The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-02-22
RAPID READERS.
Men Who Could Gather the Meaning of q
Page at Glance.

Page at Glance.
From the Augusta Chronicle.]
The death of Justice Lamar recalls
trait or faculty which he possessed in
remarkable degree. 1t has been said
of him that he was able to read news
paper article or page of a book at
what seemed to the observer to be but
a glance. Manifestly this faculty or
capacity gave him great advantage
over ordinary men. He was able to
| devour books as if he were a literary
glutton, with the difference that his
powerful memory enabled him to digest
at leisure what he had absorbed in
haste.
Macaulay possessed the same faculty
perhaps in yet higher degree. He
would take up volume for an even
ing's intellectual enjoyment, and be-
fore he retired had the contents fully
impressed upon his marvellous mind.
Dickens was another Of these remark
ably rapid readers. George Elliott's
adam Bede" came to him one day.
Before his ordinary bedtime he had
read it, and had pronounced this re-
narkable dictum: "That book was
written 10y woman" Others required
days Of leisure to read it, and the ques-
ton of authorship was the riddle of the
time in literary circles. Charles Sum
ner was another man who possessed
this happy faculty.
A book, whether it was volume Of
Law or of diplomatic correspondence or
work of fiction, passed under his eyes
as if by quick succession of glance
1t was the same with Daniel Webster,
who himself stated to friend that
when in college he read "DoD Quixote"
in single night. In the case ofboth
these distinguished men what they
read in this way reappeared in new
dress in their speeches and in their.
writings. Of course a retentive memo
ry was necessary to render the results
of this rapid reading available but it 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 faculty and make it more
generally useful in the vast multiplica-
tion of books? 1t is impossible for the
average reader to keep pace with the
production merely Of the best, to say
nothing of turning backward to the
wealth of the past. Indeed, in the
hurry ofmodern life it is scarcely possi-
BILE for the business man, for the socie-
ty woman, or the more modest house
wife to keep pace With the newspapers
and snatch an occasional hour for the
magazines. To all of these it would be
an inestimable boon if they had the
faculty of grasping sentences, para
graphs, and, perhaps pages, at little
more than glance. No one but the
most illiterate now pays attention to
the letters of which word is COM
posed.
Is it not possible that by cultivation
the average reader might catch words
and sentences as letters are now caught
by the most Indifferent readers? A
vast deal of energy is now devoted to
teaching pupils to read more or less
effectively in public. There is careful
attention paid to articulation, to mod
Grafton, infection, emphasis-all tend
ing toward slowness rather than ra-
pidity in reading. What would be the
result of changing the aim, and conse.
quently deliberately modify the pro-
cess in our public schools ? Is it not
possible that with proper training in
the more advanced grades-perhaps in
the very lowest-children might be
sent forth from the schools with some
thing 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? It Is
certainly something worth thinking
! of and discussing seriously. The burden
of the best literature alone is already
something almost beyond the capacity
of the mind. Life is short and cares
are pressing. Is not there something
that can be done for the men and
women who are to come after US, even
though we have missed what few
rare minds possessed by accident?
The subject is at least worth the consid-
GRAFTON of educators, and it has hereto
| fore been almost wholly ignored.