Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-20
WINTER READING.
Some Suggestions bout the valuable
Knowledge Found ia fsooks.

Some Suggestions z bout the valuable
Knowledge Found ia Hooks.
A summer tourist among our mountain
and seaside resorts might naturally COZ
clude that the people of the United States
read nothing but novels What IN eX
tensive spread Of paper covered fiction az
the station where he buys his ticket md
If he happens to want something 20 read
at one of the great summer hotels he finds
in the book room two or three hundred
novels, and not one volume OF amy other
kind of literature.
This does well enough foTo short sum
mer holiday, during which we need no
read very much of anything, and, besides
much Of the best thought, fancy and feel
ing Of our day is communicated to tht
world through the medium Of fiction
One touch of nature makes the whole
world kin. The world is destined one day
as we all hope, to recognize this kinship
and If so the most powerful means Of
bringing it about will probably be great
fiction, like that which abolished Sarey
Camp, and helped emancpate Russinn
serfs and American slaves. AT this mo
ment there are lying upon our numberless
bookstands American moves which aIe
melting hearts, softening ? eiudices anl
inspiring endeavor away of in the inter- r
of India aud in the rising cities Of Deem
ca They are helping to make the whoie
world kin
The summer has ended Books of oth'
kinds are now in request, ana we find theui
not less abundant than novels, if we know
where to look for them. OF late years
there has been a most remarkable pr0dug
ton of what are called books Of reference
In which knowledge is scored away and ar
ranged for convenient use wi on wanted.
Some of these dictionaries and encycl9
pedias of knowledge are wonders Of cheap
ness and excellence; others are of such cE
tent that they cannot be of low price, but
most of them command sale in this coun
try that surprises even their sanguine pro
| jectors. A really good book Of reference
appears to he one Of the things which
| American families are most willing to make
sacrifices to get
| Noah Webster published his large die
tionary in 1923. The first edition, consist
| ing of 9, 800 copies, lasted twelve years, gLl
the second edition, Of 1900 copies, supplied
the market for seven years. We have nov
dictionaries and encyclopedias that cost
$50, $50 and $3.50, which reach a larger sale
| Immediately than Wcbster's dictionary en-
| joyed during the whole lifetime of the
author.
/ Such facts as these indicate that the
reading of fiction does not destroy the taste
| for the acquisition of knowledge, as is fire.
| quently alleged. Thackeray was disposed
| to cast ridcule upon young ladies who
read Improving works" and Dickens was
not free from the same propensity But
| in fact, the best students are often the best
novel readers. In the most intelligent
households we see on the upper shelves OF
the bookcase plenty Of Scott, Thnckeray
| Dickens, Hawthorne and lIoweIls, ballast
ed on the lower shelves by the solid "ol
umes of the encyclopedia and the djction
airy.
During the winter months the works OF
reference come into great play in many OF
| the best schools and clubs, whore n "win
ter subject" is chosen and the advanced
] pupils read all round it, until they have
! absorbed most of the knowledge that exists
| upon it,
africa" has been selected as the winter
topic by one of our Boston evening clubs
apropos of the new African books by Stan
ley, Ward and others 1t gives point and
interest to reading to have such II subject
! in view As the months 20 by we gradu
ally get full possession of it, correcting
erroneous impressions and getting light
upon it from other minds. Youth s Com
| panion.