Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-04-28
Reading for the Family.

hCd0hu8 1OI tWt E8mI1ye
The newspaper is the most impor-
tant and intimate element in our daily
lives, except eating, sleeping and
breathing. 1t is an element cruel and
dangerous in evil, and powerful in its
possibilities for good. Every geod
paper subscribed for adds another win
dow to the house, from which the in
mates may gaze out upon lovely pros
poets, and the sunlight of noble lives
stream in. The newspapers and maya
zines are, without doubt, our greatest
educators. Not long since, business
interests brought me into correspond
ence with young man twenty-five
years old. He was struggling with the
world, but was brave and true. Com
ing to know of some of his troubles, ]
thought to encourage him by praising
his finished education, and assuring
him that it would certainly carry him
through; what was my surprise, on re-
ceiving reply, in which he said that
he had never attended school two years
all told; that nearly all he knew was
the result of reading newspapers and
magazines, to which he had devoted
himself just as assiduously as his sur
roundings would permit. never
found q msspelled word in his letters,
and his diction was as smooth and flow
ing as rivulet under summer skies.
His attention to the minutest details of
business was really marvellous. He
understood the technicalities of law
just as well as if he had taken law
course at Harvard. He was entirely
devoid of all selfishness and narrow
mindedness. And here was q young
man actually educated and equipped
for the battle of life by newspapers.
This is not an isolated case by any
means. There are thousands who could
give the same experience. Newspapers
are good spelling books. You do not
there learn the art of spelling by sound,
but by sight. It is next to impossible
to see word in print time and again
and not have its formation impressed
upon the mind. The style of compo-
sition, too. will be greatly Influenced.
In good paper you get every day,
week or month, as the case may be,
political and religious news, bits OF
scientific research, astronomical, geo.
logical and botanical observations,
speeches of great orators, the gossip OF
two continents, etc. It is great thing
to keep posted in the affairs of the
world. It is very humiliating to be
thrown with well-informed people, and
to be compelled to acknowledge, by
our blunders or our silence, that we
are ignorant of the subject in hand.
Parents who would have their children
love home, and not wander off into evil
associations, should provide them with
wholesome reading. It will prove the
greatest safeguard. The boys should
have agricultural and scientific Jour-
mails, or any paper or periodical they
may fancy, provided it is clear of sem
sationalism or obscene matters. The
daughters should have their ladies'
magazines, floral guides, landscape
gardening notes, poultry papers, etc.
It is almost impossible to pick up a
paper, no matter how unpretentious,
and not find out something you did not
know. I was once cured of disease
for which I had paid hundreds of dol
lars in the hope of restoration, by a
simple little recipe which found in a
mere handful of paper sent to me
through the mails. I have said nothing
about books, as that was outside my
subject. I started out to write of the
value of newspapers and magazines.
Of course, a well-selected library is a
veritable gold mine.-Womara's York.