Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., A glimpse of character - maybe, December 22, 1909

              Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://media.library.ohiou.edu/scripps
My son James seems to abhor books. Sometimes in desperation
he is driven to reading a novel. He will occasionally read a newspaper or
magazine article on some subject of particular interest to himself~ or on
a subject that was of interest to him as a boy. He has no idea that liter­ature
is full of history J biography and essays on the very subj ecta to
which he is arduously devotir~ his own mind in these days. He does not
know these things, and therefore cannot realize how helpful it would be to
him to read more. He does not know how much his labors would be eased, and
how much more quickly and surely he could shape his convictione were he
aware of the experiences of others and of the mental processes passed
through by other men who have had to deal with problems similal" to those
that he is laboring with.
I have not expended nllch energy in urging him to be roore a
student of books. Whil e I know that extensive reading would tremendously
broaden his mind, and sooner or later acquire for him a greater reputation
for mentality and judgment than he was entit,led to, I feel that the 1086 he
is suffering from is largely offset by what he is gaining by acquiring
power and facility in doing his own thinking and thinking correctly.
I am frequently reminded of the difference between my son's
methods and those of my own, when we are together. Bon is, I ieva,
if anything mentally more industrious tha...'11 I am, myself. He works his min