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Show I. -- '-t fEATTLE Creek g?..BK.B. Britians all, from the humblest subject of the far-flung Empire, to the Queen herself, paused last Tuesday to pay respects to Winston Win-ston Churchill; soldier, writer, artist, ar-tist, orator, and statesman. Few-men Few-men in England, or in the entire world for that matter, have served serv-ed their country and the cause of democracy more brilliantly; or for N- a longer period of time. Winston Churchill's service as a public servant began at the age of seventeen; when he entered Sandhurst the West Toint of England as a cadet in the cavalry. caval-ry. In the following 63 years of his public life, he has served as a soldier in India, a. war corresxmd-ent corresxmd-ent in Africa, member of Parliament, Parlia-ment, soldier in the trenches in France, Minister of War, Lord of the Admiralty, and Prime Minister. Minis-ter. In addition he has found time during his busy life, to write numerous num-erous volumes on historical subjects. sub-jects. The profound learning of this outstanding 80 year-old Englishman English-man seems all the more remarkable, remark-able, since he has been relatively self-taught. In fact, his formal school education, which ended with his enlistment in the cavalry, was practically a failure. He hated school and all that -went with it. This decided dislike for prescribed prescrib-ed educational proceedure arose not from the fact that he was stupid; but because he could not endure the slow stcp-by-step methods meth-ods of the British Grammar schools. Perhaps the only good that came from his day school experiences w-as the fact that in spite of their straight-jacket methods, the English Eng-lish schoolmasters certainly taught him to read. With the ability to interpret the printed page, and the ambition to succeed in his chosen fields; it was not long until Churchill Chur-chill was the best informed young man in the British Commonwealth. The rest is just a matter of history. If any moral is to be appended to the story of success of this outstanding out-standing man, it might be that the ability to read is paramount. During these days of radio and television, there are those who would have us believe that accurate accur-ate and fast reading is of secondary second-ary importance. "Why read," some of them will say, "when you can keep abreast of the times just by watching the television and listening listen-ing to the radio?" The fallacy of this mistaken idea is soon apparent appar-ent to anyone who trys to succeed in the professions or in public life, without it. In these days of crowded classrooms class-rooms and limited facilities especially espec-ially in the elementary schools, parents and teachers might well keep in mind this fact: reading is fundamental; it should not be neglected. i Few or perhaps none of the students stu-dents now in our schools will ever become Winston Churchill's; but many will be relegated to lives of mediocrity, who might otherwise have become leaders, if this vital skill was not neglected. The old adage. "The that runs may read." may well be put in reverse. "He that reads may run. & will quickly outdistance those who have not in early life learned to drink from the vast reservoirs of knowledge, that civilization has stored between be-tween the covers of great books." So long 'til Friday. |