The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-04-04
ga friend indeed. am I of Plato, but
more friend of truth"


you will. Of course, read Catholic liter
ature and try to advance it's cause; ba1
the stimulus thus impaired to your
minds will undoubtedly cause you tt
wander with loving steps in fower1
paths Of the wide domain outside it.
heading is vague term, and may
mean little or nothing 80 far as intel
lsctual benefit is concerned. Coleridge
L think it IS, compares the minds OF
different classes of readers te three OBJ
jects with which, all of you are familiar,
One class is like sieve; you pour in
and keep pouring in, but nothing ever
remains. The water runs out as fast
as it is poured in. Another class he
compares to sponge, which retains
everything, both good AID bad, and
thus fails of the best results. The
other he compares to filter which re-.
jects the impurities and keeps only that
which is best. [ need not say that 1t
ought to be the ambition of all of US TO
have our minds like the filter; but I
think you will not deem me cynical
when say it is nv own private belief.
founded on experience more Or less ex-
tensive, that the majority Of minds are
constituted on the plan OF sieve. You
meet persons who tell yon they have
read now this book and now that, have
devoured this magazine and swallowed
| that quarterly; who are in fact literally
anacondas and in fancy have taken all
knowledge for their province. You
have no reason to doubt their words,
but you are forced to conclude. after
trying IN vain to elicit an intelligent
opinion ON the subjects and books they
have read, that their minds are like the
sieve--full Of holes, and that thew have
retained nothing. Such reading is
worse than useless, it is positively
harmful to the mind, aud the time so
wasted could have better spent in let
ting their intellects such as they are -
lie fallow, or IN exercising them on
what stores they have already acquired.
You are familiar with what Pope has
sald Of
The bookful blockhead ignorantly read,
With loads Of learned lumber in his head,
But there is a worse condition even
than this, and that is the condition Of
one who, after reading has neither
Learned lumber" nor ANYTHING else for
his trouble. Let all vour reading be
accompanied by thought, for without it
intellectual development is a dream.
Remember the words OF Shakespeare:
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse
Looking before and AFTER gave us not
That capability and God like reason
To rast in us unused.
Let reading be always the means,
never the end. Better read one good
book slowly and intsiligently than to
rush through hundred books. The
tendency of modern reading ls, I am
sorry to say, IN the latter direction, and
do not know Of any cause contribu
ting so much to the chief characteris-
tics OF laodern culture-super6ciality
and want Of reverence. Such q course
puts it through a drenchlng process
which robs it of all individuality, Do
not accept as undiluted truth every
statement you meet in book. There
is a wise as we'll as foolish skepticism.
Give yourself the habit OF weighing
carefully Weat you read. do not be
afraid to disagree with an author, for
none of them are invested with the pre-
rogativo of infallibility. Analvze his
motives and his arguments, and make
him give a reason for the faith that is
in him. In this wav reading will be
profit and jov, not state of intellect
ual ennui or an amusement to kill
time. Let not your reading run too
much to the alluring novel, even though
it bs Catholic. or to the ephemeraI arti-
Gle of the newspaper or magazine. You
can no more expect a healthy mental
tone from such diet than you could e4-
pect to ct an athlete for feats Of physl-
cal prowess by an exclusive regime of
whipped syllabub and Ice cream.
Be cautious about devoting attention
to books which have leaped into popu-
laritY before there has been time to
test their merits. DO not be induced
to burn incense at the shrine Of every
popular ''fad" in the shape OF an author.
Experience proves almost invariably
that the chance of a book obtaining
place on the bead roll of fame is inverse
ratio to the popularity it eDjoYed on it's
appearance; aud that books which
everybody feels bound to talk about
now, will, most likely. be doing va1ua
BILE service in lining trunks ten years
eence.
Macaulev has said in his eplq1am-
matte wav that prize poems are good
only to light candles made from the fat
Of prize sheep, Charles Lamb has said
that when q new book came out he al
ways read-an old one. The old books
are, after all the best; for they have
stood the test of time and impartial
criticism New books of great merit
may come forth any time, but to dis
cover them amongst the rubbish that
teens from the press daiiV, IS not given