ttle at a time and in
great variety; and the knowledge of good reading obtained from such a wide
testing of the field.

Are not these real benefits, and are they not desirable? I fear that our
original surmise was correct and that browsing is condemned not for what
it does, but because it fails to do something that it could not be
expected to do. Of course, if one were to browse continuously he would be
unable to feed in any other way. Attendance upon school or the continuous
reading of any book whatever would be obviously impossible. To avoid
misunderstanding, therefore, we will agree at this point that whatever may
be said here in commendation of browsing is on condition that it be
occasional and not excessive and that the normal amount of continuous
reading and study proceed together with it.

Having settled, therefore, that browsing is a good thing when one does not
occupy ones' whole time with it, let us examine its advantages a little
more in detail.

First: about the mental nourishment that is absorbed in browsing; the
specific information, the appreciation of what is good, the intellectual
stimulation--not that which comes from reading suggested or guided by
browsing, but from the actual process itself. I have heard it strenuously
denied that any such absorption occurs; the bits taken are too small, the
motion of the browser is too rapid, the whole process is too desultory.
Let us see. In the first place a knowledge of authors and titles and of
the general character of their works is by no means to be despised. I
heard the other day of a presumably educated woman who betrayed in a
conversation her ignorance of Omar Khayyam--not lack of acquaintance with
his works, but lack of knowledge that such a person had ever existed. If
at some period in her life she had held in her hand a copy of "The
Rubaiyat," and had glanced at its back, without even opening it, how much
embarrassment she might have been spared! And if, in addition, she had
glanced within for just ten seconds and had discovered that he wrote
poetry in stanzas of four lines each, she would have known as much about
Omar as do many of those who would contemptuously scoff at her ignorance.
With so brief effort may we acquire literary knowledge sufficient to avoid
embarrassment in ordinary conversation. Browsing in a good library, if the
browser has a memory, will soon equip him with a wide range of knowledge
of this kind. Nor is such knowledge to be sneer