Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-11-14

d
tion to generation, when pulpit eloquence has
become a tradition and the published sermon
has been laid aside, dust to dust, the princi-
pies Of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour
esus Christ. There are characters in fiction
that have become as real to us as the charac-
ters Of history, more real in fact Now there
is no truth which we preach from the sacred
desk which cannot be embodied in characters
like these and made living power, no truth
which cannot, through alliance with the COM
monhumau experience, find its way to every
heart which responds to the "touch Of ma
ture." Men who turn from what they are
pleased to term our shibboleths, will thus be
forced to listen to the truths we reverence.
Unconsciously they will pay on homage to
the Master they affect to despise.
Leaving now the duty of parents and teach
ers in the matter of precept and example, l
pass to the work of self.culture in develop
ing taste for good reading At the outset
it should be borne in mind that q TASTE for
good literature is If Hsolf no poor e9QtualJ.t
for liberal cducdtiOH. Indeed about all that
liberal education can do for any one is to
aid in developing this taste, and to show how
and where it may be gratifed to the best adj
vantage. Herbert Spencer suggests that af
ter all, the world is largely educated outside
tue schools. Vital education" he says,
'has taught itself in hooks and corners.
Had there been no teaching but such as is
given in our public schools England would
be now what it was in feudal times All our
industries would cease were it not for the in
formation learned after education is said to
be completed" All that is it After ed
ucation is said to be completed" Education
in the schools is needed for the groundwork,
the more the better and then the man or
the boy goes out to gather information where
he can, and put it to the best of use all his
days. Then il is that he needs before him
the highest ideals, and should be satisfied
with nothing that will not help in securing
them. He who would make the most of him
self cannot afford to associate with company
that is not good he cannot afford to read
books that are not good. His associates he
may not always be able to choose, but his
books he can; and books bring him in con-
tact with the best Of minds. Who does not
remember that famous passage of Macaulay's
III his essay on Bacon; The debt which
the man Of liberal education owes to the
minds Of former ages is incalculable. They
have guided him to truth They have flied
his mind with noble and graceful i'm
ages. They have staid by him in all vicissi-
tudes-comforters in sorrow, nurses in sick
ness, companions in solitude. With
the dead there is no rivalry. III the dead
there is no change. Plato is never sullen.
Cervantes never petulant. Demosthenes new
er comes unseasonably. Dante never stays
too long. No difference of political opinion
can ALLEVIATE Cicero. No heresy can excite
the horror Of Bossuet."
To sentiments like these the average reader |
makes little response, nor were we to substi- |
tute for these the foremost names in Eng
lish literature, would the average boy appre- |
oiats them hattar Yet he may know that |
until he can appreciate the writings of those
the verdict of the wise has pronounced great |
est and best his culture is imperfect Tow |
ards this ideal, towards an appreciation of |
these best writer's, he must work as best he |
may, work from his present taste whatever
that may be, and work by those means which |
will best accomplish his purpose. He must
work from the reading he does like to the
reading he ought to like, and work in a way
that will not create dislike for all reading,
and make it seem like taskwork. Novels
may lead to essays, biography to history
travels to works of science or research Ru-
fus Choate found recreation while in active
practice as a lawyer, and rival of Webster
at la Inv IA, E..pt,f, ,rst ~ 4l
classes of Harvard College in the prescribed
course of study. That was his reading, his
novel, his book of travels. Caleb Cushing
took up copy Of n new edition of Webster's
Dictionary Just sent him, one afternoon, and
read far enough to discover 5000 mistakes.
In acknowledging the receipt of the book he
the publisher of the fact, and short
ly afterwards received letter from the ed
itor challenging him to point them out. And
this strange man, to whom work was amuse-
ment, took up the book again, and actually
wrote out a careful list of his discoveries. 1t
is hardly to be expected that any of us will
ever find our recreation in ways like these,
nor is it necessary that We should in order to
the requirement of a taste for the best of
books. We may take our enjoyment more
and in slightly different forms
In this process of advancing from an ap-
probation of the good to craving for the
better and the best, it will not be necessary
for the boy to experiment largely in the mat
ter of trying the spirits" whether they be
good or bad. He can safely trust the judg-
ment of those in whom he has learned to con-
fde. think any boy will acknowledge that
it is not best for his morals or his self-respect
10 read any book or paper he would not take
into the family circle or wish his teacher to
see. In making his own selection, he will be
safe also in avoiding all that class of reading
found in association with the famous weekly
story papers and series of hashy stories.
There may be wheat with the chaI but it
will not be worth his while to sift it out On
he other hand the standard magazines are
expected to contain nothing that is forbidden,
although time may be more proftably spent
han in reading much of the fiction they con-
ain. There has of late also been published
l cheap literature, which, on the principle of
iupplanting the evil with the good, may be
considered one of the most hopeful agencies
now at work. Appleton's primers of Lit
,rature and Science" and Handy Volume
Series, Scribner's 'Epochs in History, and
Iarper's "Half-Hour Series" contain books
which rival the worst class of literature in in
crest and convenience, if not in oheapness
While, more directly competing with the dime
novels for the favor of those who patronize a
heap literature, are Harpers Franklin
square Library" and Cooks Sabbath Lii
,rary," which furnish standard works at a
,rice that can give no one an excuse for pre-
erring the bad to the good on the score of
Expense. The diet furnished here may not
,e always of the best, but it is infinitely pref
rable to that for which it is offered as a sub
titute The boy NAV select from any of |