Evening star., 1924-11-01
THIS AND THAT
BY C. E. TRACEWELL

came as one of tho most interesting
stages in their life cycle Of reading.
Once you got a taste for Scott, the
| authentic tinge of romance was in
your keeping. Your heart was in
| The Heart OF Midlothian" You sat.
a very spectator. at tho tournament
| in "Ivanhoe." Rob Roy and others
| were your bedfellows.
Il ask you. how can women who
| wear French heels, use lipsticks and
| listen to jazz, find the charm In
Scott's novels? Mrs. F. S. A. writes
me.
Now. there Is a question for you!
| You see what the writer cans, OF
| course-and yet, some way or other,
it would seem perfectly possible for
| small fapper, attired in French
heels, lipsticked. bobbed- haired. may
be even smoking a cigarette, to get
a kick" out OF Scott!
Yes, there is a dash and go to
Scott, once you get tho flavor, that
will bore right through rouge, jazz
| and French heels.
And there was Dickens. Now,
| Dickens Is not SO much an author as
he Is an epoch. Dickens is q world.
| q veritable cosmos, Reading Dickens
| Is an experience. It was Walt Whit
man who later said, when you read
| this book. you do not hold a volume
you touch a man." Dickens Is like
that.
When one first enters this world of
Dickens. 1t seems as IL never could
the first glow and charm of 1t wear
| off. There is Florence of "Dombey
| and Son." and there is old Capt. Cut
| tie, too, with his hook, and there are
| scores and hundreds of other persons
| and places. in such fresh variety that
life itself seems to offer no more va
| riegated or wonderful scene
Yet today Dickens novels rest upon
your shelves peacefully. This is one
| OF the tragedies OF reading And how
often have you gone to the shelf to
| take down a Dickens novel, to ex-
perience again the cozy glow Of that
nrst discovery, only to stay tho hand,
because you know that although you
| might hugely enjoy it, in no wise
would 1t be as it was then.
| X
There arc three distinct WAYS OF
approaching the Bible. One may read
| 1t as a religious book. or merely as
! literature. or both as religion and
! literature.
Prof Moulton of Chicago Univer-
sity, with his Modern Readers
Bible" has satisfied the need of all
classes of Bible readers, but especial
| ly of those who for the time being
| may read the texts simply as great
| writing. 1t need hardly be said that
| there is no irreverence in this.
The Bible. considered merely as
literature, is great with a greatness
| that touches the heart, in fact SO
| much so that he who reads it in this
| way feels that here, at last, is the
one piece of reading Of which he will
never tire.
Chess books, for a time may hold
| the uninterrupted attention of the
| man who goes in for reading en-
| thusiasms. Such person reads in
'streaks," as 1t were.
! He studies the games OF Paul Nor
ply until he begins to feel that he
knows something about why that
great player lost his mind.
Then he takes up Walt Whitman
who wrote for the common man, but
whom no one but most uncommon
| men read. The "barbaric yawp" goes
| nightly for a time. then it smoothes
=, out to the proper tone in the light of
| every day.
Comes then a period Of reading ad-
venture and detective stories once
more. We are proud Of the fact that
| We recognized the merit of Rafael
Sabatini when he was first appearing
| in an adventure magazine.
These are but a few of the cycles
a reader may go through. Stevenson
| is left out, as is Emerson and Conan
Doyle. Plutarch and o. Henry, Plato
and Richard Harding Davis.
| The great merit lies in the fact
| that for every cycle completed there
| is a cycle yet to experience. Think
Of the untouched treasures awaiting
the reader who has never read book
of Conrad,