Afterword
The name of this chapter, Afterword, seems as if it were an ending. But some endings in reality are beginnings. We all know the look of a catalogue of seeds, with its brilliantly coloured flowers. This book, which belongs to you, in one sense is like a seedsman’s catalogue. The true delight of gardening is in choosing the seeds, digging, fertilizing and smoothing the garden till it is ready for sowing and planting. Then we look forward to the first green leaves, flowers, and fruits. There is an infinite deal to learn about gardens, and the seedsman’s catalogue is only the beginning. This book is the beginning of the voyage of discovery in the world of your own books.
Because we have spoken in the preceding chapters almost wholly of writers and books, we should take care not to place too much emphasis on writing as an occupation. The world owes much to the writers of great books,—happiness, inspiration, enjoyment, wisdom which we may take from them if we will, learning, and at all times, unending entertainment.
But how many other people there are in the world to whom we owe love and gratitude: soldiers, sailors, explorers, inventors, statesmen, law-givers, physicians, discoverers, scientists, preachers, teachers, evangelists, missionaries, fathers, mothers, all the men and women who make our streets, build our houses, bake our bread, bring us food, make our clothes, sell us what we need, look after the finances of the world, manage our railways and run the trains, fly in airships, and of great importance in their occupation, men and women who grow food as farmers. Still, we dearly love good books and great writers.
No one should read all the time, for people are more important than books. Yet it would be a pity for any boy or girl not to read at all. Francis Bacon, the essayist, of whom we learned a very little in the chapter on essays and essayists, says in one of his writings: “Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man.”
Bacon means by the first part of this saying that a man who does not read at all is sometimes empty-minded, while a man who reads well has many thoughts in his mind, good, sweet and profitable. If Bacon were in the world to-day, and noticed, as he would be certain to notice, for Bacon was a most observant man, how much time some people spend in reading, he might have added a sentence saying that continual reading may keep people from thinking. Rightly used, books are an aid in teaching us how to think.
There are many books which have not been mentioned in these pages, some of them famous, many of them delightful, important or amusing. Some of these books you will find for yourselves as time goes on; some you may know already. Perhaps you may have wondered why nothing has been said of this or that book. But it is true that there is always an individual choice in books, as in other things. You will find—and love—your own books, the books which belong to you. To discover one’s own books for one’s self is a great adventure.
Some of you may be specially interested in French literature; and, presently, you will read the works of the great French dramatist Molière, one of whose characters is the famous Monsieur Jourdain, who had spoken prose all his life without knowing it. Balzac and Flaubert are two other names among a multitude of French writers. The literatures of other countries offer us reading which many people enjoy greatly.
Numbers of fine books are continually being produced by writers in English. English novels especially make good reading. Among writers of a comparatively recent date who have not been mentioned are John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Henry James, an American, Anthony Trollope, William Morris, George Du Maurier, William de Morgan, and many others. Certainly, if you can find time, read the witty, entertaining Irish stories of two ladies, E. OE. Somerville and Martin Ross, especially their first book, Some Experiences of an Irish R. M.
Then there are modern writers, writers of your own day. Remember that a library is an excellent place in which to obtain advice and help in reading, especially in choosing modern books. There are many modern novelists, critics, and dramatists, as well as poets, whose work is well known. Some names are: Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Quiller-Couch, Max Beerbohm, John Galsworthy, Anthony Hope, W. W. Jacobs, Booth Tarkington, Willa Cather, Norman Douglas, H. M. Tomlinson, Clemence Dane, Virginia Woolf, George Moore, Hugh Walpole, May Sinclair, Mary Webb, E. M. Delafield,, James Stephens, Henry Williamson and J. C. Squire, as well as others whose names you will add to the list when you read their books. Such writers as Katherine Mansfield and W. H. Hudson have left work which belongs to the present day, and may last for generations.
Great books are sometimes difficult to read, but when we conquer a great book we have discovered a new country, and enjoy the reward of the discoverer. It is a matter of choice whether we learn how to read great books that are difficult; but to read well is always a good choice.
We should never forget, however, that one of the principles of good reading is to read books in which we find pleasure. We will grow most successfully in this way along the lines of our own natural tastes and inclinations. So if we prefer history, let us read history; and biography, if this reading gives us most pleasure. In the same way, following each his or her own special preference, we may choose mechanics, invention, exploration, travel, science, architecture, art, music, poetry, essays, criticism, or books which will help us in the study of human nature. Books on the betterment of the world and on social conditions, books about homes and home life, are important.
Some people obtain most benefit from reading a very few books carefully, while others read many books. There are people, often of great value to the world, who are not as much interested in books as they are in action. They prefer travelling to reading of travels; and would choose to build a bridge, or climb a mountain, rather than read history or poetry. The French have a proverb which says, Chacun à son gôut, which means each to his own taste; and this is true in books as it is in other things.
Do you remember the list of books in Chapter twenty-eight, on Reading for What You Want To Be, many of them biographies? Some day, when you have an opportunity, ask permission to look over the books in the working library of some man or woman who is following the occupation with attracts you most. We can learn a great deal from the attentive study of such a library. Presently, you may begin to collect your own library. The best way to do this is slowly, with taste, discrimination and care. There is great enjoyment in buying, one by one, the books you care for most; and so, almost before you know what is happening, you will have a library of your own. Which book would you choose first to buy for your own library? Sometimes, in looking through the library of a friend, we may find the very first book bought by the owner of the library when he was a boy, or when the owner was a girl, as the case may be.
One of the pleasures of reading is to read according to times and seasons: To read books of out-of-doors on winter evenings, as well as books of adventure; to read poetry in summer, when we can spend much time under the sky. But those who love poetry, read it all through the year. We may read essays and biography when we are lonely and long for companionship. Novels are constantly enjoyable; a good novel tells us much about human nature.
One of the most beautiful seasons for reading is at Christmas time. Year by year, we may read the story of the shepherds in Saint Luke, ballads of Christmas, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and Milton’s great “Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity”. Reading of this character deepens our happiness.
By such means as these we come to recognize good reading, and can test all books by the great books we have read.