nately it does not always do so, and many a man has wasted days and days in conscientiously going through a process that could have been variously modified with great profit to himself. These principles have been utilized here and there through this book, though not as extensively as they should be. Much experimentation must be done before one can speak authoritatively on the subject. Training in pace in reading and in silent reading are open fields that invite every earnest teacher who would make a real contribution to his pupils as well as to education in general.

Kinds of Reading

Before improving the pace or anything else in reading, we must have an understanding, an agreement as to what reading is. And the very first thing we find out, upon considering the question, is that there are several sorts of reading just as there are at least two kinds of reading matter.

"There is first," says DeQuincey, in his Essay on Pope, "the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is, to teach; the function of the second is, to move. The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason; but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy."

There are the non-literary and the literary reading, the silent and the oral, the elocutionary and the dramatic. Perhaps the following divisions and defi

nitions will prove helpful. Denotative reading, exact reading for sense only, such as we give the literature of knowledge, is of two kinds, silent and oral. The first is merely getting the thought from the printed page through the eye; the second, getting the thought from the printed page and expressing it by the voice. Here, "words, like window panes, are things to look through, not things to look at."

Connotative reading, the reading of implication, of suggestiveness, likewise, is of two kinds, appreciative and representative. This we give to the literature of power. The first is getting the thought and emotion from the printed page and, when oral, expressing them by the voice. Literary reading should, until good habits are formed, be almost entirely oral. Representative or dramatic reading is getting the thought and emotion also from the printed page and expressing them by voice and action.

These kinds of reading merge one into the others more or less, of course, but chiefly less. Reading at one extreme is a mere medium through which the barest thoughts come. It extends continuously, however, to another extreme, which ranks with the highest art. Perhaps there are fewer really excellent readers of this latter kind than singers, both dealing with that most exquisite and subtle instrument, the human voice, as a means of translating thought and emotion. And if the teacher keeps clearly in mind which kind he aims to secure, much

confusion in the reading lesson will disappear. These kinds of reading, it will be found, are kept quite distinct throughout this book.

Denotative Reading

In the denotative, non-literary reading of a book one may be said to have read it when he has found out from the book what he did not already know. The useless and senseless plodding through page after page of matter already known to the reader or of matter that does not concern his end and aim at the time, should in every manner possible be discouraged. Let a boy know what he is reading for, and then show him how to find his goal.

Connotative Reading

And when reading literature, one needs even more advice and direction to prevent waste of time. These are given in some detail in the pages of this book. Here let us cite a few points made by Professor Henry VanDyke. He divides readers of literature into three classes somewhat fancifully named "the simple reader," "the intelligent reader," and "the gentle reader."

The “simple reader," he says, is he who reads to occupy spare time. The best advice to him is negative. "Do not read vulgar books, silly books, morbid books. Do not read books written in bad English. Do not read books simply because other people are reading them. Do not read more than five new books to one old one."

"The intelligent reader," he defines as one who "wants to know, and to whom books are valuable chiefly for the accuracy of the information which they convey." If his thirst for information be keen enough, this reader will not wander far afield. Professor Brandes has even said, "Better far read ten books about one thing or about one man than a hundred books about a hundred different things!" But, as another writer has it, "The best reading is both intensive and extensive; one reads a little of everything, and a great deal of some things."

Professor VanDyke's "gentle reader" is one "who wants to grow, and who turns to books as a means of purifying his tastes, deepening his feelings, broadening his sympathies, and enhancing his joy in life. He is looking for the

books in which the inner meanings of nature and life are translated into language of distinction and charm, touched with the human personality of the author, and embodied in forms of permanent interest and power. This is literature." And one can learn to read it well only by early, wise guidance, wide experience, and much practice in interpretation. "We have not read an author," says Carlyle, and this is especially true in literature, "till we have seen his subject, whatever it may be, as he saw it."

Reading and Thinking

Young readers should not forget, moreover, the wise words of John Locke:

"Reading furnishes the mind only with material of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what is read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment."

And this recalls Lord Bacon's famous passage in his Essay of Studies:

"Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention."

The young reader is inclined to put all his reading in the first or second classes; but only by this chewing and digesting can he make himself wise through reading.

Practical Suggestions

"Among practical suggestions to those who would read for profit, I have found nothing more pertinent," says Mr. James Baldwin,* "than the following from the posthumous papers of Bryan Waller Proctor. 'Always read the preface of a book. It places you on vantage ground, and enables you to survey more completely the book itself. You frequently also discover the character of the author from the preface. You see his aims, perhaps his prejudices. You see the point of view from which he takes his pictures, the rocks and impediments which he himself beholds, and you steer accordingly.

Understand every word you read; if possible, every allusion of the author,-if practicable, while you are reading; if not, make search and inquiry as soon as may be afterward. Have a dictionary near you when you read; and when you read a book of travels, always read with a map of the country *The Booklover, pp. 69-71.