pon the aid of others more expert, his position
will be far from agreeable or satisfactory. How many and what foreign
languages should be learned may be matter for wide difference of opinion.
But so far-reaching is the prevalence of the Latin, as one of the
principal sources of our own language, and of other modern tongues, that
a knowledge of it is most important. And so rich is the literature of
France, to say nothing of the vast number of French words constantly
found in current English and American books and periodicals, that at
least a fairly thorough mastery of that language should be acquired. The
same may be said of the German, which is even more important in some
parts of the United States, and which has a literature most copious and
valuable in every varied department of knowledge. With these three
tongues once familiar, the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and
Scandinavian languages may be, through the aid of dictionaries, so far
utilized as to enable one to read titles and catalogue books in any of
them, although a knowledge of all, so as to be able to read books in
them, is highly desirable.

In the Boston Public Library, the assistants are required to possess an
adequate knowledge of Latin, French, and German. And all candidates for
positions in the reading-room of the British Museum Library must undergo
a thorough test examination as to their knowledge of the Latin language.
Opportunities for acquiring foreign languages are now so abundant that
there is small excuse for any one who wants to know French, Latin or
German, and yet goes through life without learning them. There are even
ways of learning these languages with sufficient thoroughness for reading
purposes without a teacher, and sometimes without a text-book. Two
assistant librarians taught themselves French and German in their
evenings, by setting out to read familiar works of English fiction in
translations into those languages, and soon acquired a good working
knowledge of both, so as to be able to read any work in either, with only
occasional aid from the dictionary for the less common words. It is
surprising how soon one can acquire a sufficient vocabulary in any
language, by reading any of its great writers. A good way for a beginner
to learn French without a master is to take a French New Testament, and
read the four Gospels through. After doing this three or four times,
almost any one who is at all familiar with the Scriptures, will be