The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-25
On ReaaIur Aloud.

New York Tlmes Book Review,
 A correspondent asks our aid toward the organization of a reading circle, or a group of reading circles. for the pur- suit of general culture. The exertion ince of The Review. The idea, further more, falls to arouse our interest. There are enough agencies for the promotion of culture, of the popular Kind; sometimes one is tempted to feel GiGhs for culture needs to exhaust himself in susptrations. Be it culture. physical, psychical, or mental, organi- zations myraid exist for him. Runs the drama, or toward any particular bhanch of any of them, he can find his crowd. The Celeic movement. the new Humanism, Shavinism, the Maeteriinck, civic improvement, soul culture, folk lore, Egyptology bride-all these, and scores more, of departments of culture are duly organized
 There Is one form of culture circle, however. which, 1t occurs to us, might proftably be encouraged--circles for reading aloud. Perhaps the Idea is impracticable; almost certainly 1t Is. The thing can't be formalized any more than conversation can be. The family, after all, is the natural reading circle, though perhaps 1t might be expanded into a small, irregular and informal ueighborhood group. But something ought to be done to check tho decay
 (if 1t has not already entirely van ished) of the practice of reading aloud. 1t was one Jf the loveliest social hab- its of the day before yesterday. pro. noting kindliness, community ot ideas and mutual understanding. It united families; 1t furnished fnspir1.i)l; il took a little time, but it gave beck grace s hundredfoIo.
 A dog snatches his bone end rurs Anfn A 9nP a Rnlffa WD A cave-dweller did the same. But aa civilization advances we discover the indelicacy of gorging alone; We assem- 6ls for our meals and erect them into functions of sociabiiity.
 And yet men and women who would 1hokS aI a solitary dinner, regularly sit down alone to gobble booxs. maGa. zines, and newspapers, frowning hcr- ribly if pefchance interrupted at the unaociable and indecent rfornlapce.
 It is not altogether fanciful to at- tribute some of the eccentric notions with which more people than one might suppose are afflicted to tie Ln- corrected impressions of soli.l.'y read ing. It would. perhaps, be unmat' G. maticai 70 argue that the amount ci pleasure enjoyed by each of six Ter sons listening to the reading af 2 ood would derive from It's lonely perusal It is, however, or ought tC be, much greater. The common under rstandine selves points the Single reAder dnle miss. the best quickens the si5weSt in. tellect to appreciation, the ;rN fief from heart 10 heart The language oi the writer Is restored to It's original form and force--it Is on the lips end in the ear. Type is a faithful pre-. ssrvative of language, but there is nc telling how much the world has lost by it's practice of requiring the thought of a book direct from it's hard type 1 instead of allowing 1t to liduify bacl | into the living. moving accents of tho tongue and be received by the cal 1 formed for 1t.
 cost us certainly no little in the decay | of our manner of speech. We are | stuttering, SlovenlY spoken generation ! The proud oral traditions of the glori | ous past are heggared. Set almost any | of us to reading a book aloud ant mark the degraded wretchedness of hii | utterance. Keep him at 1t, and mari
 ne inevitable improvement of hiI | speech.
 Again, by our neglect of audibl, | reading we have allowed the world {, | become full of books which are no | worth reading aloud-and that is {, say are not worth reading at all