The commonwealth., 1904-02-04
How to Read.
Southern Farm Magazine,


There are two faculties brought
prominently into exercise in the ac-
QUESTION of knowledge. One is the
faculty OF observation and receptivity,
and the other is the faculty Of reflect
ion. Both faculties should be co-ordi
nate, reciprocal and concordant, and
they should work together. Both are
necessary to the acquisition ct knowl-
edge, and both should be continually
exercised. A young man who reads
without rejection will never be able to
acquire serviceable knowledge Or knowl
edge that he can command at will.
Facts may be gathered by observation,
hut reflection is necessary to arrange
them scientifically In the mind for
future use.
The young man of the city sees a
bundled things that may interest him
for moment, but the memory OF
them quickly fades away like the
brightness of a summers twilight. He
| does not take time to reflect. The
young man of the country has fewer
subjects Of thought presented to his
mind, but these thoughts impress
themselves more yividly upon his I'M
derstanding, because his mind is not
crowded with an endless succession o!
events. With him there is time for re-
! Election. He turns a subject over and
| oyer in his mind until he masters it.
Reflection, indeed, is the basis OF
healthy mental development. Recep-
tIvity, unless balanced or followed by
reflection, Is like the drops Of water ur-
On the billows OF the ocean, that sink
into oblivion without leaving behind a
single durable Impression. The care
| less reading CT too many newspapers
and magazines and epheneral literature
has tendency to impair the memory.
| Ask any one who reads Or rather
| glances over dozen newspapers day
| 1t he end Of month 10 give a synoI-
Sig of The contents contained in them,
alG it viii be remarkable II be can
| name the headings OF a Gozen actic!es.
;his rernicious habit is mentioned to
war; young men not to attempt to
gea1 too many papers or too mary
books. It is INC food that we digest
that Eourishes Cur bodies. It is the
thoughts that we retain and rehsct up
on and digest that give strength and
res,lienca to the mind. Tt is far more
important to learn to think correctly
aud connectcdly than it is to read
many books. The old philosopher,
| Thomas Hobbies, used TO say that if he
should read as many books as his Con-
| tan poraries he would be as idiotic as
they were III tact, the reading ofmaoy
books in a short time may be compar-
ed to tie gluttony of q man With dis
eased stomach. In most admirable
essay on studies written by Lord Bacon
he gives some suggestions that anyone
should consider. He says:
''To spend too much time in studies
is sloth to use them too much for CT
lament is afactation to make judg
ment wholly by their rules is the hu-
NOR Of a scholar. Crafty men condemn
studies, simple men admire them and
wise men use them" He further says
Read not to contradict or confute, nor
to belieye and take for granted, nor to
talk and discourse, but to weigh and
study. Some books are to be tasted,
Others to be swallowed, and some few
to be chewed and digested. Reading
MAKES full man, conference a ready
man, and writing an exact man. There
f)re, il a man write little, he had need
haye great mornory if he confer lit
tie, he had need have a ready wit, and
if he read little, he had need have
much cunning to seem to know that
which he doth not. Histories make
men wise poems, witty mathematics,
subtle; natural philosophy, deep, NOR
al, grave logic and rhetoric, able to
| ooptendn -