know so much about the books they read and the lessons they learn , any more than , when we see a specimen of youthful healthfulness and beauty , we like to be talked to about food and medicines , rather than Strength , and cheerfulness , and grace . It is pleasant to read of the selfconquests of children , their discoveries , their slowly-attained wisdom , their generous feelings , their prompt kindness . We turn from the lawyer-like wisdom of the world , to the better morality which springs in the hearts of these little beings , when they are not injudiciously interfered with , and when they are happy in parents , whose sweet tempers and blameless lives
Untitled Article
680 Books for Children .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1831, page 680, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2602/page/28/
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