The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-01-27
Here q Little and There a Little.


The habit of reading something every
day has been spjoined by the best wri.
tiers, both as q means of acquiring fund
of information and for cultivating the at
tention and the memory. A recent uri-
ter records the case of friend who in
dulged in wonderful illusions about read
ing; he collected several thousand vol
umes, all fine editions, but died without
having cut the leaves. He was waiting
for the time when he should have nothing
to do but to 60 through his library
That time never came to him, and comes
but to few in this busy world and
even were there the opportunity, unless
the habit of regular reading had been
formed, the inclination will still be want
ing. Culture is not to be acquired in n
day. 1t cannot be learned by four
years course at college; it is the work of
lifetime. Nor is it to be found alone,
or in high perfection, between the covers
of book. 1t embraces humanity as
we'll; and true knowledge of human
nature can only be acquired by associa-
ton with men. Still the record of the
experinces and the wisdom of the past
ages lies in books. The spoken word
may be forgotten. Demosthenes no Ion
ger waves the stormy Democracy into q
calm, nor does Plato enchain the souls of
bis disciples under plane-tree and the
men of Rome no longer listen to the We
hement, passionate words of Cicero.
To come down to later DAYS, Burke's
fierce utterances have ceased to ring
through Parliament; Patrick Henry's
fiery eloquence is hushed, and the Senate
halls no longer echo the voice of the
great New England Statesman. "The
bows of eloquence are buried with the
archers." The splendid defamation of
Bolingbroke is vanished, like his own
image, from the grass plots of Twicken-
ham, and the eloquence of Clay passed
away with his dying breath at Ashland.
The names of the sometime great who
have passed into oblivion are, as to those
who are inscribed upon the temple of
fame, as q corporaTs guard is to grand
army, or as the living world of to-day is
to the countless millions of past ages
whose bodies have fertilized the soil of
every country under the heaven. A
memory handed down from one age to
another becomes but effete tradition; it
is only when thought is seized upon, and
imperishably recorded upon the printed
page, that it becomes effective to inAu-
ence the world long after the mind that
conceived it has passed away. In this
way Euripides is made to do duty as the
pioneer of modern science; Milton bor-
rows from Ovid; Taylor catches from
Chrysostom. The schools of Athens are
closed, bat Plato re-appears in the pull
pit. Sir Robert WalpOle was one of the
busiest and most intellectual men of his
or any other age; yet, in his "Life," just
published, his biographer tells us that,
once seeing Fox reading in the library of
Houghton, Sir Robert said, "You can
read. 1t is a great happiness. totally
neglected it while I was in business,
which has been the whole of my life, and
to such degree that cannot now read
a page-a warning to all minister's
But the warning is not to be limited to
those high in political life. 1t concerns
equally the humblest man, whoever he
may be or whatever may be his calling,
so that he have realizing sense Of his
own insuf6ciencies and of the overshad-
owing importance Of time.
And so, to the clergy and layman, to
the professional man and the thoughtful
man or woman, of whatever vocation
or situation in life, the lesson of to-day
comes-read, read regularly, understand
ingly. Leave to those whose ignorance
is their bliss leave to the Spoiled chill
tlren of fashion," who must needs devote
their precious hours and their highest
mental powers to the clothing of their
perishing bodies-for, alas they have
nothing else to clothe-to these poorest
of earth's children the empty plea that
they have no time. But for yourself
make time. Whether it be the halfhour
which you steal from your bed whether
it be the few minutes while dinner is
waiting; whether you can catch but a
few passing moments when the days
work is done-still seize these and read
something. Man is not naturally lazy.
God, who has not giveu the lowest Of his
creatures one superAuous organ, has not
given man a single faculty which
lie did not bestow that it might be used
to his glory. And you employ it in this
way when you not only give 1.-THE right
direction, but the fullest possible devel-
opement as well.-Mristian ut Work.