The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-22
SiGilNL0l,GiG,GiGiGiGiIk
= HER POINT OF VIEW ::
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

light in literature of a high grade,
to know the best books and to be fa-
miliar through their writings with the
best authors, but that 1t is a melan-
choly fact that too many women and
girls get fairly " "dopy" with much
reading just as boys lose mental and
physical grasp by the cigarette habit
or the opium fiend by drugs.
By this is meant that not only the
readers of the Laura Jean Libbey type
of literature" but others of far su-
perior grade become untitled for ac-
tivity of mind and purpose because OF
the unreal environment created by
their books. That the devotee of Kip
ling, of the historical cult of the day
and the up-to-date fiction is equally
enervated by the absorption in books
and is thus unable to grapple with the
practical aspects of modern day exi-
gencies.
Now this may be true in some places
but not in Scranton; oh no! There
may be sequestered spots, far from the
madding crowd where one is allowed
to become "dopy" with the imagery
painted in words by some master hand,
but not in Scranton. There is some
thing in our air which is not con-
ducive to apathy and indifference TO
outer things. "The world is too much
with us" and the multitude of outside
demands are too imperative to occa-
sion much alarm as to our mental con-
dition as far as the drug habit of read
ing is concerned.
And yet what a joy it would be to
have the time to do just all the reading
NIi int che
corner with a comfortable chair and
delightful book and hear no telephone,
be conscious of no impending Interrupt
tions from servants, or callers or
friends or foes-to realize that days
and weeks of blissful entertainment
lay before one when favorite maga-
zines, the new books and reviews and
best of all the dear old books one loves,
could be gone over to the hearts con-
tent, would be one sort of a paradise
and not sort to be scorned.
Then the long winter evenings be-
fore an open fire, somewhere away off
beyond the horizon of haste--what
bliss 1t would be to read and study and
dream without dread of awakening
to the sudden memory of a meeting of
the Red Flannel society. or the Pre-
Vention of Deterioration in Yellow
Cats or the committee on the dance
for the benefit of Chinese mandarins,
ruined by the late war.
| When we come to consider the mat
| ter there is really little danger of the
| up-to-date person of cultivated tastes
| becoming "dopy" with reading in this
town. AS some people take their
| pleasures sadly so the average dweller
| in Scranton takes his reading as he
| does his meals and everything else, in
IA rush with seriousness of purpose
utterly incompatible with satisfaction
| in the digestion thereof.
| There are a great many men. who
read extensively, and goodness knows,
how they manage it, They don't go
| round with pockets bulgng with other
| literature than newspapers, but some
how they continue to keep up with the
| new books and the best, too. in the
market. I don't know how they do it
unless they steal time from sleep. To
be sure they read on the train but that
is far too brief an opportunity to ac-
quire all the information they possess
regarding recent literature.
| | heard of one man in town who
has scheme w hich may or may not
be commended as it seemed to be rath-
er hard on both parties. He insists
that his wife shall read all the new
books and their library table is really
strewn with the best to be obtained
Then she is required to drill him in
a brief synopsis of the stories, if :hev
are novels; in the main thought OF
the essays, if the book is of that de-
scriDtion; in the names of the best
poems in the new collection and in the
distinguishing points of the biograpll.
les. The same plan is pursued with
regard to history and contemporaneous
description of lands and peoples ac,
quiring a recent interest in Oul
thoughts. She has intellectual dys.
pepsa in the worst form and she is
growing to be as much interested II
the discrimination of what she devour'
as is an ostrich or a manuscript reader
in q magazine factory, but her husband
is a brilliant and intelligent talker OF
modern literature, and oddly enough
seems to assimilate better by this pro
cess of ABSORPTION that does his wife
He declares that it saves time for hin
and also saves his brain equipment a
he is not obliged to wade through
mass of material, to get at the small
kernel which will serve his purpose
He seems able to formulate origina
opinions on the subjects presented
while his wife can scarcely recall th
names of the authors or titles,
week after reading the books. Yol
who know him give him credit 60
prodigious learning and the broades
scope of reading 1t has never OC
CURED to you that his wife is particu
larly clever except in the preparation
of a certain kind of delicious dessert.
The majority of us cannot but fee
that we ought to apologize for beini
found idling with a book when ther
, are so many vital interests demanding
our attention. When we steal away 70
a whole afternoon and reVel in some
) thing which uplifts us mentally an
spiritually we usually endeavor to con
ceal such detection from our familie
and would scarcely confide to ou
friends the truth of the self indulgenc
when we ought to be out visiting then
l do believe there are more little dis
: crepanCies in statements made regard
| ing such surreptitious intellectua
pleasure than about almost anythin
else on the exchange of feminine cour
tesies. We do so shrink from the plai
s declaration, 81 preferred to stay a
home and read Elizabeth and Her Ger
man Garden" when asked why wer
not at such a place or did not max
q this or that expected call. So we ar
apt to recall that we had a headach