The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-12-23

velop good taste for such authors as
the great masters who can lay hold of
our minds and lift us up into new
realms of thought.
AS between college training with
out we'll established reading habit,
or well developed reading habit with
out college training the latter is
/ preferable. To establish taste for
reading, begin anywhere you like;
at the birth Of the English language
with Chaucer if you will; or later with
the polished and elegant Joseph Addi-
son; or with rollicking Dick Steele or
the funny Tom Hood; the doubled and
twisted sarcasms of Thomas Carlyle;
the thrilling fictions of George Elliot
and George Sand: the sublime poetry
of Milton, Homer and Dante; the more
varied rhymes of Burns and Byron; of
Pope and Goethe and Schiller: or with
that master of all William
Shakespeare.
But here | am writing as if there
was no American literature. One of
the best works, if not the very best in
the prison library. to cultivate the
right kind Of reading habit is ''Half
Hours with best American Authors"
| by Charles Morris. This work con-
tains a great variety of subjects, we'll
treated by various authors, with brief
biographical information, and the
reader will doubtless be led to read the
complete works of some of the authors
from whom these selections are made.
But, hold. there; you have right in
your cell already some of the finest
composition ever set up by movable
types. Entirely apart from religion,
the book of Job in the Bible stands
easily at the front of all sublime COM
position; while some of the Psalms are
among the choicest poems ever written.
When Benjamin Franklin was the
United States representative at Paris,
as the guest of a company of highly
cultivated people one evening he re-
quested the privilege of reading them
story from choice book of litera-
ture; and read them the book of Ruth.
In their enthusias til. admiration, some
of the guests requested shim to tell
them in what book the charming story
could be had, and were much surprised,
not to say sold, when he informed
them that he had read from Bible
To read is not only the best way for
us to pass the weary hours here; but is
the best way to fit ourselves for the
future. One of the essentials in form
ing reading habit is to be able to
read so that you understand fully
what you are reading. No one will do
much reading until he ttisi able to lay
hold with vigorous mental grip of
what he reads. For this purpose, select
some good subject in which you are
already interested andl which is ham
died by an able author..and read until
you have mastered it-until you can
take the bones out of it and count
them-boil them up, crack them; ex-
tract the marrow and eat it.
Among the best works of travel in
the library are Washington Irving's
sketch Book and Nathaniel Haw-
thornes American and English "Note-
Books
Books of special interest to prison
ers are "Moondyne" by John Boyle
O'Reilly; and paul Clifford" by Bull
wer Lytton. Containing Incidental
reference to prison experience are
"Felix Holt and "Adam gBede" by
George Eliot. "The Mystery of Metrop-
olisville' by Edward Eggleston, is a
Minnesota book, and follows one of it's
characters through the St. Paul Jail
and the Saltwater prison. J. G. H.