The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1892-09-17
HOW TO READ A BOOK.
Useful Suggestions Concerning Household
Literature,

Useful Suggestions Concerning Househ old
Literature.
"By whom is that book?" one friend
asked another, referring to a volume
which the first had laid down.
81 do not know. l never thought to
look" was the reply.
The very first step in the proper pc
rusal of book is to ascertain what this
negligent reader omitted to discover
the name of the author. Perusal, by
the-bye, is term appropriate only to
certain kinds of reading. 1t carries in
it a suggestion of haste, of rapid glanc-
ing at and skipping over pages which
exact no studious attention. A book
worth reading is usually worth more
than this catch-and-go style Of treat
ment.
If you would get from book the best
it has to give, you must be properly
presented to it, or it to you. It's pub
lisher's name is important. There are
, certain publishing houses, the names
! of which are guarantees of the purity,
the responsibility, the value, of book.
Only the books of good society bear
their imprint.
A book is so entirely pc rsonal pro.
duction, so much part of the man or
the woman who wrote it, that it at
| once enters into your confidence, and
asks admission to your friendship. The
day when you made acquaintance with
certain books was an event in your his
tory. The buying of ev cry good book
ought to be an event in your family.
You have brought into the household
with the book well-defined influence
vital, creative, formative, lasting.
Therefore, be sure you learn the
authors name. To read book with
no thought of the author is akin to at,
tending reception and taking nc
notice of your h ostess.
Ask yourself, again, ''Why do read
this book?" If the answer be, fol
pleasure, then IN ay you take your
pleasure easefully, under the trees, on
the veranda, with head on tho pillow
in tie arc of the swinging hammock.
If for information, then you must ad
dress yourself, as with pick and spade
| to serious business, and hero note
book and pencil, or a commonplace
book for extracts, will aid yeu in Sc
curing the books contents in mind arC
memory.
If the chosen volume be bio ographica,
1t will be well to make a note of tn,
period under review. Every strong hu
man life embraces in its progress mu!
| titude of other lives, so that the story
| of Lord Lawrence, of Sidney Smith, O
Macauley, of Motley, or of any grea
man, becomes crowded picture gal
lery, where many figures appear anC
reappear. The fascination which tn,
memoir possesses for all thoughtfu
minds inheres in this fact of its strong
Overwhelming human interest
Be respectful to the outside of tn,
book you read. Dom: leave it fac,
downward on the gra IS, or open 1t S,
carelessly that you rack the bindin,
and loosen the leaves. II is piece O
portable property, your own, or that o
your neighbor, and to wantonly injur
or mar 1t, is to show yourself lacking il
care of a possession intrusted to you
handling
In days to come, II you have rea,
with careful thought and loving touche
and genuine attention, you win flnt
yourself remembering precisely how ,
certain book looked at a certain time
1t will be the golden clasp of chain O
pleasant trecollections. --Harper's Bazar