Show THOUGHTS ABOUT READING t I BY GASKELL No II It ia when men get beyond the fid of demonstrable fact into that of I speculation that they moat widely differ When they meet upon the plane of a common humanity and cast aside theory aud sophisticated philosophy they are lees likely fa I disagree To the young man just starting out in life it is bette to know hat good common sense and fixed principles of right are far preferable to the showy tineeling of superficial accomplishments While cot claiming claim-ing so largo a portion of the time of others his merits are sure t rest upon a mora solid foundation and should ho bo cast upon his own resources re-sources ho has within himself a strength that needs no adventitious support All human beings have a desire to I appear respectably in life It is in the nature of that respectability they c differ To be ignorant on profes uiooal or scientific points is no dis Srce but to be ignorant upon all t intellectual points shows either a E woeful waste of time and opportunity 1 ir an idiotio weakness of mind Whilst conversation ia not to be con tinuosly indulged in to be unable to talk intelligently is mortifying to every sensitive mind and when thai inability is the result of ignorance through neglect of past advantage it can but result in shame to the individual indi-vidual What then should the young read That depends in a great meaeure upon what line of life they are to follow fol-low Whatever it may be a profession profes-sion or a trade they should endeavor to master it in all its bearings and details He is not great by any means who has a smattering of the greatest number of fads but he who ii i most learned in the particular line of life he is destined to follow His principal reading should be with a view to increase his power in that reepect as by so doing he enlarges his efficiency and usefulness There are certain kinds of reading that all should more or less practise those that increase our knowledgejof virtue and rdd ta the aggregate of our ex nn nn A1 ni L puuuuuu jiuu iii uuiuiug are EUCI a acts or truths illustrated more tully than in those records of the past we I call biography and history They tell us what men have done and can I do and while many pages are devoted de-voted to a record ol folly and vice their very errors should not be indulged in-dulged in from a desire for amusement amuse-ment alone nor will it be where an investigating intellect exists as memory mem-ory plays an important part in the economy of lifo and ws are led un consciourly to compare and divide truth from error virtue from vice More persons are lsd into the commission com-mission ol jrrong by impulse than deliberation and design and much as souse may talk of the innate depravity deprav-ity of human nature its tendencies are rather toward the good than bad The advantages enjoyed by the young man of today in Utah are far euperior to those of twenty or thirty yeara ago Books were rare and none but those in affluent cir cunulanccs for those days could procure them I well remember the eagerness with which I read anything any-thing new but as on account of scarcity I devoured everything that came in my way I now in the light of greater experience see that much of it would have been better let alone Even our eobosla taught little more than reading writing and arithmetic My ideas of grammar were confined to the similitude of language to a tree in its trunk branches and leaves one growing out of and being dependent upon the other Nor do I think tho teacher knew any better himself at least be never to my knowledge got beyond that figure and for aught I know may be still at work on it The name of the text book where this tree flourished I forget aa the only copy belonged to the teacher nor do I know what constituted consti-tuted the trunk branches and leaves of the tree It was a pleasant day for me when the Utah Library was given by government 10 the territory and to the librarian John Lyon many thanks are due for his unvarying kindness Though not covering a wide range the collection embraced most of the standard works on history science and literature of the English language I mention this not through egotism but to contrast tho paet with the present and to show the young man that i he chooses there ia no reasonable bar to hia improvement |