Short Stories and Selections for Use in the Secondary Schools
INTRODUCTION The testimony of librarians as to the kind of books people are reading nowadays is somewhat discouraging to the book-lover who has been brought up in the old traditions. We are told that Scott and Thackeray and George Eliot cannot compete with the year's "best sellers," and that the old classics are read only by the few who have a cultivated taste and a trained intelligence. The interest of novelty, the dislike of mental effort, the temptation to read merely for a mild sensation,--all these undoubtedly tend to keep down the level of literary taste. To many readers of good average ability, neither the esthetic nor the purely intellectual makes a strong appeal. Even minds of fine quality often find a welcome diversion in trivial reading. In fact, to expect every one and at all times to have his mind keyed up to the higher levels is neither sincere nor reasonable. And yet, making due allowance for intellectual limitations, for the busy and distracting conditions of modern life, and for the real need of light reading at times when recreation is of more value than instruction, it would seem that a fair proportion of our reading could
13:021:024 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it
for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine
for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
13:021:025 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of
gold by weight.
13:021:026 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD;
and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of
burnt offering.
13:021:027 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword
again into the sheath thereof.
13:021:028 At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in
the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed
there.
13:021:029 For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the
wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that
season in the high place at Gibeon.
13:021:030 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was
afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
INTRODUCTION The testimony of librarians as to the kind of books people are reading nowadays is somewhat discouraging to the book-lover who has been brought up in the old traditions. We are told that Scott and Thackeray and George Eliot cannot compete with the year's "best sellers," and that the old classics are read only by the few who have a cultivated taste and a trained intelligence. The interest of novelty, the dislike of mental effort, the temptation to read merely for a mild sensation,--all these undoubtedly tend to keep down the level of literary taste. To many readers of good average ability, neither the esthetic nor the purely intellectual makes a strong appeal. Even minds of fine quality often find a welcome diversion in trivial reading. In fact, to expect every one and at all times to have his mind keyed up to the higher levels is neither sincere nor reasonable. And yet, making due allowance for intellectual limitations, for the busy and distracting conditions of modern life, and for the real need of light reading at times when recreation is of more value than instruction, it would seem that a fair proportion of our reading could