The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1906-10-11

A home without books Is like rose
without perfume. No house is com
pletely furnished that has no library
There are 10 be sure, homes without
number in which there are chairs and
tables, china and glass, rugs and drap-
cries, soft touches, curiOs and brle-a-
brac, pictures and vases, but never a
book, II you happen to call In such
house and the mistress Keeps you
waiting while she changes her toilette,
you look in vain for a book TO pass
away the moments of inactiOn. II Jpu
are staying in such a house and have
not brought with You something TO
read, you look in vain for an entertain
Ing volume or an attractive maya
zine.
People who 60 not spend money for
books are apt TO be parsimOnlous in
subscribing for magazines. a taste
for literature demands qualification.
Where the taste does not exist people
are satisfied, strange as 1t may seenA
to endure a state of absolute pauper-
iStA III klle lAdltti VI AChAlEtt7'
We all know houses whore there are
books enough to form the simulacrum
of Arbitrary, but when there are e1-
amued they are discovered to be
fearful and wonderful collection Of
insists, old school books, books that
have been received by the children as
prizes. books that have been picked up
by the traveller to cheer the tedium OF
a railway journey, books that have
been sent into the house as holiday
presents, ami books thar have been
borrowed and never returned Odd vol
umes CT this and the other author Of
repuJe appear in these weird and
queerly assorted cOngIomerations. But
OF complete sets and of books thar
instruct, amuse and satisfy there are
few 20 be seen. Hundreds OF such
miscdlled libraries are only fit to be
used as kindling and would find their
best end in a rubbish heap or bonfire
The secondhand shops would have
none OF them Even where people in
telligenty collect books, there is or
casioa from time to time for judicious
wedding and for letting go that which
Is ephemeral, and, for an practical pur-
poses. worthless.
Although public libraries are multi
Piled, every home should have its own
library, just as it has its own beds and
tables. 1t is not necessary to appro-
pirate room and use it solely for
books. Very few OF us have space 10
spare for this luxurious accOmmoda-
ton O. our literary treasures.
The living room is the proper place
for the home library; the shelves to
hold the books may be Of home manu-
facture. put together by anybody who
can manage a plane and hammer
and they may be stained in harmony
with the color scheme of the room.
What to choose for the library Is
he first consideration. A library that
grows as a garden grows or an or
,hard, little by little, is in the end the
library that one loves best. | would
suggest that the lnllldl purchase
should be a set of Shakespeare in good
type, with fine illustrations, each yol-t
ume small enough 10 be held in the
hand without WEAKNESS.
Although Sir Walter is out of fash
ion. il is possible to cultivate his ac-
luatatauce If one has set Of the
novels in ones possession
Sir Walter Scott is little leisure
IS IN his movement, so far as the be-
riunincs VI his romancCs are con
-ernod. but once You are fairly EN-
larked in hig company, the pace Is
swift enough for the interest of most
readers. Occasionally. in these days
one Is 50 fortunate as TO pick up q
-asafss0s