The Glenwood post. (Glenwood Springs, Colo.) 1897-current, 1920-09-11
GOOD AND BAD L1TERA-
TURELA DEFENSE

hhe fodu paragraph IL or sesame
and Lilies" 1 think may safely as
sumo, that you have not been deeply
impressed by it Isl evident-shall | say!
by few words Of your recent letter.
Shall copy this chief paragraph from
enc of Ruskin s greatest booRs2
"Now books of this kind have been
written in all ages by their greatest
men;-by great leaders, great states
men, and great thinkers. These are all
at your choice; and life is short. YIN
have heard as much before vet: have
you measured and mapped out that
short life and its possibilities Do
you know, if you read this, that YOU
cannot read that-that what Won lose
To-Day you cannot gain tomorrow! Will
you go and gossip with your housema;d
or your stable boy, when you may
talk with queens and kings; or flatter
yourselves that it is with any worthy
consciousness of your own claims to
respect that you jostle with the som,
mon crowd for entree here and audi
ence there, when all the while this
eternal court is open to you, with its
society wide as the world, multitudin-
Gus as its days, the chosen and mighty.
of every place and time: Into that
You may enter always; in that Won
may take fellowship and rank accord
ing to your wish; from that. once en-.
tered into it, you can never be outcast
put by your own fault; by your aris-
tocracy of companionship, there, your
own inherent aristocracy will be as
suredly tested, and the motives with
which You strive to take high place
in the society of the living. measured
as to all the truth and sincerity that
are in them, by the place you desire
to take in this company of the dead ("
"Books Of this kind-great books
have been written in all ages,' and
you have answered that I ignore those
of this age. That comes to me as
something of surprise, coming, as it
does, from one who can have known
nothing of my habits of reading for
many years in the past. 1t is true I like
many of the ancient books which have
come down to us and have been a
student and delighted reader of job
for sixty years or more But nv Xix
ing for Job stood not in the least in
the way of my enjoyment of Othcllo
and King Lear, nor has this endowment
barred that which I found very recent.
ly in reading a dramatic sketch from
an author now living.
Sometimes, in reading Ecclesiastes,
think Of it as the most readable &c.
say have ever read. But that feel
ing IS somewhat modified when later
1 take up the essays of Ella to read.
or Emerson IS Nature, or some of the
essays which Samuel McChord Croth-
ers is even now giving the world. and
rejoice in finding the new, not su-
perior, but equal to the old.
L have read the books of Ruth and
Esther over and over and never with
out great enjoyment. And i have read
The Scarlet Letter not less frequently
and with not less enjoyment. More
over, there is seldom week in which
do not read story which / esteem
good, written by some man or woman
young enough to be my grandchild.
Hence, I insist, it is not age, but in.
herent quality that gives literature It's
worth in my estimation, that renders
it fit to be read. 1t is true T like
well the writings of, say. Izaak Wal
ton and Gilbert White who wrote for
an older generation than mine. but
like no less well the writings of John
Burroughs and Bradford Horrey. MY
contemporaries. Alas! ] cannot say
as much for an article on the same
general subject - Natural History -
which j read recently-for my sins
suppose-in the periodical which is in
question between us. Instead when 7
had finished this reading, 7 put the
paper aside wondering how anyone who
had ever read single paragraph Of
] Bradford Torrey's beautiful prose
could read this without the feeling of
disgust that was then mine
Yet You say that this periodical els
thought to be''-words implying 'most
excellent" "worthy of all commenda-
TONY And II well remember when
thousands, who had not so much as
heard of Hawthorne, were enthusiastic
over the unspeakable puerilities of syl
vanus Cobb Jr., when, later, yet other
thousands were moved to tears or
laughter by Mary J. Holmes stories