Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-11-05
Or. Lyman Abbott on Books.

Almost all families have books; few
families have library l put in here,
ago, plea for library in every house
hold. and, as a foundation for the libra
ry. cyclopedia.
l place in order of Importance in the
family, for its literary food, in the for
nation of a library, the articles of diet
as follows:
First-A Bible.
Second-A dictionary Get the un-
abridged If you can afford it. but a small
er edition is better than none
Third-A good weekly newspaper that
gives. comprehensively and fairly, the
news of the week
Fourth-A cyclopedia.
After these are purchased you may
properly consider the purchase of other
books, but not before.
All families that will read this article
have. it is safe to assume. the first three.
Suffer word as to the fourth.
The advantages of the cyclopedia is
that it is a library already arranged for
You. The volumes of the Encyclopedia
Britannica stand before me as write.
They contain Twenty-Five or thirty treat
paper articles. The topics treated cover
the whole range of useful and needed in
fo:raa ation-history, philosophy. theology,
science. art. travels. The only ingre-
dients wanted are fiction. poetry and
belles-lettres. and these are abundantly
furnished by the newspaper and the mag
aZne; they constitute the element which
least necessary to its welfare. With this
library before me, l can investigate any
topic of the times. Reading of the South
African war can find out who the Beers
are and why they are fighting the Eng
lish: reading of the Irish disturbances, !
can get in an evening the light thrown on
the present by the history of the past
Such library is am inexhaustible
source Of instruction and entertainment
to the younger members of the family: |
say advisedly, entertainment. 1t is true
that when boy has had his taste de-
praved by the sensational weekly, he
will find as little that is palatable in an
encyclopedia as a drunkard would find
to stimulate him in a glass of milk. New
ertheless, the hoy or girl who has been
brought up to use an encyclopedia Will
find more enjoyment in it that his COM
panion in the Robbers of the Black
Forest. or the Mysterious Maid of the
Metropolis
| remember in one of my fathers earl
ier volumes, his account of the encyclo-
pedia as an educator. remember almost
as well his own use of it in the house
hold, which he portrayed in the form of
a story for the instruction of others. The
book-the old Encyclopedia Americana
is on my shelves today. long since su-
perseded by more modern works. but sa-
cred from it's history and association.
The boy was set for one hour of his
daily home study, with the encyclopedias
before him: he was, allowed to select any
subject he chose, but. having chosen it. he
was required to master 1t, and, II recol-
lect right, to write an abstract of it and
to pass an examination upon it when his
work was done.
| | know the objection of expense. A
| good encyciopedia-at least the best
costs from fifty to one hundred dollars.
a large sum; but if you will figure up
your dinners for ten years you Will be
amazed to find how large a sum they also
| cost you. He that will invest ten dollars
| year in literature-and there are few
Americans who cannot afford to do tina,
| if they will-may have in five or ten years
a library which, estimated by its intellec-
| tual results, is simply invaluable; and
been frittered away by his neighbor IL
| gilt bindings, cheap pictures, and tenn
porary, and sometimes even trumpery
| books, none of which perhaps have beer
will not have deserved even single read
| ing.