The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-24


Probably ssacrates NIB Tie Ili-sit 10 IL
Icpgilize The assault of sympathetic inter
Icourse IL is to this thaf Iie refers whef
He calls himself the f41f.laifesso OF men's
thoughts. DE Quincy and Emersoa
both insist strongly on this benefit Of
conversation: and it was probably some
thing of the same kinal that Charles
Lamb had in his mind wien. after
| speaking of the death Of several friends,
| he said: And now. for 50 many parts
of Myself have lost the market.
But such Intercourse i rare. Ii is
probable that il comes but seldom to
any OF rs. while 10 many it never comes
at all. Consequently, we are Obliged,
for the most p;,i.t. to 90 for our mental
stimulus Ia books, which are more Oh
less accessible 10 as all
And what will books 10 for us? Why
are we 10 read them3 Not for enjoy
ment merely; not onlK in order TO store
the memory with facts, nor even to en-
rich the mind with the thoughts of great
men. We read them and we value
them for all these reasons; lint they
have higher use still; namely, the ed
ueation of the powers. the cultivation OF
the mimi, the formation of the charac-
ter Books, says Emerson. are for
HcJufDg Dlit 10 lIlSpiit hc HAEid
transference of the contents of book
TO our own MUD will do Us little good
unless the mind, besides receiving, acts
upon what it receives. The food of the
mind, like that of the body, is intended
to be diqested and assimilated. to nour-
ish. and to result in growth and increase
of power. Ii am TO lie in no way bet
ter when lay down my Plato or mk
Shakespeare than | WAS When took il
up, | will not read at all. Why should
Ip But If Ihaye held intercourse with "A
soul that made my soul wiser, then
indeed my time has not been wasted.
The amount of reading that is profit
able will vary with each individual,
since it depends upon the minds recep-
tivity and power Of assimilation. 1t is
of less importance to read much than 10
read wisely and well. Wisely that is.
to read exclusively good authors, and
well-with the reasoning power, the inn
agation, and the affections awake and
on the alert.
We are then, to read for our own
mental and moral culture; we are not,
as a rule, to read in order to wriSe. 1t
is true that in some eases, such as in
of literary work done TO
order, this is inevitable But all will
agree tnitl the pest WORK Is not dOHe III
this way 1t Is the subject which we
have studied for its own sake, whose in
terest and value have drawn us irresis-
tibly onward, on which we shall be best
able to write; and this not merely on
account of our better acquaintance with
it, but from the interest which we take
in H. 1t is extremely difficult to inter-
est Others in anything i'll which we are
not Interested ourselves
Obvious as this consideration appears,
it is frequently overlooked, if we may
Judge by the unreadableness of much
that is printed both in periodicals and
books The writer's of such unreliable
matter may have said to themselves:
This subject will make magazine ar
ticle, or even a book they did moi say:
This is subject of interest, of import
to mankind; we must needs try to make
its value as clear to others as it is to
ourselves This is the spirit in which
we ought to write. LII we cannot show
to our fellows something that we see,
and that they would be the wiser and
the happier and the better for seeing,
we need scarcely write at all. Cham
ber'S Journal.