Brookings weekly register. (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1898-1903, 1899-03-09
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK ;,


s. D., Feqruary 18th, 1897
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.
But il is not alone current litera-
ture and recent thought that is
worthy of consideration, Much of
this is necessarily ephemeral In inter-
est and value. In our mad rush to
keep up with the times, to keep pace
with recent rapid progress, along
practical and material lines, we for
get that in the line Of literature the
last is by no means the best. This
may be hobby of mine, this putting
my faith in and swearing allegiance
TO old books rather than new, but ]
am not alone in it, and there is more
truth than poetry in the song we
sing in praise of "old friends, old
books, old Shoes" The siftings of
the ages has left us treasure trove
from the men whose souls have gone
into their books, whose thoughts have
stood the test of time and are as help
full interpretations of life and as In
spring as when first written, because
they touch the springs Of universal
truth and beauty, SHAKESPEARE, Mil
ton, Tennyson, Browning, Irving,
Hawthorne, Lowell, Whittier, Long.
fellow, have as new and inspiring
messages for us as though their names
had not been household words fol
three or a dozen generations. Per.
tanning to choice Of reading, Lowell
gives some apt suggestions. But to
those who would study literature
there are two cautions that cannot be
too strongly emphasized: l. Don't
undertake too much, and, 2. Don't
skim. Simplicity Of plan and thor.
oughness of method do indeed here az
in all work, need to be reiterated
The more limited the field, the more
thorough the work In hand. A weak.
ening tendency in all life Of today Is
that we try to do too much. The
definition Of education which, says
that one must ''know something OF
everything and everything Of some
thing" is an ideal one, but it puts
heavy burden upon US. The college
curriculum, which requires all stud.
ents to pursue the same studies for
the first two or three years, and then
permit free choice in elective work
during the last years, recognizes these
two essentials of a sound education,
and 60 on the hypothesis that 1t is
best that student should have a
basis i'm a general education-the
knowing something about everything
before he can know just what par.
ticular kind of superstructure he
wants to build or just what he would
best choose as his speciality. So in
theory 1t would seem necessary for
one to know something of the general
field of literature-what are the
great works and what is best-before
choosing some one author or some
one line of work for careful study,
and this is the plan upon which most
teachers Of literature up to about
twenty years ago proceeded. Students
were required to learn names OF
authors, dates of masterpieces, and II
was assumed that this having been
done, the student would at once pro.
ceed to drink from whatever spring
looked enticing. But study too fire.
quently ended here; nothing was
really read and enjoyed and soon even
names and dates were forgotten. But
theory is often upset by experience
and when a man reads Dickens as
our lecturer this week and thousands
Of others read him, and has come
close to his heart and to the hearts
of his people, he never forgets either
the author or the characters that live
in his books. They have become an
influence in his life. Thoroughly to
read and to know one great author
best payes the way to know others
We are ioclined TO feel rather sorry