Page:Side talks with girls (1895).djvu/109

Rh the heart, and be very careful to avoid those most undesirable books that presume to jest at sacred things.

First of all thinkingly. I know there is no such word in the dictionary, but what I say covers what I mean ; let your eyes, mind, and heart become absorbed until you feel that you are of the people about whom you are reading, or else that you are arguing with the author as to his opinions. Don't be afraid to be ignorant. And the very first word which is not absolutely clear to you attach to your vocabulary by looking it out in the dictionary. Learn also to forget—to forget the wrong that you may have stumbled across and to forget the book that has made you unhappy. Last year when I was ill I had a book experience that taught me much. A friend came in and brought a book, which at that time was being talked about and reviewed, and in which she thought I would be interested. I read it through very carefully—with this result, that every pain I had grew worse, the entire world seemed against me, there was a black cloud across the sun, all the people were unhappy, and there was no promise of improvement in the future.

The next day some old novels were brought to me, and when the friend who had brought the