The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-17
THE ART OF READING.


The Practice and Patience Necessary -
Its Requirement.
There is an art of reading, although
many who read never master it; an art
to be acquired. as all arts are acquired.
by long and patient practice. Those
who learn this art not only read books,
but remember them; not only gain the
, enjoyment of the first keen impression
of a writer's style and thought but
make his thinking part of their own
intellectual possession forever after.
There are people who are continually
making the casual acquaintance OF
books, but meyer establish relations of
enduring friendship and intimacy with
them. They recall books as they them
from time to time, but they do not re-
call what they once knew of them.
There is contact. but no cohesion.
between such reader and the books that
have passed under his eye. This kind
of superficial knowledge with literary
works is not without its advantages, but
it misses entirely the deeper and richer
results of reading; it retains vague
recollection instead of the vitality. I'M
pulse and power of another's mental
struggles and achievements.
The art of reading for mastery Of
what one reads lies in concentration of
attention. The trained reader finds no
difficulty in abstracting himself from
the noise and crowd of the horse car
and putting all his mind on the printed
page before him. For the moment
More's Utopia" or the marvellous
island where Prospero works his spells
is more real to him than the people or
the scene actually about him. Every
body who frequents bookstores has no.
curious or unfamiliar book, and are
straightway obvious of every thing else.
They have for the moment escaped
from the rush of the tides of life around
them. and found quiet of thought, at
once restful and inspiring. All the
great scholars have mastered this art of
concentration: it is the secret of their
achievements. No one can read Ben
Jonson's PLAYS and Mosques, so full of
allusion and the resource of scholar
ship; or Milton's splendid prose. en-
riched with the spOils OF all ages: or
Gray's few but lasting contributions to
English verse. SO pervaded with the
scholars spirit. without recognizing be-
hind these noblest achievements of mind
and art a training so sustained and pro-
longed as to add q certain nobility of
character to the work of the imagina-
ton.
To acquire this art of concentration,
commence with the first good book that
comes to hand. Read and re-read its
pages until YOU find yourself absorbed
in them; until you have forgotten that
there is any thing in the world but the
book and its reader. Your thought
will probably wander at the start and
for long time after. Your attention
will be diverted by trifies around you;
the least noise or motion Will lift your
eve from the line before it; so it has
been with every one who began to learn
how to abstract himself from his sur
roundings and to concentrate himself
upon the thing in hand, and so it will
be TO the very end of time. The trained
mind is separated from these first irres-
olute and feeble efforts by one thing
onlv-practice. To learn the art of
concentration one must concentrate his
mind again and again. patiently and
resolItely, until. little By little, his eff
fort becomes habit When the habit ia
formed the mind has received its im-
pulse. and will do its work with increas-
ing ease and efficiency. until one is no
longer conscious of effort or resolution
or characterization Union.