THE EVILS OF READING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 675, 27 November 1909, Page 9

THE EVILS OF READING.

,-:The' v blessings ;7 brought .-by./books -'form. ..a f fY°? rlt:e theme for the' essuyist, and (hoy aro chiefly three; " they .enlarge .our knowledge of life, they, deepen our'esteem'for humaii nature, and they furnish us 'with ; a pleasing-alibi-from the .lesser cares and vexations of life. There is, however, as a writer; in one of the weeklies' Ms been/reminding us, .such,..a; thing' .as the . baue of hooks." -That is 1 to spy,'.books good in .themselves, may., be ,sb used'as to harm .instead.'. of. 1 , tho reader: This -happens when they are oysr.-indulged 19.'' It ;is,possible to read; with siich ■ concentration, Mid'.contiiility as to lose-a sense of the realities of life. Tho type ;'of: character thus ,produced lias been a favourite, butt with tho mirthmakers, from the ~ Scholasticus" vof vHievacles; ;. .who. shook ,-the.tree/to.;bringr down the sparrows,;: to the mathematician 'who;- cab -in?front- of him, 1 vaguely associated -it with his blackboard, and began a problem on it, and who when: the cab moved ( off; moved after it,'dashing in a phis or ,a : minus -;as - occasion -.oifere'd.. r. Those: are, ex.' trenie instances, but there'aro niany who" are like John; Earle's "Downright Scholar." "He cannot speak to a dog in his own-dialect," says Earle, '"and understands Greek better than the language .of a falconer. .He-has been used to a dark :,room . and ' dark .clothes, -and' his eyes dazzle; at a, satin' suit. Tho hermitage - of ; his study - has 'blade' him somewhat-uncouth iin ■ tho world, and mea- make hinwiforse.,by,,staring._on -him: " Thus 'is; he ■ silly and ridiculous,' and' it continues: with, him for. some quarter of a year oift.of .tho .university." When tho literature thus over-indulged in is . exclusively .fiction: tbb results < aye wdrse.' -. Ho - who: iiv: people's minds : at present 'holds the cap" for novel reading is, the person -who, in the old- day's of : the British ■( Museum Reading-room; devoured notion at-the rate of five books per'day.; Now it is possiblo to read even; a poor novel 'in such •a, way as '.to. be 'the better for it, but when novels are read to tho tune of thirty per week there can be no vigorpus, reaction of the mind on;thp matter read, and where that iV'lackine, mental deterioration of some sort ; is inevitable. Especially so '.if -. thero has been no -previous wide experience of. life .to enablo'the reader to control' the creations' of the writer., In that - ,case .not .only, is the mind filled :with extravagant anticipations of what life is likely to-bo, hut a'certain vicious dreaminess of mind is in-' duccd like that of the "fantastic spirits" in Jorem^: V Xaylor.v.''Somo; fantastic spirits," says that writer/,mil walk alone-and dream waking- of.- paldces, of excellent ora vtiojis, full theatres, Ibud applauses, sudden ad» vancement,' fortunes, and so will ■ spend an hour with, imaginative l pleasure; all their employment, being nothing but fumes' of .pride, »»4 secret indefinite dssires and/significations oiJiWhat.. their, heart wishes.'*'.v. This' state of ' W». doubt, - temporary,' but it is doubtful if those wlio have iphaled deeply tho fumes spoken of, over quite lay themselves alongsido the : -average : man ; and heartily accept the commonplace practical ideals of life.—"Manchester Guardian." -