That is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him
In my heart’s core, aye, in my heart of hearts,
As I do thee.
Shakespeare wished to point out the blessedness of that virtue, Independence. It is of little consequence to the pupil in this first step of his growth to make a comparison between Shakespeare’s method of expressing this truth, with that of Elbert Hubbard, who, speaking of Rowan, that man who delivered an important message to Garcia in the jungles of Cuba when we had decided to go to war with Spain, said:
By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instructions about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebræ which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing—Carry a message to Garcia!
Is not the aim in both cases for the pupil to get the idea which the authors wish to impress upon his mind? In other words, the authors are not simply writing for art’s sake, as so many would have us believe. The pupil must get the author’s messages, so that they will help him in life, to be both independent or free from passion, and reliable or dependable in whatever he undertakes.
Let us advance to the second step: The classification and organization of facts mean more than the simple process of orderly arrangement. This has to do with translating what the author presents to the pupil in terms of his past experience. This is the process of judging values. Before we pigeon-hole new information, we pass judgment upon its relative importance. The pupil has experienced the value of punctuality, courage, optimism, etc. Now, when any new truth comes under his observation, it is not turned into knowledge until it has gone through his mental gristmill. What he hears, or sees, or feels, is not usable until it has been fitted into its particular niche, and this fitting process is brought about by likening the unknown to the known.
This brings us to the third step. Frederick Harrison has said: “Man’s business here is to know for the sake of living, not to live for the sake of knowing.” There is no better way of expressing the third step in the development of the student in intelligent reading. After he has learned to grasp the author’s thought readily, and then so reacts upon it that it becomes a part of his very being, his next step is to find an open market for the sale of his knowledge. This does not mean to sell for money in the narrow sense, but to put his understanding into actual daily life.