The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-04-17
AAR.p READERS.


1fen Who fpuIsi Gather the Meaning Of Z
Fass ~ > Book at = Chance.
It has been aaid of the late Justicc Iamar
that he was able to read newspaper arti-
Gle or page OF book at what seemed to
the observer TO, be but glance. Manifest
ly this faculty or capacity gave him great
advantage over ordinary men. He was
able to devour books as II he were liter
ary Rlutton, with the difference that his
powerful memory enabled him to digest ct
leisure what be had absorbed In haste.
Macauley possessed the SANG faculty,
perhaps, in q yet higher degree. He would
take up d 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 Bede" came to him
one day. Before his ordinary bedtime he1
had read it and had pronounced this re-
markable dictum; THAT book was written
by woman.n Others required days of
leisure to read It, and the question Of au-
thorship was the riddle OF the time In Liter
airy circles Charles Summer was another
man who possessed this happy faculty.
A book, whether 1t was volume Of lnwI
or Of diplomatic correspondence, or o work
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 distinguished men
what they read in this way reappeared in a
new dress in their speeches and In their
writings. OF course q retentive memory
was necessary to render the results of this
rapid reading available, but it is plain that
In their capacity to read rapidly they pos
sessed an enormous advantage over their
fellow men. and the question arises, is 1t
possible to develop this faculty and make
it more generally useful In the vast multi.
plication of booksf
II is impossible for tho average reader to
keep pace with the production merely of
the best, to say nothing of turning back
ward to the wealth of the past. Indeed, inl
the hurry of modern life it is scarcely pos.
sible for the business man, for the society
woman or the more modest housewife tol
keep pace with the newspapers and snatch
an occasional hour for the magazines, Tol
all of these it would be IN inestimable boom
If they had the faculty Of grasping SEN
fences, paragraphs and perhaps pages at al
little more than glance No one but thel
most illiterate now pays attention to the
letters Of which q word is composed.
Is it not possible that by cultivation thei
average reader might catch words and sem
fences as letters are now caught by the most
Indifferent readersf A vast deal of energy
is now devoted to teaching pupils to read
more or less effectively In public. There Isl
careful attention paid to articulation, to
moderation, infection, emphasis-all tend
ing toward slowness rather than rapfdity|
in reading. What would be the result OF
changing the aim and consequently delib
erately modify the process in our public
schools2 Is it not possible that with proper
training 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, Dick
ems, 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 Ger
tainly something worth thinking of and
discussing seriously.
The burden of the best literature alone is
already something almost beyond the en-
pacity 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
aecident2 The subject is at least worth the
consideration of educators, and it has here
tofore been almost wholly ignored.-Au.
gusta Chronicle.