The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-09-20
A GOOD HABIT.
None More Productive Of Pleasure and Improve
meHt than Reading.

OF all the habits that can be cultivated
none is more productive of pleasure and i'm
provement than that of reading. provided
the books be well chosen.
Reading is a recreation-the rest and re-
freShment that make enc feel like q new
being-but it is much more. 1t is not only
the wine of mental life, it is its daily bread
The study of text books will by no means
take the place of general and varied read
ing. One may be master of several Ian
guages and yet not DO well-read. One may
have many accomplishments, and even be
be proficient in one or more branches Of
science, and yet be unintellgent on general
subjects for lack OF habit of judieious
reading.
The quantity of reading that may be done
in year by the employment of even small
portions of time Is surprising to those who
have not observed the matter. 1t is q de-
light to think of the amount of information
and keen intellectual pleasure obtained by
those who follow the required readings"
of the ChautauQnan courses after spending
less than an hour day upon them. and
equal advantages may follow more desultory
reading ii it be well chosen.
A lady whom we know is the head of a
large family, entertaining much company
and doing great deal of benevolent work.
All these things leave her but little time,
yet at the end OF year she will be found to
have read more and 10 have better aSslml-
lated what she has read than the majority Of
men or women of leisure. In her the reading
habit is very strong and leads her to improve
every chance moment. Her memory is good
and her mental faculties clear, so that she
can keep many separate threads of thought
in mind without dropping or tangling any.
Hence she finds ii profitable 10 have several
books on hand at once. For her own
'den," where she is most likely to be found
her disposal, she has always solid work
of some sort-histOry, biography, travel or
populariZed science. In the Sewing-ro
where she may have to wait short intervals
between fittings" are kept volumes of Sc
leCtiOnS. On her dressing-table is always
another book. In her DarlOr a small-vol-
umed Shakespeare is ever at hand In
the dning-room are newspapers and mag
aZlnes. In a drawer in the hall table, ready
to be taken when she is going out, are nov
els or books of short stories. to be read in
carriage or horse-cars. Thus she is never
obliged to wait idly through even these mo-
mentS of waiting, which are inevitable IN
every large family.
A very great advantage of this lady
habit is that her whole family receive the
benefit of her overlooking mind. Her chill
dren bring their studies, her husband his
interests and she her reading 10 the common
fund OF intellectual enjoyment. Their table
hours are charming The husbands bust
ness is one involving unusual cares and re-
sponsibilities, and he is often too tired to
read, but by his wife'S flow of lively chat
upon ever-fresh topics his mind is as he eX-
presses it, so irrigated that it becomes
rich and fruitful instead of the arid waste
which a mind exhausted by business and
unrefreshed from without must be. Her
children derive from their mothers varied
stores countless bits of information which
enable them to better understand their
lessons, and are constantly stimulated to
greater efforts.
This useful and interesting woman makes
no pretensiOns TO learning, and with the eX-
ceptOn Of writing and speaking the English
has no accomplishments, but she is singu-
larly well informed. -Harper's Bazaar.