Evening star., 1933-06-03
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

ter how bright, to secure the real gains
of intelligence, II he sticks to the wise
cracking" writer's forever and q day.
He must branch out, delve in new
fields, or at least new to him, because
few men are in the class of the poet
who said that he was large" that he
contained multitudeS."
Such readers as we have described,
however, by no means constitute all
those who have succumbed to the
really dire influence of the so-called
smart-alec writer, the writer who Is
afraid to be serious In q serious world.
'There are thousands upon thousands
Of serious readers who, although they
see through the fallacy Of such laugh
ing treatments Of all subjects, serious
or light, nevertheless have been so ac-
customed to reading such writings that
they tend to find serious STUFF ter
ribly difficult to be got through with.
4
It Is right at this point that one
must be patient and must depend. in
part, on that good discipline which
constantly stands by to help and
soothe.
Patience is necessary, because often
the continuance in good comes about
only as the result Of will power.
Now. will power, no matter what
the theologians may say about 1t, Is
discipline In action.
1t means, viewed from the stand
the patience to go through with book
he has begun, once his mind has de-
termined that the volume in question
is worthwhile.
He must be willing to be bored, per-
haps terribly, for p time, In order TO
prove to himself tt thousands OF the
readers of the world. who have read
and praised here before, are really
right in their judgment.
This long book the reader holds in
his hand, whichever one Of large
number 1t might be. Is evidently good
for something. He would not be hold
ing it unless 1t were.
He is going to find out what.
y II
Such Is the attitude of the patient
reader, the man or woman who knows
that everything which is good Is not
easy.
Perhaps never before in the history
of the world-a most solemn thought
have there ever been printed so many
and large books demanding the appi-
cation Of the best brains the reader
possesses.
Any one who has paid the slightest
attention to the volumes on economies
alone which have poured from the
presses of the great metropolitan CEN
ters of the world during the past three
years knows beyond the need of further
argument the vast necessity for patience
in tackling them.
Many of these books are upon topics
about which the average person knows
woefully little, or even nothing, to be
quite frank about it.
To spend money is one thing, but to
know what money is, and how 1t got
that way" Is quite another thing.
He who would read some of the bet
ter Of these books on current economic
trends must have vast patience, pa
tience which is builded squarely on the
good discipline Of the mind.
II the reader is patient, If he is in
not too great hurry to throw up his
mental hands before what at first
strikes him as an impossibility, he may
in time (say 800 pagesD begin to find
real good in the perusal
Reading patience is what is required
II we, as readers, have forgotten our
good discipline, and its necessary pa
tience, let us try to remember them
while there is yet time. God welcomes
only those who oyercometh, We are
told.