The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-06-15

leads to the friendship of men; an in
stance of the kind fell under the no.
tice of the writer. Two persons met,
and the title of certain anonymous
book was mentioned for the purpose
of ascertaining its authors name, and
the respondent not only had read it,
but happened to know the author;
the result was kind of literary affin
ity which superinduced fast friend
ship. The caution against spurious
and poisonous literature cannot be
too strenuously urged; it comes some
times under such specious disguises
as to allure the unsuspicious. Like
the trail of the serpent, its deadly ef-
fects remain, and what is worse, we
have no antidote for the mental dis
ease it entails. 1t has been well said
that such diseased books only belong
to the study of mans morbid an
atomy, and ought to be accurately
labeled POISON"
SAKE has some playful lines about
his books, which are worth quoting:
"A motley gathering are they, some fairly worth
their weight in gold
Some just too good to throw away; some scarce
ly worth the place they hold.
Yet well love them, one and ALL those friends
so meek and nnobtrusive.
Who never fail to come at CALL nor (if scold
them) turn abusive.
If have favorites here and there, and like
monarch pick and choose.
never meet an angry stare. that this 1 take and
that refuse
No discords rise my soul to vex among these
peaceful book lelations
Nor envious strife of age or sex to mar my quiet
lucubratons."
Reading is to the mind what exer-
else is to tie body; but there is such
thing as literary dissipation. Read
ing that entails its full benefit pre-
supposes thoughtful reflection; to
make the most of our reading, it
should be done deliberately, that it
may nourish the mind as we'll digest
ed food does the physical life. Cole
ridge remarks, "There is one art of
which every man should be master,
the art Of reflection. If you are not
thinking man, to what purpose are
you a man at alli In like manner
there is one knowledge which it is
every mans interest and duty to ac-
quire, namely, self-knowledge; or to
what end was man alone of all ami
mails endued by the Creator with the
faculty of self-consciousness?"
The essential value of books as
means of intellectual culture is, of
course, self-evident; they are alike
the chief instruments and adjuncts
of tutor and pupil. In some instanc
es books are themselves silent teach
ers. The power of books in deter
mining the pursuits and destinies of
men may be seen in the following
record William Carey got his first
idea of entering upon his sublime
labors as missionary from a perusal
of the Voyages of Captain Cook"
1t was from reading "Carey's Letters"
that Henry Martyr first thought of
the claims of India. Buchanan's
.'Star in the East" first called the
attention of Dr. Judson to the mis-
sionary work, and sent him an apostle
to Burmah. DR.. Livingston, in a
speech delivered at Dundee, stated
that he had been led to devote him
self to the missionary cause by read
ing the work of DR.. Thomas Dick on
the PHILOSOPHY of Future State"
Of the Book of books, the Bible, it
has been well said that "its words
live on the ear like music that can
never be forgotten-like the sound of
church bells. The memory of the
dead passes into it; the potent tradi-
tions of childhood are stereotyped in
its verses; the power of all the griefs
and trials of man is hidden beneath
its words. 1t is the representative of
his best moments; and all that has
been about him, of soft and gentle
and pure, penitent and good. speak
to him forever out of his English
Bible. 1t is his sacred thing, which
doubt has never dimmed, and contro-
versy never soiled."
The accepted adage that character
is indicated by the choice of per-
sons friends, is, to a great extent
true with respect to the choice of
books. Ben Jonson says:
"when would know thee. my thought looks
Upon thy well made choice of friends and books;
Then do know thee. and behold thy ends,
In making thy friends, books. and thy books,
friends"
If, as Emerson remarks, they prize
books most who are themselves wise,"
then the possessor of a choice library
may be regarded as both wise and
happy. Books are deliohtful socia-