Morris tribune., 1898-03-23
A TASTE FOR READING.
Benefits Derived From q Fondness Fol
Good literature.

Benefits Derived From q Fondness For
Good literature.
Ask any hostess of your acquaint-
ance what type of guest she has
found the hardest to entertain dur.
ing protracted visit and she will
answer, THE woman who never
reads" says writer in the Phila-
delphia Inquirer.
Probably you know her yourself.
She slips into your guestroom some
day, with the promising assurance:
Now, don t want to be made COM
pany of. Just let me be one of the
family and look out for myself. "
You are busy woman, and you
congratulate yourself that your hos
pitality is to be extended to one of
your sex who is capable of making
her stay something besides a nerv-
GUS strain on the part of yourself as
hostess and your household in gen
! eral
You have fitted up that guestroom
of yours with especial reference to
| the hoped for bookish tastes of its
occupants There is a goodly assort-
ment of current literature scattered
about. Being reader yourself, you
can imagine nothing more delight
some than an opportunity for coy
oompanionship with the latest mag
azine or novel
You delicately allude to your
thoughtfulness in providing the, to
you, literary feasts, and suggest to
your guest that she take her pick
of all that the family library con-
tains and then-welI, then comes the
establishment
Never while that woman is in
your house do you catch her with
book or paper in her hand. Days
when you run short of amusements
for her she wanders aimlessly about
from room to room, is plainly de-
apondent over bad weather and sets
all your hospita BILE instincts. on edge
by the i'll concealed fact that she is
bored
"Oh. you sigh, IF she would
only read Just to see her IS min
utes of the day with her eyes fasten-
ed interestedly upon some bit Of
printed matter!'
A taste for reading may be as sure
ly cultivated as any other. taste, and
a healthy appetite for good litera
ture is as necessary for mental nour-
ishment rs good food is for physical
well being.
TO get right at the root OF the
matter, the reading habit needs to
be cultivated in the nursery AS
soon as children are able to pick out
the words in their primers they
should be taught to consider that |
more enjoyment is to be found be-
tween the covers of q book than |
among all the toys and gimcracks
that clutter up the playroom. No |
need 10 make bookworms of them, |
but q tactful mother may impIant |
the reading idea into the juvenile |
mind and so carefully purtUre it |
that in after years it will bear intel |
lectual fruits Of incalculable benefit. |
Laziness is usually the foundation |
for the childish request, "Please
read to me, provided the youthful
petitioner is able 10 read to himself. |
The same obliging grandmother or
gracious aunt who is always ready |
to do the youngsters bidding in this
direction is also responsible for the
fad Of spinning nursery yarns to lis
teners who are old enough and |
schooled enough to Gull their own
tales from books.
When there is no personal appli- +
cation on the child's part, how can
there be any mental stimulus? No
wonder we find SO many insipid,
vacillating minds among grown ups
when we remember how little
thought concentration is exacted
from the average child.
There would be fewer restless men
and certainly fewer disconnected
women if the reading habit were
made feature Of nursery training.
Fortunate is the man or woman
who has discovered in books that
world which will widen the most
contracted sphere and glorify the
most Commonplace existence.