The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1906-05-26
BY MARGARET =. sANGsrER,

II. <
l am about to confess to you, Dor
othy, a little weakness of mine. I
cannot endure q book that is covered
either with a loose paper protection,
or tightly fitting extra !garb OF any
fabric whatever. When "a new book
comes into my hands the first thing
Il do, unless expect to lend it, IS 10
throw away the pretty outside cover
ing, which in these days publish ers
put on new books. fl think that I
shall have occasion tolend the book
after awhile to friend, or to a
girl neighbor, or perhaps to one of you,
to whom 1 am writing, take pains TO
preserve the portable cover, and I slip
1t on before the book leaves nv possess
sion.
Let me whisper to- you that very
rev people love their books as love
mine, and that very few people care
Tor them as I do. 1 enjoy the beauty
OF fair type, fine paper, and choice
illustrations, and haYesa great regard
for a beautiful binding. / never hold
q book In hands that are soiled. or
leave it face downward and open on
q chair Or table, or hand it over TO a.
child that it may keep the child quiet.
| have lent books before now to
very dear friends, and have had
them returned in suchsas condition OF
loosened leaves, spotted pages, stained
bindings and degenerate condition gen
orally, that have at once thrown them
into the fire and bought others. One
may really wish to share the pleasure
a book gives her with some one she
is fond of, and still may hesitate if sh.
is aware that her friend has never
learned to treat a book with respect
Tor its worth, and regard for it's cost
Take your school books, for instance.
Dorothy. They are really charming
books. From the: mechanical point
OF view a good many people have In
vested time, thought, learning and
skill, in their making II the first
place the author spent laborious
months and years in mastering che
subject of the school text books. and
he toiled over it that he might con-
dense great deal of information into
concrete and compact statement, max
ing 1t so simple, SO lucid and so clear,
that the beginner in science or litera-
ture could comprehend it in a caily
task.
You may fancy that it is easy to
write definitions and formulas and
rules. In reality, nothing in lircra-
ture is so hard. More brains and more
conscience and more labor go into lne
production of a standard school book
than into the writing of an ethic poem
or three-vOlumed novel.
I saw Rosamond in a. fit of vexatjon
toss her arithmetic across the room,
to the detriment of the poor book,
and felt queer little throb OF pity
for the man who had made that arith-
metic. A set of reading books into
Which have gone specimens of the best
English literature, culled from many
fields, is treasure we'll worth school
girls incest care.
Cover your book, if you like, If it
is the custom in your school and the
teachers insist on your doing so, but
use the books so we'll that if they are
not covered they may be passed on to
other classes or to younger children,
without having suffered harm.
Besides the authors who are the
creators, so to speak, of our books,
there are the publishers and the print
ers and the paper-makers and the art
lists and the people who fnally>seil the
books, all of whom have their separate
fingers in the pie, before it is ready to
slip into your hands.
When book is your own, where do
you keep it?
hope if you have your own room
that one portion of its furnishings IN
cludes a book shelf. When you have
done with a book, put it in it's place.
There are girls who never have
place for anything; one of them once
paid me a visit, and from the moment
She crossed my threshold until the day
she kissed me good-by and went mer-
rily away, chaos followed in her track.
She left her things all over the house,
and kept her room looking as if it.
had been swept by q cyclone, and as
Tor books, she had not the faintest no.
ton of their dignity. l finally took
the precaution of hiding away one
o,S fy1y0 So