Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-16
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Is. TRAcEHBLL.

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what was good TO him then Is common
place to him now. Or he may discover
that his sentiments are the same: what
he underlined then Is still fine. Yes,
he knows a good thing when he sees 1t.
The one great service which under
lining does IL to make sure that the
quotable things In book can be
found again, speedily and easily. thus
rendering them available. There il
nothing more disconcerting than to try
10 show friend something good in q
book and not to be able 10 find 1t at
all. A few little marks will save the
day.
Ii Ia astonishing what different
look undermining gives to book, espe-
cially a favorite book. Whereas one
without marks II a vast wilderness Of
black marks on white paper, the prop
erly UNDERSIGNED work takes on q
friendly. familiar appearance. These
are marks of civilization. They become
pathways to thoughts good and great.
They lift out, much as red letters do,
the valuable content, and discriminate
IL from the mere mass of words which
necessarily go to carry the best. Every
bit of writing must have its body,
which serves as the vehicle Of its soul,
or its very best thought.
No letter has pleased the writer of
this column more than recent one
from a washington woman, who wrote
that while she was in Vichy, France,
she had picked up copy of The Eve
ming Star In a park and found that it
was opened to the editorial page, and
that various sentences in the This and
That" column had been underlined. A
discriminating reader, we like to think,
had selected what struck him, and had
- IL L. \
found that good part and made 1t his
own. We salute him through time and
space.
The reader who believes in under
lining will do well to keep several pen
ellis near him wherever he reads. There
Is nothing more dlsconcerting than to
be forced to put down a book and hunt
around for a pencil. We believe that
the latter implement, whether of the
old or new style, is the best, and that
medium hard lead is the more success
full for undermining. A book lover does
not. care to smear his pages with a soft
lead, but on the other hand he wants
his marks to be legible and to stand
out plainly, else he has defeated the
whole purpose Of undermining
Pen and ink may suit some types of
paper, but the great drawback to this
medium Is that 1t is not easily erased
and one can never be sure when he
may make a mistake In undermining, for
human beings can be no Surer of their
book markings than of any other opin-
ions. Ones opinion may change be-
fore the book is done and If the under
lining has been in pencil the marks can
/ be erased.
We have found that a long under
lining of every word Is the best for a
quotation, If it be no more than a SEN
tence, but that II the valuable part is
half page or more in length, as it so
often is, the better way is to make
marks at the beginning and ending
merely. To underline a page full of
sentences gives the whole too solid
appearance as rule. There are occa-
sions, however, when a solid block OF
thoughts may strike the reader as SC
great that he wants to give them I'M
usual emphasis. In that event solid
undermining is the best method.
Every reader will evolve his own
standard of values. He may prefer a
straight line, or a crinkly line, or even
two lines, one under the other. The
main thing is to underline, so that what
is once found and liked may not be
lost in the shuttle. He who likes to
read generally reads so much that no
matter how good memory he has the
good things will get away from him
unless he takes the trouble to mark
them. Let it be admitted that under
| lining is at times bore; In the main
1t is helpful, valuable habit, and one
which should never be neglected by the
serious reader.