"
"And," he added, "the more they see, the more they want to see and know,
and they are constantly coming to me for facts, asking me why I do not
write good books."
"Well, why don't you?"
"I'll tell you why. It is because I want to write a book which will tell
them _just_ what they want to know, and I do not know what our boys and
girls are interested in. If I write about pets, what kind of pets are
they most interested in--dogs or cats, horses or birds, squirrels or
fishes? If I write about wild animals, must it be about their homes and
what they do, or about the best ways to hunt and trap them? Then, again,
I am not sure if they are not more interested in hunting for beautiful
and curious things on the seashore--shells, crabs, sea-anemones, and
such things."
Your editor believes in asking the boys and girls to say for themselves
what they want, and then to give that to them in the best possible way.
Therefore he answered: "Ask the boys and girls what they want. Do not
ask one or two, but just ask one or two thousand, and give them just
what they ask for--no more and no less.
Pages:
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44