Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-05-23
MY BOOK AND j.
An Interesting Lecture by Prof. Greene Of
West Chester, Pa.

An Interesting Lecture by Prof. Greene of
az West Chester, Pa.
Prof. Greene of the West Chester
State Normal School lectured before
the Primary Teachers Association In
the assembly hall of No. 2S School,
Eighth and Adams streets, Monday
afternoon. Following are notes from
his lecture, which was entitled my
Book and In
II know no better way to bring out
the powers and possibilities of children
than through tho hest literature.
Children, believe, have heaven about
them 10 their infancy, but later the
other place often has influence over
them. The best recipe is this, BE not
overcome with evil but overcome evil
with good, To drive out the bad in!
troduce the good When / talk Of my
book | mean some book 10 my mind |;
some book whose contents are mine pe-
cause have read them. Ruskin, Car
lyle, and many great lights have
treated the subject of books.
"Thtre are two phases OF my subject
the nature of the book and my attitude
toward it. Books are constantly null
tiplying, There are 80 miles OF book
shelves in the British Museum. Among
all the books in the world what books
will be ours? We cannot read all the
books TINT are coming out constantly.
We must dare to bB ignurant OF some.
We must select the few that will suit
US. 1t is far better TO know few
masterpieces in all their phases than to
skim great humber of volumes, The
study of literature is to get the heart
Of the thought OF the author and make
that thought our own. Carlyle made a
happy classification OF booBs when he
said that all books could be put in two
Glasses, sheep and goats. Thoreau said,
Read not tho times but the eternities.
Read books that will help the heart,
the brain and the soul. What shall be
the nature OF my book? First, it must
be matured into fame. The three di-
visions of books WHICH i sometimes use
for students are perennias, ANNALS and
mushrooms and there is fourth GLASS,
the toadstools, which possess the
poisonous element People say they
must read recent books to keep up with
the times, but it is necessary to get
caught up first with the books that
have stood the test of time. Children
often show wonderful appreciation of
the best in literature. The type OF book
that We need is the kind that lift NJ
instead of pulling down. Second, the
book must be wholesome. Charles
Lamb was wonderfully truthful when
he said: You can't eat garlic secretly
and not smell of il, and he once ad,
vised that We say grace over book be
fore we read it. Keep the boys a nd
girls in the presence of literature tina,
will show them the beauty of the world.
My third adjective for books is cheer.
full. Lowell once said: There has
never been great book yet but hal
been the delight of mankind. We need
the sort of book that is full OF optim
ism, that will make US feel as LITTLE
Pipra says in Browning's 'Pippi
Passes, Gods In heaven, all's we'll.
'Some books are the loutgrowth Of
distorted minds. There's deal OF sor
row In real life and we don't want tot
much Of 1t in writing. James Whitcomt
Riley is a poet sometimes, but gener
ally only yersitier, yet would rather
have his cheerful optimism and bright
ntss than the misanthrcpy Of that poe
OF passion and fire, Lord Byron. ID,
fourth adjective for books is varied
We must have history, philosophy
science, fiction and, more than all
poetry, which is the crown of literature
AS to our attitude toward hooks we
must be FIRST receptive, second, desir
Gus. We must have in our hearts tina
line Of Milton's What is in me dark
illumine, and third, determined, Il
understand and appreciate the harmon,
and beauty of the language. Student
often have queer notions of passages il
| literature A boy who was asked " ha
The shades Of night were falling fast
meant, answered that he 'didn t know
what the blamed thing meant unles
they were pulling down the shade
rapidly.
Our attitude toward book ough
to be like Jacobs toward the angel, =
will not let thee go, except thou bles
me. We want to enter into the yer.
inner part OF the hook and thee itt
beauty will be ours.