The Washington times., 1920-01-26
TODAY
BY n l. ooLDBkRo.
Copyright. Isss.

CONTINUED from FirsyfPage)
two kinds of reading, like two
kinds of sport. In one short man
sits on a bench watching others
play BASEBALL, in the other, he
goes onto the field and plays. In
one kind of reading man reads
along, watching another man
think. The right kind of reader
goes into a book to think as he
reads.
Clergymen discouraging profan-
ity will find use for Byron's line:
"He knew not what to say, and SO
he swore."
Profanity and slang weaken
the mind by weakening your use
of language, the minds most i'm
portant tool. Let men understand
that profanity means ignorance,
and they will stop, as men stop
chewing tobacco when told that 1t
means vulgarity.
Mohammed, who nearly spread
prohibition over the world CEN
turies ago, interested Emerson, as
he should you. At the beginning OF
his essay, Love-" Emerson has
these two lines from the Koran:
II was as a gem concealed; me,
my burning ray revealed"
That means that to be anything
you must feel strongly The aver
age man is nothing, because he be-
lieves nothing. Emerson's essay,
"Heroism" begins with Moham-
med's words: -.s..
Paradise is under the shadow
of swords"
AS you read about Mohammed
and other leaders of thought and
religion, you will observe that in
all religions except the true re-
ligion, God and future rewards
and punishments reflect the char
acter of the man back of the re-
ligion: ''If the camels had god,
that god would have four legs and
a hump"
Mohammed couldn't imagine life
without the sword, or Paradise
except under the shadow of
swords Others things that Mo
hammed imagined in Paradise
would puzzle 1920 Prohibitionists.
With Mohammed prohibition was
for the earth only; when you got
to Heaven you drank wines all the
time, you associated with ladies
that you had never met before.
The wine never made you drunk,
and the ladies never grew older.
Read Carlyle's chapter on Mo-
hammed.
Another quotation from the es-
say "Heroism." Brutus, who help
ed kill his benefactor, Julius
Caesar, is supposed to be speak
ing, as he falls, on his sword to
kill himself in the old-fashioned
way after the battle Of Phillip:
20 Virtue! / have followed thee
through life, and 1 find thee at
last but q shade"
Brutus interests you. He was.
one of the original reformers.
Read Shakespeare's Caesar" Read
1t again II you have already read
1t, for there is a new Shakespeare
for every year Of mans life.
After that read Ferrero's History
of Rome" the big history in FIVE
volumes, or II you haven't time
for that, the short one in two
volumes.
There is ten per cent OF an edu-
cation in a thorough knowledge Of
the history Of any great country.
About reading, here is a quota
ton from Emerson himself, from
his essay, Experience:
"A collector recently bought at
public auction, in London, for 157
guineas, an autograph of Shakes
peare; but for nothing school
boy can read Ha Met, and can de-
tect secrets OF highest concernment
yet unpublished therein. think |
will never read any but the COM
monest books, The Bible, Homer,
Dante, Shakespeare and Milton"
Another OF Emerson's sayings may
be useful to young gentlemen
writing advertisements for fruit
or flower merchants. It Is from
his essay, Gifts"
Flowers and fruits are always
fit presents; flowers because they
are a proud assertion that a ray
Of beauty outvalues all the utili-
ties OF the world. These gay ma
lures contrast with the somewhat
stern countenance OF ordinary ma
ture; they are like music heard
out OF a workhouse."
Get a volume OF Emerson's "Es-
says" at your book store OF at the