Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-04
THE HABIT OF BROWSING
Writer Finds II CommendabIe and
Helpful and a College Library
Makes Excellent Pasture
Dy JOSEPH NJ BEATTY. JR.

"hh."pHn NcrS "'S'i"''S WIN """'
delight | used to spend hours in the
college library during my undergraduate
days, with no other object in view than
that of making chance acquantances with
books. That was the period before my 2cst
in the discovery Of an ancient leather bound
volume with gilt letters had been dulled by
the SO called critical point of view, devc
opmcnt not undesirable in itself, but one
that takes away the pristine glory of Il
vast collection Of miscellaneous writings
Now, ] find myself inadvertently rushing
through book at lightning speed to sec
whether it contains the particular informa
tion for which l ain seeking; in the old
tent, and would care but little if passed
two or three hours of an afternoon delving
into the works of some quaint rimester
whose poems have not found their way into
modern anthologes.
TNEE habit of browsing is, indeed a
l. supreme voyage Of adventure for the man
who is just waking to the immensity of
the body of literature. and is irving to find
himself in tho thoughts of past and present.
T-havc often thought that the Baconans
have not an understanding of the fine art
of browsing which Shakespeare must have
had to such perfection. Imagine dear
cynic. with what eager eyes the player
poet must have turned for the first time
the pages of North and Holinshed, think
with what discernment his mind caught the
significant detail. No scholar he, with
thick -lensed spectacles unseeing in the
world, and no mere memorzer either but
n fine brave fellow who skinned his books
and let his imagination make them live.
Keats, too, must have been prince of
I-1 -
Chapman Homer, and the world had been
the poorer. And surely the model for all
II. l.. s. with his love of romance and his
omnipresent notebook.
nNE OF my chief avocations in my college
Odays was the study of geneaogy, in which
I was aided and abetted by two aged aunts.
1t was not strange, therefore, that occa
sionaly | turned to certain collections of
lives Of eminent Americans and Englishmen
in the hope of preening my plumes of vanity
by gloating over the famous deeds of some
long deceased ancestor. There was one
man in particular who fired my imagination,
a distinguished soldier and statesman of six
hundred years ago, who stood at the top
exploits, and muse half-pityingly upon the
''
not nave as an ancestor friend and coun-
selor OF Chaucer,s king. My roommate
continually ooasted that MS ancestors mad
come over on the MaEnoWer; since none OF
mine mad had TO leave England at that
tlhle' WIS lorced 10 ucpehd Tor my repartee
upon my ancestor OF Edward reign, beside
whom any passenger IN 102o was mere
parVenu' Unfortunately, L decided in an
eVil moment 10 write m complete hfe or my
@ no..u ,o'eD.ai "'s. %, iaeI 'nu' uiS-
,l, '1' A' N "'' 'e"'' any
T HAVE always found the winter the best
l. season for browsing. because. unless one is
in inst the proner noise between uhvsical
laziness and mental alertness. and unless
the atmosnbere outside urges one 70 remain
within doors. It is difficult 10 cnioy this
gentle art to the full. In the fall we were
busv ycttinp under voy-we had tho stress
of new courses, the delight Of new friends.
the rush of tbe thousand duties that mark
tho bepinninp of a college ycar Rut bv
December the football season had ondoI
Thanksgiving had passed, and the first
snow had sifted lightly across the soccer
field.
"iHN VIC 'io'"i io"nu i'e o"H uSeu W
:. st .,'osn .t' 'nr ,Ins "'nteI "iterhools
:" Une oL nv o,'; iu'a u'ones' Dn 'ne oiie sue
Nv, M,'uo" n aooNiHs ~; GUY s o'cr tn' I"'!puS pe
IInu no a." w. DUoh sne''eo
rea.ns up u oJnJ hhmo @ w. r'sn' ieeI vi
l'oLs -, NV see.m ts'. Su",'t,S tt' w. i',oFc .n
et etue. W 'n tn". Meie ii,ihe
iot .ne tns n,n,ns VI ah 81" ""u.sI, ilion
oen V,4 ,,' "Aooe ''.'eS s NJ NJ
Wh WronSn. ;.t Vi -, -narinms "'iu iohi
-'a'" "4.H "'' ma, 'e'ou' iet'"in
am SICK must die,
LORD nave mercy on us.
There, too, discovered Herrick and wrote
lyrics in which I tried to catch his magic
but in vain. Keats and Shelley, Browning
and Swinburne were in the poetry corner
and as / plunged from them further and
|. further into the mountain land OF Carlyle,
/ became in turn hero worshiper and in
articulate poet think it was in my
sophomore year that I rcveled in Omar
Khayyam, and decided that Christian opti-
nism was largely. n ulpasinp deluSion ,yae