The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-12-01


tainment so. cheap as reading and me-
pleasure so lasting The perusal OF bi 4
ography is a great comfort. | wish that.
every family had Cyclopedia of Unver-
SAD owledge-something they could
turn to for reference or instruction or
entertainment. Cyclopedias cost much
money, but the amount spent in a year
or two for all sorts of modern literature
would pay for Appleton's or some other
standard work. I was Illuminating ABOUT
this because my friend Murphy told me
that the woodcock did not raise her young
in a nest, but carried them about under
her wings and fed them as she journeyed
from place TO place. Murphy is consid-
cred authority on hunting and fishing.
but we do not give full credit to fisher
mems yarns, and so turned to the cy-
clopedia and found it just as he said. The
bird rarely has more than two young ones
and carries them about with her nestled
under her wings. This reminds me that
old Tom Price, an illiterate man Of great
observation, said that the big owl laid
but one egg and when it was Matched and
egg and made the young bird cover it
and hatch it while she was fOraglng
around for food for both. Observation
and experience are good school teachers
and If a man has a good cyclopedia for
reference he can get a pretty good edu-
cation. And there is the comfort OF
studying the lives of great or notable men
and women. In idle moments it is re-
creation to open volume at random
and to read these brief but lucid biogra-
phies of Socrates, Plato Gallileo, Seneca,
Archimedes and other grand old men OF
the olden time, and of Mozart. Handel,
Raphael, Beethoven and the great mas
ters of art and music. The other. day l
CHANGED upon Cervantes--a Spaniard-the
author of Don Quixote,' and it was
revelation. If he had been an Englishman
he would have taken rank with Shakes
peare and Milton and Pope. Indeed most
OF the English writer's borrowed from him
for they could translate his bright sayings
and quote them in English without fear
of detection. don Quixote'' pronounced
kee-ho-te) is not his best work, but is
the most enjoyable and it effectually par
alyzed the pompous chivalry and knight
errantry of the time. The knights soon
became the butt of universal ridicule and
yet there is not malicious or malignant
line in the book. One who enjoys such
sarcasm can read and laugh until he has
the side ache. Philip III saw a student
reading a book and convulsed with laugh
ter. He said: THAT young man is crazy
or he is reading Don QuiXOte.' I" Cervan-
ties became a soldier in early life and
joined the Christian army against the
Turks. He was desperately wounded at
the great battle of Lepant0 and lost the
use of his left arm for Hse.t4S1srIle/ soon
joined the army a.sain and was taken
prisoner by the Moors and kept in prison
for five ye2Ss. He was ransomed and
then beg N his literary career. Dante and
Ts~AuSf1ad then begun to illuminate the
literary world and Shakespeare was close
behind but Ceramics was seventeen
years older than Shakespeare and they
died on the same day in the same year.
For maxims and epigrams Cervantes
never had an equal. They have become
household words in all the world-we find
SOME of them in Shakespeare, but they
were borrowed from Cervantes. Make
hay while the sun Shines "A bird in
hand is worth two in the bush,' MUIR
mended' ''More knave than fool Faint
heart ne'er won fair lady," Look be-
fore you leap 1.-THE proof of the pudding
is the eating of it, Never build castles
in the air. Honesty is the best policy
The pot should not call the kettle
black" "a peck Of troubles" Don't
count your chickens before they are
hatched.' Don't look for birds in last
-. MI:
mans face, '.You have got the wrong
sow by the ear" and scores of others
all came from Cervantes. TO cap the eli
max of his character. he was a good man
good TO his wife and children aud
always cheerful and had no enemies. Once
he was put in prison for little debt and
wrote himself out by selling sketches
TO the press. President Gilman says that
the young people read too much and clog
their minds with mass of trifies and
trash, but reading the biography of great
thinkers. writer's. inventors and masters
of art and music is storing away useful
knowledge. The examples set by the
good helps to mold our own characters,
for. as Longfellow said:
Lives of great men all remind us,
We may make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time"
What a debt of gratitude we owe to
those who have gone before us. Old Dr.
Johnson said to Boswell:
1--WE can never pay it, sir-not 1.-THE
of it, but it is every mans duty to do
something for posterity. He should write
good book or invent some useful thing
or raise up a son who will be good citi-
zen and fight the battles of his country
If he can't do anything else, sir, he
can plant a tree or vine that will give
fruit or shade to those who come after
him. Let no man live a blank and die
like dog!"
believe that our education begins here
in infancy and continues through youth
and manhood till We die and goes on
without recess or vacation as soon as
the spirit reaches heaven-if it goes there
This life is but a probation a kindergar-
ten, type of the life to come. 81 want
to be an angel; harp within my hand,
is a very childish idea Of heaven and sc
Is that other cOuplet.
Teach me some melodius sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above"
Music will be taught there, of course
but will not be sung by tongues on fire