Evening star., 1925-02-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The Pheasant custom of reading In
the family circle still survives in the
District OF Columbia, those who love
books will be glad to learn. Personally
l thought 1t had about died out. until
received q letter which read, In
part:
| Permit me to thank you for your
timely story tonight. 1t was most
enjoyable. I read 1t to our family
circle and we all had a hearty laugh
We like all your stories. They are
all SO natural. Keep up the good
work.
Many years ago the custom o1
reading aloud in the family was well
nigh universal among those persons
in the community who believed with
implicit faith in the value of books.
My early and invincible love FOL
reading l would not exchange for the
treasures of India" said the great
Gibbon, in his memoirs. Somethina G
of the same zeal motivated scores OF
fathers when they took out a book
after supper and proceeded to read q
chapter or two. Often it was the
Bible.
Many young couples have vowed
that they would keep up this happy
custom, begun during courtship days
but somehow 1t has been allowed tC
lapse with the coming of the babies
and manifold household duties and
problems.
Truly it is not an easy habit to
keep up. The diversions OF modern
life are so many that books some
times are forced to take a back sea,
or. rather, shelf-in the homes even
of true booklovera.
Then, of course, there are many
cultured homes where there could be
little reading in the family circle by
reason Of the fact that the inhabi-
tants thereof never do such a thing
as read. There are many homes
where there are fewer books than
Abraham Lincoln managed to get to.
gether.
Yet there is no more beautiful Gus.
tom than this of reading in the fam
lily circle. What a. picture! Whether
the homo be humble or grand, the
sight Is essentially the same, a scene
hallowed with light. spiritual as wei
as actual.
Do you not think, for instance. that
was immensely pleased to receive
that letter? Even Kipling would
It brought to my minds eye at once
this vision: A warm living room, easy
chairs, a lamp on the table, a mar
reading, his wife listening, perhaps
several others.
He was reading. not a book, but
the editorial page of this paper. H.
was reading the thoughts of a mar
! he had never seen, and probably
never will; but there was an invisible
tie between us, more intangible ever
than the impalpable ether.
That tie was the love of reading
In a polite age almost every per
son becomes reader, and receives
more instruction from the press thar
from the pulpit" said oliver Gold
smith in one OF his letters in 'The
Citizen Of the World"
Whatever you may think Of thai
statement, it brings home the simple
truth-even more true today than II
was then-that newspaper reading is
just as much reading as the ponder.
Gus tones Of Historian Gibbon him.
self.
Some way or other, l would rather
write for a city of living people, anC
have my humble efforts go into theil
homes every night, to find a place BY
their hearths, than to compile a most
tremendous book to lie unopened upor
few library tables, or rest with un-
cut leaves on a high shelf in O book.
case.
And this, too, even IL now and ther
l commit lese majesty by declaring
that dear old Roxie, who puts on the
best radio concerts in the United
States now as he always has done
personally talks too much to suit me
oh, yes, L know don't have to lister
but 1 can't help itl 1 like Roxie
too. you know.
Reading in the family circle has
rewards all its own, either for the
one who usually reads by himself, OF
for him who normally prefers to
share the good things Of the mind
with others.
The universal tendency of man.