清末著名的小說家包天笑譯介眾多教育小說，其中《馨兒就學記》不僅獲選爲國小國文教科書課文，更是風行一時的課外讀物。《馨兒就學記》雖是根據義大利作家亞米契斯的小說《愛的教育》日文譯本改寫而成，但包天笑又依個人意志來增添、改寫故事情節，並配合中國國情而修改成中國化，使成爲「講中國事，提倡舊道德」的小說。包天笑的內在基調是對傳統文化的肯定和認同，但由於身處於傳統與現代、中國與世界交織的現實環境下，面對時代變遷與知識轉型，他將舊道德文化與時代思潮相結合，讓傳統文化再現新價值，以得到廣大群眾的重新認同。包天笑發揮了清末新小說的載道功能，在將傳統道德理想與「群」概念結合的同時，也向讀者倡議以公眾利益爲重的新社會觀、國家倫理，以及兼具私德和公德的新國民意識。

Tian-siao Bao, a well-known novelist in late Ching period, translated a great deal of educational novels, among which, "Shin boy went to school" was not only widely excerpted as the Chinese literature text for the elementary schools, but also an extensively recommended supplementary reading. Based on the Japanese version of "Curoe", originally written by the Italian author Edmondo Amicis, Bao presented his personal faith to modify and re-write the story. To adapt to the Chinese culture, he localized the work as a novelistic text "speaking out the China affairs, and urging the old morals". The underlining tone of Bao's work was to approve and acknowledge the traditional Chinese culture. Experienced the turbulence caused by the impact between tradition and modern, and China and the western world, and faced of the fast changing environment and unthinkable knowledge transformation, Bao combine the old ethical system and modern wave of thought, so that the traditional culture was able to reveal the new values and, on the other hand, the public were able to acknowledge the new paradigm. Bao performed his novel as a function of missionary. He combined together the traditional moral ideology and group consciousness, and in the mean time, also proposed to his readers a social ethic system centered with public benefits-a new national consciousness consisted of private and public virtues.