The Newtown bee., 1898-01-28

mother, sister or wife will tell you al
WAYS has his face in book. He absorbs
everything within reach, and he will
reach long way sometimes. History,
Science, Poetry, Fiction, or Philosophy,
it matters not; all is grist that comes to
his mill. The careless thinker will doubt
less imagine that such vast amount OF
reading should bear fruit in an access of
valuable information; whereas the fact
is that through this kind of reading, the
readers head becomes somewhat like an
old fashioned New England garnet; sort
of lumber room for odds and ends Of more
or less useless knowledge. He has
smattering of great many things, and
but little that is available of any one
thing. The reason for this is very plain ::
He has no systematic arrangement of
matter in his mind, hence when he de,
sires any particular kind of knowledge he
cannot find it, because he has to sort it
out from a heterogeneous mass of infor-
nation, and if perchance he find it,cannot
use it after any Ineligible fashion.
Turning to Coleridge's second division;
few of US, fancy, are very familiar with
the sandglass, although some of US whose
heads are touched with the frost, can
readily recall the old-time glass filled at
one end with sand, which was allowed to
run down into the empty end of the glass
to mark the passing hours. Steadily it
ran until the sand had all run out when
the glass was reversed and the same pro
cess was repeated.
THUS WITH THE sAND-GLAss READER,
he devours books, but to kill time; and
what he reads leaves no mental impress
sion, hence he is no whit the wiser for
his reading and can imparr no wisdom to
others. Again, the strainbag readers are
those who desire to be thought extreme.
ly literary, but who know not how to
read to any good purpose. Some unim
portant phrase, or some catch-word of
the author strikes the ear and is caught
up and made much Of until the nearer
grows very weary at the endless itera-
ton. once knew young lady who had
been reading book in which the author
made the remark that the reign of Eliza
beth was the Golden Age OF English
Literature" not very important state
ment, without something more solid to
back it up; but this phrase had caught
the readers ear and stuck there, and for
a long time afGer she read it, If any one
mentioned the reign of Elizabeth Ia her
presence she was sure to venture the re-
mark that the reign of Queen Bess was
che Golden Age of English Literature, al
though she could not have told one thing
that made it such. Who that has read
Dombey g. Son does not remember Mrs
Blimber and laugh at the remembrance
of her one literary remark, which she
made use of whenever she could get q
nearer: ''If could have known Cicero,
and been his friend, and talked with him,
in his retirement at Tusculum beautiful
ICoULD HAVE DIED COMMENTED"
But enough of how not to read. The
Mogul diamonds are those who know how |
to read and who put the knowledge in
practice; and that is the purpose Of this |
discourse, to find and apply this same
knowledge.
In order to have right understanding
Of 'sHow TO Read" it will be necessary
TO take account of the kind of reading.
One would manifestly read the newspa-
per after a different manner than he
would find necessary in acquiring a
OF history or in reading pro-
found treatise on philosophy. This
thought brings to mind saying of Ba.
con, who if not the best Of men, was,
At least, wise in the Ematter we
are now considering. He says
''5ome books are to be tasted, others to
be swallowed, and some few to be
ohewed and rdigested. Reading maketh