The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-08-23
Culture Ready Made.

familiarity with literature in these
days where there is so much else to
be attended to? The method is easy if
a little time be given up to it. All that
is needed are a ticket to a library and
a memorandum book.
To be well read in it's true sense re-
Quires a lifetime of study. We may
never become on really intimate terms
with Hall Game and Shakespeare I'M
less we sit up nights for their sake.
But this IS useless after all. All that
we need is a reputation, for in polite
society a reputation is as good as the
thing itself. We must approach this
subject, however, in a cautious spirit
and avoid the usual pitfall of the
ready made man of culture. This pit
fall is tie familiar quotation. Fa-
miliar quotations are like the Milky
way-they can be viewed by all. And
a knowledge Of that Interesting phe-
nomenon does not make an astron-
omer. We must talk Of Sirius and the
lesser consultations. You can almost
always tell the man who has studied
his book of familiar quotations. He
springs them on you at the slightest
provocation, and there is that about
him-a sort Of bravado, a hamboy-
ancy-which gives him away. His is
a machine-like utterance.
What we must do is to avoid the
familiar quotation and stick to the
unfamiliar; not necessarily that it
should be too unfamiliar, merely that
it should be off the beaten track. It
is not vital, Of course, to repeat the
exact words Of your author. Better
not; give the gist Of what he has writ
ten.
"What is your hurry?" asks your
hostess concernedly as you rise and
move toward the door.
Indeed must co." you observe.
''You know what DR.. Holmes has said
that some people act as if they had
been built in your drawing room and
expect to be launched. Never must
deserve such an accusation; I am too
anxious to have you want me to come
again." You press her hand warmly;
you say goodby; you are gone. Why
is it that this easy, familiar remark
implies that you are a constant reader
Of the Professor at the Breakfast Ia
BILE? But it does in the mind Of your
hostess. Yet suppose you had quoted
stanza from "The Wonderful One
Hoss Shay" What good would that
have done?
The point is that all this information
may be easily acquired. Almost every
author will yield up, in a few pages
skinned over at random, some
thought which one can apply.
II have sometimes thought" you
say to your victim, that my CONVEX
sation does not interest you, merely
from the expression Of your face. You
know what Nine. de Stael says on this
point. She remarks that the true con-
versationalist always studies the ex-
preston Of her listeners face. Not
that I consider myself a good CONVEX
sationalist. Oh, no! Butt etc.
Endeavor to have your literary allu-
sions as wide apart as possible The
next time you call, for example, you
can wait until the subject turns on
money Git is sure to turn on money
at some perioO and then you can re-
mark:
"You know what Jesus, the Son of
Sirach, said, Give me neither poverty
nor riches!'
Your listener will probably not know
that you are quoting from one Of the
apocryphal books Of the Old Tesla
ment (picked up by chance on a side
table in the library, but if her thought
could be put into words she would
probably exclaim: "What breadth Of
learning! Why, he knows Nine. de
Stael and the Bible!' And unconscious
~ you will be given credit for much
that lies between these two points.
1t is a good rule to take from books
that are not too we'll known. The we'll
known obvious books swim around on
the surface Of our thought. But a ref
erence to the uncommon volume may
not inaptly suggest to the mind of
your nearer that you have been diving
for it.
If you are walking in the country
with a friend, for example, you can
stop and say as you view some distant
scene:
II feel like exclaiming with Alger in
his 'Solitudes Of Nature .Ah, how
beautifulv
The fact that every writer on nature
has probably written *'Ah, how beauti-
fulw somewhere, need not detract from
the merit of this quotation as long as
you give the name and title.
The rule is this: First catch vour