Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-08-10
Up. sc. E. COLUMN.
Convention notes next week.

gate to Washington will be ready
with his reports soon for those socie-
ties who wish him.
The topic for Sunday evening the
10Th was an unusually interesting and
helpful one. We give below extracts
from Amos r. Wells "Talk on the
Topic" in the Golden Rule which was
so good all should read it.
Profitable reading is planned read
ing. I advise you to read by a sys-
tenn; but make your own system.
Follow no mans course" any more
than you would let him order your
dinners for year. Begin with what
interests you, and read out from that
in all directions; no better scheme of
reading than this was ever devised.
And when you have once chosen
your line of reading it con-
cern-Spaip, or June bugs, or the
North Pole, or Shakespeare, stick to
it. Don't set it aside for your periods
of long leisure, while at odd moments
you pick up the first book or maya
zine that comes to hand. Great read
ers are made by odd minutes, into
which they have not put odd reading.
Then I advise you, and very earn
estly, to read nothing but great books.
Give ''great'' wide Interpretation,
and let it include sAlice in Wonder
land" and "Innocents Abroad" if you
wish, for each is great in it's line; but
conflne your reading to the books
that stand at the head of their col
umns. At least wouldn't it be shame
not to read these first, and make sure
of them, especially as you will be
certain to be dead long before you are
through even with these?
Don't be afraid of solid reading.
That is the only kind that gives solid
satisfaction.
What you read digest; build it in
to your memory. What would you
think of a man who had great piles of
brick and stone carted on to his land,
only to be carted off again? Yet often
that is what our reading amounts to.
Get mason's trowel, and build some
thing out of what you read.
And, moreover, what you read,
practice; build it into your life. You
can best remember thing after you
have done it. If in some way you can
manage to utilize what you read,-
utilize it either in your own life or in
the lives around you,-you will find
that you have made it your permanent
possession.
And SO the best way to read is to
read for purpose, and the best pur-
pose for a reader is the one most
closely allied with actual life.
Don't touch newspaper, unless
you know how to read one. If you
have moral stamina enough to skip
the gossip, political, or otherwise,
and pass over with a glance at the
headlines, the robberies, murders, di-
vorce suits, suicides, and prize fights,
and read the real news, the events
and discussions that are of genuine
moment to you as a citizen of the ma
ton and of the world, then you may
safely and proftably read the news
paper, and not till then.
Be chary of the magazines, especial
ly of that class which consists of
little cheap literature zigzagging
around pictures of half dressed wo-
men. In each magazine read only the
best articles. Don't count your money
wasted if you don't read the whole
from cover to cover; count your time
wasted if you do.
AS to novels, don't for your life
your spiritual life-touch one of that
abominable brood lately SO numerous,
those psychological novels that
pretends to depict life fearlessly, be-
cause they show all it's nastiness and
its gloom. Unless you are sure be-
fore you begin it that your novel will
leave you both better and happier
don't begin it.
The reading that will repay you
best, to the Bible, is history and BIZ
ography, especially missionary BIZ
graphy. History, rightly read, adds
to your experience all the great
events of the past; biography rightly
read, adds to the circle of your friends
all the worlds great men and women.
What magnificent gain is that!