Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-20

obscure or doubtful passages, In defining ObSO-
| lete words and in explaining local illusions
Here, also, as well as In family reading comes
| the constant opportunity to discuss the style.
the aim and the merits Of the author in hand to
bring out the most diverse views and by the
attention OF mind with mind to inform and en-
terrain the whole company of readers. book
| read in this manner, in circle which embraces
even one or two acute minds becomes doubly
useiul In promoting thought, and teaching the
| habit of critical analysis Of what one reads.
AS we cannot all have the same gifts, so all
| cannot enjoy the same books. There are those
| who can see no greatness In Shakespeare, but
who think Tuppers Proverbiai Philosophy sub
| lime. Some there are who can eagerly devour
| every word of Miss BraddOn or Mrs. Holmes.
| but who cannot appreciate the mastery fictions
| OF 1hackeray. l nave known very good people
who could not for the life Of them find any
| humor in Dickens, but who actually enjoyed the
bastard wit of Josh Billings. Persons who
| could not get through volume of Gibbon will
Napoleon by Abbott But taste In literature,
as in art, or in anything else can be cultivated.
| Lay down the rule and adhere to it, to read
none but the best books, and you will before
long lose all relish for the poor ones; You
| if not into critics by feeding them
| upon the masters of English prose and poetry.
| The difference between the great scholar and
| the great ignOramus is mainly one of culture.
There is no aristOcracy Of letters. but the do
| main of thought is wide open to all. and the
high places in the temple of knowledge are
| more frequently attained by the poor and the
self-educated than by the spoiled darlngs Of
fortune OF the favored scions of the university.
BOOKS AS INSPIRERs OF THOUGHT.
Books are of three classes. First acquaint-
ances; second, friends and third intimates. It
Is well enough to have some acquaintance with
multitude of books as with many people, but
in either case care should be taken not to let
time be engrossedby merely pleasant intercourse
that produces no lasting fruit. Aon malta, sed
naultstna (not many but much) should be your
motto. With your literary friends you can spend
more time, tor they awaken keen interest. and
are to be studied with zest and consequently
with profit. But foryOur chosen intimates, your
heart companions. you reserve your highest re-
gard and your best hours. Choice and sacred is
the book which makes an era in the lite of the
reader; the book which rouses his higher nature
and sets the soul in flame. Sucha book
which w rt o aWakene@ tsgr the DsSe
him conscious Of untred powers,
and revealed to his charmed senses new world.
What the book is which works such miracles is
never OF so much Importance as the epoch in
the mind OF the reader which it sgnalizes. Such
book has Cariyies SartOs Resartus been to
many. or Fosters Decision OF Character or
Shakspeare's H amlet, or John Ruskin, or an
essay OF Emerson, or even an exquisite work of
fiction like John Halifax or Henry Esmond 1t
were vain to prescribe for all any single writer.
and say here is the book that must indispens-
ably be read. for the same book will have to-
tally different effects upon different minds. or
even upon the same mind at different stages of
formation. The formative power of books can
never be Overrated-their subtle mastery to
stimulate all the germs Of intellectual and moral
greatness that lie EMBODIED in the youthful mind
As the poet sings,
"BOOks are not seldom talis1nans and spells"
Why should they not be so? They afford us
the means (and the only means) whereby we
may commune with the master spirits. of all
ages. They bring us acquainted with the best
thoughts which the human mind has produced
expressed in the noblest language Books
alone create for US the many-sded world. carry
US abroad, out OF our narrow provincial hOri-
IONS, and reveal to us new scenery. new man
ners. new costumes new languages and new
modes of life. With Homer we breathe the
fresh air OF the pristine world. where the light
OF poetry gilded every hilltop and peopled the
earth with heroes and demigods. With Plu-
tarch we walk in company with statesmen. war
llorS ana sageS, and klndle with admiration of
their virtues, or are reused into Indignation at
their crimes With Aschylus we sound the
depths OF human passion and learn the sublime
lessons OF endurance. We walk with Dante
through the neither world, awed by the trench
dous power with which he paints for us the
secrets of the prison house. We are
charmed with an ode of Horace, perfect
In rhythm. perfect in sentiment, perfect in die
tOn anu perfect in moral; the condensed es-
sence OF volumes in single page. With Milton
we mount heavenward. and in the immortal
verse OF his minor poems finer even than the
stately march of Paradise Lost, hear celestial
music and breathe diviner air. With the many
sided Shakespeare, full equally of delight and of
majesty. we sweep the horizon Of this complex
human life. and become universal scholars and
citizens OF the world. The masters of fiction
enthrall US with their fascinating pages-one
moment shake us with inextinguishable laugh
ter. and the next dissolve US in tears.
There are some books that charm us by their
sweetness. Others that surprise and captivate us
by their strength books that refresh us when
weary, books that stimulate US by their robust
health. books that sOlace us when afflicted
books that exalt and refine our natures to a
finer mould, books that rouse US like the sound
OF trumpet books that light up the darkest
gloom, books that fill all our day with splendor
and glorify life. 1t is books that record the ad-
vance and decline Of natiOns-the experience of
the world, the achievements and the possibilities
of mankind
am we'll aware that there is another side to
the picture. Listen to the verdict of the worm
out king of Israel. GOT making many books
there is no end; and much study is WEAKNESS
OF the flesh. For in much wisdom is much
grief and he that increaseth knowledge
increaseth SORROW" This is the very paradox
OF intellectual dependency; the mood of
soured and disappointed philosopher. skeptical
vi truth, SkeptiCal or virtue, and given over to
the base gospel of despair. l shall
believe in it when the fountains of thought
are frozen up in the human brain. when
the wheels of progress are turned
backward, when science and civilization come
together to stand when men are become as
beasts. when ideas no longer rule the world. |
am not here to celebrate the praises of all books
nor to recommend to those of any age a habit of
indscriminate reading. But of the books which
are true helpers and teachers, the thoughts of
the best poets. historians, pubcists, philoso-
pliers. orators, If their value is not real, then
there are no realities here below; then the human
race is a failure, and this fair world is spinning
downward to inevitable destruction. Perish the
thought-and let it be your consolation to
have borne your part, however humble, in the
great struggle against the adversary-against
the combined forces OF ignorance and prejudice,
those arch foes of human progress. Whatever
may betide, never may you cease to believe in
the immortality of thought, in the supre-
macy Of the mind.
Blind and Deaf Street Car Employees.
To the Editor Of The EVENING STAR:
Without committing myself for or against the
conductors and drivers concerned in the late
street car strike, desire to suggest to the rail-
road officials, through THE STAR, that the con-