The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-02-22

Men Who Could Gather the Meaning oil
Page at q Glance.

aYaGe NJ q 6iancos
The death Of Justice Lamar recalls
a trait OF faculty which he possessed N
a remarkable degree. II has been SAID
OF him that he was able to read news
paper article or a page OF DOCK AZ
what seemed to the observer to be but
a glance. Manifestly this faculty OK
canacitv gave him great advantage over
ordinary men. He was able 10 ueVour
hooks as II he were literary giutton.
with the difference that his powerful
memory enabled him to digest at leisure
what he had absorbed In haste.
Macaulay possessed the same facuity'
perhaps in a yet higher degree ne
would take up volume for an evening
Intellectual enjoyment, and before ne re,
fired had the contents fully impressed
,ron his marvellous mind Dickens was
another of these remarkably rapid read
ers George Eliots adam Bede' came
70 him one day. Before his ordinary
bedtime he had read 1t. ana had pro-
nounced this remarkable dictum: mat
hook was written by woman. others
recuired DAVIS OF leisure to read II. and
the question Of authorship was the rid
die Of the time I'm literary circles.
Charles Sumner was another man who
possessed this happy faculty.
A hook. whether it was a volume OF
n work Of fiction, passed under his eyes
as n by quick succession Of gl1nces.
Ii was the rame with Daniel Webster,
who himself stated to a friend that when
in coHeg, he read Don QuiX0te' in
single night. In the case OF both these
distinguished men. what they read In
this way reappeared in new dress
in their speeches and in their writin IS.
OF course a retentive memory was ne
cessary to render the results Of this
rapid reading available, but 1t is plain
that In their capacity to read rapidly
they possessed an enormous advantage
over their fellow-men, and the question
arises, Is It possible to develop this fac
ulty and make II more gen rally useful
in the vast multiplication Of books? 1t
is impossible for the average reader TO
keen pace with the prodi ,tion merely
Of the best, to say nothing of turning
back ward to the wealth Of the past
Indeed. in the hurry Of modern life, 1t
is scarcely possible for the business man,
for the society woman, or the more
modest housewife. to keep pace with the
NEWSPAPERS end snatch an occasional
hour for the magazines. To all Of these
1t would be an inestimable boon II they
had the faculty of grasping sentences,
paragraphs. and, perhaps pages, at
little more than a glance. No one but
the most illiterate now pays attention to
the letters Of which a word is composed.
Is il not possible that by cultivation
the average reader might catch words
and sentences as letters are now caught
by the most Indifferent readers? \ vast
deal of energy is now devoted TO teach
ing pupils 70 read more or less effective
ly in public. There is careful attention
paid 10 articulation. TO moderation in
Election, emphasis-all tending toward
slowness rather than rapidity i'm reading.
What would be the result of changing
the aim. and consequently deliberately
modify the process in our public schools?
Is it not possible that with proper train
ing in the more advanced grades-per-
haps in the very lowest-Children might
be sent forth from the schools with
something of the capacity which gave
Macaulay, Dickens. Sumner, Webster
and Lamar their tremendous advantage
over others to grasp the meaning and the
thought OF an author without dwelling
upon the separate words which expressed
that thought? 1t is certainly something
worth thinking Of and discussing seri-
ously. The burden OF the best literature
alone is already something almost be-
yond the capacity Of the mind. Life is
short and cares are pressing. Is not
there something that can he done for
the men and women who are to come af-
ter us. even though we have missed
what a few rare minds possessed by ac-
cdent? The subject is at least worth
the consideration OF educators. and ii
has heretofore been almost wholly ig-
Chronicle.