p. 109 | How to Read by Rev. John Alonzo Fisher

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 18, 1886

How to Read.

By Rev. John Alonzo Fisher

READ thoughtfully. The chief thing is, not to turn so many leaves each hour, but to master the subject in hand. Begin with the title-page, every word of which ought to be read and understood. Then glance over the table of contents, and next read the preface, if it looks inviting, and be not too long. If at hand, read a biographical sketch of the author. Now begin the book. Make frequent use of your English dictionaries, your biographical hand-books, and your gazetteers. Examine, if convenient, the authorities to which your author most frequently refers.

Read aloud, as often as possible, in the family circle. It will improve your elocution, increase your interest in study, quicken thought in the minds of all the household, and bring its members into closer sympathy. Surely it is worth some sacrifice and effort thus to multiply the pleasant memories of home.

Read methodically. The word “method” is from the Greek words for “after” and “a way or road.” To read methodically, then, is to read after a way, that is, to follow a pre-determined course. Reading at random, like reading newspapers to the neglect of books, is comparatively profitless. No man can master all learning, but any man of average ability can master some one department of knowledge. “Read anything continuously,” says Dr. Johnson, “and you will be learned.”

Read with diligence. Improve the moments of leisure. Do not wait for a summer vacation or for a holiday. Begin at once.—“The men who have made their mark in the world have generally been the men who have in boyhood formed the habit of reading at every available moment, whether for five minutes or five hours.” “Many of the cultivated persons whose names have been famous as students, have given only two or three hours a day to their books.” You wish, perhaps, that you might enjoy a month of leisure for reading; but you have little hope that your inexorable business or dependent family will ever grant the coveted privilege. Let us see. You lose half an hour every day of your life waiting for tardy people, for delayed meals, or for belated trains. That amounts, in six days, to three hours; in a year, to one hundred and fifty-six. Divide one hundred and fifty-six by six,—the greatest number of hours it would be prudent for you to read each day if reading were your only occupation,—and you have twenty-six days, a month of working days, that might be devoted every year to useful reading. By the economy of moments you may accomplish more than do many that are at leisure to read, if they would, from dawn till dusk.

Read with a purpose. Self-culture is a worthy object, but it is not the noblest. The man who seeks culture for selfish ends is simply an intellectual gourmand, and is no more entitled to our esteem than is a hide-bound miser. Read for others. Read that you may have something to tell the children that climb upon your knees asking for stories; read that you may be eyes to the aged and to the blind; read that you may brighten the sick-room with the mellow light of refined conversation; read that you may be able to write and to talk for the Master and for humanity.—Rev. John Alonzo Fisher.