The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-07-05

It was Ruskin who asked witn sis- nificance what the British people cared about books. He said that compared with what they spent on horses. there was not much money put into libraries. He declared that if one man spent lavishly on his library, he was called a biblomaniac-to quote from him-"How much to you think the contents of the United Kingdom would fetch, as com | pared with the contents of the wine eel lar? What position would its expendi- ture on literature take as compared with its expenditure on luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind. as of food for the body; now a good book contains such food inexhaustibly; it is a provis ion for life. and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large tarbot for it." There must still be a lethargic state in Eng land in geenral educational interest-for Professor J. J. Thompson of Cambridge University, England, in a speech at Columbia University expressed an earn est regret, that 1t was impossible to arouse Englishmen to the fact of their institutional poverty. He was amazed he said at the magnificent benevolence which has been showered upon American institutions; but he made criticism of the condition of our gifts. He said that too much money is put into our buildings, and apparatus and too little into endowment which would allow our professors to be- come men of letters as we'll teachers. One of our exchanges tells of the lament of a professor in a New England col lege. who did not find time from exces- sive duty. to realize his dream of authorship and who said What shall it profit college or a university If 1t gain palatial externity and lose it's soul?" So too. remark may be made of the many beautiful library buildings which have been erected in this country but in which are found sad lack of the scholars essential need-the best litera- ture of the world. The aspiring mind that turns to the library for help in its original research, must wait flor the moving of the spirit" that shall cause another Carnegie to fulfill the desire of the student for the best books.
 Are Cheap Books a Blessingp
 Books. 1t has always. seemed to us. should be a sort of sacred symbol of life; and we have thought that the value of the service of even the classic-when brought, within the reach of all" by miserable printing and unenduring bind ing. was over-estimated. The few priz- ed volumes, of enduring outward form. as well as inward essence. many times reread, must mean more as stimulant of thought. and pattern o<rsction. than the many vulgarly written. 1and care lesslysread. But the ability to buy the cheap books. which are superfcially written and indifferently printed, is. we question not anything but blessing. ,-." Are We Reading too Muchp
 Perhaps the true estimate of what our reading has done for us. is as to how 1t has caused us to think. or if it has caused us to think at all As jour nalist of fine thinking quality said in our hearing recently. 'it is the think that counts" No one will deny that much of the current literature that we read. leaves us with the reading. Much of the information which we gain is very ephemeral. If only what we retain. strengthens our mentality. then we are practising r-indulgence-but if, while we have not the consciousness of knowl- edge gained 1t is instinct in some re- mote retention, of that wonderful organ, the brain Gas is often astonishingly made apparent to us by a sudden recurrence to us of something forgotten) then all reading is either beneficial or injurious. as the case may be. If anything affords a proof of the popular loss of reflection and serious thought. 1t is the demand of the masses of the people today. for that triviality and superf1ciality which marks much of our current literature. That there is much reading done there Is no question. but much of 1t Is of a char acter to reduce our capacity for intelli- gent thought.
 John Morley prescribes exactions for the reader which not many save students will see At to follow. He tells us that it is almost always worth while to read a thing twice over. to make sure that nothing has been missed or drop ped on the way, or wrongly conceived or interpreted and if the subject be serious. 1t is often well to let an interval elapse. Ideas. relations. statements of facts are not to be taken by storm. We have to steep them in the mind. in the hope of thus extracting their inmost essence and significance. If one lets an interval pass. and then returns, 1t is surprising how clear and ripe that has become which. when we left 1t. seemed crude. obscure, full of perplexity.
 Professor Caleb Coweb." that fine moral philosopher of the Christian En- deavor World gives us a picture of his lawn planned with "open spaces"-he brought the pears and the cherries and the world of lavish blossomers." and the mountain ashes and the spruce, and the cut-leaf birches. and the fringe trees and the hawthornes. all into harmoni- ous situation of their own. which brought about unity out of confusion, and gave a sense of largeness of scope. The re- sultant impulse is to take wide views. The Professor thus gives us illustrative advice as to courses of reading that really pay; condemning this chance novel and that haphazard essay and urges to some system of training of eye or hand or voice or person that will lnvigorate and enrich the entire being. Thus have been reached the white heights of master minds.
 Leaders of British and American
 Thought.
 Seldom has there been a time so fruit ful in the discussion of the work of ilIustrious men; and the publication of volumes critical of their life and work.