Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-21
What to Read.

"As many persons, 30 many opin-
ions," says the Latin proverb. Can
there be Q Ten Commandments for
reading whose obvious universal sim
pliclty and wisdom prove them by the
mere statement? Not yet if at all. At
present the question, What shall we
read?" is almost as universal rs the
question, "What did the Sirens sing?"
The utmost that can we'll be attempted
is to set down few hints about the
present state Of things in the matter
Of reading-hints. if possible, not en-
tirely useless to the scholar and, if pos
sible, of some service to the average
intelligent youth.
History is the backbone, natural sci
ence excepted. Unless historically,
upon the basis of the utmost possible
historical knowledge, there can he no
thorough acquaintance with theology,
philosophy, political economy, social
conditions and affairs-in short, with
all human life and progress and &C tiv-
ity on earth though of course the
routine drudgery of business and in
vestigations in physics do not require
it. Let the general rule, therefore, be
to have all your reading and all your
thinking upon the best and fullest
body of historical knowledge that
you can acquire. Road, to begin with,
one good summary of universal history,
and commit to memory a short Giro
nology, at the rate of one or two facts
and dates to century; read one good
history OF your own country (Hild
reth's is the best one), and one of
your own State and town, il such there
be; then q good history of England,
then one of France, one of Germany,
and so on, filling out the series as far
AS circumstances permit.
Read the great books, if you can lit
is not every one who can do it the first
time he tries); the great poets. histori-
ans, philosophers, even theologians.
Any one who has we'll read the master
pieces Ito read we'll a masterpiece is
very nearly to deliberately study i'll
has the p. incipal material for a we'll
furnished mind. The Bible, Homer,
Virgil. Dante, Shakespeare, Milton,
Goethe, Burns, Wordsworth, Hugo,
E'chylus. Sophocles, Aristophanes,
Moliere. Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy,
Sallust. Caesar. Tacitus, Plutarch, Glib
bon, Hallam, Plato, Aristotle, Bacon,
Locke, Kant, Hamilton, Spencer the
"epoch making" names, as the Ger.
mans we'll call them; one who knows
even moderately we'll the chief works
OF those men is already literally educat-
ed-and boys and girls Can enjoy them
all, unless, perhaps, it be the final list
of the philosophers. To understand
such works as these is to understand
human life and history in broad, COM
prehensive way, as one understands
the main slopes and great river valleys
OF country by mounting its highest
peaks and looking abroad from them.
Read periodicals. Not idly and
wastefully, but so as to keep up with
the truth of the present as we'll as to
learn the truth of the past. More and
more, wise and good thoughts are pub
lished IN these temporary forms. Any
one who has access to q good number
OF them, and can acquire some faculty
of selection, may choose say one article
each out OF six-or twenty-magazines
and papers, that will keep him abreast
of the progress of the age. A splendid
feeling it Is; like the swimmers de-
light of riding forward on great waves
in the sea. You see all the kingdoms
Of the world ; and General Butler--who
hates the newspapers--would say,
shown them by the devil too. But it
is not so. Much of the kindest and
wisest thought of the day brightens
newspaper columns and magazine
pages. The important thing is to avoid
being limited to one journal; to see as
many as possible, and to learn to choose
what is valuable and to skip the rest.
--Christidn Union.