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issued on all kinds of household matters. If a girl is a saleswoman or
stenographer, she should see what is being written on these subjects.
It is a mistake for any worker not to make herself familiar with what
other workers in her own occupation are doing.
Besides reading for our work, we have minds and souls to keep and
cultivate. Reading of the right kind is a great help in encouraging
the growth of mind and soul. Books, when they are good of their kind,
and when read in the right way, teach us; give us rest, change and
variety; entertain and amuse us; and are a refuge and consolation.
We can learn a great deal from a good book of fiction. One writer has said
that she obtained the greater part of her education from reading novels.
Stories explain to us the endless varieties of human nature. We learn to
know people from reading good novels, and after a while we are able to
criticize the characters in the stories from the people we know ourselves.
Then we can tell whether the novel is true to nature, or whether it is
only a poor mistaken interpretation of life. Many novels have to do with
famous places as well as famous people. It would be a great loss if we had
to give up all the good novels in the world. The best novels help us to
understand how wonderfully important life is.
Other realms of knowledge and delight are found in biography and history.
Scarcely too much can be said in praise of good biography. The girl should
ask at home or in a library for an interesting life of some famous person.
Perhaps she is specially attracted to a hero or heroine of history, to
some famous writer, artist or musician. In any case, she may ask the
librarian to advise her which biography to read first. While reading
famous histories, such as Greene's Short History of England, she should
not fail to read the history connected with her own neighbourhood. World
history and the history of countries other than our own are also important.
Besides fiction, biography and history, the girl is likely to find herself
longing to read some of the great poetry of the world. Here again she may
ask the advice of the librarian. We can hardly know the full beauty of
God's world until we have read some of the writings of the great poets.
The girl who is really fond of reading will enjoy essays and the letters
of famous people. Girls who love art and music will find good books on such
subjects. Almost anything one can imagine has been written
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