The Portland daily press., 1872-01-22
THE PRESS
MONDAY MORNING, JAN. 22, 1879.
What Books to Read,
RALPH WALDO EAIERsON's ADDRESS TO THE
STUDENTS OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY,
WASHINGTON


Ii had prepared myself at all to address
tnis company of young men and women,
think should have called their attention es
pecially to the books they should read. Myowr
familiarity is not at all with directing the at
tentlon OF classes, except as the public some
times gather in miscellaneous classes TO bea,
lectures; but whenever l have to do with
young men or young women, 1 always wish
to know what their books are; wish to de
fend them from bad; / wish to introduce
them to good books;I should speak of tn,
immense benefit which good mind derive,
from reading probably much more to goot
mind from reading than from conversation
1t is Of the first Importance of course to select
friend; for young man should find &
friend little older than himself, or whose
mind is little older than his own, in order
to wake up his own genius. That service is
performed for us oftener by books. 1 think il
very active mind, if young man of ability,
should give you his honest experience, YOU
would find that he had owed more impulse to
books than to living minds. The great mas
tiers of thought, the Platos-not only those
that we call the sacred writers, but those that
are called profane-have acted on the mind
with more energy than any companions.
think every remarkable person whom you
meet will testify to something like that; that
the fast opening mind has found more inspi-
ration in his book than in his friend. We
take the book Under great advantages We
read it when we are alone. We read it with
an intention not distracted. And perhaps
we find there our own thought, little bet
ter, little maturer, than it is with ourselves.
To-day is the Sabbath. Are any of this
company accustomed to read any of the di-
vine songs of George Herbert, the poet? He
is called the divine George Herbert. He lived
in the time of King James. He was person
of singular elevation of mind, and / think
every young man and every young woman
who wishes inspiration from books should
find for their Sunday reading and their Mon
day reading the little volume of George Her.
bert's poems. l suppose George Herbert's
poems are in your library. If not, should
like the privilege representing the book.
speak of that because it is little the best re-
ligious English book that / recall. don't
know any one who has spoken so purely and
SO sweetly to the religious sentiment in us as
George Herbert. You all know the verse -
Sweet day, so COOL so calm so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky,
Inc ueW snail weep thy fall Tonight;
For thou must die"
am of the opinion that every mind that
comes into the world has its own speciality
is different from every other mind; that each
ofyOu brings into the world a certain bias,
disposition to attempt something of its own
something your own-an aim little different
from that OF any of your companions ;and tina
every yonng man and every young woman il
failure SO long as each does not find what il
his or her own bias; that just so long as you
are Influenced by those around you, so lon,
as you are attempting to do those thing
which you see others do well instead of doins
that thing which you can do well, you are sc
far wrong, so far failing of your own right
mark. Everybody sees the difference in
children. They very early discover theil
tastes. One has a taste for going abroad
another for staying at home; one for books
another for games; one wishes to hear stories
another wants to see things done; one is font
of drawing, the other cannot draw at all, bu
hecanmakea machine. This difference, as yot
advance, becomes more pronounced. Yol
are more distinct in your conception of what
you can do-more decided in avoiding thing
which cannot and do not wish to do Now
conceive that success is in finding what it il
that you yourselfreally want, and pursuing it
freeing yourself from all opportunities of YOU
| friends to do something which they like, an,
insisting upon that thing which you like an,
can do. One person persists all the time il
| disappointing his friends because he wishe,
| to be painter, and they have no desire tina
| heshouldbe. Another does not like that his ia
| ther should insist upon sending him to college
because he really wants to be merchant or
manufacturer, or has a whim of his own
Now that is easily mistaken by an obstinat
young man who has taken fancy and is no
vr,IrrcI not fxub oh 10 h Ill
ing. Though one may easily be mistaken TO
atime, yet there is in his mind this particu
lar fitness for calling; and some things tina
| he can do, as in mathematics, or the right ar
rangement of facts; he being able to distri
| butte the duties of the day; the distribution o
facts in his mind, so that he understands ant
| can recite history better than any other; o
the perception of his aim, and keeping tina
| through all the particulars by which logica
mind acts, In various ways, as some eyes ar
| made for color and some for form.
The multitude of professions is endless
and in right state of society the objects an
| aims of society would be much more numel
Gus. For instance, in the German univers
ties now, instead of having five or six or te
| professorships, they have sixty or one hun
dred-the division of the sciences, th
division of the parts Of great classes {
knowledge, requiring so many instructor
Well, / think that with the progress {
society, the divisions of employments wi
not be sixty or one hundred, but thol
sands; and finally, if one should say i
are W Jmen; that the aims will be as many {
there are individual souls Therefore / wis
I that each young person should learn that 81
| ,-ret-that he only can tell himsef-what it
| th,t be is to do. 1t is revealed to him in th
| prog eress of his mind, always becoming rt
yealed more distinctly what that object il
| He did rot know it when he was child; b
! did not know it when he was boy; but, a
his mind develOpes, all is slowly revealed
him; revealed TO him by every effort he make
| in this direction 0r against it. For, when b
| is laboring against his proper calling, he fine
himself met with ob,~tacles as he goes. Whe
he is following his proper Clission, the leadin
| of his inward guide, he is assisted by ever
step which he takes. The purpose for whic
he is made is always becoming more clear
to him. / believe that for every act,ve mine
in its own direction, there is a thought wal
ing every morning. new thought; an0 thi
even in the dreams of the night we are helpe
forward. There is great difference IN on
activity of mind. Sometimes we have hesv
| periods, when we don't think for days, o
weeks, or months; then periods of activity
think these depend very much upon our
selves-upon our good behavior. If we us,
our opportunities, opportunities are multi
| piled. If we neglect them, if we give up t.
idle pleasures and amusements, they are with
drawn. The idle person ceases to hav
thoughts. The active person is always as
sisted. There are a great many mysteriou
facts in our history which the mind attentiv
to itself will always discover, and the admO
nitions that come thence.
1 trust that every man has his own ways
as l say; and perhaps no method or matte
would become another; and always the in
struction, the hint, is given to the youn
mind from its own desires. 1t is urged in
| single direction, and that is the direction it
to take 1t soon knows what is wrong III
gency and what is right. All things ar
propitious in one direction; all things are ad
| verse in the other. Every book has its ow
attractions; but certain books would char
us ali-charm every good mind. l shoul
give every young man "Gibbon's History
| the Roman Empire to read as an educatio
| in ITSELF No one man can read it withou
seeing that Gibbon was the best read man
England in his time, and that, therefore, fe'
men could have accomplished so much. II
was perfect library himself; man of bril-
liant mind; not man of high morale;
least a skeptical man, and man of the worl
also. But his moral sentiment was alwaN
erect for justice and truth; yet not a man
quite pure mind. He was clean man in h
life, but his moral sentiment was not equal
his intellectual. Still, ''Gibbon's History {
Rome" cannot be omitted by any intelliger
young man who wishes to have, in English
the best history Of the past.