The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-08-31
BLEACHING THE BRAIN.
II cannot come now, am bleaching

II cannot come now, am Dieacning
my BRAIN"
What, Auut Katharine?"
"Bleaching my brain-the gray mat
ter you know. cannot come now"
The young girl laughed. She moved
about the room, gathering her aunt's
wraps as we'll as her own, and finally
asked: Whose prescription are you u.s.
ing, Fiske's or Anthony Hope'sf" She
remembered that 1.-THE Indiscretions of
the Duchess was in her own private
| corner, which her aunt had usurped;
but she felt rather proud to think that
| the"Critical Period of American History"
was there also, and she asked the ques-
ton cheerfully, expecting at least word
of commentator.
"Fiske's" came the prompt reply, "The
other would serve, but this is quicker.
| There are two ways of bleaching, you
know" she continued, as she smilingly
laid down the book and accepted the
bonnet and hat pin which her niece held
out to her. Zone is to employ the kind
of books which keep your head cool and
empty"
"And the other, the quicker way?"
ITO take the best books and misread
them. To turn the page, after your eye
has blankly followed each line upon it,
while your mind has been out the win
dow climbing the Berkshire Hills or
hurrying across Spain. 1t is the quicker
process, because it is more complex. 1t
destroys one power of attention, and at
the same time fosters the self-deception
that one is improving her mind"
There are great many persons who.
like Aunt Katharine's niece, use the
reading habit to bleach their brains It
is not merely that they read great deal
of worthless matter, but they read
great deal of valuable matter in a worth
less way, quite unconscious that the
higher the bank from which they slip
the deeper will they sink into the stream.
Such readers usually care much more
to be able to say they have read certain
book than to be able to tell its trend of
thought. Mr.. Mallock, however, says
that he does not call woman cultivated
whose one question at dinner is, "Have
you read so and so?" He calls woman
cultivated who responds as one passes
from subject to subject, who. by flash
in her eye, by flush in the cheek.
makes him feel that books are not mere
names, to her, but things. Such a read
or is able to recreate in her mind the
images produced by the author; to ad
mire each well-turned phrase and epi-
tibet; to place book in its proper rela-
ton to the real thought of the age; to
distinguish in it what belongs to the
past and what to the present; to seize
upon what is of practical import to her.
self; to aim at insight rather than infor-
nation. Reading without thought-and
thoughtful reading may be proved by
what one remembers and what one can
pass on to others-s simply worse than
no reading at all. 1t is a mere shift for
killing time, for keeping ones thoughts
in "a state of agreeable Utilization" for
avoiding the trouble of digestion and
reflection.
The reading habit when properly di.
rected, is a boon simply priceless; and
proper direction means careful selection
as we'll as thoughtful attention. When
there is so much inviting US what are we
to take, what will best nourish US in our
growth toward perfection? do you not
know" asks Ruskin, "that what you lose
today you cannot gain tomorrow? Will
you go and gossip with your housemaid,
or your stable boy. when you may talk
with kings and queens; or jostle with the
common crowd when all the while this
eternal court is open to you, with it's 30
ciety wide as the world, multitudiuous
as the days, the chosen and mighty of
every place and time? In that you may
always enter and take rank and fellow
ship according TO your own WISH" go
with mean people," says Emerson. land
you think life is mean; be sure to read
no mean books;" and Browning asks,
Shall sit beside
Their dry wells with white lip and filmed eye
While in the distance heaven is blue above.
Mountains where sleep the unsunned tarns?
Persons of the reading habit are liable
to another malady of the brain, no less
fell than the bleaching. 1t is congestion,
strangulation. intellectual gluttony, and
takes place. as Emerson says, whenever
our accumulation overruns our power
to use. During the reign of Louis Phil
ippe, one of the secret agents of the
French police rendered most important
service. Having read Cooper's Spy"
he aspired to the sort Of ambition which
distinguished the hero of that work, and
was DESTROYS of playing in France the
part which Cooper assigned to Harvey
Birch during the War Of Independence.
Harvey Birch. for he adopted this name
in all his reports. never belied his pro
fession of fidelity. He rendered services
which would have merited a fortune;
but when the term of them ended, he
contented himself with asking for
humble employment, barely enough to
supply his daily necessities.