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| Hulda May Culbert. Photo courtesy of Wendy (Gowland) Boole from the collection of Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen. |
Hulda May acquired her love of reading at an early age,
thanks to her mother, Jane (Fairhall) Culbert and grandmother, Mary (Ward) Culbert who stimulated her curiosity and her eagerness to learn.
An article by Hamilton Wright Mabie in the June 1903
issue of the Ladies Home Journal impressed young Hulda May.
Six Rules for Those Who Read
1.
Do not read at random; select your books in
advance.
2.
Read intelligently and with foresight; make
a scheme for the season, not too large to be worked out.
3.
Read books that interest you; follow the
line of your taste unless your taste is wholly untrained; if it is, read good
books in different fields until you find out what you care for most.
4.
Have a book always within reach and make
the most of your spare minutes.
5.
Read only good books and put your mind on
them. To get the best out of books you must be able to remember them.
6.
Do not make a task of reading; read for
enjoyment.
The week after listing these rules, she read Records of Tennyson, Ruskin, Browning by Anne Thackeray Ritchie, and copied
several pages of excerpts.
Hulda May had all-encompassing interests and read everything from scholarly journals to Jane Eyre.
She was 22 years old when she read
the Six Rules for Those Who Read. She copied these rules for readers into her diary and
followed them for the rest of her days.
As well as putting her knowledge of books to work as a school teacher, she later became Librarian at the West China Union University in Chengtu, China.
Her diary says she read 136 books in 1926! That's about two and a half books per week. Compare
that with your book list and let us know how you’re doing so far this year.
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| Hulda May (Culbert) Carscallen (left) reading with her daughter, Kay Gowland. Photo courtesy of Betty (Carscallen) Marmura. |
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