Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-07
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

in other words. to generation of movie
goers. Nevertheless, 1t is great work.
Much of the force of this biography
arises from the cumulative effect, which
the reader builds up in his own mind
with the aid offered him by Emil Lud-
wig He gets moving picture of the
life of this great man such as perhaps
no other single volume gives He gets
it. however only If he reads it rs rap
idly as possible. Then the tragedy that
was Napoleon stands out in glory, etched
with pity.
If one is forced, time after time, tc
begin again on the story, each time
mentally going back to catch up the
loose threads. he necessarily loses the
continuity, along with the total effect
Napoleon. to such. reader, will be
something less than Napoleon.
y 4 *
Any one of the longer romances oil
the great master, Alexandra Dumas
depends largely upon the cumulative
effect OF pages of rapid-fire dialogue
and action.
The sheer mass of words makes fol
mass OF effect. In such a work as
"Olympe de Cleves," little known. but
very fine story (the poet Henlev calico
" Vic VA LAlC SICdCCSU IOI1dIlCGS ever
written, the feeling of having beer
present at actual events is secured
partly through the centering of the
readers interest in one continuous
action.
If a reader insists on making sc
short stories out of what an author de-
signed as one very long one, he must
necessarily miss something which he
VIII secure who reads continuously tt
the end. The fine glow which a great
tale puts one into is something that car
be achieved in no other way.
There is more sense in reading the
Bible disiointedly, since such perusaI
may be taken as strictly religious duty
One may question such a method, how
ever, from the standpoint of literature
The Scriptures are great literature as
we'll as great religion. To possess the
grand harmony of the gospels in their
sublime light, it is necessary, many feel
to catch the true glory of the "old, ole
story" There is plot and plan here, too
which only he who reads intently, who
absorbs the narrative as a whole, will
be able to understand
X X X y
One may believe that the Public
Library does the average reader q good
service In placing time limit on every
book it allows to be taken out.
BY thus limiting the reader to a GER
tain number of days, the library in
sures that he will, whether or no, gel
the picture which the book offers in its
entirety.
The very fact that the borrower
knows that scores of other persons are
waiting to read the book exerts an un-
seen pressure upon his mind, and makes
him hurry up and finish it, thus bene-
fitting not only those others, but also
himself.
The late Theodore Roosevelt was
perhaps the most omnivorous reader
who ever lived. He read like a whirl-
wind. too, and in SO doing took full
advantage Of the good things which
such reading brings to the reader.
The cumulative effect of good book
is, after all, the very one which the
writer thereof most desired to bestoW
upon his readers. He wanted them tt
live the story as he, the writer, had
lived it. He secured continuity because
although he necessarily wrote in
snatches, he had his "big idea" in minC
all the time The only way a reader car
get the same idea is to secure for him
self the cumulative effect by intensive
reading.