The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-25

Los Angeles, Cal, december 1o-ln
this bookmaking age, and particularly at
the season when presses are turning out
the largest of the years literary out
put, the preacher In this sermon gives
some timely advice as to the choice of
books. The text is Ecclesiastes xii, Il,
of making many books there is no
end"
Wendell Phillips for many years went
up and down the land delivering a lee
ture entitled The Lost Arts" That
lecture was In most respects a glorifica-
ton of the past. If, however, we should
halo the present and deliver a new lee
ture entitled THE Found Arts" almost
without exception most of us would cat
alogue the art of Matchmaking as
among the greatest of all modern &C
eomplshments. In our egotistic self
cemplacency many of us have long sup
posed that the ancients knew but little
about books. We look upon the great
English and American and French and
German and Russian Libraries as mod
ern developments which would be just
as incomprehensible to our ancestors if
they should suddenly come to life as
would be the telephone or the telegraph
or the electric car or the modern steam
engine Thus, when some of us today
hear the words of my text We are amaz-
ed. We say to each other, What did
King Solomon mean when he said OF
making many books there is no end
and much study is a WEAKNESS to the
flesh Were there many books in King
Soomon's time, or was he In prophetic
vision hearing the bangings and the
crashings of the modern twentieth CEN
fury printing press?"
No. King Solomon was not hearing
the bangings and crashings of the mod
ern printing press. He was listening,
~ ha ~ 10
scribes' pens. The bookmakers were
then very busy everywhere They must
have been busy at that time. Homer
the greatest of all poets both living and
dead, certainly lived and wrote nst more
| than a few years after Solomon died.
Thucyddes, Aristophanes, Demosthenes
Herodotus and Scion, whose writings
are placed among the classics of the
ages, wrote their thoughts only a few
hundred years after King Solomon lived.
Five hundred years before Solomon was
born the Lord said TO Moses, Write
this for memorial in a book" That
Moses was well qualified for the task
we have abundant proof. Long before
his day men had written books, cum
brous productions in baked clay, that
az a boy in Egypt he had laboriously
conned. The practice Of writing books
was continued. and the ancient cuthors
had become so prolific that the author of
Ecclesiastes felt as most of us do In
trying to dig our way out from amid the
avalanche of the literature of the pres
emit day "Of making many books there
is no end" the wisest of all men cried
5000 years ago "Of making many books
there is no end" we cry in the beginning
of this twentieth century
Myriads of books surround us. The
congressional library alone has over
100000 of them. The new library build
ing has accommodations for 100000
more, making in all space for 100000
books. Books. books, books, books,
books verywhere-books in different
forms as newspapers, books as maya
zines, books recording the histories of
nations, books as biographies, books in
Fictitious story or In novel form, books
In rythmic meter or as poetry. books
In sermonic and theological dissertation
books as essays There are millions and
millions of them-good books and bad
books Now comes the practical ques-
tion, What shall we do with these books2
They come to us to assist or retard to
re-enforce or to enervate us in the strug
gle of life. How shall we decide which
are helpful and which are injurious?
Admit Only the Best.
A mans library, in the first place,
should be like the sanctuary of his heart,
into which he admits only his best
friends. II should have room for only
few and q carefully chosen collection
OF books These should be read and re-
read and read again. Like our dearest
friends they should enter into the very
warp and wool of our being. Their
thoughts should become our thoughts,
and their teaching should be translated
into the actions of our lives They should
not be mere personalities with whom we
have only a speaking acquaintance. They
should not be those half strangers to
whom we have to be reintroduced every
time we meet them away from our
homes They shoul1 become integral
parts of our mental, moral and spiritual
being. We should be so sure of their
wisdom that we can accept them as our
guides, to inspire us to right thinking
right speaking and right acting Rare
indeed are such books When they have
been found, they should be treasured as
more precious than gold, but let us not
expect to find many of them.
"a library to have only room for
few books? What do you mean by that
assertion" some one says. "Why, ] al
ways thought the more books a man
reads the better he is educated, taking
for granted, of course, that the books
he reads are good books. My parents
educated me along these lines. When
was growing up my mother used to give
The result was could read a whole book
through in a couple Of days. Thus in
my time | have read all of the popular
novelists. In the same way, by my
rapidly of reading. am able to some
extent to keep abreast of the literature
of this day. Oh. no; you are wrong.
The more books a man reads the more
he knows. The less a man reads the
less he will know. Reading said Lord
Bacon, makes a full man..
Am I wrong? l believe today that
one of the curses of this age is too
much reading and too little thinking.
Men and women cram themselves with
a lot of mentally undigested literature
III the same way that many people be-
come gormands at dining table. It is
not the amount of food you put into
your stomach that makes you a strong
man; It is the amount of food you d.
gest. We should think man very silly
who said: 81 want 20 make myself
physical giant / am therefore going to
eat enough food for ten men. At break
fast I will have the cook bring to me
three pounds of beefsteak and a dozen
eggs and half bushel Of mashed pota-
toes, and I will sit there and try to eat
them all. When dinner comes around
will try to eat a whole leg OF mutton
and when supper comes great big roast
of beef" What would happen? His d.
eestive organs would revolt. His body
would be racked WIN pain. Perhaps
peritonitis would set in, and death would
be the result of his folly.
Literary Commands.
Now. as some gormands abuse their
stomachs with too much eating, 30 some
| gormands for mental food abuse their