The San Francisco call., 1897-05-30
ON DESULTORY READING.


man of great in tellectual vigor declared
not long ago that he had foresworn newspaper
and novel reading and taken up the stiffest sort
of metaphysics because he found he was losing
the habit of prolonged attention Too much
newspaper and novel reading had begun to
show their evil effects. It is serious ques-
ton whether the ability to hold the mind to
one line of thought has not been diminished
by the inconsequence OF frivolity of too much
of the matter which appears in the average
newspaper.
AS rule, men who do serious intellectual
work give very limited time TO the newspa-
per, and read novels-apart, OF course, from
the masterpieces-as recreation. Bright
ness, cleverness and quickness are very enter
tanning when one is dealing in discursive
fashion with a variety of unrelated subjects;
but when 1t comes to real graphing with any
question or subject, one ounce OF concentra-
ton is worth pound of versatility.
This Is one reason why SO few people rela-
lively read the great books. With such un-
calculated resources within reach 1t seems
strange that the half dozen OF books of the
first class should remain closed TO an in
Vulnerable company who have only to put
out their hands to possess them. The expla-
nation lies in the fact that these great books
make certain demands on their readers and
that the great majority of those who read are
not willing to put forth any energy. They do
not expect to cooperate with q writer; they
expect to be diverted or carried along by him.
Nothing which goes below the surface of the
mind awakens any response in them. be-
cause they have never developed the power of
attention; or, If they have possessed 1t, they
have lost 1t by too much desultory and discur-
sIve reading. Such readers have lost the fac
ulty OF following q line of thought. "One may
be devourer of books" writes John Morley,
~ \
dred lines of the wfsest and most beautiful.
To the besotted gambler on the turf
the lonely hillside glowing with heather
grows to be as dreary as prison; and so, too,
a man may listen nightly to burlesques till
'Fideio' inf1icts on him intolerable fatigue"
The newspaper disperses attention, so TO
speak, over wide field by presenting great
number OF subjects on the same plane of In.
terest; the average novel relieves the mind of
any necessity of cooperation with the writer;
1t ASKS the reader to be entirely passive; to sit
on cushioned seat at the stern while another
rows the boat. No wise man will leave
his newspaper unread; and no man who
cares for Literature who needs diversion
will put the novel out of mis- library. The
trouble with the newspaper is that
we give it too much time, and the trouble
with the novel is that it is generally without
literary quality, and that we read 1t too often.
| read too frequently; they demand something
of the reader they do Eot pauperize him in
tellectually by giving without exacting q re-
turn. Readers who have accustomed them
selves 10 habitual reading of inferior stories
find "Henry Esmond" dull, and '"The Cloister
and the Hearth" prolix. To such readers
"Wilhelm Meister" and "On the Heights" are
stretches OF arid sand. They care for nothing
which they cannot possess by merely glancfng
at the page.
Now, this dissipation of the power of the
mind to do its proper work is due unquestion-
ably, in many cases, to the habit of newspaper
and novel reading. When a reading public
has lowered its taste and its Intellectual vi
tality to such point that it asks only to be
amused and resents any endeavor to awaken
thought it has lost the power OF aDpreciating
real literature and shut itself off from the
higher educational influences The reading
habit is often spoken o in this country as II it
were good thing in itself: as q matter of fact
it is often ready means OF ment al demoraH
cation. The people who read nothing but the
trivialities and vulgarities which fill the col
umns of too many American newspapers, or
who stupefy themselves with q succession of
trashy novels, would better not read at all.
The illiterate man of good powers of natural
observation is far more intelligent person
than the man who reads the padding and
stufing of the average newspaper which falls
into his hands.
1t is at this point that cheap journalism and
fiction come into direct collision with litera-
ture; they cannot touch its quality, but they
can and do diminish the general capacity to
understand and enjoy it. They develop such
slovenly mental habits and they SO relax the
muscles of the mind that men tai activity OF
every kind seems hardship and becomes, in
too many cases, impossible. Audiences which
have grown accustomed to cheap humor or
ciating or enjoying really noble speaking.
certain audience, in a remote quarter, accus-
| toned to the old-fashioned famboysnt ora
tory, once expressed decided disapproval Of
Wendell Phillips manner and matter. From
their standpoint he did not know how to
speak,
Dante and Shakespeare are incredibly dull
to those who have lost the power of concen-
trating all the faculties and bringing them to
bear on q subject. In order to understand
and enjoy the great writer one must be will
ing to think with him aud II one Is unwilling
| to think the great book remains sealed
book. II would be well for all who read in
| these days OF countless publications of all
| kinds, and of countless appeals ~ interest and
| attention, to keep at hand some book which
| requires close thinking; some discussion
| which must be followed step by step with ab-
solute abb bsorptior of the mind Most of us
need the bracing effects of such q mental
/ gymnastic. The time is mich m ore favorable
to breadth of lntereSt and inform alton than to
depth and power Of intsiie;::saal hfe.-Current
Literature.