Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1903-06-03
'DESULTORY READING BAD.

Ill
W digestcd and assimilated until
it becomes, like the iron atoms in our
blood, a part OF ourselves. is worth
more to reader than tho thought
less skimming over Of thousands OF
volumes.
Edward Everett Hale says that if
person will take up some subject and
study it thoroughly lie will have
better knowledge OF it in che month
than anyone else but specialist. So,
if you absorb and make a part OF
your lille few great books, instead OF
squandering your time and democrat
izing your mental faculties by ut.
tempting to swallow, without digest
ing, every volume that comes in
your way, you will be better read
man or woman than any but spe.
cialist in literature.
Probably not one reader in a hun
dred today could give an intelligent
synopsis Of book lie had just read.
The matter lies confused heap, on
underlined, nebulous mass in his
mind.
Whatever is taken into the mental
chamber, without any attempt at
classification or systematic arrange.
ment, merely induces mental dyspep-
STA. After while the mind becomes
60 clogged with unassimiliated ma
terial that it Ii unable to act with
quickness or certainty. 1t loses con-
iidence and elasticity. The very
power to think actively and definitely
j. destroyed by the habit Of superficial
reading.
Those who have gotten the most
out OF books have not only read and
reread them with eager, absorbing at
tention, but have also made copious
notes on tho margins, on the fly
leaves, between the lines, or else in
notebooks kept for the purpose.
OF course, it is troublesome, and
sometimes inconvenient, to stop
reading to make notes, but it is the
price famous writer's, orators and
scholars have paid for their accumu.
lated knowledge.
The Libraries OF many great men
show that their books were their
quarrie', their reservoirs of thought,
their material for future use, for they
are all full OF notes, and in some
cases blank leaves have been inserted
. for remarks, suggestions and criti-
cisms.
= No superficial reader ever became
an exact Or great scholar or an au.
thority Oh any subject. No matter
how many school and college diplo-
mas you may hold, if you have not
learned how to read thoroughly, you
are not educated, for it is thorough
ness in reading that gives breadt h
aud sulidity to education, as it i,
tho: oughness in work that gives
strength and stability to character.
Wilbur Register: Do we ever seri-
ously consider what a mysterious or.
gan is the human brain? IT'S the
hidden engineer that controls the
bodJ, and, at its own command gov.
erns itself. In it libraries are stored
away and remain hidden in a state OF
preservation. thai. at thoughts COM
Mand, fly to the vocal organs and are
shaped into audible words; its walls
'of memory are hung with thousands
OF pictures Of real life; portraits OF all
our friends hang in this hidden and
wondersul chamber and Can be seen
by the minds eye at will; meIodious
tunes are recorded there, l.blaries
originate there, inventions are put
together there; love, hate, will, gener.
'osity, selfishness, and all the passions,
violent or gentle, dwell within the
human skull. Surely the brain must
be the souls hiding place. How deli
cate and pei feet is the brainl What
~ wealth Of resources does it contain
What Il shower OF eloquence can it
rain! And yet, how viilainous can it
be, and how profane! Has God called
;tlis.soul home when human being
goes insane? ~ ,,Y
THERE'S IL tide Ia the affairs oil
men that, taken at its turn, leads
most an, where he don't want t. 20