Interesting Talk on the Best Literature for Youngsters The commencement of Children's Bouk Week wes suitably observed at a tiffin on Tuesday held in the American Women's Club when about 40 members of the club heard a talk by Virginia Smith Cowper, entitled "Better Books Make Better Children."
Miss Cowper explained the origin of the institution which was started by educators in America to count-erect the evil influence of the.
"Nick Carter" type of juvenile story. Shg declared that each book intend-_ ed for a child should comply with four requirements: 1, it should iculeate worthy ideals, 2, it should! cultivate appreciation of good typography ard artistic illustrations, 3, it should dispense real information and 4, it should inspire in a.[ehild a love for good books.
In describing the differences to Lo noted between boys' and girls' book Get, the speaker gave a list of "preferred" books compiled after] consulting many children. In this list many of the same books mae an appeal to both boys and_girls and a goodly sprinkling of the classies show that children do appreciate such books as "Treasure Island," "Call of the Wild," "Tom Sawyer," Tal of Two Cities," "The Three Musketeers," "Last of the Mohicans," "Oliver Twist," "Swiss Family Robison" and mary others of equal calibre.
Children should be encouraged make their own selections of books the local book-stores, Mins Cowper said, and they should be permitted to have books which suit their present tastes, rather than' those to which they will grow eventually.
Following this short talk, Mrs Mildred B. Shaw, related by marrilage to George Bernard Shaw, the novelist and playwright, was intro duced by the chairman, Miss A. V. [Smith, and spoke a few words about the new women's building in San Francisco, an enterprise with which she has' been identified recently, an 11-storey building on its site valued at $1,000,000 ithe heart of the business district in San Francisco, which will, when completed, be valued at $2,500,000 with members from all parts of the world, Mrs. Shaw said. It will be a home for women, a playground and meeting house for them and represent the tangible interest taken in club-work.
INTERESTING memories were recalled among the Chinese on Monday, the tenth anniversary of the death of Gen. Tsao Ao, of Yunnan.
Gen. Tsai was the first general to zet himself up against ex-President Yuan Shih-kai, when Yuan made bid for the empty throne. He died in Japan a year after Yuan's failure. The anniversary was widely observed among the Chinese locally.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.