It is a matter too important and serious to be disposed of thoughtlessly. A home without good books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. He cheats them.
Children learn to read by being in the presence of books.
The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it, and the love of knowledge in a young mind is almost a warrant against the inferior excitement of passions and vices. But to select the books that is the difficulty. Their number is legion. Here is an opportunity to exercise judgment, wise discrimination, and criticism, supplemented by all the good advice parents, guardians, and other friends can bestow. Under these circumstances the choice of books is not easy, but is one of the most important and difficult duties imposed upon the young or old.