Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 May 1889 — About Reading. [ARTICLE]

About Reading.

One can not master all knowledge; tlie majority of even the best books must be left unread. In order to know well a little, one must be content to be ignorant of a great deal that seems equally important. Carlyle says that the art of selecting books is the art of rejecting them. The high priests of literature, science and art are to be read, and not the copyists and lesser lights. “The book to be read,” said Dr. McCosh, “is not the one that thinks for you, but the one that sets you to thinking.” This may be a safe rule for the highly educated, but the untrained mind has a guide in itself. Each read-, er must follow his own tastes, and consult his own needs. Let him read the books he would lay down with reluctance. The taste and craving for light literature will not last if one is not reading that which is pernicious. The mind wall develop, and true mental food will be demanded. Professor Townsend.