Books and Reading

IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. XII. SEPTEMBER, 1909. No. 11

BOOKS AND READING." BY ELDER JOSEPH W. MCMURRIN, OF THE FIRST COUNCIL OF SEVENTY AND MEMBER OF THE GENERAL BOARD Y. M. M. I. A.

The General Board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations recommend the following books as a reading course for the coming year: For the Seniors: Ancient America, The Crisis, Our Inland Sea, and Courage. These volumes cost from 65 cents to two dol- lars fifty each. For the Juniors: John Stevens' Courtship, The Castle Builder, Life of Lincoln. These books cost from fifty cents to one dollar each. Our Inland Sea is a work of Alfred Lambourne. From the Editor's Table of the Era, in a book review, I cull the following:

It is a grand, artistic, panoramic portrait of the valley of the Great Salt Lake, with its mystic mountains, its clear creeks, its pioneer homes, its dead deserts, and its inland sea and islands, all painted with the brush of an artist in love with his work, and expressed in the words of a poet compelled to part with his portion. Whatever of tradition, history and past natural phenomena can illumine the

• Delivered before the officers of the Y. M. M. I. A., at the annual coifer. ence, Barratt Hall, June 4, 1909.

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thought or awaken appreciation for the glories of the Wasatch, the desert, and the inland sea, are called from the author's storehouse and made to do service in the pages of this volume.

Ancient America, by John D. Baldwin: What is known of American archaeology is recorded in a great maDy volumes, Eng- lish, French, Spanish, and German, each work bein/ confined 1 ;

to some particular de- partment of the sub- ject. Many of the more important of these works are in foreign languages or in un- wieldy English vol- umes not accessible to general readers. The purpose of Mr. Baldwin in preparing his book is to give in a coicise manner, for the benefit of the ordinary reader, the best that is known of American Antiquities. Joseph W. McMurrin. He has succeeded in presenting a work that is of very great interest. Inasmuch as our associations have been studying the Book of Mormon, for three years, I think all who have been interested in that study will find much in this volume, Ancient America, that will confirm them in their belief in the truth of the Book of Mormon and the story therein related of the ancient civilization that once existed on this continent. The Crisis, by Winston Churchill: The Crisis is an intensely interesting novel, dealing with mat.

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ters connected with the great Civil war. Much historical infor- mation is woven into the story, and some vivid pen pictures of the immortal Lincoln are given. The work throughout will hold the close attention of the reader, and will give full value for the time spent in its perusal. Courage, by Wagner: "In this delightful volume the author has set forth the things that are worth being loved and acquired — stress and toil. Among these there is nothing to be compared with force, and pre- eminently moral force. He points out the way to attain moral force, the role vigilance plays in the world, the grave mistakes which have arisen on the subject of work, and the means of es- cape from the slavery of fear."' For the Juniors, we commence with the Castle Builder, by Nephi Anderson. The motto for the story is Bulwer Lytton's ex- pression: "Dream, Youth! dream nobly and manfully, and thy dreams shall be thy prophets." In a review of this book in the Era, Edward H. Anderson says,

The Castle Builder faithfully describes scenes, and explains life in Norway, one of the nations that early gave stalwart men and women to the Latter-day cause. While it portrays to the life, the convert's early hardships, moral battles, and sacrifices, it also telh how his heart is thrilled with new and consol- ing religious doctrine and fascinated with suggested dreams of Zion.

The Castle Builder inspires one not to give up, but to keep on trusting and working, having faith that God will crown noble effort with success. It also teaches gospel principles, in a most pleasing manner, and is a work that will lead the junior members of our organiza- tion to an understanding of the fundamental doctrines of the Church. John Stevens' Courtship, by Susa Young Gates: Elder Thomas Hull, who has read the story in manuscript, has this commendation for it:

While I do not believe that we should recommend to our young people the reading of any book solely because it is a home production, yet I feel that where we have so many meritorious writers, it would be most unfortunate for us to plan a reading course which did not include some work representative of the talent of our own people.

852 IMPROVEMENT ERA. This story by Sister Gates is a most excellent work, clean, bright, enter, taining and instructive. It is full of incidents of the early history of Utah, graphically told, and preserves many most valuable sayings and sermons of the Prophet Brigham Young, not found elsewhere. It can be read with profit by every father and mother in the Church, as well as by the mambers of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations, every one of whom should become acquiinted with its contents.

Life of Abraham Lincoln, by Hapgood: It has been said, "Lincoln's fame increases with the years. His name is the gentlest memory of the world. . . A thousand years hence no drama, no tragedy, no epic poem will be read with greater wonder or be followed by mankind with deeper feelings than that which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln." Every boy belonging to our organization who can be brought to read this wonderful biography will be inspired thereby to do

things of worth. Now I would like to draw your attention to a very discourag- ing matter in connection with the reading courses that have been recommended by the General Board. In 1907, 750 members of our organization, out of a permanent membership of 30,650, read one or more of the books that were recommended. This means that two per cent of the permanent membership, and four per cent only of the active membership read the books that were rec- ommended for that year. In 1908, 1,635 individuals read one or more volumes, which means that four per cent of the permanent enrollment, and seven per cent of the active enrollment were readers of the course rec- ommended for that year. In 1909, only 1,332 individuals, out of a permanent enroll- ment of 32,225, and an active enrollment of 23,391, have read the books suggested, which means four per cent of the permanent enrollment and five per cent of the active enrollment have read the books that were recommended for last year. The percent ges given are in round numbers, fractions being discarded. It seems to me, fellow workers, that there has been some- thing lacking on the part of the officers of our organization, when such appalling statistics as these can be presented in relation to so important a matter in connection with our work, as the leading of the young people, in these organizations, to take up a regular

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course of reading. Of course, there are other books, undoubtedly, that have been read by the young people, but many of them, I fear, are of a character that will not be of any advantage to them. I do not wish to spend more time on the books recommended as a reading course, for the coming year. I will endeavor to show the value of acquiring the reading habit, by presenting to you the opinions of a number of men, who are more or less noted, on the great importance of reading good books. ' An Italian proverb says, 'There is no worse robber than a bad book." We ought to be very much concerned about the class of books our boys are reading. We should be anxious to see that they are reading, and then to see that they are reading the right class of literature, for they are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions.

Tom Brown says, "Some books, like the city of London, fare the better for being burned." A man who writes an immoral but immortal book may be tracked into eter nity by a procession of lost souls from every generation, everyone to be a witness against him at the judgment, to show to him and to the universe the immeasurable- ness of his iniquity. Chiever. Bad books are like intoxicating drinks, they furnish neither nourishment nor medicine; both improperly excite; the one the mind, the other the body. The de- sire for each increases by being fed. Both ruin, one the intellect; the other the health; and together, the suul. The safeguard against each is the same — total abstinence from all that intoxicates either mind or body. — Tryon Edwards. The demoralization of a single book has sometimes made infidels, profligates, and criminals. Marden. A lad once showed to another a book full of words and pictures of impurity. He only had it in his hands a few moments. Later in life he held high office in the church, and years afterwards told a friend he would have given half he pos- sessed had he never seen it. for its impure images at the most holy times would sometimes rise unbidden in his mind. Marden. A bad book is the worse that it can not repent, — it has long been the devil's policy to keep the masses of mankind in ignorance; but finding that they will read, he is doing all in his power to poison their books. Kirk.

From these quotations we should readily discover the evil that can come to our young men if they are not properly guided in the books they read. 1 hope that every officer present today will feel that he is under responsibility to try and discover what

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the youth of the Latter-day Saints are reading, and wherever he finds they are not reading the right class of literature, that he will undertake to use his influence and labor to place in the hands of such individuals books of an elevating character. The young men are not to be confined to the books that have been recom- mended for our reading course. I have discovered in my own ex- perience that some of our young lads will not take to the books we have recommended. There are many other books that we can find tO'iay, at a trifling cost, bo<>ks of good character, that will suit every one of the boys. If we can not discover, in the reading course that has been suggested, books that will please the boys, it seems to me that we should be anxious to find them outside of the course, and get them before the boys, so they will acquire the reading habit. It is important that the reading habit be formed in youth, for, "He that loves not books before he comes to thirty years of age, will hardly love them enough afterwards to under- stand them." I believe there is a good deal of philosophy in that statement; and the boys come into our hands just at the period of their lives when we may succeed in leading them to acquire a love for books before they come to thirty years of age; and if they ac- quire this love for books in their youth, the idea, of course, is that they will love them sufficiently then to understand them when they read them. Good books elevate the character, purify the taste, take the attractiveness

out of low pleasures, and lift us upon a higher plane of thinking and living. It

is not easy to be mean directly after reading a noble and inspiring book. — 0. S.

Marden.

It is just like going to worship.— We do not walk out of the house of God, very frequently, and forthwith do something that is contemptible. We are impressed by the Spirit of the Lord that is present in the house of the Lord, and inspired with pure thoughts and good desires, and we are not apt to do mean things immedi- ately afterwards. A good book has a similar effect upon the mind, as here stated. Again, You get into society in the widest sense, says Giekie, in a great library, with the huge advantage of needing no introductions, and not dreading repulses. From that great crowd you can choose what companions you please, for in the silent levees of the immortals there is no pride, but the highest is at the service of the

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lowest, with a grand humility. You may speak freely with any, without a thought of your inferiority; for books are perfectly well bred, and hurt no one's feelings by any discriminations. Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter. Paxton Hood. In goed books is one of the best safeguards from evil. Life's first danger

has been said to be an empty mind; which, like an unoccupied room, is open for base spirits to enter. The taste for reading provides a pleasant and elevating pre-occupation. — H. W. Grout. A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it. And the love of knowledge in a young mind, is almost a warrant against the inferior excitement of passions and vices.— H. Mann. Books are masters, who instruct us without rods or ferrules, without words or anger, without bread or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if

you seek them, they do not hide; if you blunder, they do not scold; if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you.— R. De Bury. Except a living man there is nothing more wonderful than books ! A message to us from the dead,— from human souls we never saw, who lived, perhaps, thou, sands of miles away, and yet these, in those little sheets of paper, speak to us, arouse us, terrify us, teach us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. Chas. Kingsley. Perhaps no other thing has such power to lift the poor out of his poverty, the wretched out of his misery, to make the burden-bearer forget his burden, the sick his suffering, the sorrower his grief, the down trodden his degradation, as books. They are friends to the lonely, companions to the deserted, joy to the joyless, hope to the hopeless, good cheer to the disheartened, a helper to the helpless. They bring light into darkness, and sunshine into shadow- — 0. S. Marden .

I believe all that is said in these paragraphs, in relation to the power of books. I suppose you believe it, also, my brethren, and I hope there will be a determined effort made to lift the stand- ard among our young men, in relation to this subject, that it may never be possible again for a report to be made showing so small a percentage as four, or even seven per cent of the active member- ship of our associations who are acquiring the reading habit.

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again, for, like true friends, they will never fail us, never cease to instruct, never clog. Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books. Colton.

856 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Books are a guide in youth and an entertainment for age. They support us under solitude, and keep us from becoming a burden to ourselves. They help us to forget the crossness of men and things, compose our cares and our pafsions, and lay our disappointments asleep. When we are weary of the living, we may repair to the dead,who have nothing of pee v ishness, pride, or design in their con- versation. — Jeremy Collier. God be thanked for books; they are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Channing.

Thomas Hood says, "My tnoks kept me from the ring, the dog pit, the tavern, and the saloon. The associate of Pope and Addison, the mind accustomed to the noble, tuough silent dis- course of Shakespeare and Milton, will hardly seek or put up with low or evil company and slaves." If books could keep this man from undesirable places,as is here stated they can do the same thing ;

for our boys; keep our boys from the saloon, from the dog fight, from the cock pit, and all other undesirable places. What a splendid thing it is to discover in a young man the desire to read; that when he comes into the home of an evening, when the toil of the day is over, instead of seeking for companionship on the street corner, or any other undesirable place, he seeks for companion- ship within the lids of a noble book, that will fill his mind with good and useful information, that will fit and qualify him for the responsibilities that are coming to him a little later in life. It is

our business to see, as far as possible, that the boys are pursuing a course of this character. I would like to say, before reading the next paragraph, that with us no reading course can ever be complete without the word of God. We should be concerned, more than any other class of people in the world, about becoming familiar with the inspired things that have come from God to man.

The books that help you most, are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freightened with truth and beauty. Theodore Parker. The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. McCash. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. The most learned, acute, and diligent student can not, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume. The more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abun. dant he finis the ©re. New light continually beams from these stars of heavenly

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kn iwledge, to direct the conduct of man, to illustrate the work of God, and the ways of man; and such a student will, at last, leave the world, confessing that the more he studied the scriptures, the fuller conviction he had of his own igno- rance and of their inestimable value. Walter Scott.

I would like to say that this last paragraph can be applied to other volumes of scripture as well as to the Bible, for the inspired utterances of the scriptures have this remarkable thing about them, that the more they are read, the fresher they become, and thn deeper the inspiration of the reader. No other books in the world have that power over the human mind —only those books that have come from our Father in Heaven by divine inspiration. I just clipped, this morning, from the current number of the R<view of Reviews, a notice that is appearing over the signature of Charles W.who for forty years or more was the presi- Eliot,

dent of Harvard University, to the effect that he is now editing

various books, "a five-foot shelf of books" is the name given to it, and in the closing paragraph he makes this declaration: "It is my belief that the faithful and considerate reading of these books, with such re-readings and memorizings as individual taste may prescribe, will give any man the essentials of a liberal educa- tion, even if he can devote to them but fifteen minutes a dav." And I would like to say that it is my conviction that there are a good many other books outside of those that will be recommended by the late President of Harvard College, that will give just as liberal an education, and it ought not to be possible to have it said, in the midst of the youth of the Latter-day Saints, that they are so much taken up with worldly matters, with the labors that they must necessarily perform in the making of a living, that they can not give fifteen minutes a day to the reading of some good book. If we can persuade our boys to give this short time, or if we can persuade the officers in our organizations to give this brief amount of time daily to the reading of a good book, we will raise very materially the percentage of those who are giving attention to this all-important branch of our work. Who can afford not to give a little time daily to intellectual improvement? J^alt Lake City, Utah.