The Glenwood post., 1910-05-28

true. be your companions and guides
The limitations of a life, that must
for a long time for any of you, and
perhaps forever, for most of you, be
narrowly circumscribed, will shut you
out from the society of the great, Whose
names are ON every tongue. If you
should happen to meet them, the in
terview must necessarily be brief. A
million calls elsewhere will hurry them
off. There is however, open to you
all one kind of companionship close
ly intimate and deeply personal. There
is the great republic of Letters. There
you associate with the choicest spirits
The thoughts that made and dominate
their lives are given to you in frank
est confidence. The labor of a life
time is expended to facilitate acquaint-
ance with them You are invited to
sift and discuss their views. and your
most adverse criticism never meets
with panied retort.
"When one becomes thoroughly ia
miliar with the thoughts of noble and
pure minds, consent to any thing base
becomes difficult Devote yourselves
therefore, to what is good in literature
and do not read just for the sake OF
being able to say you have read
The true reader does not remain pass
i've as he reads; he makes the thought
his own; he puts it into various lights;
he assimilates it: and it becomes a vital
force within him.
81 am not here this evening TO give
you list of what | deem the best
books. This is not the occasion for
that, nor am | the best guide at yo II
disposal. l would, however, point out,
Just by way of illustration of my iIel,
that famous passage in Macaulay which
deals with Monmouth S rebellion.
1t is excellent literature, highly
wrought, and the atmosphere ot
dire fatality broods over it. II
is also a great lesson. Now, ]
would like to see young men and WON
en- like you be able to read such Il pass
age in the spirit of true criticism. |
would like to see your imagination re
see you embrace the moral of the doom
which it tells; for, though such story
has not any obvious bearing on your
lives, the true reader is gifted with Il
power of alchemy which can change
remote analogies into strikingly init
mate illustrations. Or. to take another
example, | believe some novels serve
a very useful purpose; educational
and moral; and "A good example is
Adam Bede. People of your age mighf
read such book with profit. II is Il
grand story to begin with; it vibratcs
with strong human sympathy, AMI
there is in it an accuracy of character
delineation that brings certain person
ages into more vivid light of recogni-
ton than we are able to to bring our
selves. There is a moral, too, in the
story A young man of kindly nature
and generous impulses plays with fire.
He admits an evil which he deems
light, and he goes through all the
stages of self deception which ends N
acknowledged guilt. Retribution comes,
and his own doom, and the doom LIE
brings on another contains great les
son which is not without it's point for
young men and women entering life.
"But the literature which l think
is the most purifying and elevating Of
all is poetry. 1t requires some cour-
age to push its claims in a land that
is possessed by SO many Ideals of bust
ness, but l am its advocate because of
the happiness it brings and the moral
sensitiveness it produces. 1t brings
happiness, for it is able to transport
one from sordid surroundings, and from
the pressure of gloomy care, into reals
where beauty reigns supreme, ami
where joy revels in perpetual ecstacy
1t has a noble moral influence, be
cause poetry deals with the beautiful
and sin is hideous. Many noble works
of prose have never gained an audience,
but SO deep is humanity's IS need fo-
poetry, that no genuine poetry has
ever failed to come into its own.
81 cannot readily picture the moral
downfall of young man or woman
who pursues true interest in what
is good literature, and hence L have