The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-01

WelfM C0m8tOwcr8tt0n@ O6 @O0OKe Inak
 Are M.scaIIed Librar1ea--A library
 as Necessary as Beds and Tahles---The
 Living Room the Place for the Lie
 brnry--Ffnc Bindings Unnecessars.
 Classics, Poetry, Novels and Sacred
 Literature That Should Find . Place
 In a Home Library.
 By Margaret E. sangster.
 Copyright. 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles)
 A home without books is like rose without perfume. No house is com- pleteIy furnished that has no library. There are, to be surc. homes without number in which thegs are chairs and tables. china and glass. rugs and drap- cries. soft couches. curios and eric-a- brac. pictures and vases. but never B book. If you happen to call In sucn 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. If you are staying in such a house and have not brought with you something 10 read, you look in vain for an enter tainins volume or an attractive maga- zine.
 People ~ho do not spend money for books are apt to be parsimonious In subscribing for magazines. taste for literature demands gratif.cation. Where the taste does not exist peo- ple are satisfied. strange as 1t may seem, to endure a state of absolute pauperism in the matter of reading
 We all know houses where there are books enough to form the simula- crum of a library. but when they are examined they are discovered to be fearful and wonderful collection of mis- fits. old school books, books that have been received by the children as prizes. books that have been picked up oy the traveller to Schser the tedium Of railway Journey, books that have been gent into the house as holiday presents. and books that have been borrowed and never returned. odd volumes or this and the other author of repute appear in these weird and queerly as sorted conglomerations. But or com plete sets and of books that instruct amuse and satisfy. there are few to pc Eeen. Hundreds of such miscalled H. hraries are only fit to be used as kind ling and would find their best end Tn a rubbish heap or a bonfire. The sec ond- hand shops would have none or them. Eeven W here people intelligent lv collect books, there Is occasion rom time to time for judicious weeding anu for letting 20 that which Is epnemeral' and. for all practical purposes "oren- : less. ,,.,- Although public libraries are multi nlied every home should have Its own library, just as it has Its own oeos anu tables. It is not necessary 10 appro- nrite A room and use 1t solely fov books. Very few of us have space to snare for this luxurious accommooa- tion of our literary treasures.
 The living room Is the proper place for the home library; the shelves to hold the books may be of home man ufacture, 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 the first consid eration. A library that grows as a garden grows or an or ohard, little by little. is In the enu the library that one loves best l would suggest that the initial pur- chase should be a set of Shakespeare In good type, with fine illustrations, each volume small enough to be held In the hand without weariness.
 Although Sir Walter Is out of fash ion. it is possible to cultivate his ac- auaintance if one has set of the Wayerly novels in ones possession |. Sir Walter Scott Is little leisure lv in his movement. so far as the be- ginnings of his romances are con earned. Nbut once you are fairly em- harked In his company, the pace Is swift enough for the interest of most readers. Occasionally. in these days one is\ so fortunate as to pick, up a raa1lv fine set of Scott at a second hand shop or at an auction sale. Tor n small price. and almost every year there are opportunities to secure ms and other standard authors works Tn exquisite bindings. at the marked-down sales of the large book shops.