Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-09-27
THE HOME LIBRARY.
THE PRINCIPLR THAT SHOULD
GUIDE USIS sELEC1INo ~.
small Beginnings - Dickens. ThscEeray
ana the Poets-Ths Age of story Read
ing go Read to Acquire Power Facts
which should Not he Lost sight or.

Which should Not he Lost sight or.
Correspondence to the GLosH-REruBLIc.
BROOKLYN, Sept. 24.-A home is not com
plete without a library, and the first step with
every home maker should lie to provide one.
And here the principle of little thoroughly,
rather thana great deal specifically. should
guide us. Ii is better to begin with a small
selection of books, and add to them as we
need more.
The home library may consist Of half-a-
dozen books, provided they are of the right
sort, and these may give far more pleasure
and instruction than IA costly library OF
valueless works For the average family
circle good story or beautiful poem will
give more humane culture than a dry
treatise or a scientific work Family read
ing ought not to be too dry and serious or
made too much like the severe training of
professional or academical study. The vast
majority of readers have to w1k for their
daily bread. anl need relaxation and amuse-
ment in their leisure hours
The works Of Charles Dickens have had
an immense influence upon English speak
ing humanity. but they have helped to
change the very conditions of life they de-
scribed, and for that reason are no longer as
much read by the young as formerly. The
same may be said of the more exclusive and
select circles that Thackeray satirized The
Vanity Fair we mix IN nowadays is not
one of rakeS and marquises. of fashionable
clubs and classical old schooltellows Tho vir-
tues and vices of humanity are the same al
ways and everywhere, but we have to take
them out of one frame and put them into
another to suit tina times Major Pendennis
and Colonel Newcome are passei away, and
their qualities are dressed IN other uni
forms
1t would he very difficult and of little
use To suggest list Of books for the library
at home. Not only would the size of the
library have Ia he consi lered in relation to
the means and social condition Of the par
ticular family. but the previou. education,
tastes capacities and ldioNyncraSieS of every
member Of the family would have to be
taken into account.
Ours is prccminentlv the age Of story
reading aud story writing. II Is rare to inI
a novel nowadays which has not some merit;
but since amid >ucn abundance one can.
not read all, II Is best to keep 10 the great
-. '"'
to read every novel tD find out what there is
of nourIShment, pleasure and mental pi oft
III ii. Ii i lest to I've guided bv those who
have read the book and recommended it,
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