[Python] Printing string item prints individual characters

I have a text file with five lines. I open and read the lines into an array then print the array successfully but when I print a single item in the array it prints individual characters. I need to use the five input lines as individual strings in the code.

#!/usr/bin/python3

# read the configuration file (from setup.py)

try:
f = open('interface.txt', encoding="utf-8")
vars = f.read()
f.close()
except IOError:
print("oops cant open interface.txt")
exit ()

# debug
print ('\nthis works prints five items\n')
print (vars)

print ('\nthis prints every individual character in the file\n')
for xx in vars:
print (xx)


output:

jbh@junkbox-2:~/Desktop/Athens/Volume1/Chapter00$ ./readInterface.py

this works prints five items

Chapter 00 - Introduction
index.html
../Chapter10/index.html
../Chapter01/index.html
Chapter00.csv


this prints every individual character in the file

C
h
a
p
t
e
r

0
0

-

I
n
t
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n
-- etc. ---

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