Evening star., 1932-05-19

himself, the only way any human oeing
can make judgments OF any worth
That good old Prof" friend and COM
rnde. told the world OF students wnat
he preferred. and implied that otners
should like the same things.
What the boys did behind his back
would have interested him, but he never
knew. nor did he care to know. Any
variations from the sublime standards
OF taste set down by him, as ne hao
had them passed on to him. woulo
have been regarded by him simply as
queer deviations OF the young mind.
Hence he would not have been upset
in the least II he had known that GER
tain OF his charges had been reading
Walt Whitman. and had placed orders
with the village book store for copies
OF Leaves of Grass.
Had not he. the duly appointed men
tor. once pointed out that while Whit
man was an interesting phenomenon in
American literature. he scarce 1olted
the elder poets in their immortal places
in the literary heavens?
He had. too. with somewhat wither-
ing scurn, he liked to think. made
few reflections on the moral character
Of the man. sufficient to turn away
from his direction all but the most
stubborn OF StudentS.
Those stubborn ones, however, smiled,
and read Whitman when they pleased,
for In him they recognized, as Emer-
son recognized, the authentic voice OF
major prophet. II Whitman was
good enough for Charles Algernon Swim
burne, they chose to think, he must be
the possessor Of certain abilities which
they rather thought they detected in
his lines themselves.
The natural booklover so comes to
hold fast to his own likes and dlslikes,
and to regard them as more important,
for himself, than all the vast numbers
OF opinions by all the other lovers OF
good books.
Their opinions are for them; what
one wants Is ones own opinion, FOR
ones precious self Here is the great
schisr1. The wise man listens respect-
fully, tries his best to weigh duly, and
makes an honest effort to appreciate.
II he can not bring himself to it, he
gladly gives over the task, and HES
himself away to that which he can ap-
preciate with all the apple blossom
glory OF his own mind. For the mind
is like an apple-bloSsomed Spring
redolent of fragrance and beauty II the
winds of heaven and the light OF the
sun and the fresh air are permitted 10
come into 1t.
Only by a course of deliberately turn
ing them out can the mind be kept
from recognizing and greeting its true
friends Especially book friends. which
necessarily must be separated from
book acquaintance. from book passers-
by and from book enemies. Every
reader must be Judge and jury. He
makes his own list although he may
never show it to another soul.
Despite his list, ne will never get to
the end of it. That is one of the many
reasons why It is SO delightful. other
wise. he would be in the position OF the
poor bookman who. taking particular
delight in Dickens. said one day:
What! no more Dickens to read!'
There is never an end to the beauti-
full, interesting books, volumes which
are beautiful although to some they
may seem ugly. interesting although to
the very reader they may at times be
dull.
What a greater hold has booklover
on life, than the average man, II he
has sworn to himself that he will finish
all the volumes of Gibbons Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire!
This Is solemn covenant which he
has set up with himself land with old
/ Gibbon too); never shall he leave this
world. God willing. until he has forced
himself to read every laet word.
/ Several times he has gotten as far
as midway, only to falter at the un-
ending procession of emperors. He
! knows that Coleridge. no mean critic in
his day, looked with loathing upon this
monumental work.
All that makes no difference. Cole
ridge was Coleridge and the booklovei
! is himself He means to read Gibbcn
all the way through, as living tribute
| to a great attempt of the human mind
/ He means to read all of the worlds
| books-his books-if it takes a life
| time