The Farmington times., 1919-03-14

Inc following very exceltentl thih
was made in High School Chapel Mon
day morning, BY. Rev. o. H. Duggins,
pastor of the M. Il. Chruch,. South, Of
this city, and it was only through the
earnest request Of the teachers that
he has submitted it for publication:
will speak few moments this
morning about the acquisition OF. a
taste for good literature.
Some one has said, "God bless Cad
mus. the Phoenicians, or whoever 1t
was who first invented books"
Good books afford US the choicest
products of the choicest minds of all
the ages. Through tf.em the literary
wealth Of the past is poured into the
lap of the present.
Is it not wonderful that we may
summons at will, and in their best
moods, Homer and Socrates, Moses
end David, Shakespeare and Browning
and all the rest of the im1nortals.
1t is only in comparative recent
times that books have been made ac-
cessiblc to the masses of the people
An old minister told me that as .
youth, lie frequently walked five miles
to consult a dictionary. AS boy,
Abraham Lincoln with all his insat-
liable thirst for knowledge, owned but
three or four books. On one occas-
sion he borrowed book from ne
ighbor, much coveted "Life Of Wash
ington." Some one left the book on
the window sill Of the cabin home
where it was spoiled by shower OF
rain. Lincoln reported his misfor-
tune 70 the neighbor and mauled rails
ifoT a spell to pay for it, The mar
velous facilities of our modern print
ing establishments enable them to
place cheap editions of the worlds
4 best authors within reach of every
heuse-servant and plow-boy.
| In view of this fact it would seem to
the lover of books that every house
hold would supply itself with some OF
the gems of human thought. We re-
gret to say that thousands of pros
porous homes, in which young people
are being reared, arc content with q
few antiquated volumes that are let
alone from force of habit. The cause
of this lamentablc book-famine is tc
| be found in the absence of literary
taste They have no conception o.
the high order Of pleasure and profit
derived from association with the wor-
Ids greatest minds. The latent pow
ers and dormant possibilities of the
\ mind are not moved hy contact witt
1 the grand and beautiful in the realm
of letters. Books are to home
what the soul is to the body home
without books has no soul.
Another deplorable obstacle to th'
cultivation of love for good literature
| is found in vitiated taste, the re
suit Of reading books of a low NOR
al character. This practice, like evi
associations, leads to ruin The finei
susceptibilities of the mind, which en-
able us to enjoy pure and noble sen
timent, are blunted by contact will
the base and sensual.
A morbid craving for this class Of
leading soon obtains, and thousand!
or young people through its influence
are swept into the whirl pool of erim'
and forever lost.
I A good way 10 begir the cultivation
VI ilLeIdIy bdote 10 W ASau thC "
ographies Of those who have live,
great lives. The story of men an
women imbuei with great purpose
in life, enlist our sympathies, and W
trace the progress of their fortune
with growing interest. Our ow
hearts are thus fired with aspiratio
for worthy achievment.-
Lives of great men sll remind us,
, We may make our lives sublime"
Acquaintance with the lives of az
thors tends to promote interest Z
their work. We could not fail to tai:
> deeper interest in Milton from know
ing that the great poet rose to his lo1
: tiest. heights when he could not di'
: Germ day from night; or that Bunya
composed his great allegory in Il
narrow limits oe a prison cell.
: Again, thorough study and ma
!, terry Of a chioce production tent
= greatly to- sharpen literary tast
We may be omniverous readers al
yet assimilate very little Of what v
read. The hasty reading of a wol