Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-03-21
RAPID READERS.
Men Who Could Gather the Meaning OF
Page at Glance.

Page at n Glance,
The death of Justice Lamar recalls
trait or faculty which he possessed in a
remarkable degree, according to the
Augusta Chronicle 1t has been said OF
aim that he was able TO read newspa-
per article or page of book at what
seemed to the observer TO be but
glance Manifestly this faculty or ca
pacity gave him great advantage over
ordinary men. He was able to devour
books rs if he were literary glutton,
with the difference that his powerful
memory enabled him to digest at eis-
ure what he had absorbed in haste.
Macauley possessed the same faculty
perhaps in q yet higher degree. He
would take up a volume for an evenings
intellectual enjoyment, and before he
retired had the contents fully impressed
upon his marvellous mind. Dickens
was another Of those remarkably rapid
readers. George Eliot's adam Bede"
came TO him one day. Before his ordi-
nary bedtime 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 VINO
possessed this happy faculty.
A book, whether it was volume OF
| law or diplomatic correspondence, or
work OF fiction, passed under his eyes
as If by quick succession OF glsnceS.
1t was the same with Daniel Webster.
who himself stated to a friend that
while n'college he read don Quixote"
| in a single night. In the case OF both
OF these distinguished men, what they
read appeared in a new dress in their
speeches and In their writings. OF
course, retentiye memory was neces-
sary 10 render the result of this rapid
reading available, but IL is 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 fac
ulty and make it more generally useful
in the vast multiplication Of books?
1t is impossible for the average read
er 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 OF modern
| life it is scarcely possible for the bus
| mess man, for the society woman or the
more modest housewife TO keep pace
with the newspapers and snatch an &C.
casional hour for the magazines. To
all Of these it would be an measurable
boon If they had the faculty Of grasp
ng sentences, paragraphs, and perhaps
pages, at little more than glance.
| No one but the most illiterate now pay
attention to the letters Of which word
is composed.
Is not possible that by cultivation
the average reader may 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 effect
lively In public. There is careful atten-
tion paid to articulation, TO moderation,
infection, cmphaSis-aIl tending toward
slowness rather than rapidity in read
| ing. What would be the result OF
, changing the aim, and consequently de-
liberately modify the process 10 Our
public schools? Is it not possible
that with proper training in the
more advanced grades-perhaps In
| the very lOweSt-chlldren might De sent
forth from the schools with something
of tho capacity which gave Macaulay,
Dickens, Summer, 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 worth thinking OF and
discussing seriously. The burden Of
the best literature aloneis already some
thing almost beyond the capacity Of the
mind. Life is short and cases are press
| ing. Is not there something that can
be done for the men and women who
are 10 come after US, even though we
have miesed what few rare minds
possessed by accident? The subjest is
at least worth the consideration OF edU-
Gators. and it has heretofore been al
most wholly ignored.
A slight cold, if neglected, often attacks
the lungs. BRSwS's BRONCHIAL TroeHEs give
sure and inmea late relief. sod 0aiy In sozss.