Evening star., 1932-04-09
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL

Walt Whitman had an idea that
those who did not care for his work
would like If it they would only ST.
down and actually read it.
This is true Of many writer's, and
particularly true of reading as an exer-
else. A reader must read to like reading.
Even the born booklover, fond as he
is of books, finds dull days in the read
ing year.
These days may extend into weeks,
even months, depending upon the pres
sure of outside affairs and the inner
state of mind.
Business may call. demanding COM
parative freedom from the exercise OF
reading books. Fresh Spring days. with
all their allure of new life, make de-
mands upon the hours.
Books may suffer for time.
This hiatus in the reading life is q
part of its ebb and flow.
Reading. and the enjoyment Of read
ing, like the tide of the sea, must come
in and go out.
Otherwise the mind Of the reader
would be too continuously on the stretch
his nerves would suffer, his great bump
of appreciation would become blunted.
The OrientalS have an idea that the
giver Of all life breathes steadily in and
out, and that the contemplative person
can feel that grand rhythm if he puts
himself in the proper attitude, mentally
physically and spiritually.
The idle period in the reading life Is
as much a part of the whole as the
active portion 1t is during this quiet
time of doing nothing, in book sense,
that a reader gathers up his forces for
fresh start.
Above all, by such periods Of non
reading he keeps alive his sense Of ap-
probation.
Now this sense is something more
than of the mind. Somehow the quail
ity of appreciation has always struck
us as one of the greatest in the entire
realm of mentality.
One sees men and women OF equal
scholastic training, and m other ways
on a par, who, nevertheless, ditfer VIDE
ly in their powers of appreciation
Their likes and diSlikes not only are
vastly different, but their very ability
to like what they do like and, converse
ly, to dislike what they cannot approve
is 5 per cent in one and s5 per cent
in the other.
The curious fact is that the man who
is able to appreciate the most as often
as not Is he who fails to register with
equal vim his vote against what he does
not like, This simply means that he is
not of the crusading type. He realizes
the magnitude Of life better than most
and is willing to permit honest cru
saders to handle that department OF
affairs.
Appreciation is at the bottom of art
and Of all its interesting branches. Art
is not all love for beauty. While this
may be said to be the basic influence in
the art world, there is another side to
it, and decidedly an important one.
This is the liking-and 1t is nothing
else-for a craftSmanlike job, no mat
ter whether in laying bricks or writing
book. In the building trades they
say lin a workmanlike manner"
1t is all the same.
Art is a love of beauty and an appre-
citation Of job done as it should be
done, within human limits.
The booklover will never be satisfied
with any book, down in his heart of
hearts.
He will realize that any book, no
matter how great, fails in certain ways
of the ultimate greatness which might
have been in it.
This very fact makes him MOI
lenient, more inclined to have true
consideration for the failures in writing
and for the smaller things which the
man who makes such great to do
about being of large tastes often fails
to consider.
Reading in the right way makes such
genuine demands upon the reader that
he will in time come to be somewhat
tired
He demands vacation from it all
"Good-by to All That" he says. echo
Ing one of the most felicitous book titles
in years.
He stops reading for a time.