Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-07-09

there have from drinking liquor. Read
something that is invigorating, or do
not open a book.
"Desultory reading except as con-
scious pastime," said Lowell in his adj
mirable essays on Books and Libraries,
"hebetateS the brain and slackenS the
bow string of the will" A golden SEN
tence this, had the unusual word. hebe-
tates. been replaced by it's equivalent,
weakens. What does desultory mean
in the thought of our strong-brained,
$trong-willcd poet, professor. critic and
patriot, himself one Of the most widely
read men of his century? There an
.mars to be common misunders, AMI
ing; it is not desultory reading when
one reads short bits on many subjects
Some desuitory readers plod con-
scientiously through each article of
every magazine that they take up and
read each word of every book that
they begin. The important and unim-
portant, the familiar and the unfamil-
lar. the good, bad and Indifferent re-
ceive the same stupidity thorough read
ing.
Constant reading is pernicious hab-
1t with them; without it they are as
depleted as the constant tippler with
cut his dram. Ask them what they
have read, even if it be but the day
after, and they can give no coherent
account and a month after they can
barely remember the subject; yet they
have a reputation for being literary
and take pride in their thoroughness
and assiduity
There are others whose reading is
not desultory. and yet who find little
time amid crowded days for more than
a fifteen minutes glance at the daily
paper and a half hour at the days close
for book or magazine, perhaps a diff
terent one each day.
The difference between the two is
that one reads diligently whatever
comes in her way, but without discrim-
ination and without a purpose; the
theirs skim with a purpose. Desrl-
tory reading is reading at haphazard,
without a purpose and with no power
to select and grasp the essential
thoughts, writes Lucia Ames Mead in
the June Pilgrim.
When Philip Verrll Mighels was gather
ing material for his novel, "Bruvver
inns BABY he ran across an old miner
ter of If-Only JIM The old man sat
alone in his cabin, where the hand of wo-
man had never been Known ana dirt n
turned upon cooking.
''Yaas, drawled the old man. 81 got
me one O them there cook books wunst,
but | never could do nOthin' with it,
'.Whaf the trpIIhla3' asked Mr.
Mighels, persuasively.
why. every one o them blamed re
cepts starts off with take a clean dish -
Maurice Francis Egan. who has struck
new literary vein in his Sexton Magin-
mis- stories in The Century, has long been
his verse. which includes some of the
best sonnets written on this side the At
lantic, such as There Were No Flowers
Till the First Child Died" ''Theocritus,"
and others, beside lyrics such as Like a
Lilac in the SPRING DR.. Egan is one OF
the poets who has been almost submerged
in the academic life, for he is compelled
to neglect his own muse by his labors as
professor Of English poetry at the Catho-
lie University at Washington. The en-
thusiasm which he has aroused among
his pupils for the study of poetry is COM
pared to the influence of Professor Wood
berry. at Columbia. DR.. Egan has also
contributed occasionally to prominent
periodicals. including an essay on 1.-The
Passion for Distinction in the North
American Review. and a noteworthy pa
per on Hamlet. since included in vol
llme, Studies in Literature" which has
had the distinction of two German edi-
lions. His long and devoted services to
Roman Catholic journalism ana educa-
ton have won for him the friendship and
confidence of such prelates as Cardinal
Gibbons and Archbishops Ireland and
Spaulding. and has made him an author
ity on clerical subjects. The humor of
the Maginnis stories is all the more sail
ent for its back ground of genuine knOWl-
edge of the church in America DR..
Egan's leading character. Maginnis is an
irresponsible but good-hearted and re-
sourceful LTIshman who is declared to be
the biggest liar in North America" but
whose tefgiverSations are always in aid
of thosefwho need his help. Maginnis is
married and has three children. including
the twins, Finn and Finola His mother
in,law1 whom he refers to as Herself"
addst another note of variety to the &C.
clesiElstcal setting. The stories have
separate interest; and The Reign of SEN
timen," which is to appear in the August
Century. like its predecessors. has been
Illustrated by Keller; and for once at
fst writer and artist are satisfied with
each others work.