Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1864-11-23
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For the Educational Column.
Books.

Hardly any other gift of human ingenu.
ity awakens so distinct consciousness of
gratitude as do books. And it is proof of
mans grandeur of nature, that while he
cannot eat or wear them, cannot indeed de.
rive any immediate physical beneitor plea.
sure from them, still he makes and reads
them by myriads. Books are positive
token of mans immaterial nature; for,
when absorbed in the ideas that their
words suggest, he is out of his senses, ire
quently with twofold truth. .
Of the many uses that books serve, the
principal are, TO hand down from one gen.
Grafton to those that shall follow, a record
of its acts, its philosophy, its religion--in
other words to perpetuate the remembrance
of the worlds activities, which constitute
History. The second use of books is to
enable the thinker to speak to the whole
world the thoughts which long meditation
has won for him, to impress his truth upon
the minds of all. These two uses seem to
indicate the general benefits that books
confer; and in these will be found an abun-
dance of causes for thankfulness. Who
does not rejoice that the style Of life which
prevailed in Persia, Greece, or Rome, hun
dreds of years ago, can be known and un.
derstood by us? Who is not glad to look,
through the telescope that books offer, back
to the days when men lived in rough dis
regard of one another's rights, when every
difficulty was satisfactorily settled by an
appeal to the god of battles, and to clubs
and fists; when Fashion was yet very young
and not superlatively dainty about the cut
of her dress or the tar-backwardness of her
bonnet, when mems manners were as rough
as their faces which no tear compelling ra-
zor ever marred? 1t is no small privilege
to be able to know the miserable sufferings
that ignorance and sel6shness have produ-
ced, the blessed influence some benignant
soul has exerted, the grandeur of charae-
ter few have gained-from these we can
more justly estimate the responsibilities
and wonderful possibilities of Life Nor
is it small JOY to follow the glowing path
some fiery spirit has trod, to grasp thoughts
which cause the breast to swell with the
unutterable consciousness of Immortality.
He is much to be pitied who either cares
not, or is unable, to read. The earth and
sky may, indeed, be as beautiful to him as
TO any, but ne loses the marvellous wealth
that books contain he hears not the sweet
story of ancient faith and honor; he walks
not beside the Tioer, or the Egean
or the Thames, and sees not the civiliza.
tions that fourished there; he lives only in
the narrow present, the far, stretching halls
of the past he never treads. The noble
lives that have been lived are unbIest to
him; the music that floats through centu.
ries and through all lands, charming the
soul of him who reads intelligently, ava.
kens no emotion of gladness in him.
After all, books are good only as we
rightly use them. IF we throw away our
own Judgment and conscience in reading
them, and accept without question whatev.
er they assert, We. derive only harm from
them. The duty of vigorous self reliance
OF hearty, independent thought, is not less
but more imperative when we converse
with others, wiser than We perhaps, in