The National tribune., 1896-03-19
OBJECTS
EDrToR,s CHAT.
Mental Culture and How il is Developed IN
the Individual
FRIENDS AND BOOKS.


FRIENDS AND BOOKS
Elsie Brayton writes that she hopes the
Editors Chats have not been discontinued %
none have enjoyed them more than she'
Others have written in a similar vein, but
have failed to embody hint or suggestion, Ih
their letters OF any subject or SUBJECTS they
would like touched upon.
Because OF this seeming absence OF interest
the Editor ceased chatting as test, that she
might know whether her audience was asleep
or only whispering IL seems very certain now
that there are plenty In the ranks who are not
only wide awake but good listeners.
And now that Elsie, in her comments upon
Mary Anderson's aid from the poet Long 'eiloW,
has presented a most vital topic for conversa-
tion the Editor would emphasize il by way OF
few helpful Lints.
Now, it is absolutely impossible for any
American yonth, boy or girl, TO get his lnsplra-
tion from as high source as Mary Anderson
received hers. There is but one Longtellow,
and he is dead.
But there never was time when the means
OF self-culture were SO many aud so near at
hand. Improved scbool-eooks. low-prieed
newspapers aud periodicals, the instructive
and diversified matter furnished through Tue
plate syHdicstes and the cheap editions Of
standard authors make il possible FOR everyone
with a spark OF aspiration to become we'll
informed, cultivated man or woman, no matter
where he may live or what may be bis ENVIRON
ments.
The first consideration is taste. and parents
should be as careful to keep frivolous and I'M
moral books from their children as they are 10
protect them against unwholesone or poisoned
food. Given q simple, heRltbfGl taste the
reader can 60 Oh his way rejoicing, eniIIns q
little here and a little there, digesting and
sssimilating Is he goes.
10 fret atnd fbinu 20 remember IS
that no mind is big enough to liarbor good ana
evil thoughts at the same time; one VIII az
variably chase out the other. The thonghts
of man are always in perpetual motion, just as
yon have seen the swarms of Summer insects
Whirling and dancing in the sunbeams.
They are now here and now there; now on
the bool, before you and in fash they are on
TO the nethcrmost parts Of the earth. How
important, then, that we ehoald guard their
approach and put limitation upon their
sources.
five 60 into the marshes we must expect 10
be assaulted by mosquitoes, and If we 20 down
into the jGnglcs TO be attacked by wild beasts.
There is nameless vermin swarming in the foul
places of earth. and if we find our associations
there we cannot expect TO escape unbitten.
So it is with our mental companionships; ;
cur friends and our books mnst he beyond re-
preach. or we suffer in thought, word and deed.
And as there is no such thing as q stand-stll.
either ln miB1 or matter, we are constantly
deteriorating if we are not building up.
Culture is exacting True art will not teler-
ate poor pictures; true literature cannot CON-
promise with the false. The code Of Sinai is
not more in1cxible in morals than the law of
culture is in ethics.
Happily the book Of nature is always before
US, and its pure pages open 10 al who would
read. There is tho daily pageant Of the morn
ing sunrise and the evening sunset; the ma
jes,ic professions Of the clouds; the mighty
Examinations of perpetual stars the miracles
Of the trees and the marves of the flowers.
Happily. too, though the works of Shakspere
and Tennyson, OF Ruskin and Longfoilow, am
the poets, all are not within our reach, We have
within our reach the grandest poems Of them
all-the matches poem of . The Man OF Uz
the psalms that came TO the Shepherd kiBg
when he watched the flecks of his father. Jesse,
on Judca's ancient plains; the visions Of Isaiah
and Daniel and the beloved Of the Lord in ex-
lie on the isle Of Patmos.
These were the sources Of the thunder rings Of
Carlyle Of the splendid rhetoric Of Daniel
Webster, Of the abiding faith Of Abraham Lin
coin in the erderings OF eternal justice
Above all rules and rhetoric, above all book :
that were ever penned. stands the Bible the
man folly. Even the atheist and the infdel
marvel at It's variety and the classic energy of
Us expression.
IFS lights aud its shadows are the history Of
humanity; its inspiration is the sublimation
Of the thought OF seers and sages who had their
reward in gimpses Of the eternal God.