Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-12-22

your stomach that makes you strong
man: 1t is tho amount Of food you d.
gcst We should think a man very
silly who said: II want to make my
self n physical giant. | ain therefore
going to cat enough food for ten men.
At breakfast will have the cook
bring to me three pounds Of beefsteak
and dozen eggs and half bushel OF
mashed potatoes, and I will sit there
and try 10 eat them oil. When dinner
comes around will try to eat whole
leg Of mutton. ana when supper comes
n great big roast of beef" What
would happen? His digestive organs
would revolt. His body would be rack
cd with pain. Perhaps peritonitis
would set in. and death would be the
result OF his folly.
Literary Commands.
Now. as some Commands abuse their
stomachs with too much eating. so
some gorinands for mental food abuse
their brains with too much reading.
They stuff their minds with whole
piles Of indigcstiblc literary food. They
read and they read and they read.
They keep on reading and never think
or care about what they are reading
They read until at last their brains alb
solutely refuse TO do any independent
thinking. Their brains become like n
great sponge filed with water. sotlden
and heavy and inactive, OF no earthly
use to anybody or anything. What you
ought to do is not 10 see how many
books you can skim through. but how
many books you can master.
Look out" says the old adage. for
the nnn who is master OF one book -
Look out. say /. for the master Of a
few great books. Too much reading
truly becomes "a WEAKNESS TO the flesh.
Mr.. Spurgeon In one of his sermons
quotes the inveCtivv which Lucian in
Disraehs "Curiositics of Literature
makes against those mon whose pride
is in large library which they never
properly read and therefore cannot
profit by. such man is like Il pilot
who has never learned the art of navi-
cation or Il cripple who wears embroid-
cred slippers and cannot stand upright
in them. Why do you buy SO many
books? You have no hair. and you pur-
chase Il comb. You are blind, and you
must need buy fine mirror. You are
deaf, and YOU will hav" the best music
nj Instruments But the foolshncss Of
buying u library Of hooks for the shelf
50 that you can look upon their hand
some bindings IS not to he compared in
its evil effect Ia the sin against the
brain by too much prolniscuous read
ing. | prOteS' against the "crammiEg'
processes We have in our public schools.
| protest against the ''Cramming" proc
esScs we haVr III our colleges. | protest
against the lightning rapidity with
which men ana women gallop through
their books In an evenings reading
Buy fewer books. Master those book $.
Read them over and over again and
make them intogrnl parts of your
selves. The di>cordant voices around
the tower Of Babel could not have
been more hell, - to do good than are
the babbllng tongucs of many books
which have bon hastily read Better
for lo,tor n,,..or - ecu. ,root hoot 8
,hor ho,o . .-..o sro.,,.;'', ,c,,airt.
or,.,, ,,.i,h . Il, ..no,i difrer',,,, hool,
Nvr;ods Of r..l.. ,ro cominr forth
Win, o,t,.rot,,,,., h,nos CLAIMING on,
welcome. We cu only afford to take
few 10 our he Is. How important
-,,,rof,.,, - is ,.o, ia invite int,
,,.,. .n,,o,uor, ,,. ,ool,, ltn,y ~,
portant it il fu- Us Ut To let Our chill
J-o,, ,o,I ,,,. t,4 .. ,l,cf And uhnve