Littleton College - Chatterbox Yearbook (Littleton, NC)

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224 Tun CHATTERBOX. The Sort of Books School Girls Read. MOBADA FARABOW. I suppose people have wondered just what sort of books girls read While in school. Well, I will tell you if you will keep a secret. In the library on the shelves are some books that are badly Worn and abused. What books do you suppose they are? Among those that are so badly mangled is St Elmo, by Augusta Evans. If you were to remove this from the place in which it is resting for a While, every leaf Would fall to the floor. Besides this there are E. P. Roe's Works. '4Queechy, and the 'WVide, Wide lVorld are Well Worn, f'Our Bessie and HSvveet Cicelyv are much the Worse for Wear. Then of more recent publications there are 4'Lavender and Old Lace, '4The Love Letters of a Musician, and The Spinner in the Sun, by Myrtle Reed. Mary Stewart Cut- ting's Little Stories of Courtship is especially popular with the sentimental girls. Some people may think that girls never get sentimental, but they do forget sometimes and drift off into day dreams. In the collection of books popular with the school girls is one by Lillian Bell, 4'The Love Af- fairs of an Old Maid. We often Wonder Why this one shows such unmistakable signs of use, for surely there are no old maids in school, and if there are any they don't write love letters. VVell, this book is here and it is very frequently read. There are the Elsie Booksv and The Pansy Books which are read by the quiet, good girls. Some of the other most popular books-and there is a deal more reason in their popularity-are The Man From Glengarryn and The Sky Pilot by Ralph Connor, 4'In Old Virginia and The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock, by Thomas Nelson Page, and

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THE CHATTERBOX. Meditcltion. CLARA HEARNE, '08, I am growing tired and weary, The way is rough and long, The days are long and dreary, I am tired of the busy throng. My heart's burden is so heavy 5 My friends have proved untrue- I long to reach and grasp Something that will be true. Disappointments lie around me, The way's so dark and ohill, And rougher grows the sea, The waves are never still. But ah, I wait the future, VVith eager watchful eyes, F or then I'll rest forever In a land of cloudless skies. New life will there begin, And grief will be no more, For there, there'll be no sin,- When I have reached that shore Oh, I shall rest forever With nothing at all to do, But find and enjoy at last The friends that are always true'

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THE CHATTERBOX. 225 others by various Writers too numerous to mention which show distinctly what our girls at least like to read. These books are so worn the writers would have difliculty in recognizing them, while upon the same shelf with them are the books of the greatest thinkers and writers that look as if they are never opened. Then, too, the magazine stories and the 'papers are read and re-read. Don't understand me to say that these books should no-t be read. The point I do wish to make is that all the time should not be given to these at the expense of neglecting the others that are m-ore helpful. There is a great deal of good to be gotten from these if they are read in the right Way. What We call a novel may educate the taste and cultivate the intelligence. It may purify the heart and fortify the mind, but it should never under any circumstances be allowed to deprave the -one and weaken the other-and it is possible for the cheaper brands to do this. What is the matter with our reading? Is it that our tastes are poor or that our brains are Weak? Neither, primarily, but it is possible for both to become so through lack of use and training. A taste for the very best literature may be- come perverted if We feed it continually with what is of an inferior quality, and the very brightest mind may become lazy, dull and stupid if it is not exercised. There would be no harm in reading some of the things T have mentioned if We read as Well other things more likely to stimulate thought. A good share of the blame for our failure to read thoroughly and Well may be attributed, then, to-pure laziness. Again, another thing that is ailing some of us is a severe attack of sentimentalism. School girls have been accused of it from time immemorial, and it would be a very soul-sat.is- fying thing to pronounce the accusation false in every case- but 'tis true, 'tis pity, pity 'tis, 'tis true. Now sentiment is a good thing-a thing that ought to be, and most usually U