Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-06-08
THE WAY TO READ.

Many sages have told us the kind
of books it is expsdient for us to read.
Not only in general way have we
been admonished. but the prescrip-
ton has been given particular form.
and lists of books have been made
out for the guidance of the self-dis-
trustful seeker after knowledge.
From the day that Bacon wrote his
oft-quoted dictum-" some books are
to be tasted. others to be swallowed,
and some few to be chewed and di-
gested until the presentday, which
has Sir John Lubbock for its guide,
philosopher and friend" there has
been no lack of advisers as to the
best path to the region of knowledge.
But how to read book is a differ
ent matter, on this point, advised.
though sadly needed, are rare. In
school days when one was toiling la
borously through the intricacies of Livy
and Horace, and turned expectantly
to the ''notes" for eagerly desired
help, it was found, alas, that the
notes always explained the very
lines concerning which no explana-
ton was needed. So with literary
advisers.
What is meant by reading book?
Is it the mere going over the lines and
pages. Is it merely for the filling-iu
of an unoccupied hour? Is it for the
purpose of rescuing ourselves from
ennui3 Or, is it for the sake of COM
muning with master-minds9 OF inn
bibing their precious ife-blood? Is
it for the accumulation of knowledge;
and the acquisition of that subtle, in
Idetinable thing which we call style
! Is it for the sake of making ones self
nobler and larger by the drinking in
of great thoughts
| There are times in the lives even of
scholars, when the brain cries,
enough" when the whole mental
mechanism seems out of joint. when
no intellectual pabulum can be di-
gested. At such times there is a pos.
tive need for eight reading" for
something that can stop the busy
wheels of care, and compel even
thought to stand still. A certain
learned professor provided himself
with rs light novels and when he re-
tired for the night with his mind and
body exhausted by action, it was his
habit to take up the topmost one aud
read it through, by which time the
mental strain was sufficiently relaxed
to enable him to fall asleep AS no
thought had been put into the peru
sal OF the books, no impression was
made upon the memory, and begin
ming at the top and going through to
the bottom, the same IS books were
made to do duty for years.
Reading. however, in its true sense,
is work of culture. 1t compels med
itation and lifts the reader beyond
considerations of form and construc-
ton and language into the soul cham
beers OF the authors. 1t is not under
taken entirely for information, still
less for recreation, but for personal
enrichment. Such reading engenders
DISBURSEMENT of self, losing OF
ones identity in the spirit ofthe writer,
and absorption of his thought, even
"a saturation with it. There are dew
otees of Shakespeare, who feel that
they have lost a year if in it they do
not renew, from beginning to end,
their acquaintance with the great
master, and appropriate more fully
his great wealth. 1t is certain that
Shakespeare himself read in such a
way as to assimilate what he read.
Not only did he remember what he
read. but it became absolutely his
own-the treasury from which he
drew his amazing brilliants of
thought.
Bismarck testified his admiration
and appreciation of George Eliot S
wonderful power, and explained the
impress of that power upon him.
when he asserted that 10 times he
had read "Middlemarch, adam
Bede" and "Romola.
Many readers have found their
greatest profit in the pages of Sir
Walter Scott's marvellous tales which
have become theirs by frequent read
ings.
To know books as they should be
known we must live with them, must
have them for our constant compan-
ions, must get at their Utmost mean
ing, must make their thought our
thought, must have our vision en-
larged by them, our minds expanded,
hearts enobled. A few years ago a
visitor was shown into the study of
James Russell Lowell. CHANGING at
the rows of books that covered the great
scholars desk and were piled on the
floor around him, the visitor said:
"Still studying Dante 7"
"Yes,' was the answer; always
studying Dante. F"
A PERSONS moral character is large
ly determined by his associates in life
and in literature, and by the nature
of things upon which he communes.
Hawthorne has beautifully exempli-
fed this in his story of 1.-The Great
Stone Face" &c. man S intellectual
character is largely determined by
the books he reads; by the habitual
train Of his thoughts, which Inanifests
itself; by the tendency of the mind
when released from specific tasks.
A Notable Amusement COmbin-
alton.