In general, readers today have a better understanding of science than readers
in 1898. how would the tone of the passage's narrator have affected readers
in 1898 versus readers today?

Back then, knowledge was around noble classes, so it was a very small circle that must know Latin to understand some written work.

Nowadays, magazines and internet took this difficult articles, wrote them in a nice soft language and presents to ordinary people the idea of the scientific article, without using the experiments and so. Because of that, it's easier to understand.

Besides, scientific investments has grown more than ever in 21 century. We have more knowledge than ever!

Explanation:

the central idea of the above passage is following;

central idea: cultural study is very important specially archaeology. grimm's stories very well cater to the importance of cultural relevance.

explanation:

to inform the reader that the text will take a second look at the grimms’ original tales