Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-04-18
RAPID READERS.
Men Who Could Gather the Meaning Of .
Page of "a Book at a Glance.

non VINO Oouiu bAtuef inc nhcahhhb VI
Page of "a Book at Glance.
1t has been said of the late Justice Lamar
that he was able to read a newspaper arti
Gle OF page of a book at what seemed tc
the observer to be but a glance. Manifest
ly this faculty or capacity gave him great
advantage over ordinary men. He was
able to devour books as If he were liter
airy glutton, with the difference that his
powerful memory enabled him to digest at
leisure what he had absorbed in haste.
Macauley possessed the same faculty,
perhaps, in yet higher degree. He would
take up a volume for an evenings intel
lectual enjoyment, and before he retired
| had the contents fully impressed upon
| his marvellous mind. Dickens was an
other of these remarkably rapid readers,
| George Eliot's Adam Bedc" came to him
one day. Before his ordinary bedtime he
had read it and had PRONOUNCED this re-
markable dictum: That boo6'NVas written
by a woman" Others required days Of
leisure to read il, and the question of au-
thorship wa, the riddle Of the time in liter
airy circles Charles Sumner was another
man who poS-, ssed this happy faculty.
A book. whether il was a volume Of law
or of diplomatic correspondence, or a work
of fiction, passed under his eyes as if by a
quick succession Of glances 1t was the
same with Daniel Webster, who himself
stated to friend that when in college he
read don QuiNote" in single night. In
the case of both these distinguished men
what they read in this way reappeared in a
new dress in their speeches and in their
writings. OF course q rUtentive memory
was necessary 10 render the results Of this
rapid reading available, but it il plain that
In their capacity to read rapidly they pos
sessed an enormous advantage over their
fellow men, and the question arises, is it
possible to develop this facility and make
II more generally useful in the vast multi
plication Of books,
IL is impossible for the average reader to
keep pace with the production merely Of
the best, 10 say nothing of turning back
ward to the wealth of the past. Indeed, in
the hurry of modern life it Is scarcely pos
sible for the business man, for the society
woman or the mort modest housewife to
keep pace with the newspapers and snatch
an occasional hour for the magazines. To
all OF these il would be an inestimable boon
If they had thc ,acuity Of grssping SEN
fences, paIagra PHI, and perhaps pages at a
little more than glance. No one but the
most illiterate nov pays attention to the
letters Of which q wOrd is composed.
Is il not possible that by cultivation the
average reader might catch words and SEN
fences as letters ERE now caught by the most
Indifferent readers, \ 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
moderation, infection, emphasis-all tend
ing toward slovnes- rather than rapidity
in reading What would be the result Of
changing the aim and consequently delib-
erately modify the process in our public
schools? Is itnot possible that with proper
training in the more advanced grades-per-
haps in the very lowtst-children might be
sent forth from the schools with something
of the capacity which Esve Macaulay, Dick
ems, Sumner. Webster and Lamar their
tremendous advantage over others to grasp
the meaning AID the thought of an author
without dwelling upon the separate words
which expressed that thought? IL is GER
tainly something worth thinking of and
discussing seriously
The burden Of The best literature alone is
already something almost beyond the ca
pacity OF the mind Lie is short, and cares
are pressing J. not taecc something that
can be done ior the men and women who
are to come after us, even though we have
missed what q few rare minds possessed by
ACCIDENT The subject a. at least worth the
consideration OF educators, and IL has here
tofore been almost wholly ignored
gusta Chronicle