The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-03-28
!. A TASTE FOR READING.

IOunu tne u&rutst 10 eutoIidlu uur-
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 nerv-
ous 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 goodly assort-
ment of current literature scattered
about. Being reader yourself, you
can imagine nothing more delight
some than an opportunity for cozy
companionship 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-well, then comes the
disillusionment.
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-
spondent over bad weather and sets
all your hospitable instincts on edge
by the i'll concealed fact that she is
bored.
"Oh," you sigh, If she would
only readl Just to see her Is min
utes of the day with her eyes fasten-
ed interestedly upon some bit of
printed matterl'
A taste for reading may be as sure
" cultivated as any other taste, and
healthy appetite for good litera-
ture is as necessary for mental nour-
ishment as 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 a book than
among all the toys and gimcracks
that clutter up the playroom. No
need to make bookworms of them,
but tactful mother may implant
the reading idea into the juvenile
mind and go carefully nurture 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 to 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 stimulusi 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 discontented
women if the reading habit were
made a 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.