Evening star., 1932-12-01
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

In bitter truth, at times he seems to
60 backward rather than forward.
The struggle to this top is more diff
cult than the climb to the peak OF
some mighty mountain. The latter Is
a physical feat, the former intellectual
and thinking Is more difficult than
walking.
If great books leave q reader disap-
pointed, In q sense, just as being proved
right never quite equals ones expecta-
tions Of the same, he may feel satisfied
with one tremendous gain.
This benefit Is simply that Of better
understanding Of correct usage and an
increased recognition Of 1t and q larger
appreciation.
Now, all this is surely something
It Is, above everything else, enjoy
ment.
The divine pleasure Of appreciation
in literature belongs to the reader who
recognizes good work, even though he
himself might be far from being able to
equal it.
The ability to do Is not the same a
the ability to appreciate.
There are thousands and thousands
Of good readers to one good writer
although the disparity between the two
has been cut largely during the past SO
years In the United States by universal
education and the dissemination OF
knowledge by means Of books, news
papers and magazines.
4 \
There seems to be a certain bit OF
snobbishness in all life, and in litera-
ture it finds an outlet in the satisfaction
of the reader who is able to comprehend
what writer is trying to do and who
has an appreciation for what he has
achieved The snob element comes in
when the reader instincti' ely prides
himself on his recognition AID his ap-
probation. At the same tiDle he per-
mitS himself to feel. if only for an in
slant, that there will be scores of other
readers who will not have had enough
reading experience to enable them to
gain a like recognition and like ap-
probation of good work done.
It is exactly at this point that all the
rules" of grammars and rhetorics fall
down, and good usage, as worked out
by the masters and their friends, the
thousands of appreciators Of good writ
ing and reading, takes the helm. Those
who work solely by the rules are not In
any mood to understand when writer
attempts to think outside the rules
With them the rule Is everything and
the attempt to think nothing. But the
understanding reader, If he runs across
noble atteSlpt, will value it for the
striving, even If it happens to violate
all the rules in the book
It thus happens that there are two
kinds of readers-those who read for
the words only and those who, valuing
words more, read even more for the
thoughts which lie behind words, like
so many precious colors in apparently
white light.
In the single matter Of the use OF
propositions the few rules are as moth
ing in comparison with the great body
of good usage. This is experienced
literally acquired, by much reading and
by an understanding of intents as one
reads. There is no other way All other
ways are book learning" not to be
mentioned in the same breath with
genuine knowledge, the instructive &C
quirements Of human minds attempting
to strike forth sparks from words.
Readers who read by rules" and
therefore, alas! unhappily, tend to
think they know it ALL" should be ex-
tremely suspicious of their own knowl-
edge when they come across something
or other which strikes them as wrong. >
Maybe the writer of the book knew
more than they did, and perhaps, above
all, he gave them credit for an attitude
which they do not possess, but which
they ought to set out to acquire, since
1t would mean for them better thinking
writing and reading.