Reading in a desultory manner, without system, plan, or purpose, as is the habit of many people who patronize public libraries, is productive of but little benefit. One may go through many volumes, and acquire much information, but it will be in a crude, unsystematic state, and can not be utilized in many practical ways. In public libraries the people are almost wholly devoted to reading works of fiction. This is the testimony of librarians. Its truthfulness may also be seen by any one who will casually examine the books of any library open to the public. Works of fiction bear the marks of almost constant perusal, while the standard works of history, science, philosophy and literature show signs of but little use and remain uncalled for upon the shelves for weeks at a time. The constant reading of fiction is deleterious in the extreme, as it not only gives the individual addicted to it false and distorted views of life, but it is also sure to render the mind unfit for the consideration of all serious and weighty subjects, and begets a distaste for solid reading of any and every kind.
In many respects the C. L. S. C. is a great improvement on the reading-room or the public library, and may prove, in a good degree, a valuable substitute for both. There can be little doubt but that the time spent in reading the course prescribed for its members will be productive of much better results than if given up to reading in a hap-hazard manner. The increased advantages to be obtained may be briefly summed up as follows:
In the first place, the books prescribed in the C. L. S. C. course of study have been selected after the most careful consideration by persons well qualified for the task. A number of the works have been prepared expressly for the use of the C. L. S. C., and are models of compactness, brevity and style. The course of study is not confined to any one department of literature, but comprises works of history, and science, philosophy and poetry, and a wide range of literature and topics of general interest. Works of fiction are reduced to a minimum, and those admitted to the course are unobjectionable both in character and matter.
Second—The course of reading is pursued in a methodical and orderly manner. A portion of each day is to be set apart for the required reading, and though the allotted time is brief, it is sufficient to secure habits of systematic study. A regular plan is insisted upon. Each work is to be read in the order assigned to it and written examinations are conducted on the portions read. Thus the evils resulting from careless and desultory methods of reading are counteracted and wholesome and systematic habits of study are inculcated.
Third—The solitary reader often finds his task monotonous and tiresome, and at times his perusal of books is unproductive because his faculties are not aroused to their highest state of action. But in the C. L. S. C. such a condition of things is largely avoided. A number of persons in common pursue the same course of reading, with frequent meetings for conversation concerning the books and topics under consideration. By this means they are afforded frequent opportunities for mutual interchange of ideas on the subjects to which their minds are simultaneously directed and they are thus stimulated to greater mental activity, and their work is freed from all tedium and weariness. While the C. L. S. C. has many benefits to offer to people in cities and large towns, even though they may possess the advantages of reading-rooms, libraries and lecture courses, it is of especial profit to those who dwell in small towns and in the rural districts. In but few of such communities are libraries of any kind to be found, and means for self-culture are often meagre in the extreme. The C. L. S. C. offers a course of reading adapted to their wants. It is extensive and yet not costly, and may be pursued by the busiest men and women if they are only economical of time.
Let any one who sighs for the advantages to be derived from reading-rooms, enter upon the studies prescribed for the C. L. S. C., and at the end of his four years’ course, compare notes with any one who has spent his leisure in that kind of reading that is common in public libraries, and he will find he has made great gain.
“Dr. Grimshawe’s Secret.”
Nathaniel Hawthorne was, without doubt, the most powerful writer in the field of romance which our country has produced. His fame was of slow growth, but as the years have passed it has been continually swelling and widening, and his name is certain to long hold a foremost place in American literature. He lived long enough to see some recognition of his genius, but since his death, in 1864, he has been read and praised as he never was in his life. Various editions of his works have been published, and whatever products of his pen, not published in his life-time, from time to time have come to light, have been put into print and have been eagerly read. Undoubtedly much, if not all, of the posthumous Hawthorne literature would never have been given to the public if his own wishes had been carried out. His shy and sensitive nature is well known. It could not have been grateful to him to have his personality brought before the world as it has been since his death. It was his request that his life should not be written, but already there are no less than four Hawthorne biographies, and two more are in preparation. And who doubts that if he could have foreseen the publication of the notes, fragments, and studies for stories which were written simply as memoranda, suggestions and helps to be used in the preparation of his works, he would have taken good care that they should not be left behind him? No writer ever elaborated his works with greater care. Each story which he himself gave to the world is perfect in style, and a finished work of art. And to have such crude and hasty work made into books, as much published with his name since his death is, is almost enough to cause this exquisite literary artist to turn in his grave.
Soon after Hawthorne’s death the opening chapters of “The Dolliver Romance,”—a story which he left unfinished—were published. Later came the publication of his “American Note Books,” “English Note Books,” and “French and Italian Note Books.” In 1872 the story “Septimius Felton, or the Elixir of Life,” which had been found among his manuscripts, was edited by his daughter and published. It seems quite clear that it was Hawthorne’s intention to merge this story in “The Dolliver Romance,” and that, if he had lived to complete the latter work, no “Septimius Felton” would ever have seen the light. But this was not the last of the fragmentary work of this author which the world was to see. Not long since it was announced that another work from Hawthorne’s pen had been found, and would be published. We now have it—“Dr. Grimshawe’s Secret.” Recently, also, The Atlantic Monthly and The Century have given us, under the titles, “The Ancestral Footstep,” and “A Look Into Hawthorne’s Workshop,” certain Hawthorne fragments in which this story is sketched. And the question now for the critics to decide is whether in “Dr. Grimshawe’s Secret” we have the fulfillment of the studies in these fragments, or whether this published story is itself but a sketch and study, to be fulfilled with the others in a romance which was long germinating in the great author’s mind, but which death came too soon for him to execute. Certainly “Dr. Grimshawe’s Secret” Hawthorne himself would never have published as it is. It is no finished work of his own. There has been incredulity on the part of some as to his having written any part of it. But it is in part his work, clearly enough; and how much of it is his and how much the editor’s—who is his son, Julian Hawthorne—readers must conjecture for themselves. When asked to take this as substantially a complete work of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, we decline. Evidently it is not so. His hand of power is seen in it at times, but it is very unequal, and as a whole it is unsatisfactory.