The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-02-17
Love Of Reading.

come to add the final reason why the
working Baan-by whom Imean thewhole
brotherhood Of iadgstry-should set on
mental culture and that knowledge which
is wisdom value so high-only not SUI
preme-subordinate alone to the exercises
and hopes of religion itself. And that
is, that therein he shall SO surely find rest
from labor; suceor under its burdens
forgetfulness of its cares; composure in
It's annoyances. 1t is not always that the
busy day is followed by the peaceful
night 1t is not always that fatigue wins
sleep. Often some vexation outside of
the toll that has exhausted the frame;
some loss in a bargain; some loss BY an
insolvency some unforeseen rise or fall
in prices; some triumph of mean or
fraudulent competitor; 1.-THE laws delay,
the proud mans contumely, the insol-
vency of Office, or some one of the spurns
that patient merit from the unworthy
takes s"-some self-reproach, perhaps
follow you within the door; chill the
fireside; sow the pillow with thorns; and
the dark care is lost in the last waking
thought, and haunts the vivid dream
Happy, then, is he who has laid up in
youth, and held fast in all fortune, gen
uine and passionate love ofreading. The
true balm of hurt minds; of surer and
more healthful charm than poppy or
mandragora, or all the drowsy syrups of
the WORLDLY that single taste, by that
single capacity, he may bound into the
still region of delightful studies, and be
at rest. He recalls the annoyance that
pursues him; reflects that he has done
all that might become man to avoid or
bear it; he indulges in one good, long,
human sigh, picks up the volume where
the mark kept his place and in about
the same time it takes the Mohammedan
in the Spectator to put his head in the
bucket of water and raise it out, he finds
himself exploring the arrow-marked ru-
ins of Nineveh with Layard; or worship
ing at the springfield of the stupendous
Missouriwith Clark and Lewis; or watch
ing with Columbus for the sublime mo-
ment of the rising of the curtain from
before the great mystery of the sea; or
looking reverentially on while Socrates
refuses the offer of escape, and takes in
his hand the poison, to die in obedience
to the unrighteous sentence of the law; ;
or perhaps, it is contemplation of some
vast spectacle or phenomenon of nature
that he has found his quick peace-the
renewed exploration of one of her great
laws-or some glimpse opened by the
pen of st. Pierre, or Humboldt, or Cha
teaubriand, or Wilson, or the blessed
ness and glory of her own deep, calm,
and mighty existence. "
Let the case of a busy lawyer testify to
the priceless value of the love of reading.
He comes home, his temples throbbing,
his nerves shattered, from trial of a
week; surprised and alarmed by the
charge of the Judge, and pale with anx-
iety about the verdict of the next morn
ing, not at all satisfied with what he had
done himself, though he does not yet see
how he could have improved it; recalling
with dread and self-disparagement, if not
with envy, the tormenting himself with
the vain wish that he could have replied
to it-and altogether very miserable
subject, and in as unfavorable condition
to accept comfort from wife and children
as poor Christian in the first three pages
Of the Pilgrims Progress. With a su-
perhunan effort he opens his book, and
in the twinkling of an eye he is looking
into the "orb of Homeric or Miltonic
song" or he stands in the crowd breath
less, yet swayed as forests or the sea by
winds-hearing and to Judge the Plead
ings for the Crown; or the philosophy
which soothed Cicero or Boethlus in their
Affections, in exile, in prison, and the con-
temptation of death, breathes over his
petty cares like the sweet South ; or Pope
or Horace laugh him into good humor, or
he walks with 4Eneas in the mild light of
the world of the laurelled dead-and the
court is as completely forgotten as the
dream of preadamite life. Well may
he prize that endeared charm, so etfectual
and safe, without which the brain had
long ago been chilled by paralysis, or set
on fire by insanity To these uses, and
these enjoyments; to mental culture, and
knowledge, and morality-the guide, the
grace, the solace of labor on all his fields,
We dedicate this charity! May it bless
you in all your successions; and may the
admirable giver survive to see that the
debt which he recognizes to the future is
completely discharged; survive to enjoy
in the gratitude and love and honor of this
generation the honor, and love, and graf
itude with which the latest will assured
ly cherish his name, and partake and
transmit his benediction.-Ragus Choote.