You want it to be a
home for the mind as well as the body, do you not?
I heard of a young lawyer who put aside a little of every fee as a
sinking-fund for a library. He and his wife bought books with
that--not books for the office, but books for their home. He
succeeded--"won out"--"won out" with his cases, which was his
profession's business, and "won out" with his happiness and hers,
which was his life's business.
The theater is the highest form of combined education, amusement, and
repose which human intelligence has yet invented. It was so in Greece,
and it is so now. The theater occasionally is good for you. But let
the play you go to see be high-grade. Inferior performances on the
stage will destroy your taste as surely as will the continued
propinquity of poor pictures. The same is true of music.
Music has a mysterious quality which exalts. It has been noted that
soldiers gladly go to their death under its influence, who otherwise
would fight unwillingly. It is a great producer of thought also. Some
men can write well only under its inspiration. Educate yourself _up_
in it, therefore. Do not be content with the simple melodies and old
songs. They will never lose their charm, and ought not; but they are
not the best which music has for you.
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