THE CHARLOTTE NEWS, CHARLOTTE, N. C FRIDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 30, 1921.
15
The Other Bay SmetMg Happened.
Nowlhs Gwng 'to Malm
I FEEL that it's an act of common decency, wrung
irom a nusy man, and no matter how busy you may
! be, I guess you'd better read it
For years THE LITERARY DIGEST was nothing to
mc. I had too much reading: matter, and too many ways to
spend my money.
I thought THE DIGEST was simply one of the multitude
of magazines, and the family has half a dozen, or more, lying
around the house all the time-
Some fate got after me a month
or so ago and began to hand me
one knock after another.
The first one that made a dent,
1 think, was at the meeting of the
lodg;e. An argument arose over Soviet
Russia's interest in the Washington
Arms Conference. I couldn't hold up
my end; the other man knew more than I did. and made the
fact plain to several members who were listening. I remarked
not very pleasantly, "You seem to know more than the news
papers.'' Mv ill nature brought only a cheerful laugh. "Oh,
yes,'' he said. "THE LITERARY DIGEST explained the
whole thing last week." Of course I hadn't seen it.
Coming in on the train a day or two later, my seat com
panion asked me what I thought of the great plan to make
Manhattan Island and the City of New
York six miles longer and to construct
the most wonderful model city in the
------- i --
world on this new land. "Never heard
of it. Pipe dream!" I replied. "Oh, no;
Congress has passed the bill, and the
President has signed it. Plans are al
ready being drawn. The article in last
weeks LITERARY DIGEST describing it reads like "The
Arabian Nights.'" I hid my discomfiture Vith a polite, "Is
that so!"
At the dinner table, yesterday, two of the children began
discussing the question why great quantities of corn must be
burned as fuel in America, while millions are starving in Russia,
China, Armenia, and elsewhere.
It seemed strange to hear them
quote fact after fact, and opinions
hadn't read anywhere. I began to
be afraid they would ask me some
question I couldn't answer. At
length I stopped them short by saying, "That will do now;
where did you hear all that, anyhow?" And this is what I
got in reply, "Why father 1 That is our high school topic from
THE LITERARY DIGEST this week." I had forgotten reading
in a letter some time ago that THE DIGEST is used as a text
in several thousand high schools throughout the United States.
Wife is fond of visiting and
has a good many friends among
nice people. Lately they have
been talking a lot about canning
and drying fruits and vegetables,
and about new methods of home
economy. I heard her telling somebody
over the 'phone the other day about a
wonderful substitute for eggs in making calces. Then I
heard a little exclamation of dismay and a few broken
sentences of embarrassment before she hung up the receiver.
In a minute the trouble was all up to me : " Mrs. Page
says I mustn't use that egg powder, because it hasn't any
egg in it at all. She says I ought to read the article in
my LITERARY DIGEST this week telling all about such
things. 'My' LITERARY DIGEST! She seemed to take
for granted that we have THE DIGEST. I was ashamed
to tell her we haven't. Everybody seems to have it except
us." Of course, I couldn't admit such a thing. At the same
time, I couldn't deny having seen THE LITERARY DIGEST
in most of the nice homes we had visited.
Election day I started early from the house to vote. My
neighbpr was getting out his new car. It was a beauty. "I
thought you couldn't decide which make to get," I remarked.
"How did you settle the matter?"
" Why, yes, it did seem like a deadlock
between my .wife and me, but the ad
vertisement of this car in last week's
LITERARY DIGEST was so convincing,
we agreed, as soon as we read it, that
this was our choice. It's getting to be
rather a habit with us, you know.
to find answers to things in THE
DIGEST." " The matter-of-course tone in which he spoke, made
me wonder what he would say if he knew I didn't read
THE LITERARY DIGEST.
Last Sunday morning the dominie mentioned a request
made by some church member that the pastor Ould "not
preach about disarmament, as the subject had been worn thread
bare." Then he began to ask questions and tell facts that showed
a wider sweep of the subject than his hearers had ever dreamed
of. 1 declare, if he quoted THE LITERARY DIGEST once, he
must have quoted it half a dozen times.
Is the answer to everything in THE LITERAR Y DIGEST !
This was getting on my nerves. The next morning at the
office I noticed THE DIGEST on my partner's desk with his
personal mail. In the most casual manner I asked him to let
me take a look at it. I didn't mean to start anything 1
"Do you mean to say you don't read THE LITERARY
DIGEST 1" he exclaimed.
"Why, is there anything surprizing about that? I don't
pretend to read every magazine that's published," I said,
rather nettled.
He came back at me strong. "That's just it; you try to
read too many magazines, and too many newspapers, no doubt
You might better spend less time with
some of them rather than miss reading
THE LITERARY DIGEST. You
simply can't get on, nor hold your own
anywhere without it. I know I couldn't.
It's the only magazine in the country that
keeps you informed, fully and rightly
informed, I mean', free from all editorial
bias - -on the big live matters of disarmament and business, and
every other vital topic. Surely ! look it over and see for yourself.-
I retired to my own office and sat down, face to face with
the magazine that had been challenging me everywhere I went
during the past month. An hour was gone before I knew it.
I was surprized, startled, thrilled. The world seemed bigger to
me, and closer. Things that had puzzled me became clearer.
My mind seemed to be opening. I had
thought of THE LITERARY DIGEST
simply as one of a multitude of mag
azines which did not concern me. Here
it was, now, revealed as . THE ONE
which I had been really needing all
this time. I certainly had been missing
a good thing.
Well, I hurriedly sent off my check
for the $4.00 which would bring THE
LITERARY DIGEST to my home for a whole year. Thank
goodness, that's donel Of course, the joke is on me. It was
my own fault I might have enjoyed THE DIGEST long ago.
Now, as an act of neighborliness, I'm making this confession;
and I'm telling you, also, you who haven't been reading THE
DIGEST, if you now sign and mail an order for it, as I did
(when I woke up), you can call it a good day's work.
Harold Bell Wright, the Author, Tells the Reason:
"To attempt to gain anything like a clear view of the
world's activities through the fogs of prejudice and the clouds
of self-interest that hang always about the local newspaper
a hopeless task. For one who would look with unob
tructed vision upon the moving world-forces that make for
cr against the welfare of human kind, The Literary Digest
is a mountain peak in a clear sky.
" Because The Literary Digest gives me an unclouded
view of the world's doings, because it places me in an
atmosphere above prejudice and local self-interest, because
t separates for me the grain of the world's thought from
the chaff of idle words, and cleans it from the dirt of
sensationalism, I appreciate and enjoy it. It is a Godsend
to all who feel that they have work to do that requires
dear thinking.,, HAROLD BELL WRIGHT, Author of "The
Verier J of the Hills' "Helen of the Old House' etc.
'TTMT
est
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
(Publishers of the Famous NEW Standard Dictionary)
New York
f Mark of
I Distinction to 1
1 Be a Reader off
The Literary
Digest f
The
Digest Habit
Saves Worry,
Time, and
Money
r
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
HERE ARE TWO WAYS TO GET THE LITERARY DIGEST:
1. Buy it from the nearest news-dealer for a dime each week.
2. Send this order, with $4.00, and receive the magazine at your
home or office every Saturday for a year. i
NDept 250
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY,
354-360 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Please send me THE LITERARY DIGEST tor a year,
beginning at once. I enclose $4.00. '
NAME-
STREET AND NUMBER.
CITY
STATE.
1 DATE.