Evening star., 1925-02-04


/ is to "divvy up with our friends. If
we run onto good book, we do not
| rest until we have forced our friends
4 to read it.
| If we go to a show and enjoy H.
| for days we sing the praise OF the
offering, until we induce Bill and
John to go see the play, too.
If we purchase a corking new radio
receiving set, nothing VIII do us
! until all our radio pals are brought
| In to see the new wonder perform.
The man who has conceived new
theory in any line of endeavor wants
to impart it to those he likes. If
he is like a man / once knew, who
got the idea that lemons were good
for mankind, he will make his entire
| family eat lemons.
Pretty soon you will see his wife
| eating lemons. his children eating
! lemons, almost his dog eating lemons
| So the zeal Of men runs to refor-
nation, and forcibly imparts virtue to
others, despite the dictum that you
cannot legislate men either good OF
| bad.
| So it is with reading in the family
circle. The man who starts this
pleasant custom soon finds that he
gets "kick" out of it that simple
| reading on the lone does not AFFORD
In the main there are two divisions
of such reading:
/. Study courses.
2. More general reading.
The frst includes history, biog-
raphy, the best of the old and new
| wife in this city do all their read
| ing together.
They select a certain time each
evening, he doing the reading one
evening, she the next. The reading
| is, of course, entirely aloud.
| There is something about the
human voice that imparts new color
| to prose or poetry. There is live
lier appreciation possible OF the fine
points throughout, although there is
also some loss, as any one knows
who has tried the experiment.
If two minds are well mated. and
| in harmony, reading aloud brings
| home to each many points that might
| be overlooked in reading by oneself
Somehow or other the slower read
ing made necessary orally gives time
! for the mind to grasp the full beauty
| Of certain passages.
! In reading aloud such a work as
H. G. Wells "Outlne Of History" for
| instance, She hearers are able to hell
each other in making their own the
| facts and ideas brought out.
x **
More general reading includes this
1 and that book-and this and that
-" and poetry, humorous writings
short stories, reading to the children
| bedtime stories" etc. (Speaking 0,
| bedtime stories. I heard six in row
the other night from as many citiesD
| Especially does reading in th'
| family circle bring home the full
value of humorous and semi -humor'
Gus writing, such as Robert Bur
dette's inimitable story about George
| Washington and the hatchet, as told
1 to the little boy. This story ha:
| been recited by Frank Moulan several
! times from Roxie's concerts.
! Read in the family circle, it Is {
sure fire laugh provoker and viii
shake family up more than th'
| funniest movie, If the reader cal
manage to keep straight face.
| O. Henry's "A Harlem Tragedy" /:
a great story to read to the hom,
| folks when the lights are brigh
| after supper. 1t is the story Of tn,
| lady whose husband beat her VI
and of the lady whose husband woult
| not hit her at all 1t ends. as all o
Henry fans recall, with the latter
wife moaning to the other, my
| Gawd, he's washing the clothes, he:
! washing the clothes"
Octavus Roy Cohen's stories are
good for family circle reading, a:
are those of Irwin Cobb and ELI:
| Parker Butler. Mark Twain is ire.
| me endously worth while. Oscar
| Wilde's prose poems are unsurpassed
| Or try Daisy Ashford's The Little
Visitor" The list is almost limit
less. The new Golden Book maya.
zine is filled monthly with goot
| reading for the family circle.