verting our minds from the flood of
cares and troubles which come in upon all of us. The library may well be

"The world's sweet inn from care and wearisome turmoil."

Or in our happy and merry moods we may seek congenial company in the
creations of Cervantes and Moliere and Shakespeare and Dickens and Mark
Twain. Reading for pastime is a commendable occupation, if wisely
followed. Lowell in his paradoxical style tells us that what Dr. Johnson
called browsing in a library is the only way in which time can be
profitably wasted. But to browse profitably one should have an appetite
only for what has some merit. I have known lads born with a literary
instinct as unerring as that of the bee for finding honey, to have the
free run of a large library and come out with a wonderful range of good
learning. Such instances show the unwisdom of having the same rules to
guide every one in his reading. In such cases as those just cited, the
example and taste of the parents often determine the success of the
experiment. The books they talk about fondly at table and quote from
freely and appositely are likely to arrest the attention of the child.
Therefore we may say that the home as truly as the school may largely
determine what advantage shall be gained in this library. Parents who
for their children's sake are careful what guests they admit to their
house and what companionships they counsel the children to form may well
consider what reading comes under their roof and what literary tastes
they encourage in their household.

In these days when reviews and magazines and school histories of
literature abound, there seems ground for one caution to youthful
readers. It is, not to be content with reading about great books and
great men, but to study the works themselves of great men. Many of the
outlines of English literature, for example, which pupils in school are
required to study, contain dates and names and brief descriptions of
masterpieces, and from the nature of the case can contain little else.
But cramming the memory with these is not learning the literature.
Reading, mastering, and learning to appreciate and love the great works
of a great author is better than to learn the dry facts in the lives of
a score of authors. So our magazines and reviews treat us to criticism
sometimes wise, sometimes unwise, of many authors. But all these are of
little value until the works themselves of the authors have been
studied. With the