French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1916-12-07
THE FARMER NEEDS

I1Cs 43D4C "A4SA
matter to those who care to avail them
selves of it, but in the country there
is no such institution and every farmer
should have an ambition to own some
good books for the benefit of his fam
ily. A love for good sound reading
matter is worth to a young per-
son than a four-years' glimpse into the
college lecture rooms, though it is Well
to have them both if convenient. A
love for good literature is a pleasure
unequaled as we travel along life's
pathway, and in old age it is a solace
and comfort beyond the possibility OF
words to express. :
We buy a book either as a book OF
reference or to read. We need an
elaborate dictionary and a handy one
for quick reference. We need a good
encyclopedia but these r not books
to read. When selecting books do not
pay any attention to some ones selec-
ton of a fiye-foOt shelf or any other
length of shelf but buy the books that
you want to read. Books are to read
and not to stick on a shelf. Do not in
vest much money in fiction. l made a
rule a number of years ago not to read
a piece of fiction until it has lived a
quarter of a century and is still pOpu-
lar. 1t is a very good rule, though it
may be good to break it on rare occa-
sions because all the rules we learned
in Jul grammar had exceptions.
Another rule was not to buy a book
unless l wanted to read it. When l
had it read it, or tried to, if it was not
worth reading 1 loaned it to some
who would not return it.
When l read a book I ~collaborate
with the author, that is l agree and
disagree with him and l have his per-
sonality before me and try to realize
why we agree or disagree. When l
was wading through the Critique of
Pure Reason l had in mind a little five
DOT fellow who was Scotch by ancestry
and German by birth, who wore a No.
z 1-2 hat and prided himself with the
fact that he never was so miles from
home in all the eighty years of his life.
A mar who investigated the i~ntricacies
of the human mind as very few men
in all history have done. When I read
history l want the historian to take
me to the people he is writing about
and make me acquainted with them, so
/ can take part in their work and play
and daily life, and if he cannot do that
he can write no history for me to waste
time reading.
Some Books Worth Reading.
I like a book with leather binding
and good paper with clear, large print.
If a book is worth buying it can be had
on good paper with large, easily-read
print. 1 of course need not tell you to
buy the Bible. as you have that, but so
often you fail to read it. This book is
a library in itself. History is fasci-
mating and of universal value. For
u W country, which is young, 1
have found nothing better than Ban
croft. There never was any history
written to match Macauley's but he
died before he had his work nearly
completed. But buy and read Macau-
lays History of England and you will
like it so we'll that you will also want
to e his Essays. Green's History Of
the English People is a monumental
work but no so readable. Hume's
History of England is quite readable
and considered a standard of accuracy.
Guizot's History of France and Mot
ley's Dutch Republic whiled away
many happy. and profitable hours for
me. Gibbons Rome held me closer
than any piece of fiction | ever read.
Grote's History of Greece is not so
readable but it introduces you to a
world of wonderful people. Rollins
Ancient History is often recommend
ed but l never could find the line of
demarcation between fact and fiction
in that work. In this same line there
never came to my mind a work equal
to Draper's Intellectual Development
OF Europe. 1t is one of the books that
may be read and re-read several times
with much profit. Folks generally buy
a lot of poetry because it is fashiona-
Die n almost as generally leave the
BOOKS unread. When a man writes
verse and meter and rhyme by the
sweat Of his brow and calls it poetry I
let 1t severely alone, but if he writes it
because he cannot help~it like Bobby
Burns l of course love to real it and
own and read a few books of poetry.
Human Interest.
Nothing in all literature has inter
ested me so much as humanity. That
is TO say man physically, intellectually
and spiritually.
VINO am l? What am I? What can
l do? What can l know?
Books that attempt to answer in one
way or other these questions fill. sew
eraI OF my book cases. Plato. Hume.
Bentham, Paley, Kant, Schopenhauer,
Buchner, Herbert Spencer. Charles
Darwin, w. Fl. Huxley, John TyndalI,
Alexander Balm, Ernst Hacker and
many others. These books enabled mo
to think with the greatest thinkers the
world ever saw. l have their
and that is a great satisfaction even
though 1t is not at all SATISFYING
IhlnKlng with these thinkers has given
me mental training that is invaluable
to me. Thinking with these hinKers
ha staught me how very little an edu-
Gated man knows. Thinking with
Ihese thinkers has enabled me to live
a half century very happily indeed.
and II [ live a half century more l pro-
pose to more happily continue to think