The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-15
Thouaht Hunting.

10 the Editor OF the JOURNAL AND COURIER
In this age of literature 1t may well
be said "of the making of books there
is no end, and (oveD much study is
WEAKNESS to the flesh" The wisdom
of selection should precede delectation
from out the worlds literary provi-
sion, spread before the eyes so temp
tingly and in such variety. 1t has been
heard that Enough is as good as
feast" Is not Enough" a very feast,
and more than it an approach to satie-
ty?
The brain, with all its power, is liable
to ruin by inconsiderate treatment, or,
to weakening, from the lack of using
In an article published in the autumn
of 1889 the Rev. w. C. Gannett dealt
well with the subject of "Why should
Busy People be Interested in Litera-
tur?" He thus told not merely why,
but how, busy people should be IN
terested. The following are some Oh
his words: Good eyes, an average
mind, strong will, and odd minutes,
are enough to rank one in the class or
intellectual capitalists by the tlftleth
birthday. Not everything can be done
in odd minutes and margins. one can,
but hardly, learn q language IN odd
minutes. One can-but hardiler-
learn a science in odd minutes. one
can not go to Europe at all in odd MIN
utes. In few directions can one be-
come an expert or an authority IN odd
minutes. But one can read good lite
nature, and one can learn to love 1t,
and one can become delightfully."- ia
miliar with some of it's most joyous
hooks, some of it's far reaches, some of
its heights of widest vision,-in odd
minutes That is the graciousness OF
the good book; on the instant. with no
time lost in getting there, one may
turn from his occupation and be among
the immortals. This spring lies right
by the workman's path. You can put
one in your pocket,-th1s well OF Wa
tiers, this shade-tree for the tired mind,
this hilltop with it's sense of winds and
far horiZons!'
Mr. Gannett is a man who knows OF
what he affirms. He has drains from
the wells of refreshing deeply; full,
strong draughts, of the best kinds; in
MIGRATING himself for the purpose Of
self sustaining, yet no less for the pur-
pose of strengthening others, and en-
couraging them to selfsame ends. The
world is richer and better for such men
as he; and there are numbers, not
small, Of women, too, alive to-day With
energies as pure.
Good books are in the world, repre-
senting noblest men and women, both,
with exceedingly better likeness than
any portraiture from the hand Of an
other than themselves. Themselves
they give to the knowledge of man
kind,-not, indeed, in their familiar, or
domestic, guise; but, in the beauty OF
the spirit, which works itself out in
every phase of their being; hidden
and incorruptible," it can not be con-
cealed from any that are in any wise in
possession of the same spirit. IL, then,
good books are in the world, emanat1ng
from choice spirits, why should the in
ferior volume be INDUCED by any read
er of proper judgment, or, why should
precious hours be consumed over worse
than second-rate matter-scarcely TO
be dignified under the head of Htera-
ture? Nothing shows more decidedly
the inclinations of ones mind than the
sort of mental food one regularly feeds
upon, or the books one cares most to
readily obtain. The people that read
"everything coming to hand, can
scarcely be said to have real inclina-
ton. They are simply "devourers,
unable to judge with intellectual nice
ty, while perhaps the occasional good
ia pffept Of
the common class which somehow
plays itself into their grasp.
Of the good book, Mr.. Gannett says;
sit makes one wider awake for bust
ness hours. BY taking off the edge of
tire, it puts an element of play into the
very drudgery. 1t keeps the morning
feeling on,-and it is a great secret of
good work to make the morning feel
ing last well into the afternoon of a
day, and of ones days.
] think Mr.. Gannett struck happy
vein of thought when he wrote thus,
for who of us has not felt the tagging
of the morning feeling" in the turning
of the afternoon? And are there not
some. also. who have had occasional
foreboding of losing the feeling entire
Nv in the afternoon of life,-even in the
early afternoon OF their lives?
should like to cite much more of the
same substantial thought. However,
am sure that some among the present
readers have Independently enjoyed
the article to which l have referred.
acknowledge that it affords the title tc
my own humble, but not less earnest
paper, for I fully coincide with its ideas
of 1.-THE good book" And of thought il
says: Nothing so exhilarates as the
starting of thought in the mind,-un-
less it be the starting of a sacrifice, 9
heroism. Go on thought hunt''-"tt
get great, freshening fun" I would
put pleasure in the place of the wore
STUN eff we ride hard enough an(
long enough after our thought to make
the minds blood tingle, then joy be-
gins, and we come home men, even il
we have to leave the thought out there
in the woods for another hunt Now 6
good book sends one on thought-hunts
that is the test of a real book as dis
tinct from the make-believes."
Up to this point, my subject has no
been Immediately dealt with, I having
~ TEEEN Y e.