Putnam patriot., 1915-02-26
Essentials of Good Reading

l book entitled "Ihe Quest oi happi
 ness has written chapter entitled
 tHappiness and the Friendship of
 Books in which he says. "so much
 to read, and SO littie time to read in
 There are books that offer wisdom
 there are books that soolhe ike a
 mothers song, there are books thai
 rouse us like il trumpet call. What i shaH l read, and how shall l use books % as to promote happiness and peace 1 Difficult, indeed these questions, and i only a grcatsf lhan Solomon can an. swer them One thing Is certain. no man can read all books The volumes already published and the unpublish ed manuscripts are now said to approx imate two million volumes, and every year this number is enormously in- creased. Indeed, the very number of books published is peril, threatening solidity and Strength of scholarship. 1 In skimming from book to book as /; bees from flower to flower, men are not we'll educated, but only well smaltered with knowledge. Alarmed | at the flood Of literature discharged upon an unsuspecting public, Lowell once expressed surprise at the patience Of tine lpeople, saying he anticipated 1 the lime when society would drive all | the authors into the public square and kill them of If books are not so great calamity as this would indi- cate, nevertheless, the necessity of sharp discrimination, and of courage to be ignorant of many new books and | authors is upon us. One simple rule all young men and women can follow. Choose the few great authors, and enl- tivate masters as one knows his bosom friends, determining to know every thing about the one trade and occupa- ton that is his, and to know some thing about few of the new books and topics of public interestS-th wise man will adhere tenaciously to one solemn fesolutio9, to give little time each day to the1ittle company of real ly great authots.n
 Books msS be divided into two classes, books that will be Of benefit to their readers and those which ought to | be avoided. This Inst consists first of | books which are so vile that there Is no l questioning about them, and others, of which there is very large number, which are disguised. There is noth- ing particularly bad about them but still Is there anything really worth while? Such books are not only a waste of time but are injurious to the reader.
 The greatest books might be divided Into four large classes: Books of fact, life, poetry and literature, and the novel,
 Books of fact aequalnt man with the world he lives in, gives the common facts of life, and the wonderful ani- mals and plants which cover this earth.
 Books of life give the story of man and the story of his mind and intellect, Then follows the desire to read the biographies of gteut people who have lived during the past centuries.
 Literature, the Areatest of the fine arts, hos very high standard. The books in This class are based on fact and have high ideals. Books ot poetry delight the mind and broaden il con corning the greater things of life and reflect back over the past. Oae can III afford to lose the education and pleas. ure gained from the wonderful poems which reveal so much of beauty and the emotions of the poets who compos ed them.
 The novel ranks high as life teach CT. It Is now an age of the newspaper, l magazine, and the novel, and history is beginning to be taught in terms of | fiction. X novel has been defined as the story of an ideal hero and heroine in the hour when they are influenced by great life motive named love, or self.sacriiice, or ambition, or jealousy or hate; and this story must be put in beautiful form and in it's ideal rela- tions. The selection of the worth. while novel is a difficult task, but there are n great many from which one car obtain instruction as we'll as enjoy mcnt. A well known writer has ex pressed the variety of selection which can be obtained in the following para graph: "Thefe is not an hour in life whether 1t Is an hour of depression, ar hour of temptation, an hour of victory or an hour of deft at, but that the libra " holds at least one story how anothe
 with nature like unto ours passe, through the self.same experience an, left for us lessons of rebuke and en couragement
 Another essential of good reading i,
 good reader. This may seem , strange thing to say but what goog
 does the very best book do anyone il
 he does not understand and enjoy it
 Intelligent reading is an art which on,
 should cultivate 10 the best of his anil
 ity. It is oatalnable by keen percep
 ton, goodwill and love. Become ss
 interested in your reading uhat NO,
 have a personal acquaintance with th, authors and the characters which h, portrays.
 Read Milh A definite rnnrr,ns. a..