Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-11-25
.Boors.-TnE1n PLEAsunEs AvD PowrR-sit.

books, pamphlets and newspapers lhhu'heFS"'e'
we feel prompted to write a line or two about
NIL these piles of printed matter, under the gene
raj head of Books. VIC owe paragraph to the
piles about us, in which, day and night, we are
almost constantly enveIoped; for never friends or
kindred were more closely knit, than are these
same strewn about and tattered books, pamph-
lets and papers and ourselves. They are our toll
and our amusement: our substantials and our
dessert
We propose, therefore, to draw near unto
some of our less favored readers (bookishly con-
sidered) and ask them to give us their ears
while we tell them something which We think,
will make for their good in the long winter nights,
which are now almost upon u.s. We are glad
to know that the Lutetligeneer circulates largely
among the sturdy men of our good city-the mr.
tisans-men who, in consequence of the hard
times now prevailing, in many cases but
partially employed, and who have, consequently,
great deal of leisure upon their hands. These,
particularly, we write for just now.
y long time ago a number Of people waited
upon an old philosopher, to know of him whom
he considered as miserable above all men. That
was hard question, we Opinc, even for the
philosopher who answered it. He begged
days deliberatiOn, and when his qucStioners
came again, he answered to them, that he cOnsid-
cred, that lie was most miserable among men,
hi YThen confined 70 his house on rainy day.
who have seen great deal of human misery,
at first would hardly seem philosophical But
the more we look at it. the more reasonable
does it seem. The old philosopher, doubtless,
had before his mind, the immediate and in
cidentaI consequences of that mans inability
to read. Have not many of our readers, like
ourselves, once or twice in their lives, been
snow or rain staid at some country or vii
lagc tavern, and have they not on such OccA-
sons observed n half or whole dozen of
persons-made up Of half grown, and mid.
die and old aged men. These persons, as we
have seen them, were lounged about the stove
On what seemed to be whitfield apologies for
chairs aud benches. There they sat gaping at a
stranger, mover stirring to make room, but as
usual squirting their tobacco juice on the
stove, or sucking away Slecpily and laggardly at
their stub Stoned pipcs-awaiting the entrance
of some congenial spirit who should ask them
up to "talxe something" These men-it was
plain to be seen, were perfectly at home; it was
their wonted rendezvous on every rainy day,
every night in the winter time, and every SUM-
day the year round. Most of these men were
heads Of families, whom they left to come to
these places, to meet with, drink with and
smoke with congenial spirits; and while they
were wasting their own substance and health,
their poor wives and children were being VIC
timizcd at home-the former with that slow
decay of the heart, which lops life away as does
the frost the 'sere and yellow lrar''-and the
latter were sinking, mentally, ere yet they had
begun TO rise; going into utter sterility aud
wretchedness.
One at first sight would hardly conclude but
what there was more ainiss among such charac-
tiers than the mere want of the ability or incli-
nation to read. But if the secret could be pro-
bed to its depth, we believe that among the very
great majority, the ailnent would befound to be
the want of mental culture. Experience has
taught us all that in the direct ratio of intel
tcctual Improvement in community, do such
scenes as these go out of fashion. 'rwould be
hard, indeed, If not impossible, to imbrute an
intellectual man in thatway. The great fault is
simply that these men had not implanted in them
" love vi lllSIhtJ thS6C' AuO HiuN
must be employed somcwny- have some
sort of natural or unnatural stimulant Let
man have lodged within him, once fairly, lik-
ing flor reading, and it acts like talisman
upon his whole being. 1t is the rarest thing in
the world to find such a man, lounger and
sponge upon society. 1t is your blear eyed SEN
sualits, who larry long in the bar rooms and
groceries, who are dead weights upon society;
who are always promising what they never per-
form, and laying their duties and themselves at
last burthens upon their fellow men.
The man who loves, books when left alone is
never Ionely-but is surrounded either by the
creations of his own or another's brain. A man
who reads much cannot resist thinking. He
cannot resist comparing what he reads with
what he sees, and he soon comes to estimate the
proper worth of men and things around him.
Tire reading man, as general thing, loves his
own Rreside better than any other place in the
world-the place where, after his days business
is over, he sits by his stand and lamp aud in
structS not only his own but the minds Of others,
by looking over what the world has been doing