The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-10-09
A Plea for More Good Reading.



farmers, their equally hard work
ing wives and their children, who
make up such large percentage
of our rural communities, good
literature, which would give them
so much pleasure and lasting ben
eft should be so greatly overlook
ed.
Now, that winter is close at
hand, with it's long evenings, try,
If possible, to start in with a few
good books by well known authors
even if you can afford but two or
three; and, then, try to add to
them gradually as your means
will admit and it will not be long,
Gf you read them and have the
right kind of books,) until you
will begin to take great pride in
your growing library.
If you think it too feminine to
indulge in taste for fiction, you
might try history or biography.
There is plenty to choose from,
and can assure you it is far bet
ter than simply gossiping or get
ting through the evenings as best
you can.
A gentleman once told me he
had been in the habit of present
ing the different members of his
family with books on birthdays,
Christmas, etc., and in that way
quite fair sized library, all of
standard works and in good bind
ing, was being accumulated, and
in a way, too, in which they did
not feel the cost so much as if
they had all been bought at one
time. The father is an up to date
business man, scholarly and cul-
tured, and has taught his chill
dren to appreciate the inestima-
BILE benefits to be derived from a
close cquaintance with the say
ings and teachings of our great
men-both past and present.
Who among US would not be
proud to number among our per-
sonal friends our great men land
women, too) ?-those men and wo-
men who have put in an enduring
form the rich treasures of their
minds for the benefit of rich and
poor alike. Yet they are neglect
ed, and we trudge on thinking we
are getting all we can out of life.
Deluded mortals
A friend from another state,
who was strict church mem ber,
and who boasted that she never
read a story in a paper or maga-
zine, and never touched a work of
fiction of any kind, once showed
me book which she had bought
Of an agent by subscription, which
by the way, is very poor way to
buy books, saying it was the best
book she had ever read, and one
she thought every one ought to
read. l looked at the book, and
found it was a sensational account
of the life and murders of a noted
highwayman who had taken the
lives of several people, and finally
ended his bloody career on the
scaffold. l laid it down, and re-
piled that | had no taste for
"blood and thunder" stories, and
did not think such stuff fit for
any one to read.
My friends, standard of mo-
rality was all right, suppose,
but her standard of literary ex-
cellence was certainty not high,
and her intellectual field poorly
cultivated. Better leave your
ground barren, than SOW it with
thistles.
Another thing-don 'tbuy cheap
books, in paper binding. There
is no necessity for spending mon
ey unnecessarily on gilt edges
and fancy bindings; but you will
find it pays to get books with good
paper and print and PLAIN sub
stantial cloth binding which will
stand plenty of usage-for books
are essentially for use and not
show-to be read and re-read un-
til they become friends to you.
A book which will not bear more
than one reading, is not worth the
space it occupies on your book