Norwich bulletin., 1916-09-16

It is rarely safe to make generaliza- t1onS, but one can only wonder whether the American public, as a whole, is
 reading as good books as generation ago. Public librarians who ought to know have recently assured me that the overwhelming demand is for the frothiest fiction allowed on their shelves. Thousands of good books, to be sure, are in circulation, as the num- Der of readers is always increasing
 But the millions of the Iightest books and ma agazines turned from the press show how the publishers keenest of all critics, gage the public taste. It has sometimes seemed as though, in | matters Of the mind, our countrymen were turning aside from a diet of meat and bread to one of jelly roll and soda water.
 Some people read for information;
 a class to which Lord Bacon refers in
 his essay on Studies" when he says, Reading maketh a full man." Most people, however, read for recreation- to rest a tired brain or to soothe chafed nerves. Aside from the news = paper which keeps us in touch with | the broad sweep of human affairs the printed page is valued by the largest class of readers in the world as the standard means of passing a pleasant hour.
 The mistake that many of us make at this point is in suppoSing that the only kind of reading that is pleasurable is trash" The novel must have vel low covers and catchy title if it is to hold our interest. Out of this error hundreds of readers have found their way in discovering the host of whole some and stimulating books which | yet serve a recreative purpose. They l have been amazed often to find the amount of mental food that is nutri- | tious and, at the same time, extremely | palatable.
 It is folly for anyone to try to read | what he does not enjoy, merely be- cause someone else says he ought to. | It is no disgrace whatever. in this | crowded age, to confess complete ig- | norance of some book that everybody l else is talking about. No one could keep up with current literature if he
 read day and night without ceasing
 and took his meals through a glass l tube. But each one of us, following 1 the line of his own particular taste,
 has the privilege of choosing some l thing that is really literature, and get
 ting acquainted with it.
 | A worth while book kept going, as
 one has intervals of time, for a month
 it may be, will yield dividends of in | sp1rat1on and pleasure, that the 1 "Coney Island" series can never rival When you are through something re-
 mains in the way of solid mental fur | nlshings. Don't take it on anyone's
 say so. Try it for yourself.
 | Suppose, for an experiment, that one
 should turn aside for a time from the
 current magazines or the best seller Of the week to some of Parkman's his-
 tories or to Mot1ey's Rise of the Dutch
 Republic" or Boswelrs Life of Pr
 Johnson" or Scctts "Ivanhoe" 1he
 movie" mind might revolt at first. but
 it would be a thoroughly stimulating
 and, in the end, delightful experience
 It would prove like a brisk walk in the
 open air, followed by a cold shower bath.
 Dentists tell us that the race is los ing its teeth through the eating o1
 ''mushy'' food. Let us not lose oul minds through a similar indulgence A bit of good reading each day is, a.
 the English say, a genuine health lift
 Why not bring it into your scheme O. THE PARSoN