FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  
ther "Free." The only capital that must be sunk in it is Time, and of that even one hour a day will suffice to bring up vast stores of wealth from its unfathomable depths, while the labour bestowed tends to rest rather than to weary the body, at the same time that it enlarges the mind and invigorates the soul. Still another peculiarity of this mine is, that its products are various and innumerable. You must go to Australia or to California for gold, to Golconda or Kimberley for diamonds, to Mexico or Spain for silver, to Cornwall for copper, tin, and lead, and to Sweden for iron; but in this mine you will find the various metals and gems in neighbouring "pockets" and nuggets, and seams and beds. Here you may gather the golden opinions of the ancients in close proximity to those of the moderns. Here you will find pearls of thought, sparkling gems of imagery, broad seams of satire, and silvery streams of sentiment, with wealth of wisdom and of wit. Hard iron-fisted facts also, and funny mercurial fancies are to be found here in abundance, and there are tons of tin in the form of rubbish, which is usually left at a pit's mouth, and brings little or no "tin" to those who brought it to light, while there are voluminous layers of literary lead, whose weight and dulness render the working of them tedious;--but this need not, and does not, dishearten the digger, for in all mines the poor and worthless material is ever in excess of that which is valuable, and miserable indeed must be the spirit of him who should refuse to manipulate the "dirt" because the large nuggets and gems are few and far between. Throughout all the cuttings flow glittering brooks of knowledge, and also many crystal rivulets drawn from the pure waters of the River of Life. The mine of which I write is the Public Library of Capetown. And let it not be supposed that I exaggerate or over-estimate this mine. It unquestionably takes rank as one of the noted libraries of the world, and South Africa has reason to be proud of, and grateful to, the men who, by their enlightened schemes and liberality, were the means of creating what is at once a mine and a monument to the Cape. But Capetown boasts of many other institutions which are well worthy of notice. It is--and has been since its foundation by Van Riebeek in 1652--the seat of Governments. [See Note 1.] It is also the seat of the Supreme Court and of the University of the Cape of Good Hope. It
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   >>  



Top keywords:

Capetown

 

nuggets

 

wealth

 
worthless
 
material
 

waters

 
tedious
 

Public

 

Library

 

rivulets


digger
 

dishearten

 

knowledge

 

spirit

 

manipulate

 
Throughout
 

excess

 

brooks

 

refuse

 
glittering

miserable

 
valuable
 

cuttings

 

crystal

 

worthy

 

notice

 

institutions

 
monument
 

boasts

 

foundation


Supreme

 

University

 

Riebeek

 

Governments

 

creating

 

libraries

 

unquestionably

 

estimate

 

supposed

 

exaggerate


schemes

 

enlightened

 

liberality

 

Africa

 

reason

 

grateful

 
products
 

peculiarity

 

innumerable

 

enlarges