San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-05-15
Men who Attain Eminence.

So many men have become emlneD'
Notwithstanding the apparent intel
lectuaI poverty of their surroundings
that it is interesting to inquire wheth.
or scarcity of books is such an eVll
as it appears to be to those who are
accustomed to have large libraries at
their command. A very little re
| faction serves to show that l
| il not the amount that q man
reads SO rnuch as the depth of his
reading that counts toward his intel
Iectuai development. 1T follows that
one who is really studious may gather
from a few good books more than an
other from o whole library. The old
analogy between the mind and the
stomach is always suggested when
this subject is considered. Mental
dyspepsia results from too much
reading without assimilation. One
who has his appetite we'll un-
der control may sit at q table
loaded with the richest viands yet be
temperate, eating only that which he
can thoroughly digest. But he is
under serious temptation to do other
wise, INDUCING his appetite at the
expense of his health. So also the
student may be surrounded by all the
wealth of literature modern libraries
afford and yet withstand the tempta-
ton to read every thing that comes
in his way, combining himself to such
books as will improve his
mind, and giving to these close
study. But he is tempted at
all times to overindulgence in read
ing, which is just as surely injurious
to the MUD as overindulgence in eat
ing is injurious to the stomach. The
parallelism goes further. The poor
boy brought up with coarse food, and
no more than enough, sufficiently
clad yet exposed to the weather, be-
comes strong, hardy man. The boy
with literary stastes restricted.to q
few good books. reading them at some
sacrifice and obliged to study them
closely because he has nothing else to
turn to, becomes strong men tally. He
has not merely read the books, he has
assimilated the thoughts he has found
in them; they have become part of
his mentality, 1t is for this reason
that men who have apparently had
few opportunities for mental culture
sometime surprise the world by their
intellectual power if not by their
learning. The lesson to those who
have many books and many sources
of study is not bard to find.
Literary studies should be carried
on deliberately, not with the
purpose of covering great deal of
ground, but with the purpose of max
ing sure that everything possible is
known of that which has been gone
over. A liberal education in letters
might be obtained from a study of
the Bible alone. A very few books
by great masters would suffice to
make one familiar with all of the
principal forms of literary express
sions, provided they were closely
studied. Reading in the ordinary
sense, carried on as is Gus
tomary in our day when books
are 80 plentiful, means a mere
skimming over the pages to gather
the story that is told or the principal
thoughts that may be expressed in
the essay or review. 1t ends where
study should begin. The poor boy
with only half a dozen cherished VOL
umes, who, with that small library,
educated himself" was in fact forced
to adopt the methods of reading and
study which are now approved by
those who have given most thought
10 the subject.
The full name of this character was
Heronymus Karl Friedrich Won Nun.
chausen. He was born at Bodenw er-
der in Hanover, in the year 1870, and
died there in 1897. By profession he
was soldier, but, from some cause,
not finding q pOsitiOn suited to his