Evening star., 1931-12-29

Now come January and February
two Of the best months in the year,
"Home-loving hearts are happiest,
said Longfellow.
II this is SO, now is a great time
Housekeepers, in particular, enjoy these
two first months of the year.
The happy trials and tribulatlons OF
Christmas are over. The garden L
forgot, for the time being. Forma
again until Spring.
Even the weather usually conspires
to make the "home-loVing body" prefer
to stay in the house rather than breast
the winds in search of entertainment
elsewhere.
These months constitute a sort OF
lull in the rush of life. a yearly respite
from too much doing, in which q
human being may catch ones breath
as it were.
In reading, for instance.
How many books there are, to be
sure, which one has always wished to
read, but never has, somehow!
Many a householder will be aston
ished at himself when he comes to take
up these long forgotten. volumes to dis
cover that his enjoyment of them Is
as acute as he hoped it would be.
it possible to remain away from the
great old books for years and then
return to them as If I had never been
away?"
The answer must be in the affirma-
tive. There may be a few moments OF
uneasineSs, during which the recalci-
trant reader discovers that the hinges
of his mind have grown a bit rusty
Even the brain grows rusty with dis
use. But If the reader persists, he will
find it something like swimming-once
learned, never forgotten.
There are no months in the year
more delightful for reading good books
And the happy part of it is that one
scarcely need stir out of the house tC
get rev ones, There are few people
who have had the benefits of what is
called IAN education" who do not pos
sess many volumes which they have not
read
Suppose it is an old set of the nov.
els of Walter Scott. Did you know
that these grand old stories are begin
ming to undergo revival of popularity?
They are being discovered by intelli-
gent people, just as the game back
CANNON was discovered last year.
A great invention is not mere bally-
hoo Just because some one says 1t is
1t stands on its own legs, and has a lot
of life left In 1t yet, whether it be
called backgammon, or ping pong, OF
SCOTS novels, or the works of Robert
Louis Stevenson, or the novels OF
Charles Dickens.
One of the greatest discoveries in the
world is the personal one, that inimicaI
talk cannot harm anything really worth
while or any human being who is hon
est and aboveboard. What such talk
may do Is hurt the work or the human
being in the minds and hearts of 9TH
ers who are easily led.
whispering campaigns, Of all sorts
whether the result of innate meanneSS
or simply arising from a desire to be
thought clever, do their harm by keep
ing others away from a good thing. II
may be taken for rule, almost, that
whatever is spoken against has good
points. else it would not be spoken
against. If it were as bad as some
would have others believe, it would not
excite enough attention TO demand
that any one speak against 1t.
Young people, in particular, shoulo
be warned against the easy assumption
that they, or their mates, can be the
Judges. in relation to works of art, eSpe-
cially music and books and those other
works of art, other human beings:
The ready sneer and the look In
different cannot really lower the dig
nifty of anything or any one Wortf
while. even if such actions seem to dc
so to those who indulge in them. Ihf