Something to Read
Improvement Era, vol. 7, no. 3, January 1904, p. 174
Elmendorf, H. L.
174
IMPROVEMENT
ERA.
brawls
between
patrician
officers,
he
had
never
before
known
one
to
occur
on
such
a
theme.
He
could
scarcely
believe
that
Claudius
had
sacrificed
the
friendship
of
Decius,
and
risked
his
own
life,
to
defend
the
honor
of
a
slave
maiden
of
an
alien
race.
He
listened
respectfully
to
the
young
man's
explanation
of
the
brawl,
shrugged
his
shoulders
in
respectful
doubt,
and
promised
to
investigate
more
thoroughly
the
following
day.
As
he
turned
to
go,
he
asked,
"Is
your
slave
maiden
in
the
camp
?"
Claudius
answered
in
the
affirmative.
"Do
you
recognize
her
voice?"
he
asked.
Claudius
stepped
ouside
his
tent,
and
stood,
transfixed
with
astonishment.
Rising
on
crisp
air,
the
clear,
sweet
voice
of
a
few
men
and
women
blended
in
the
strains
of
a
Christian
hymn.
Sound-
ing above
the
rest,
he
recognized
the
voice
of
his
slave
maiden.
As
the
imperator
strode
away
to
his
own
tent,
Claudius
still
stood
in
the
moonlight
listening
to
the
singing.
The
flush
of
wine
had
left
him,
and
the
cool
air
played
upon
his
brow,
soothing
his
fevered
brain;
while
the
gentle,
spiritual
music
touched
the
great-
est depths
of
his
soul.
As
the
singing
ceased,
the
young
man
wept
such
tears
of
mingled
grief
and
joy,
as
he
had
never
known
before.
And
still
he
stood
there,
while
the
moon
rode
through
the
heavens,
shedding
her
light
upon
him
like
a
benediction.
(to
be
continued.)
SOMETHING
TO
READ.
A
boy
of
seventeen
should
intimately
know
the
English
Bible.
He
should
know
it
as
literature
quite
aside
from
its
religious
teaching.
He
should
know
it
from
having
had
it
read
to
him
from
his
earliest
years,
and
from
reading
and
studying
it
for
himself.
A
boy
who
grows
up
without
this
intimate
acquaintance
with
the
great
masterpiece
of
all
literature
is
without
something,
for
the
loss
of
which
nothing
can
compensate
and
which
nothing
can
replace.
It
is
needless
to
speak
of
the
strength
of
the
language,
the
beauty
of
the
poetry,
and
the
interest
of
the
narratives
of
this
wonderful
book,
but
necessary
merely
to
empha-
size concerning
it
*
*
*
that,
without
knowing
it
well,
it
is
im-
possible to
really
understand
or
appreciate
the
great
mass
of
our
best
literature.
Experience
shows
that
unless
a
boy
acquires
this
knowledge
before
he
is
seventeen,
he
rarely
gets
it
later.—
F.
L.
Elmendorf.