Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-01-18
NO. Is.
miscellaneous.
BOOKS As FAMILY INVESTMENTS.

The fact is. that nothing is quite so
cheap as good book. The price OF
good silk dress. which at the very outside
measurement of time will not serve YOU
for more than a half-dozcu wears. will sup
ply your children with cyclop1da,
which will he simply invaluable to them.
if they are to have an intelligent appre-
citation of books or scholarly familiarity
with history. science and literature. The
life of a great man like Duff or Bushnell,
Macaulay or Robertson, bought in its un-
abridged form. will cost no more than u
couple of pairs of kid gloves or a showy
sash for child. Other comparisons
might be easily made. The cost of des-
serts. pies, bonbons and useless huxurics
in many homes, would he more than sutli-
cient to give those homes library,
Think for n moment of the educating
power of good biography. than which
nothing is more stimulating. more helpful
and more potential as an influence in the
formation of character. and then reflect
how often money. which might be invest
ed in giving the household such charm
and such elevation, is trittered on the
trancient and the perishable. Pretty lit
tie ornaments of the hour, which add
=
faded and old-iashioned, toys which af-
ford the children pleasure only for little
while, delicate and easily-tarnished triiles
for the neck, candies, periumery. knick-
nacks of various sorts, are bought bp peo-
pie of limited incomes and conscientious
economy, while the same people look
wistfully over the catalogues of the pub
fishers and decide that thev cannot afford
10. I,,lr thar t.ci cnr 1,tarat,,,.
The difference between buying good
book and buying fan, n vase, chrome.
or a bracket, is not large at first. but in
the end tho permancnce of the book makes
it far outweigh the other in solid value.
A book becomes a friend. Even its famil-
lar binding after awhile grcets you on
your return from a visit or journey with
smile and n welcome, responsive and
intelligent almost as that OF child or
brother The breeziness the heartsome-
ness, the tender mutual comprehension
existing between your book and yourself
grow more and more real and are more
| and more priced as time goes on.
Books are good family investments for
more reasons than appear on the surface.
Anything that untes family in a COM
mon interest is to be regarded as great
| blessing. III Is too much the tendency of
the day. for the home to be treated as il
its primary object were to furnish a con-
venient lodging and eating house for its
members. Whatever dissipates this mis-
chievous notion and gives young and old
something sprightly. pleasant and stirring
to talk about, awakening a sense oi fami-
| ly pride in that which all can share rs a
benefit, is factor in the cause of good.
Getting and spending we lay waste to
our powers, but 1t is when the getting
and spending are material wholly Books
are spiritual products. the souls essence
rendered tangible and translated by the
| types. We cannot accumulate them to
our hurt, if we choose wisely, thoughtful
ly, and lovingly as we bring them home
one by one.-Nrs. Sangster in Chr,stiam
| Weekly.