Of Making One’s Self Beautiful

By William C. Gannett 

Copyright 1899

According to an inscription inside the front cover, this book was a Christmas gift from Mrs. Powell to Dorothy B. Hymen in 1909.  In 2012, it became a Christmas gift from my Mother to me!  I wonder if Dorothy gained any wisdom or encouragement from this little treasure.  One hundred and three years later, it still offers relevant words of wisdom.

In one section of the book, the author motivates the man or woman who is unable to attend college by providing guidance on how to learn independently.  In this chapter, Culture Without College, three main “teachers” are listed.  They are one’s work, society, and books. 

 “And now a word about the third teacher who waits to teach us boys and girls and men and women who cannot go to college.  His name is Books.  He is the same great teacher that they have in colleges;  but in this day, he goes about the country, teaching everybody.”

What an opportunity for us! I can’t agree more about this third “teacher”.  This is one reason why I value my work in a Public Library so highly.  The wisdom found in books there is available to all who can read, regardless of financial or social standing.  In today’s libraries, books are not even the only source of knowledge, since most libraries offer free use of the internet and computers. 

The author admits that the quality of knowledge found in books varies greatly, and it is up to the individual to spend their time wisely by choosing books that will benefit the individual.  And please, don’t just read the books, but ponder their meaning, mining them for treasure.  

“Of absorbing them, I say;  for ‘I will read best books in the best way.’  This, our last rule, can be put in one word - read and ruminate!   Read and ruminate!  A book that gives no cud to chew is scarcely worth reading once;  a book worth reading, of which one does not chew the cud, has scarcely been read.”

I’m not sure how I feel about the imagery the author uses here, but I sure agree with his sentiment! Life long learning is available to all of us in the form of books.  This is as true today as it was in 1899.

Books - There's no such thing as too many?