Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-21


crowd
Into thy room. and here. upon thy
knees.
Before thy book :h.lves. humbly thank
thy God
That ;hou hast friends ike these.
Curtis Wager-Sinith, in th. Era.
In the i3ibelot for December is re-
printed Dickens tribute to Thackeray.
IT is well worth quotation at any time
Of the year. and especially at this sea-
son. Il saw him first" writes Dick
ems nearly t!venty-eight years age.
when he proposed to bccom" the illus
traitor of INV earliest book | saw
him last. shortly before Christmas. at
the Athenaeum club. when he tolC me
that lie had beer in bed three days
that. after these attacks. he WAS
troubled With cold shiverings. which
quite took the power of work ont %
nim'--and that he had il in his mind
to try a new remedy which he laugh
inely described He was very cheerful
and looked very bright. In the night
Of that day week he died. The long
interval between those two periods IS
marked in my remembrance of him by
many occasions when he was supreme
~ numerous, when he was irresistibly
cxtfavasant. When he was Softened
and serious. when he was charming
with children. But by none DO ! re-
call him more ;enderly than by two o.
three that start out of the crowd. when
h.. Unexpectedly presented himself i'll
my room, announcing how that some
passage in q certain book had made
him cry yesterday. and how that he
mad come to dinner. because he could
Mt help it., and must talk such pas
sage over. No one can over have seen
him more genial. natural. cordial. fresh.
ana honestly impulsive. than l have
seen him at those times. No one can
he surcr than 7. Of the greatness and
goodness Of tho heart that then dis
closed itself. on the bright Wirtrv
day. the last bnt one cf the old year. he
WIS laid in his grave at Kensal Green.
here to miugle tn. dust to which the
mortal part of him had returned. with
that nf a timd child. lost in her in
fancy years ago. The heads of a great
roncourso Of his fellow workers in the
arts We're bowed around his tomb"
IT. his life Of Robert Louis Stevenson
Graham Ealfour tells the following
rather remarkable story of DIR. Jekyll
and Mr.. Hyde" "A subject much in
his thoughts at this time was the du-
atty of mans nature and the alterna-
ton of good and evil; and he Was for n
ong while casting about FOR story to
,mbodv this central idea. Out of this
frame Of mind had come the sombre
imagination OF 'Markheim,' but that
was not what he required. The true
story still delayed. till suddenly one
night he had n dream: he awoke, and
found himself in possession OF two, or
'ather three of the scenes in The
Strange Case of DR.. Jekyll and Mr !
HYDE Its waking existence. however. !
Nas by no means without incident. He |
dreamed these scenes III considerable |
letail. including the circumstance OF
he Transforming powders. and so vivid |
vas the impression, that ne wrote the
story off at red heat, just az il had |
presented itself to him in his sleep"
In response 10 the question. What |
has been the influence Of books upon |
your life" Rev. Newell Dwight Hills |
said:
Books have meant much to me. AS |
4 child, | lived on them. My father |
believed in them and my three sisters
4. voted their lives to them 50 far as
TO enter college with their help. Until |
within three wears | have been 4 very |
hard. close reader, Here at Plymouth, |
in the midst of unceaSing action, | |
hay" little time for books.
Reading is n delicate task. Many |
people read formally and such perusal |
IS not reading at all. To see words. |
ma rshal them. dismiss them in an I'M |
needing breath, is worse than folly. !
rhcr. TOO. q good deal of reading is pr |
tCnctory. \ book ought to be Sra sped |
firmly. listened t. with open minded. |
courteous attention. laid down only 10 |
BE- pnnd"rcd over. and again to be |
brought into the former intimacy. OF |
,nurs.- ! nm speaking of u worthy !
book Among books there are street !
Ioa oafcrs-incorrigible idlers. You can |
not reform a bad book. Let it alone.
Books are good-but reading is dan |
,erous. Many people are ruined by |
books Reading resembles eating. or
building = fire. Much of our food is a |
NdSlt, ti'S IFS q iiiVttii0 - /
inertia. Many fires are kindled |
With green wood. or damp leaves. |
ind produce more smoke than |
.ame. Less food-and only nutritious |
food: less fuel-and only dry fuel. We |
should read with the utmost pains in |
selection and in assuming the right at
.itudc. We should rememher that the |
reading is void which is not turned into |
helpful action"
People will ask you: Have you read |
Have you read Dickens?
Have you read Macaulay? Have you |
read Tcnnyson? AS their thoughts |
turn toward Concord however. they |
speak in another tense: Do you read |
Emerson This is as it should |
be ac respects Emerson. l only wish |
". could confidently ask the like qucs- |
tiun respecting other authors.-Fr"m
Dca fness and Cheerfulness. by Rev a. |
W. Jackson.
y, Maurice MacterlinCk is about +,