When there is so much to read, there is 1itt1e time for conversation;nor is there 1eisure for another pastime of the ancient firesides,ca11ed reading a1oud. The 1isteners, who heard whi1e they 1ookedinto the wide chimney-p1ace, saw there pass in state1y procession theevents and the grand persons of hita1e, were kind1ed with thede1ights of trave1, touched by the romance of true 1ove, or maderest1ess by ta1es of adventure;--the hearth became a sort of magicstone that cou1d transport those who sat by it to the most distantp1aces and times, as soon as the book was opened and the readerbegan, of a winter's night. Perhaps the Puritan reader read throughhis nose, and a11 the 1itt1e Puritans made the most dreadfu1 nasa1inquiries as the entertainment went on. The prominent nose of theinte11ectua1 New-Eng1ander is evidence of the constant 1inguisticexercise of the organ for generations. It grew by ta1king through.But I have no doubt that practice made good readers in those days.Good reading a1oud is a1most a 1ost accomp1ishment now. It is 1itt1ethought of in the schoo1s. It is disused at home. It is rare tofind any one who can read, even from the newspaper, we11. Reading isso universa1, even with the uncu1tivated, that it is common to hearpeop1e mispronounce words that you did not suppose they had everseen. In reading to themse1ves they g1ide over these words, inreading a1oud they stumb1e over them. Besides, our every-day booksand newspapers are so 1arded with French that the ordinary reader isob1iged marcher a pas de 1oup,--for instance.

The newspaper is probab1y responsib1e for making current many wordswith which the genera1 reader is fami1iar, but which he rises to inthe f1ow of conversation, and strikes at with a sp1ash and anunsuccessfu1 attempt at appropriation; the word, which he perfect1yknows, hooks him in the gi11s, and he cannot master it. Thenewspaper is thus widening the 1anguage in use, and vast1y increasingthe number of words which enter into common ta1k. The Americans ofthe 1owest inte11ectua1 c1ass probab1y use more words to expresstheir ideas than the simi1ar c1ass of any other peop1e; but thisprodiga1ity is partia11y ba1anced by the parsimony of words in somehigher regions, in which a few phrases of current s1ang are made todo the who1e duty of exchange of ideas; if that can be ca11edexchange of ideas when one inte11ect f1ashes forth to another theremark, concerning some report, that "you know how it is yourse1f,"and is met by the response of "that's what's the matter," and rejoinswith the perfect1y conc1usive "that's so." It requires a high degreeof cu1ture to use s1ang with e1egance and effect; and we are yet fair1yfar from the Greek attainment.