The Indianapolis journal., 1904-01-24


the preparation of matter for the
press, but it is not so congenial as letter
writing. In formal composition 1 find my
self somewhat in the prediCament men
toned by Bill Nye as occurring in his boy
hood days Nye was a fairly good speller
and generally stood near the head of his
class, but his brain occasionally needed a
stimulus, and he was dependent upon ex-
ternal influences for inspiration. There was
a knothole in the floor Of the school room,
and when Nye was assailed with an unusu-
ally hard word he would arouse his slug
gish memeory by thrusting his king digit
into this opening. Nye had rival who had
not acquired the knothoe habit. and one
and bereft Nye of his mennonite by plugging
up the hole. The next day Nye encountered
his Waterloo. A large word bore down upon
him, and he maneuvered for the knothole.
railing TO find it, his memory collapsed,
and the rival went to the head of the class
and remained there
Letter writing admits the pronouns I and
you, and | have fallen into the habit Of
using them in all kinds of composition.
When l try 10 do without them / am in
nearly the same condition as Nye was with
out his knothole. Touchstone found much
virtue in an If and find much virtue in
an II" II is almost as necessary to me as
the says rs and Says he's" OF the un-
n.
You ask me for a suggestion as to the
reading Of books. Nothing would give me
more pleasure, as books are my passion.
and talking about them my weakness Bill
Nye wished that he had as many dollars
as he had simplicity, and / wish that L had
as many dollars as l have love of books
First. Do not begin with resolution to
cultivate a love for good books. Such a
love is congenital and cannot be acquired
Most of those you know who have such q
ready familiarity with the great authors
and poets slept with books under their pill
lows as children. Cultivating any taste
which is not natural to YOU is something
no more agreeable than having an explor-
ing instrument thrust into your body 1t is
an insult TO the system. l have made eN-
periments of this kind myself
About the time / began to study my
countenanee for symptoms of manhood the
epidemic of cereal foods broke out The
market was flooded with oatmeal, rolled
oats, cracked oats, and oats in all stages
of disinteSration. People began TO eat for
the health, and gave up eating for pleasure
| fell a victim 10 the frenzy. and daily tor
tured my insides with cereals in a frag-
mentary state. The theory was that we
would presently come 10 have a liking for
such things. In spite of this persistent
and systematically vicious eating, however.
l never succeeded in adding oats TO my reg
ular menu. have had similar fail
ures. was ten years trying to get hungry
for celery.
L have. therefore. but little patience with
the notion that one can make himself over.
and if you find in a reasonable time that
study Is burden 10 you, give IL uD. You
will have plenty of employment for your
will without taking on anything In the
nature Of superorOgatiOn.
There is no objection TO light and even
trashy fiction, If you can keen within mod
Grafton a little trash helps the mental di-
gestion, but one should never become lit
erary cormorant or worse. a literary os-
trich. In this day Of cheap reading and free
libraries thousands Of people are constant Is
gormandizing on Acknowledging On
garbage.
Ii you wish to read imaginative literature
that will both entertain and profit you. read
Scott. First, however get a short history
of England. such as Dickenss or Green's.
and read IL with some care. You viii then
be fairly equipped for an understanding OF
the WaveTly novels Let me say that they
are truly historical. The mere stories OF
the WaVerlies are delightful and as fasCin-
ating as any popular romance OF the pres
ent. Buy the volume you wish 10 read. and
If the edition is good you will find a CLOS
sary in the back containing all the trouble
some Scottish words ana phrases. You
might read the novels in the order in which
they were published. omitting the last two
or three which were written after Scott
powers had failed.
Before saying any thing more about read
ing. l wish 10 call your attention 10 a few
words on education by "one OF the most
analytical minds of the last century:
And you have really these two things 70
decide for yourself In England before you
can take one practical step in the natter
namely, nrSt, Wnat good education Is.
and, secondly, who is likely TO give IL e
you.
What is it2 Everybody knows that
suppose you would most OF you answer
"Of course-to be taught to read and write
and cast accounts. AMI TO learn geography
and geology. and astronomy. and chemistry
and German, and French. and Italian. and
Latin. and Greek. and the aboriginal Aryau
I language.
We'll. when you have learned all thai
What would you do next? Next? Why
then should be perfectly happy and
make as much money as ever we liked
and We would turn out our toes before