Evening star., 1925-09-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

does 1t as a matter of course. Shortly
before his press time he will come
into the possession of a lengthy legal
decision. The topic is abstruse and
the handling even more so. Reading
word by word, he scarce could run the
whole over in the time he has avail
able.
Yet when the paper comes out there
is long article with the high spots"
OF the decision played up" in the
opening paragraphs, the whole as
sembling the essential portions of that
very learned, very lengthy, decision.
How did he do it?
The newspaper man. of course, EN-.
ployed few of the tricks of his trade.
but in the main he relied on his ability
to read paragraphs instead of words,
pages instead of paragraphs.
Experience had taught him that the
''guts" Of the decision, as it is COM
monty called, would be found in the
very last paragraph of the entire
tract. This is one of the tricks
But experience also had taught him
a great deal more, and that is the
priceless ability to scan over printed
words, to pull out the essential
thoughts, to make himself master of
what the writer has to impart and let
the rest go.
This ability is particularly desirable
In the reading of scientific and legal
works wherein there is scarcely ever
an attempt made to write for any
other purpose than to impart informa-
ton.
This. perhaps. is the fundamental
distinction between Science" and
literature" as Bulwer-Lytton distin-
gS,I
that have any particular literary value
are few and far between. The vast
number of them are works of erudi-
ton. laying no claim to any charm of
style.
Learn to read slow-all other graces
viii follow in their proper places.
So. William Walker. But in the
light of our foregoing remarks we
cannot agree with him, especially In
reference to such works as those of
Charles Darwin. Nor, If one is q
rapid reader by nature, can his words
be held truth for any kind OF reading.
To read slow is but to make a task
of what should be a delight. One is
all but lost in a welter of words. The
delectable art of skipping is some
thing that has to be learned as we'll
as any other. 1t comes with much
reading, and only the book-lover
knows 1t in it's perfection.
To all those who hold reverence for
the printed page this necessarily is
one of the crowning rewards of books.
Truly. of the making of them there is
no end, and no man, however great a
bookman he may be. can hope to read
the hundredth part of them.
The art of reading by paragraphs,
then, and pages, comes to his assist.
ance, enabling him to call his own far
more books than otherwise he would
be able to claim.
Thus in reading THE Descent of
Man" he will read only for those por-
tions which set forth what the great
scientist actually said upon the ques-
ton. The great mass of experimental
data which Darwin gives makes but
wasted labor for any but the man who
Is studying the subject for his llfe-
work.
/ would caution readers against the
supposition that anything is here said
in favor of careless reading. If this
method of surveying a book, as II
were, does not come more or less nat
ural to him, he had better laboriously
spell out each word, rather than run
the chance of missing half of what his
author desires to tell him.
If natural inclination, however, or
study makes this system easy to him
he will find that he has added one
more delightful feature to that most
charming of all entertainments-the
reading of good books.