*
To pass from hearing literature to reading it is to take a
great and dangerous step. With not a few, I think a large
proportion of their pleasure then comes to an end; 'the
malady of not marking' overtakes them; they read
thenceforward by the eye alone and hear never again the
chime of fair words or the march of the stately period.
NON RAGIONIAM of these. But to all the step is dangerous;
it involves coming of age; it is even a kind of second
weaning. In the past all was at the choice of others; they
chose, they digested, they read aloud for us and sang to
their own tune the books of childhood. In the future we
are to approach the silent, inexpressive type alone, like
pioneers; and the choice of what we are to read is in our
own hands thenceforward.
*
It remains to .be seen whether you can prove yourselves as
generous as you have been wise and patient.
*
'If folk dinna ken what ye're doing, Davie, they're
terrible taken up with it; but if they think they ken, they
care nae mair for it than what I do for pease porridge.'
*
And perhaps if you could read in my soul, or I could
read in yours, our own composure might seem little
less surprising.
*
For charity begins blindfold; and only through a series of
misapprehensions rises at length into a settled principle
of love and patience, and a firm belief in all our
fellow-men.
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