The Appeal., 1906-08-04
No Home Complete
Without a Library
Should Be II the LiDing- Room Where the Books Are
Easily Accessible--O OF Wlat II Should Consist
.. Fine Building Not Necessary.

really fine set OF Scott at a secondhand
shop or at an auction sale, for small
price. and almost every year there are
opportunities to secure his and other
standard authors works in exquisite
bindings, at the marked-down sales OF
the large book shops.
However, in forming home library.
1t is not worth while to attach too
much Importance to fine bindings. The
book itself is the thing to seek for;
and good cloth binding satisfies most
people. Rich, and ornate bindings are
for those who can pay for them with
out missing the money.
A full set of Dickens and of Thack-
cray, a set Of Balzac and of Robert
Louis Stevenson, should be added to
the library which is to be an integral
part OF the household life. II one can
not purchase set all at once, buy
single. book at time, setting aside a;
part OF the weekly or monthly income
for the purpose. Very tempting Of
fers are made by publishers in the line
OF subscription books, and it is diff
SoACo W ASoAoI IAO SudVS OE
the agent who sets forth the reasons
why one should avail himself of these
inducements. But be warned in time.
Unless one is very certain of the fu-
ture, anything bought on the INSTALL
ment Plan will probably hang like a
mill-stcne around the neck in the days
to come
RnC"o11'c nf ;r
failing source of pleasure to the read
er who enjoys biography at it's best.
A shelf should be set aside for the
lives and letters of men and women
who have done good service to their
periods. Here we would find, were we
setting out to form library, wide
room for wise selection. AS rule,
choose the lives of those who have
done something for their time, and
around whom great movements have
focused. The life of William E. Glad
stone is in it's way a political history
OF Mr.. Gladstone's England. The life
of George Washington is the story Of
the American revolution. The lives
Of Ulysses S. Grant and of Robert E.
in the United States, in some of it's
Issues the most tremendous and far
reaching conflict of the nineteenth
century. The life of Herbert Spencer
is a contribution to the story of mod
ern education and contrasts with an
tique ideas. The life of Sir Edward
Burne-Jones is the story of wonderl
f11I n0NVamQnt in ort ri
might proceed indefinitely, since biog-
raphy is the story of the human race
represented by it's foremost men.
A home library will be incomplete
without poetry. Do not consider po-
etry as merely decorative; it is the fit
food for the cultured mind If one does
not care for it, he is to be pitied.
Among the poets whose works should
be added to the shelves are Homer,
Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, Shelley,
Keats, Tennyson, Browning, Longfel-
low, Whittier, Lowell, Kipling and
Stephen Phillips. This is very short
list, for the poets are many, but these
would make an excellent beginning.
Every home library should be fur
nished with some sacred literature.
The Modern Readers Bible, in little
volumes, arranged not in chapters and
verses, but by subjects and paragraphs,
should belong to the store of books in
every household. An alarming fg-
norance of the Bible is characteris-
tic Of our day. To this cause more
than to any other, may be attributed
the prevalence Of graft, the increase Of
corruption in politics and the general
lowering of old-fashioned ideas of
honor.
Copyright. 1906. by Joseph B. Bowles.)