Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1917 — TEST OF THE “WELL READ” [ARTICLE]

TEST OF THE “WELL READ”

Ona Qualifying for Thia Title Is Not Necessarily of the Bookworm Type.

Persons who like to think that they are entitled to be classified as “well read” ought to check up on themselves every once In a while, because the requirements are constantly Increasing, and the well-read man of a few years ago Is the back number of today. Once there was a time when a fair degree of Intimacy with Shakespeare and the Bible was the only requirement; but that la.not.the case any more. For checking up purposes an admirable document Is the examination for prospective library workers given In this city recently, says the Spokane Review. Anybody who can answer correctly all the questions in that examination would be Indisputably well read. A few errors might be allowed, but not many, for It Is a fair examination and a comprehensive one. One is supposed to know at least one name, of author or work, from the great literatures from the Hindu to modern times. One name from each period ought to stick to the least retentive memory. One ought also to be able to name the authors of a selected list of familiar works, even though the list takes In representatives from “Gulliver’s Travels” to “Man and Superman.” To drive home the Idea that the wellread mind is not necessarily the bookworm type the literary examination reaches Into the field of general information and takes In vers libre, feminism, watchful waiting", the city manager plan, “somewhere in France,” direct primaries, Colonia Dublan, single tax, aviation, Verdun, submarine warfare, genre painting and Steptoe butte. How many of the “well read” could pass the examination? The percentage of failures probably would be surprising, even to the participants.