Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-09-20

with their eyes open. They would look
him full in the face. as he would Try
to teach them something, and not hear
or understand one word that ne Faid.
Tho seeing eye and hearing ear are spe-
cial gifts. Reading words and syiiaoies
is one thing: understanding. appreciauns'
and Judging. laying to heart ana living
and acting accordingly are quite anotner.
A high authority describes the desira-
bio reading that we may read. mark.
learn, and inwardly digest" and so en-
brace. and hold fast blessed inspirations
and comforts.
1t 10 common thing to hear the ex-
preston: oh, have read all on both
sides, and l am just as bewildered as
ever An old farmer told US once that
a friend OF his recommended to him as
a cure for hog cholera TO lift the animal
up on his hind-parts and pour melted
lard down his throat until he was full
He tried IT.; filed the poor creature with
his kinsman's fat. and down he dropped.
dead. There is a kind of reading that
is nothing but stuffing and filing. and
that only makes. as Lord Bacon says, a
full man, stupid, bewildered, numb; the
intellectual stomach crammed; all the
powers torpid And yet the larger por-
ton Of our race "go Il blind" and re-
gard books and reading as the cure for
their ignorance, and the infallible re-
storers OF their health. vigor, and tudg-
ment, and the opener of their eyes. They
might almost as wen eat tallow-candles
and drink kerosene-oil as a cure for blind
ness.
Books do not teach their own use. 1t
Is a profound utterance OF the greatest
modern philosophers: Man as the min
lister and Interpreter OF nature, does and
understands as much as his observations
on the order OF nature, either with regard
to things or the mind. permit him,
and neither understands nor is capable
OF understanding more" The course of
knowledge is from the seen to the un-
seen. We observe and apprehend with
our senses. and then work up with our
minds what We have gathered. What
can we gain in reading about things that
we know nothing about and have had
no experience of Under such circum-
stances, all is abstraction and bewilder-
nent. Our observations and experiences,
through our perceptions. our senses. and
stand; gives US stomach to digest In our
own business we are intelligent; in other
peoples we are pretty much ignorant.
A good maxim Is: Trust each man In his
own art. And all the world knows that
we must serve our apprenticeship to be
good at anything.
In the acquisition Of any knowledge
assimilation Is absolutely necessary. III
we don't assimilate our food We are not
nourished. II we don't assimilate our
knowledge II goes into one ear and out
OF the other. Our knowledge and our
food must find within us its like-some-
thing to associate with or. like an UNI
welcome guest. 1t will not stay and be-
come part OF us. The wise man says
of wise precepts: It is a pleasant thing
II thou keep them within thee; they shall
wiihal be fitted in thy lips; be our ma
tural fruits. Small profit grows where
is no pleasure taken.
Myriad mindedness comes Of large
heartedness: and the expansion OF the
heart prepares for the expansion Of the
mind. Both together make great souls.