The Washington herald., 1915-10-09
Reading.
Ry JOHN Id. HARRY

ihcre are people who seem to grow duller, with
reading, even with the kinds OF reading considered
serious. They are mere echoes Tho, donI rake
in what they read and make it part OF themselves
| Often, if we know them intimately, we CAN tcI
when they arc giving out the opinions of others
Somehow those opinions are not in any wy re.
lated to the people themselves They are like
quotations. And then there are those who arc
gwen to lecturlng on their reading, taking I'D long
stretches OF time with their echoes. AS a rule
they are not readers OF books. but of newspapers
and OF magazines. If they readers of books
they would be more likely to assimilate their
knowledge and to reveal it through the expres-
sion not of quotations, but OF developed opinion
and comment.
Experience ought to teach us all the danger
of recommending favorite books We have
all suffered from having books recommended to
us Some OF us are suspicious OF all recommcn-
datlons. Indeed, | know people who instead OF
being inspired with desire to read the books,
inHnediatcly become pref judced.
Yesterday | happened to be present when a
man extolling to group of friends the
merits OF book he had just read He liked it
so much he could not conceive of any one not
liking ii. Then. greatly to his chagrin, he had to
listen to some harsh criticisms. He could hardly
restrain his annoyance. He was hurt in his at
fcctIonS.
1t is encouraging and then to go back
to the books we once enjoyed and, in their ap-
parent change, to find how much we have our
selves changed. Even if we still enioy book
from the past it is likely to be from a new point
OF view. Weaknesses, hidden from our
eyes. become plain now; there may also be a
surprising revelation OF merits
There are people who. as they have
read book they have enjoyed, proceed to read
1t over again In this way. they not only re-
peat the enjoyment. but they also get the book
more firmly planted in their minds Now, it is
likely to stay there. Some of these readers read
favorite book several times. | know man
who reads Gibbons .Dccne and Fall OF the
Holy Roman Emprc' a year. He says that
it is like great possession. Every time he reads
it he finds that it reveals new wonders and becomes
more vivid. He grows better acquainted not
merely with the facts, but with the people
Then there those who never read scnti-
ment that strongly appeals to them without stop
mitting it TO memory, Once in the memory, it in
to add to their store OF wisdom and to in
tcllectual pleasure. Repeatedly circumstances re-
mind them OF it and renew vcrihcation. Instead
OF losing in beauty, 1t gains In very definite
sense 1t becomes part of them. 1t may be a COM
fort in trouble, warning in danger, a reminder
that others have had special experience At its
best, literature consoles by making us see that
whatever happens to has happened to null
titude gone before and that each of us is init
mately related to the whole human family.
To commit appealing quotations to memory is
10 take them, not merely into the mind but into
the heart, into the place where they become identi
fed with the feelings those springs OF action. The
teachers OF what is called thought and what
is actually old thought universal thought, en-
phasize the importance OF securing this kind OF aid
from the memory. They know that it is from the
heart that all good and that every one
ought to be careful to keep the heart refreshed
with the healthy feeling that lies beneath all
healthy thinking.