Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-03-09

wonderful 10th century and SO were
less favored than we are, but they
certainly had one advantage over US.
They were not expected to know all
things. Having fewer books, they
were more apt to know them thorough
ly and to have thought aboutthem and
to have let them enter into their lives.
Lowell says "Men dined with Plutarch
and supped with Plato and their
manners and conversation partook of
these. Have you ever noticed In
reading the biography Of successful
msn-both literary men and men of
practical affairs-the number OF
those whose Libraries consisted mainly
not solely, Of volume of
SHAKESPEARE, the Bible and The
Pilgrims Progress? To how many
thousands Of people these three books
have furnished really well-rounded,
thorough, yes and liberal education,
/ suppose we can never know. Libe-
raj and broad, indeed, when, In Shake
spere's plays they, are brought'into
companionship with wide world OF
people Of flesh and blood like them
selves and with the same hopes and
ambitions, the same disappointments
and successes, II under different
guises, the same motions and springs
of human action as In the world
about us today.
If we happen to be living on the
prairies and away from people-we
have In Shakespere as wide world as
we like and of whatever kind we like.
There are wise men and fools, clowns
and jolly men. ministers, lawyers and
doctors, kings and queens, and we
learn there, indeed, the truth that
those who wear the cap and bells are
often wiser and truer men than their
kings. And we see all these people
somewhat through the eyes of the
poet, who not only knew mankind
more thoroughly than it seems to us
possible that one man could know so
many men and women, but who loved
his fellow men and believed in them;
who enjoyed life and believed In en-
joying 1t; who often, we are forced to
believe, enjoyed juicy bit Of gossip
and saw the funny side of the folly Of
his neighbors, but he never for more
than a minute leaves US blinded to
the effects and significance In life Of
good and evil. We feel, indeed,
that he is the thousand souled
Shakespere" and that most Of these
souls are good. II our library had
to be limited to but one book,
not religious, think most men
to-day, as one hundred years ago,
would say "We will take Shakespere."
Bunyan depicted, In the Pilgrims
Progress, the experiences that 70 on
within the hearts OF most Christians
as they journey through life, as truly
as SHAKESPEARE represents to US the
world Of action and the forces that
comprise 1t. These two books alone
have moulded and given shape to the
character Of many men. IL then, men
have been educated by close commun-
ion with few master spirits, and by
letting these become living influences
in their lives, they still may be. So,
IL your library can hold but few books,
you may be more fortunate than your
apparently more favored brothers,
provided these are we'll used.
Many have longed and are longing
for college education--an attain
ment which for one reason or another,
to them seems impossible. But edu-
cation does not mean the acquiring
and accumulating OF knowledge, mere
ly. 1t means the training Of the
powers Of observation, judgment, ex-
preston, memory, and the creation Of
high ideals Of life. 1t means gaining
power to think, to do, and SO to meet
intelligently the problems OF life that
confront one, and this, we all know, 10
occasionally acquired quite as effect
ually out Of college as In. Many a man
has successfully passed his examina-
tion at Yale or Harvard with less ed
ucation in this same sense than some
Of our freshmen and sophomores, who
have already learned to use the
powers that God has given. And a
few who have never seen the inside OF
college are among the best educated,
perhaps because they have felt more
keenly the need for effort on their own
part. Literature is nearly always a
large factor in such education.
So many books have been prepared as
guides to study and contain sugges-
tive hints and points of interest that
home study Is now comparatively
easy, but not SO easy as to do away
with thought and the exercise of
judgment. 'It is idle to presume to
read a book saturated with deem