Middletown transcript., 1883-03-02

| my heart, as everybody has, pltled lch'
abod while l laughed at him, thought
the old Dutch feast a most admirable
thing, and long before I was through
all regret at my lost Christmas had
gone down the wind, and I had found
out there are books and books. That
vast hunger to read never left me. II
there was no candle, poked my head
down to the fire read while was eat
ing, blowing the bellows, or walking
from one place to another. | could
read and walk four miles an hour.
The world centered in books. There
was no. thought in my mind of any
good to come out of it the good lay in
the reading. l had no more idea of
being a minister than you elder men
who were boys then, in this town, had
that l should be here tonight to tell
this story. Now, give boy passion
like this for anything, books or bust
ness, painting or farming, mechanism
or music, and you give him thereby a
lever to lift his world, and patent of
nobility, if the thing he does is noble
There are two or three of my mind
about books. We became companions,
and gave the roughs wide berth. The
books did their work, too, about that
drink, and fought the devil with a finer
fire. 1 remember while 1 was yet a
lad reading Macaulay's great essay on
Bacon, and 1 could grasp its wonderful
beauty. There has been no time when
1 have not felt sad that there should
have been no chance for me at good
education and training. miss it every
day, but such chances as were left lay
in that everlasting hunger to still be
reading. l was tough as leather, and
could do the double stint, and so it was
that, all unknown to myself, I was as
one that soweth good seed in his field. :"
With young or old, there is no such
helper toward the reading habit as the
cultivation of this warm and undying
feeling of the friendliness of books
in which subject Frederick Denison
Maurice found enough to write whole
book. If parent or other guide seems
but a task-master if his rules are
those of statute-book, and his society
like that of all officer of the law, there
is small hope that his help can be
made either serviceable or profitable.
But with the growth of the friendly
feeling comes a state of mind which
renders all things possible. When one
book has become friend and fellow,
the world has grown that much broader
and more beautiful. Petfareh said of
his books considered~as his friends Il
orrow the translation from the excell-
ent treasure-house of quotations on
books and reading, prefxed by DR..
ASlibone to his Dictionary of
fors'): 81 have friends, whose
3. T,5ty is extremely agreeable to me
they are of all ages, and of every
They have distinguished
both in the cabinet and in
5he field, and obtained high honors for
heir knowledge of the sciences. 1t is
easy to gain access to them, for they |
Ire always at my service, and 1 admit
hem to my company, and dismiss them
rom it, whenever l please. They are
never troublesome, but Immediately
answer every question I ask them.
some relate to me the events of the past
lges while others reveal to me secrets of
nature. Some teach me how to live,
md others how to die. Some, by their
7ivacity, drive away my cares and ex-
lilarate my spirits, while others give
'ortitude TO my mind, and teach me
he important lesson how to restrain
ny desires, and to depend wholly on
myself. They open to me, in short,
he various avenues of all the arts and
and upon their information I
iafely rely in all emergencies. /" I" In
ny study" quantity said Sir William
Waller, am sure to converse with
lone but wise men but abroad it is
for me to avoid the society
# fools" Sir John Herschel called
looks |" the best society in every period
# history:' - Were I to pray for
aste which should stand me in stead
lnder every variety of circumstances,
nd nd be 4 source of happiness and cheer
ulness to me during life, and a shield
gainst its ills, however things might
o amiss, and the world frown upon me,
t would be a taste for reading. Give
man this taste, and the means of
ratifying it, and you can hardly fail of
making him happy man unless in
eed, you put into his hands most
erverse selection of books. You place
i'm in contact with the best society in
very period of history the wisest,
be wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest,
nd the purest characters who have [
dorned humanity. You make him
enizen Of all nations, contemporary [
f all ages. The world has been created
)r him." Among his books, William I
illery Charming could say " In the {
est books, great men talk to us, with {
S and give us their most precious
loughts. Books are the voices of the
istant and the dead. Books are the
'ue Jewelers.. They give to all who S
i'll faithfully use them, the society i
nd the presence of the best and greatest c
our race. No matter how poor I am |
D matter though the prosperous of my Y
vn time will not enter my obscure e
yelling, if learned men and poets will 6
tier and take up their abode under my :
,of,-if Milton will cross my threshold v
sing to me of Paradise and Shake r
'eare open to me the world of imagina- a
on and the workings of the human f