The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-05-18
Reading.

Probably Socrates was the first to re-
cOgnize the result Of sympathetic inter-
course. 1t is to this that he refers when
he calls himself the midwife of mems
thoughts. DE Quincy and Emerson
both insist strongly on this benefit Of
conversation; and it was probably some
| thing of the same kind that Charles
Lamb had in his mind when. after
speaking of the death of several friends,
he said: And now, for SO many parts
of myself have lost the market
But such intercourse il rare. Ii is
| any Of us, while to many IL never comes
AT all. Consequently, we arc obliged,
| for the most part, to go for our mental
stimulus to books. which are more or
less accessible to us all.
And what will books do for us? Why
| are we to read thcmp Not for enjoy
ment merely; not only in order 10 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; but they
have u higher use still; namely, the ed
ucatiOn Of the powers, the cultivation of
The mind, the formation Of the charac-
ter. Books says Emerson, .are for
nothing but To inspire. The mere
transference Of the contents Of book
to our own mind will do us little good
unless the mind, besides receiving, acts
upon what il receives. The food of the
mind, like that Of the body, il intended
TO be digested and assimilatcd, To nour-
ish, and TO result in growth and increase
Of power. II am To be in no way bet
ter when lay down my Plato or my
Shakespeare than was when | took il
up, will not read at all. Why should
soul that made my soul WISER then
indeed my time has not been wasted.
The amoun. vi reading that is profit
able will vary with each individual,
since it depends upon the minds rccep-
tiyity and power of assimilation. 1t is
of less Importance to read much than TO
read wisely and well. Wisely-that is,
to read exclusively good authors; and
well-with the reasoning power, the i'm
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 q rule, to read in order to write. 1t
is true that in some cases, such as in
preparation of literary work done tO
order, this is inevitable. But all will
agree that the best work is not done in
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 it. 1t is extremely difficult to inter-
est Others in anything in which we are
not interested ourselves.
Obvious rs 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 writers of such unreliable
matter may have said to themselves:
This subject will make II magazine AZ
ticle, or even book they did not say:
This is a subject of interest, of import
to mankind; VIC must needs try to make
its value as clear To others rs il is to
ourselves This is the spirit in which
we ought to write. II 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.