Evening star., 1905-09-17
How to Plan a
Course Of Reading

It is perfectly possible to spend 30 much
valuable time in planning what you are
going to read or study that the time will
all slip away without you getting any ac-
tual results. The temptation to book
lover to skirt along the edges of literature,
culling here fruit and there a flower. is
very insidious.
If you visit library its very wealth aug
ments your difficulty. You stand irresolute
among the infinite intellectual riches of
many lands and ages. You want to grasp
so much that. like the child who comes
home from a daisy field with empty hands,
having dropped her flowers by the way
side. you have nothing to show for your
longing and your labors at the end Of the
season.
I assume that my reader desires to read
for profit. First, this being the case, he
must decide on the department that shall
enlist his time and thought.
At present the far east presents an inVit-
ing avenue for exploration and discovery.
During many months the world has peen
standing aghast while Russia and Japan at
a prodigal expense OF human lie ana
lavish outlay of treasure have stubbornly
fought for dominion. AS Kipling sings, SO
have we seen 1t proved:
''oh, East is East and West lis West.
And never the twain shall meet
TIL earth and sky stand presently
At Gods great judgment seat"
They have met in battle with the hurting
shock of mighty seas. and the end Is nos
yet. 1t behooves those who would read the
signs OF the times clearly and know the
world history. that is making day by day
in our sight to read about Russia and to
read about Japan. The long history of eacn
nation starting from a remote and shad-
owy past. can be found on the shelves of
any public library. and current literature
shows 4 crop of recent volumes giving the
NF ,tfnt nf pnh n
from within and from without.
You cannot put your winter evenings
to better use than to spend them by the
lamp. in the sunrise kingdom, or in the
strange medieval Russia that is an an
achrpnism In Europe in 1905.
But II you wish to sail on another tack.
| trim your course accordingly. Perhaps
| the England of Queen Elizabeth has loomed
before you like an enchanted land The
| Elizabethan period is so full OF contrasts
with our own; 1t is SO pregnant with
| issues that have since brought forth great
| triumphs In later days; 1t has so vast a
1 gallery of heroic figures, that It cannot be
exhausted by one student in one season. -
Historic periods are really best studied
! by groups, who meet in clubs and circles
one set of students taking up one phase
| and another selecting an opposite or har-
| moniouS aspect or the wonderful reign and
| realm. The maiden queen who held the
/ scepter and the center of the stage SO long
and so brilliantly was the daughter OF
| Henry VIII and the Inflated Anne Boleyn
/ What did she derive from her ancestry? In
! what did she, a Protestant. differ, when II
| came down to the sheer womanly quality
| OF her character. from her sister the
| Catholic Mary, whose mother was Kather-
| inc of Arragon? Just here you will probably
| wish to read Shakespeare's Henry VIII
1 Froude.s pages viii set the unseen scene oi
| those thrilling times vividly before you.
You viii not fall to read the wonderful