Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-12-01
Self EdncatiOn for Workingmen.

the 9TH inst. with an address 10y
James Russell, United States Min,
; lister 10 Great Britain. In the
course of his remarks he said;
Few men knew how much was
contained in the simple fact that
one was able TO read. A man who
could read had got TO certain ex-
tent all that he needed to make
him n scholar. A fellow country
man Of his who was once Minister
TO Berlin, who knew "little Latin
and less Creek" was able before
he died, to translate not only the
first part Of Faust" but the sec
ond, which was exceedingly diff
cult, and that was entirely by his
own effort in educating himself.
If some one were to offer to intro
duce them to the society of the
loftiest intelects and the most Sc
lect spirits of all time, they would
think that was something worth
giving life for. II they offered a
letter of introduction which would
persuade Shakespeare and Milton
10 give their best time and atten-
ton, they would say it was impos-
sible. Yet that was precisely what
the mere ability to read gave a
man. They all had odds and ends
of time, and it was precisely in
the use of the odds and ends, and
Lot of the great capital of time,
that real wisdom was shown
Those who were able to read could
choose their own society. They
might then choose good or in
different, or even bad. There was
a great deal of reading which was
waste Of time and worse--a kind
Of reading which enervsted the
attention and enervated the mind.
Since he had been in the country
he had seen people walking the
streets reading, and reading in
railway carriages, and he said to
himself Here is a people de-
rious of improving themselves
In America, probably, they would
be reading newspapers, but here
they read books" But when he
had been near enough to see what
the book was. One great advan-
tage that our forefathers had was
that they had few books, and those
were good books. Education was
made from them. He was not
speaking Of scholars or pedants,
but Of the earlier men Of culture
Of modern times. While our best
books were within reach Of every |,
one, We were the center of set Of
sentiment wires employed to catch !
the gossip of the earth--imperti-
nent things that were Of little i'm
portance to-day and none to-mor-
row. 1t was said of a man who
had mastered one book that he be-
came a great bore, and one reason
why he became great bore was
that he, was SO much superior to
the people he was in the habit of
meeting. lie knew one book, and
that well. If they had read the
divine Comedia" Of Dante they
would find ne had obtained lib
eral education. They would have
travelled Home keeping youth
have ever homely Wits" but they
would have travelled in minds, and
that was sometimes OF greater adj
vantage than travelling in foreign
countries, especially il the minds
were great ones, such as he had
mentioned. He learned Italian en-
tirely by his interest in Dante, and
if they wished to learn = language
he would advise them to take some
great book. They would only need
a dictionary; they would not need
a grammar. His own experience
was that nine out of ten learned
language better in this way than
by learning the grammar. They
were saved an infinite deal OF
drudgery, and also an infinite deal
of time often spent on grammar to
no purpose. If they wished to
understand q great master they
would soon find out the distinction
between his indicative and sub
junctive, and they would be led to
it in an easier and more agreeable
way than by the study of gram
mar. As Milton has said, great
books we're the true life-blood of
master spirits. Goethe, in the