We have discussed the question why, and how, reading should find a
place in the daily scheme of life, and have now to inquire what shall
be chosen for the culture of the mind and heart. To inveigh upon
the necessity of reading, for a would-be student, and never suggest
what shall be read, would be about as sensible as to inveigh on the
necessity of food for a growing child, without reference to the sort
of nourishment that is to build up the physical frame. On its proper
quality, health and strength in great measure depend.
It is easy enough in these days to know what foods are nutritious, if
anyone chooses to take the trouble to find out, and those suitable for
the growing child are comparatively few in number. But alas, for the
multitude of books! Who shall discriminate among them? “It is of the
greatest importance to you,” says Ruskin, “not only for art’s sake but
for all kinds of sake, in these days of book deluge, to keep out of
the salt swamps of literature, and live on a little rocky island of
your own, with a spring and a lake in it, pure and good. I cannot, of
course, suggest the choice of your library to you, for every several
mind needs different books; but there are some books which we all need.”
And first it may be said that no kind of culture is possible without
a knowledge of the great literature of the Past. You must, therefore,
read and study what has survived through centuries of time. Have you
ever reflected on the immortality of books, and what it means? Written
in the most perishable of materials, nay, at first not written, but
handed down by word of mouth, they have outlasted the triumphal arch,
the mighty column, the impregnable city of old; have continued, while
empires have tottered to their doom, and while one civilisation has
risen upon the ruins of another. The shocks of contending armies have
affected them not: they have endured, from generation to generation,
the same, while all else has changed. What respect, then, and reverence
should be paid to the books of olden time!
First, of course, comes the Bible. We are not accustomed to study this
Book for literary reasons, and rightly think its claim to our love and
reverence rests upon other grounds. But we must never forget that the
sublimest poetry, the most beautiful simplicity of diction mingled with
grandeur, are to be found in the Old and New Testaments.
“Intense study of the Bible will keep any man from being vulgar in
point of style,” said Coleridge.
Also, if anyone anxious for self-culture could take the Bible as a
starting-point, and follow up all the different allusions to the
nations of the earth—study the early civilisations of Egypt and
Assyria, going on to Greece, Rome and Asia Minor, for example—he would
find himself well educated in ancient history before he was aware of it.
The influence of Bible study upon the character, even in the way of
culture, is very wonderful. Take, for instance, the Scotch peasantry of
a generation or two ago. Devout, versed in the Scriptures and probably
little else, what a fine mental type many of their children have
exhibited! One could name novelists, philosophers, divines, who have
traced their power of thought and charm of diction to the influence of
the home where riches were not, but a sturdy, simple, religious faith,
based upon a daily study of the Bible, prevailed.
“Every several mind needs different books,” but every mind needs the
Book of books.
Apart from the Bible, there are two books of which you should know
something: the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ of Homer.
This possibly sounds far too learned to many girls who read this page.
They have a vague idea that they must know Greek before they can
approach what their schoolboy brothers regard as a task. And if they
never hear of these names in the daily run of life, they feel all the
more reluctant to attack what sounds repellent and incomprehensible.
If any girl with an average amount of intelligence can get Butcher and
Lang’s translation of the _Odyssey_, she will doubtless be charmed, and
any such ideas of repulsion as we have mentioned will be swept quite
out of her mind. This translation reads like a romance or fairy tale of
old. Jebb’s _Primer of Greek Literature_, published at one shilling,
will be a help to its full comprehension, and a Greek History may also
be useful. Smith’s _Smaller History of Greece_ is very good.
The _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ are probably at least twenty-seven
centuries old; and they still appeal to the human heart. Mr. Gladstone
said he felt himself “in heaven when he was breathing the pure
atmosphere of Homer.” And a child also can delight in their pages. The
present writer will never forget the charm to her, as a little girl, of
Pope’s version of the _Odyssey_, with outline illustrations by Flaxman.
Although the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ are poems, the translations that
will appeal most strongly to English girl-readers, we think, are the
prose versions by Andrew Lang and his colleagues. These are written in
an exquisitely simple style, nearer to the original than the sonorous
lines of Pope, Chapman, Lord Derby, Worsley, and many others.
Besides the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, which treat of the very dawn of
history, there are other works of which you should know something.
One might write a volume on the subject of Greek literature, but it
is inopportune here to mention more than a few books. The _Apology_,
_Crito_ and _Phædo_ of Plato, are translated in Dean Church’s _Trial
and Death of Socrates_. They are dialogues telling that immortal story.
The plays of Æschylus are issued in English in Morley’s Universal
Library, published by Routledge at a shilling. The _Alcestis_ of
Euripides has been beautifully translated by Robert Browning in
_Balaustion’s Adventure_, which tells the fascinating story of the
capture of a Rhodian girl by the Syracusans, and the way in which she
won her liberty by reciting the play _Alcestis_. The plays of Euripides
as a whole are well translated by Arthur S. Way, M.A. (Macmillan); and
the plays of Æschylus by Dean Plumptre. Miss Anna Swanwick has rendered
the _Agamemnon_ of Æschylus into charming English.
The student of this literature will find the same names recur again and
again. She will soon come to understand its scope, and live in a world
of her own—not a forlorn, dry-as-dust world of ruins and ashes, but a
bright glad world, which recalls Browning’s words:
“Never morn broke clear as those
On the dim clustered isles in the blue sea,
The deep groves and white temples and wet caves.”
This world is peopled with noble men and fair women, and all they do
and say is chronicled with a sweet, majestic simplicity that appeals
to the heart. Sin there is, and its resulting sorrow and doom; but the
lesson is that which echoes from the recurrent words in the chorus of
the _Agamemnon_:
“Ah, may the Good prevail!”
And when we come down to the story of Socrates, who literally died
because he strove to teach that which he knew to be right, we feel that
we tread on sacred ground:
“Seeking there,
Calm converse with the great dead, soul to soul,
Who laid up treasure with the like intent.”
Space forbids, or it would be possible to write pages on the delights
of Greek literature. But to any girl who has leisure and inclination,
the study of the Greek language itself is most strongly recommended.
Translations abound, and are excellent, but the best translation cannot
give the beauty of the original. The study of the lovely, flexible
language is in itself an education; it is surely an inducement that the
New Testament is written in comparatively easy Greek; and the wealth of
literature to which Greek constitutes a title-deed may well repay hard
labour.
“Can a girl learn Greek quite alone and unaided?” it may be asked.
Well, it can possibly be done, but a little help is invaluable, and
there are correspondence and other classes of which anyone who is in
real earnest can ascertain particulars and avail herself, if she cannot
get individual tuition. The task is not easy, but it is worth while to
attempt it.
There is a book which, perhaps better than any other, can help the
young to enter into the Greek spirit: _The Heroes; Greek Fairy Tales
for my Children_, by Charles Kingsley. If all the other advice of our
chapter proves unpalatable, surely this may be accepted, as the legends
are told in the most fascinating and simple way. Nathaniel Hawthorne,
in _Tanglewood Tales_, has embodied olden legends, but in a less
charming manner.
Dean Church has recounted for boys stories from Homer, Herodotus, and
the Greek tragedians, also from Livy and from Virgil.
The works of Virgil, in Dryden’s translation from the Latin, are
published in Morley’s Universal Library for one shilling.
Some knowledge of Latin is more frequently found among girls than
a knowledge of Greek, but it seldom extends so far as to afford
the enjoyment of reading the classic lore they have learnt with
difficulty to spell out at school. And it must be acknowledged that the
fascination of Greek literature is altogether different.
Two small books published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian
Knowledge, _Epicureanism_, by W. Wallace, M.A., and _Stoicism_, by Rev.
W. W. Capes, are very useful to those who wish to understand a little
about the chief philosophies of the ancient world. To older readers the
_Meditations of Marcus Aurelius_, and the _Discourses of Epictetus_,
will be valuable.
The subject is so vast, it is impossible to deal with it here, and
it would be absurd to suppose that one brief article could be a
comprehensive guide to Greek literature. But that is not needful,
or intended. This point alone we wish to emphasise: that culture is
altogether impossible without some idea of the mighty Past. And even
the busy and the poor may in the present day obtain a glimpse into its
beauty and wonder, by means of the translations we have mentioned. One
such glimpse will lead on to another.
_The Heroes of Asgard_, by A. and E. Keary, if still in print, is
almost as fascinating in its way as Kingsley’s _Heroes_. It treats of
the Scandinavian mythology in a very attractive form, telling of Baldur
the Beautiful, of Loki, Thor, and many other names that should be
familiar. No one can plead ignorance of ancient lore, when the stories
that embody its mythology are within the mental compass even of a child.
One benefit of the study of olden literature is this; that the mental
prospect receives a background as it were. The thoughts found in Greek
literature are the thoughts that now influence society; the eternal
longings and aspirations of the heart of man were expressed in those
days of old; while the gladness of the childhood of the world—a
gladness that we know now in youth and the soft spring days, and the
beauty of the earth—finds expression in immortal verse. So that of the
names already mentioned, and of many others, it may well be said, in
Mrs. Browning’s words:
“These were cup-bearers undying,
Of the wine that’s meant for souls.”
LILY WATSON.
(_To be continued._)
HOUSEHOLD HINTS.
A RAG steeped in turpentine will usually stop severe bleeding of a cut.
STAINS on bedroom basins come off easily if rubbed with a little
Brooke’s Monkey Brand soap on a damp flannel.
BEDROOM and sitting-room fires should be always kept laid and ready
to light at a minute’s notice in case of an emergency, accident, or
illness.
WATER-BOTTLES in bedrooms should be completely emptied each day and
refilled with water that has been boiled.
THERE should be a cupboard in each house containing simple remedies for
wounds, burns, and cuts, and simple drugs for immediate need; also some
lint, linen bandage material, and a pair of sharp scissors with blunt
points. This cupboard should, however, be placed beyond the reach of
little children.
THE little wooden rollers round which unmounted photographs are sent
out are valuable for preservation of face-veils. When these are taken
off, they should at once be rolled round one of these smooth rollers in
order to preserve the shape.
IF you wish to keep the feathers of any bird that has been shot, be
sure and cut off the ends of each quill before you use it, as that
contains matter which decomposes.
A GAME OF MEMORY.
“Let me teach you another game,” said Aunt Louie, “and it shall be a
game of memory.”
“I hope it is not a dreadful game of forfeits,” cried Carrie.
“Well, for a lapse of memory you forfeit your seat and descend to a
lowly one on the floor.”
“Just this amendment I must plead: mothers must be exempted from
penalties,” said I, “and may remain in their easy-chairs.”
“Conceded, for dignity’s sake,” replied Aunt Louie.
“Please declare the rules of the game and let us brace ourselves to our
task!” cried Cecil.
“Well, we give a tea-party, and as each names the guest to be invited,
the names of the first-mentioned guests must be repeated in exactly the
same order as given.”
“If that is the case,” said Phyllis, “there must be no flitting from
seat to seat, you restless young people. Choose your seats and keep
them as long as you may.”
“Are the living only to be invited, or may we summon the illustrious
dead?” asked Harry.
“The illustrious dead may be invited,” answered Aunt Louie.
“Now then, Aunt Louie, please lead off!” cried all.
“I shall give a tea-party and invite the hero of Kartoum.”
“And I,” said Eva, “shall ask Lord Kartoum and Major Marchand.”
“I’ll have Lord Kartoum, Major Marchand and Rider Haggard,” said Cecil.
“And I,” said Carrie, “am determined to have Lord Kartoum, Major
Marchand, Rider Haggard and her Majesty the Queen.”
“My invitations,” said Phyllis, “shall be sent to Lord Kartoum, Major
Marchand, Rider Haggard, the Queen and General Gordon.”
“I’ll have Lord Kartoum, Major Marchand, Rider Haggard, the Queen,
General Gordon and Barnum,” added Jessie.
Harry gave “Dreyfus,” and two of the young people added the names of
“Nansen” and “Clifford Harrison,” while I contributed “Herkomer,” thus
completing the first round. So far no lapse of memory had occurred, and
all remained in their seats.
“Now,” said Aunt Louie, “we try another round, and yet another, still
repeating the names and keeping each round perfectly distinct.”
At the second round two of our party broke down and subsided on the
ground. At the third round two more fell out, and at the fourth round
only Cecil remained on the field, so to speak, victor of the game.
CLARA THWAITES.
“OUR HERO.”
A TALE OF THE FRANCO-ENGLISH WAR NINETY YEARS AGO.
BY AGNES GIBERNE, Author of “Sun, Moon and Stars,” “The Girl at the
Dower House,” etc.