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\OAK, ALASKA
VOLUME VII, NUMBER 17
ADA'K SUN
23 APRIL 1962 I
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SECOND PLACE WINNER .. . . /
Mrs. Mary E. Lewis, Supervisor of the Telephone Exchange wrote wAn Open Letter
To My Sons'* to take 2nd place honors in the Special Services contest held in con
nection with National Library Week last week, here-is Mrs. Lewis entry3
"WHY I LIKE TO READ AN OPEN LETTER TO MY SONS"
Dear Sons3 Learning to read is a lot like learning to swim.o You get the same
sense of being enveloped in a fluid substance. Not really sure if it will be hot
or cold until you plunge in and start for the far,shore. So it is with reading,
you*re never quite sure what senses will awaken with the opening of a book.
I realize only too well, from the age. of five onward, you have been besieged
and plagued with learning to read. Eut how wonderful that it could bo so. Try
to imagine a world with no written word? With all daily concepts lost forever
the moment they occur.»o Never to relive a great event in the eon of life on
earth. How little energy is required of you when you measure the wealth you have
inherited.
Reading is basic in the quest for kncwlege. Reading is the means of distribut
ing, all the great things, all the small things, all the innermost thoughts of man
Great nations have proclaimed the **word mightier than the sword'-** But with no
one to read the word, we.would be reduced to savages with swords. The written
word and the knowle Ige to interpret it, has led us out of a darkness and into a
light so bright, that the sun is fallow in comparison.
My sons, read and read and read! Live the great experiences with those who
created them. Be the King of Siam, or the First Man to the Moon. Read the lines
of a poet and feel the warm glow of his emotions * Read the theories of a math
ematician proving his cold factual equations to the world. Read of all things;
the inventor, the cowboy, the world traveler, the musician. Read of courage and
cowards, or pride and humility, of big men and little men. Dream with the lovers;
cry with the broken hearted; laugh with the humorist. Find comfort and companion
ship; solace and sympahy; release and relaxation.. For every mood of the moment,
there has been a book written to fill the need. Avail youselves to thorn. In your
lifetime of constant reading you will never do more than scratch the surface of
the myriad of books written and waiting to be read.
Be eager in your quest. I know you are young and restless, anxious to be
moving about. Wanting to learn for yourself, rather than some stuffy old book*
Discontented with old worn cut methods yearning to try all the new, young, glitt
ering ideas. Too soon, my sens you will find many of these are merely rearrange
ments of past themes*
Make a habit of reading. One day soon you will be on your own. It would be
a great comfort to me if I knewyau would never be lonely, or without a friend.
In the world of bocks you will find such friends, and you need never be lonely*
One of the' createst gifts I can give you, is my zest for reading*
Your mother
READ
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