The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-02-08
Took It at q Glance.

The death of Justice Lamar recalls a
trait or faculty which he possessed in 8
remarkable degree. 1t has been said of
him that he was able to read a newspa-
per article or a page of book at what
seemed to the observer to be but 8 glance.
ManifestlY this faculty or capacity gave
him great advantage over ordinary men.
He was able to devour books as if he
were literary glutton, with the differ
ence 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 All evenings
intellectual enjoyment, and before he
retired he had the contents fully impress.
ed upon his marvellous mind. Dickens
was another of these remarkably rapid
readers. George Elliot's "Adam Bede"
came to him one day. Before his ordi-
nary bed time he had read it, and had
pronounced this remarkable dictum {:
''That book WAS written by woman"
Others required days of leisure to read it.,
and the question of authorship was the
riddle of the time in literary circles.
Charles Sumner 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 eye as
if by quick succession of glances. 1t
was the same with Daniel Webster, who
himself stated to friend that when in
college he read Don Quixote in single
night. In the case of both these distin.
guished men what they read in this way
reappeared in new dress in their speech.
es and in their writings. Of course a
retentive memory was necessary to rem
der the results of this rapid reading avail
able, but it is plain that in their capacity
toread rapidly they possessed an enormous
advantage over their fellow men, and the
question rises, is it possible to develop
this faculty and make it more generally
useful in the vast multiplication Of
books? 1t is impossible for the average
reader to keep pace with the production
merely of the be:t, to say nothing of
turning backward to the wealth of the
past. Indeed, in the hurry of modern
life it is scarcely possible for the business
man. for tie society woman, or the more
modest housewife 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 graspipg 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 word is composed.
1t is 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 teach
ing pupils to read more or less effectively
in public. There is careful attention
paid to articulation, to moderation, inhec
ton, emphasis-all tending toward slow
ness rather than rapidity in reading.
What would be the result of chaogiDg
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 cent forth from the schools with some
thing of the capacity which gave Macau.
lay, 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 serious.
ly. 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 u.s.
even though we have missed what few
rare minds possessed by accident? The
subject is at least worth the consideration
of educators, and it has heretofore been
almost wholly ignored.-Augusta Ghroni
Gle.