The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-10
The Undergraduate's Reading.

| may become popular summer resort.
| -------------------
The Undergraduates Reading.
In a paper on The Present Peril to
| Liberal Education" read at the Edu-
cational Convention in Boston, DR.. An
DREW f. WEST of Princeton University
asked "if it is not fact that the majority
of college students of to-day are not
familiar with the commonplace of liter
ary information and the standard books
of history, poetry and so on? Do they
know the greatest book of our tongue,
the English Bible, as their fathers did?"
That ludicrous or pitiable ignorance Of
! English literature, of even the common
est Of illusions and quotations, prevails
among he undergraduates Of to-day has
been indicated often enough by published
selections from their examination papers.
Apparently most freshmen bring little
or no knowledge OF good English litera-
ture from their homes. What con-
fession Of the state of things it is says
Prof. WEST, that colleges have to make
the reading of few books Of English
literature set task as an entrance re-
tons on what ought to be the free and
eager reading Of every boy at home.
The spoiled children of the new century
are paying the penalty of prosperity, of
the multiplication of cheap books. Forty
or fifty years ago the home library was
small and choice. The phraseology of
the Bible was learned not only by con-
slant reading, but from the lips Of grand
mothers and grandfathers, fathers and
mothers, who had been brought up on it
and were using its language continu-
ally and unconsciously. 1t was quoted
in daily life and ordinary affairs. There
were old folks who dropped into
Scripture as frequently as the moderns
drop into slang. How many of us
can remember Sunday afternoons Of
boyhood when strange or sweet old
stories of JOSEPH and his brethren, Of
DAVID and GOLIATH, of JONAH and the
whale. of RUTH and BoAZ, of GIDEON and
SAMSON and ABSALoM were read to us! A
new, enchanting world was opened to the
| imagination; and from other hearings
and readings Of that inexhaustible book
came many a noble phrase, poetry
pathos, too high, indeed, for the youth
full hearer, but still echoing in his mem
DRY. The Bible and the Pilgrims Prog
ress are pretty good course in English
| literature.
The wiser youngsters Of to-day are
fairly swamped with books such as they
are; and, to do the new crop justice, much
Of it is we'll enough. But the literary
value and authority, the quickening Of
the memory and imagination, the storing
! Of tho mind for life with memorable
diction and illustration-out of the new
| fields cometh no such corn. We hardly
blame the present boys or the parents;
| other times, other reading When maya
zines and weeklies used to print novels
! Of THACKERAY and DICKENS, BULWER,
TRoLLoPE, CHARLES READE, WILKIE
CoLLINs--to mingle gods of different
orders-there was no excuse for not
reading good literature. The boys and
young men read fiction mostly still, but
do they read the fine old masters, FIELD
mo, THACKERAY SCOTT and COOPER "of
the wood and wave" y? Do they read
SHAKESPEARE? That is another library
which even boys used to enter.
1t seems to us that undergraduates, we
scorn to say how many years ago, used to
have more time for reading. The col
lego world was simpler and smaller. The
distractions, amusements and dissipa-
tions were comparatively few. good
many undergraduates had fair knowl-
edge of the works of the chief English
writer's. They went to the library good
deal and they passed many pleasant
hours in reading in their rooms. 1t is
easy and almost inevitable to have il
lusions about even recent past. 1t may
be only an impression but the earlier race
of undergraduates seems to have had a
little more poetry and imagination, to
be less prosaio, more easily touched to
fine issues, than the hearty, healthy,
pleasant and substantially illiterate
undergraduates of 1903.
Dean WEST describes admirably the
value and the delight of books to the
student fit to read them:
The quiet book by the quiet lamp Is a good
charmer. Here tho true SUDDEN. forms his friend
ships with the masters OF thought and fancy, here
they speak to him not under the constrRints Of the
classroom; here he may relax without weakness.
adventure without limit soar without fear and hope
without end. IT Is the old story, Books are. as
HUXLEY putt. hlS main helpers, and the free read
ing outside the set tasks is, perhaps next To music,
his mos. Cnnohl,ng pleasure. The loss of this Is
t.. day the tN'n5 that does SO much TO deprive our
college lfc and conversation OF the fine favor OF
that much misunderstood hing Culture"
College education" means anything
and nothing now Still, the illitcrate I'M
dergraduate and graduate are curious,
even If common, product Of it.
THE SUN Is using the canal question for excuse
TO cruelty the Governor. ~BUTllO Eprni11 Nens.