Wholesome Reading

— WHOLESOME READING. BY JOHN HENRY EVANS, OF THE L. D. S. UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR OP "ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF 'mormonism.' " [This paper was read at one of the officers' meetings of the Y. M. M. I. A. at the June Conference, 1907. Editors.] As I am expected to say something on good reading, which you can make use of during the approaching season, I shall endeavor to be as plain, direct, and specific as I can. And since the subject and the occasion are such as to require exact and careful statement, I early decided not to rely upon the uncertainty of ex- temporaneous address, but instead to set down on paper all I had to say: so that, right or wrong, in the end I shall at all events have said precisely what I intended. Moreover, I have tried throughout to keep before me the needs of our young men and the conditions out of which we must provoke in them the habit of reading good books. Some of the questions that have been constantly in my mind during the preparation of this paper, are these: Why should we try to induce the boys to read ? Or, if they read now, why should we attempt to direct their reading? How far may we do this? And, more especially, how ought we to proceed in this matter so as to bring about the greatest good? I throw out these questions now at the beginning because I want you to think about them, to hold them in mind, and to assist me in answering them. One thing, I think, we may take for granted, to begin with: Some of our boys do not read at all, few of them read enough, and some of them read literature of an improper kind. Whittling sticks at the corner grocery, horse-racing and buggy-riding at un- seasonable hours, spinning unsavory yarns, cracking unwholesome

WHOLESOME READING. 821 jokes— these are to too many of the young men more alluring than the delights of good reading. Not that there is anything peculi- arly harmful about whittling, buggy- riding, and the like; but there is something harmful in the way they are sometimes overdone. And some of those whom we find already in possession of the read- ing-habit give too much of their spare time to the hundred and one magazines, and to "the six best selling novels" of the day. The fact is, that our lighter weeklies and monthlies, for the most part, merely gratify and feed the often vitiated public taste, in- stead of leading it to a higher appreciation; and "the six best sellers" are, with rare exceptions, notoriously unworthy the time it takes to read them. The problem confronting Mutual Improve- ment workers, so far as concerns this matter of reading, is there- fore two-fold, (1) how can we get those boys to read something who now read nothing? and (2) how can we get those who now read little but trashy literature, to read something better? This problem I have made my chief concern this morning. But before treating it in detail, I wish to call attention to two other points. The first of these is the meaning that the reading-habit has for the boy. I am afraid that a good many of us do not believe in reading so strong^ as we should; but until we are convinced that it is an absolutely indispensable thing, we cannot hope to do much this winter with the reading course. Now, why should the boys read? The answer usually given is, that it is partly to give them amusement and partly to give them instruction. This may be perfectly true, but it does not help us much; for there is still the question, Why should they get amuse- ment and instruction, or, at any rate, why can't they get these out of books just as well? The answer, I suspect, lies nearer the sur- face than we sometimes imagine. Consider for a moment the dif- ference between the man who reads and the man who does not read. Other things being equal, the former is broader and deeper in his comprehension of things than the latter; he has a far greater outlook upon the world. Life means more to him, simply because his thought-range is larger. I have seen hundreds of men in the mining districts of England and Wales who had actually lost all power to read because they had not formed the reading-habit; and consequently their lives, which otherwise might have been more

822 IMPROVEMENT ERA. useful than merely to provide food for themsehes and their off- spring, were narrowed down to a simple animal existence. I call attention to the difference in manhood because that difference has its beginning in boyhood. The habit of reading, it is said with truth, must begin with the boy if it begin at all. There are, of course, exceptions, but they are exceptions. Who has not wit- nessed the pathetic struggle of the mature man, who, convinced too late of the necessity for reading, has tried to make amends for the past? It is like an oarsman fighting hopelessly against the stream. "I tried hard to get this lesson," remarked a man in a Sunday school class, 'but the minute ' I take the book I , fall asleep!" He had never learned to read. So, then, it is imperative that the youth acquire the reading-habit, if he would be influenced by the greater world of thought and of things, and if he would learn that there is something higher in life than to hang about the street corners or on the roadside, with his hands in his pockets, and the deadly cigarette between his lips. The importance of reading is further emphasized by the power a book may have, for good or ill, on one's life. Some years ago Mr. W. D. Howells, the dean of American letters, declared as his opinion that it does not matter much what one reads, and that everything will come out all right in the end. I must confess that it does not appear to me in this light. Of course, boys and girls with natural good- taste would be nauseated by vulgar literature;, and it is perhaps to these that Mr. Howells referred. But there are many boys and girls in the world who have natural bad-taste, but whose taste can be considerably improved by cultivation. With these, things do not always turn out right in the end. Some- times they end in the madhouse. Mr. Howells would most prob- ably say that they would end there anyway. That may be, but it is scarcely a safe conjecture to use as a basis for the distribution of reading matter. Many a girl in the humdrum commonplaceness of early married life, has found herself at cross-swords with things as they are, merely because her notions of life were derived from the dime-novel variety of fiction, and because the wrench was too great which required her ideas to conform to the eternal verities. Instead of the handsome man she expected to meet, there con- fronted her a person only moderately good looking, with not even

WHOLESOME READING. 823 romance enough to propose on his knees. Hoping for the false glamor which her cheap novel had thrown over matrimony, she was stunned by the fact that there were dishes to wash, floors to scrub, and children to pacify. The result, except in a strong character, unhappiness, and misery for her and all around her. is with the boy. Unless the book you place in his hands It is so, too, gives him a proper ideal, he will inevitably look for something to do that is daring, sensational, unusual. He cannot bring himself down to the prosaic ways of his fathers. Oblivious to the fact that real men in the real world have to earn fame, wealth, or power by slow degrees, the youth whose ideas have been formed by penny-a-liners, must win fame, wealth, power at a single leap, and he grows discontented with a place which does not promise- these by the time he reaches his majority. On the other hand,, consider the result of a good book on the boy's life. Put a clean volume into his hand, and you make him twice blessed. There will be less inclination on his part to waste his time. His ideas of pleasure will gradually undergo modification. He will get an im- pulse to do something with himself. He will feel that there is something in the world for him to do, and that he can do it. And probably the inspiration he receives from its wholesome pages may give an entirely new direction to his career. He will have been set right with the realities. That is leally what he was, this is what he is! "Behold, what a great matter a little fire kind- leth!" Depend upon it, then, it does make a difference whether a boy acquires the reading habit or not. It does make a difference, too, whether he reads this or that book. The other point I promised to speak of, before taking up the manner in which we should go about our work, concerns the ques- tion of wholesome reading. What is wholesome reading? Nowa- days the question narrows itself down to fiction. It has little meaning, indeed, if asked concerning history or biography. The only thing that we ask about these is, was the event worth record- ing, th3 life worth writing, and are they truly recorded and writ- ten? The question is oftener asked of poetry; but since boys do not care much for rhyme, the question so far as we are concerned is ruled out. It has, however, peculiar signifi-ance if asked re-

824 IMPROVEMENT ERA. specting fiction. The query, what is wholesome fiction? is one of the vital things in reading and in life. I know that among some of our people there is a prejudice against novel- reading, but I regard it as based on a misunderstand- ing of the purposes of the good novel. At all events, the question confronts us, and will always confront us; we cannot ignore it. Boys have a natural craving for stories. Narrative is almost the only thing in reading they can understand. The feeling for action in some form or other is at the high tide, their power to grasp ideas in the abstract has little more than begun to develop. How foolish then it must be to ignore this fact! The better way is to assume that we canno: change the boy's constitution, and to endeavor to make use of it or to modify it to suit our purposes. Be assured, however, that if a boy reads at all, stories are what he will read — stories of adventure first, then of love. But it is as unwise to condemn all kinds of novels because some are bad, as it is to reject all kinds of argument because some arguments are poor, or to refuse to accept any money because there are counter- feit pieces afloat. The better thing to do is to discriminate between good and bad fiction, just as we discriminate in everything else in life. A good many people, however, object to fiction-reading on account of the time it consumes and the appetite it develops for more. No doubt this can be carried to the extreme, but the thing to do is, not to try to stop all reading of stories, but to limit the quantity; just as, if a boy should be in the habit of eating too much, we should give him less to eat instead of refusing him any food at all. We still have the question, What is good fiction? In general, I should say that we may tell a novel as we tell a bit of food — — whether it is good or not by its effects. Food that deranges the stomach, and brings on a headache, we may, I think, set down as improper for us. The same is true of a story; if it upsets our no- tions of right and wrong, or tends to upset them, it is a bad book, no matter who wrote it. There are, to be sure, literary merits or demerits — points of structure and style —but the only thing that really concerns us here is its moral tone. No book is gcod for our purposes unless it is morally good. Here is a story, for ex- ample, which throws a halo of light and interest around the wicked

WHOLESOME READING. 825 hero or the wicked heroine, while a morally good character is made commonplace and unattractive by comparison, and is permitted to languish in darkness and unloveliness. Is that a good book? I should say, off hand, not for boys. Here is another that takes for granted certain social vices; the main characters drink and smoke, for instance, and these appear virtues; or idleness in the hero does not seem to be a vice. I should hesitate before recommending such a book to "Mormon" boys. In so many of the stories written today certain infractions of the moral law are viewed as matters of social expediences; and it is this unwholesome atmosphere that poisons the young mind. It was not so in the earlier fiction, and it is never so in the best fiction of today. To read Scott is to breathe an atmosphere of virtue and honor and genuine nobility; and no greater sermon was ever delivered from the pulpit on the text, "Whatsoever thou sowest, that shalt thou also reap," than is preached in George Eliot's fiction; certainly few sermonn have been more effective. Care must be taken, though, to get the total effect of the book, not the effect alone of any single incident or passage. Judged by glimpses, ' 'Paradise Lost" would be condem- ned, for in the first two books Satan appears a really admirable hero, and there seems to be nothing at all out of the way in his rebellion against God. But no one can read the whole poem with- out having an unspeakable loathing for the degenerate Prince of Darkness, in the end. So, then, a good novel will leave us with a love for the true in life, and a hatred for the untrue, and no harm can come from read- ing it. Having pointed out the impetus towards breadth and apprecia- tion which comes to those who early in life form the tabit of read- ing, and having also in a very general way indicated the qualities of wholesome reading, I come now to the work that we are ex- pected to do this winter in our Associations so far as concerns the study of literature. The gep^al be ard has suggested for the next season's literary work, the fcMnwing books: Wild Animals I Have Known (Ernest Seton Thompson), Tom Brown's School Days (Thomas Hughes), Silas Marner (George Eliot), The Strength of Being Clean (David Starr Jordan), Great Truths (William George Jordan), and The

— — 826 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Secret of Achievement (Orison Swett Marden). The first two of these are intended for boys from fourteen to eighteen, the rest for young men from eighteen to twenty- five and upward. Wild Ani- mals I Have Known is a book 'of stories, with illustrations, about animals — a wolf, a horse, a dog, an owl, a fox, and a partridge written, not indeed for boys, but in such language as a boy will find clear and fascinating. It is probably best adapted for a class of boys younger than that which will be found enjoying Tom Brown. Moreover, notwithstanding what has recently been said about Thompson's books on animals, you will find this work singularly true to life. The second book Tom Brown's School\Days — has been de- clared by competent critics to be the best book ever written frr boys. It is the incidents in the life of a boy of strong, courageous, healthy morals, and cannot but leave its reader with a thoroughly wholesome feeling for proper boy-activities. Of the work entitled — The Strength of Being Clean a booklet which anyone can easily read in an hour or two — it is sufficient to say that certain single passages contained in it ought to form the background of every young man's life. The best recommendation that can be given of Great Truths is, that Elder Heber J. Grant has given away over a thousand copies, and has read it himself eight times. The Secret of Achievement is after the style of the Samuel Smiles books, only — modern and up to date, a work that will inspire the reader to do something from seeing what others have been able to do. The little story, Silas Marner, is one of the best of George Eliot's works, and certainly her most artistic. No one can be said to be properly educated who does not some time in his life become ac- quainted with this powerful story. These books are to form our literary work during the coming season, and the most important question I can ask, and answer, concerning this work is: How can we lay this matter of reading before our boys in such a way as to induce them to study and to enjoy these books? In answer I have the following suggestions: First of all, let every officer in every stake and ward read every one of the books recommended. Of course, all the members of the General Board hive already done so. If you find that you have read some of them, read them again; it will do you no harm. Elder Grant has read Great Truths eight times, and he is still alive..

WHOLESOME READING. 827 I know a well-educated young man who reads Silas Marner once or twice every year, and does so because he enjoys it. I say again, let every officer and teacher read these books. Certainly this is not too much to ask. Would you require others to do what you would not do yourself? From this reading on your part there will folic w two practical effects: first, you will be more likely to think of pushing the matter with the boys, and, second, you will do it with greater enthusiasm. Of course, there will not be an officer or teacher in all the Associations who will say that he has no time to read six small volumes in six months; for if he should say this, no one would believe him. In the second place, the local officers and teachers — at all events the teachers — should make a careful and systematic study of the boys in their ward. This is such an important point that I must dwell upon it long enough to explain and emphasize it. Hitherto, I think, we have been negligent in this respect. We have let things go on pretty much in their own way. Before we can hope to be successful with those boys among us that are in- clined to be "wild," we shall have to make a study of their nature, their environment, and their likes and dislikes; as the physician, when he is called in to a patient, first finds out what is the matter, before he administers any medicine. Here are some of the questions that, as a Mutual Improve- ment worker, I should ask myself and endeavor to answer: How many young men are there within the limits of my ward between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five? How many of these belong to the Association? How many have the reading- habit? Just how many, therefore, need attention? And let me here inject a re- mark. So many of us forget the injunction of our Savior, perti- nent here, the whole have no need of a physician, only the sick. Some professional teachers give all their attention to those bright students in their classes, who would get along without such atten- tion, while those who are inclined to be a bit dull or careless re- ceive comparatively little thought or time. The good teacher re- verses this order of things; he gives most attention to those who need it most. So we, as religious workers, sometimes lose track of the fact that it is those boys who would not of themselves take the right path that need, and therefore should have, our aid. Hav-

828 IMPROVEMENT ERA. ing found, then, the boys who do not now read, or who read im proper literature, I should next ask myself some more questions: What do these boys do with their spare hours? That may not be hard to find out.What do they like to do? What has been their home environment? What are the books they have had access to in their home and elsewhere? Have they ever read anything from choice, and if so what? These questions and others like them will put the teacher in a proper position to do something for the boys. His labors thereupon divide themselves into two classes, those in the Association meetings, and those at the boys' homes. Re- member that in this paper I am concerned only with reading. First, as to what is to be done in the class, or Association meeting. I am aware that a course of study has been prescribed for the junior classes, and that part of that course in the class is not reading. Nevertheless, were I a teacher in such a department I should try to find time to do something with the matter of read- ing. One thing I think I should do is this: During the roll call, I should ask for reports on reading. I should try to find out who had read anything during the week, and how much and what had been read. This would take only two or three minutes. Another thing I should do is to endeavor to arouse curiosity about some of che books I wanted them to read. Let us say that I wished the boys to read Wild Animals, to begin with. Now, probably the most entertaining story in that fascinating book is about the at- tempts that were made by the cowboys to capture a particularly beautiful black, wild horse. Now, the easiest matter in the world would be to turn the class to a conversation about horses, then wild horses, and then a general relation by the teacher of this story of Thompson's wild horse, in such a way as to arouse curiosity in the boys. Most probably, if you know your boys' interests, the reading in the class of certain entertaining parts of a book you wanted them to take up, would accomplish your desires. Or, it might prove useful to read one of these wild animal stories in the class, say for ten minutes every session. I shall never forget the effect on me and the rest of the scholars of the reading by the teacher every day in school of an afternoon for about ten minutes. This may be old-fashioned compared with the hurry-scurry methods

WHOLESOME READING. 829 of cramming facts, so often prevailing nowadays; but I found it, when I was a child, extremely beneficial to us boys and girls in its simple spirit of quiet and peace, and I could not be trusted to de- clare what part of my own habit of reading may be traced to this daily ten minutes of reading by the teacher. To be sure, this, like everything else, requires sense and judgment, on the part of the class-leader. As to the teacher's task outside of the class, I must say a word. This falls into two parts also. First, there must be some- thing done, if possible, outside both of the Association and the home; and, secondly, there must be attention given to the home reading. A great deal can be done by the pioper handling of the boys. Boys, like men, follow leaders. Get hold of these leaders, win their confidence, and try to get them to read your books. If you can do this, you will be able to reach your ends much more easily than in any other way. Precisely how this is to be done must be left to the particular teacher, the beys, and the local circum- stances. Home-reading can be made an instrument of inducing the reading-habit in boys — I mean that old-fashioned home-reading now so generally out of date. Do you remember, in your own early life, a pleasant scene in which, of a winter evening, the whole family sat round the stove or fire-place, your mother rocking gently as she knitted a stocking, your father reading aloud from the Swiss Family Robinson, or some such book, while you and the rest of the children alternately watched the swift-moving needles as they shone in the bright lamp- light and the regular opening and closing of Father's lips as there flowed from them the sweet story, now so musical in the remembrance? It mav be that you do not recall the details, or even the name, of the book, but you have not, you cannot, forget the feeling of hallowed peace and contentment and love which you had on that occasion. That was the mood conducive to the formation of the reading-habit in boy and girl. My point here is, that maybe some of the M. I. A. workers can induce the parents cf their boys to establish such a reading circle at home. A little care and study on the part of parents or older children would win the interest of the whole family. For instance,

830 IMPROVEMENT ERA. one man tells me that his father objected to all novel-reading by his boys. Once, my informer, before dinner, read to himself, but loud enough to be heard by the father, a few passages from Uncle Tom's Cabin. The father was washing; nevertheless he listened. Next day there was some more reading, and the next, and the next. Finally the young man found the entire family eager to catch every word. The result was that the youth was asked to read the whole book aloud of an evening, after the work was done. And the father felt that some novels were good, even if some of them were bad; besides, a reading- circle was formed. Another person assures me that his own interest in the Bible was started by a casual sugges- tion, dropped in the home, concerning the story of Joseph sold into Egypt, which the boy turned to and eagerly read. To sum up, I have endeavored to show, in this paper, that an incalculable benefit is derived from the reading-habit, and that such a habit must be formed early in life if it is formed at all. I have attempted to show that the main quality of good reading is that it should be morally good, and that stories are not necessarily bad for young people, notwithstanding there is some bad fiction. And I have tried to point out some ways by which the active teacher may carry on the literary work assigned him this winter, by studying his boys and helping arouse their curiosity and interest in these books, in the class and at home. Now, let us go to with all our hearts and do the thing which has been given us to do. Salt Lake City, Utak.