The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-13
 BOOKS AND READING A Man Is Known by His
 Books. THE BOOKS THAT DELIGHT The Best Books Are Most
 Interesting.
HE BOOKS THAT DELIGHT
We gre as Liable te be Corrupted by Books as by cempaHiens Taste
 for Good Book. [. sn Aurhes
BYy WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


 A man may be known by his books as by his friends His choice of books reveals his character as truly as his choice of companions. The careless thinker. the one of indiacriminate tastes. the lowminded and the vicious are shown to bessuch by the literature to which they turn with greatest pleasure. But the man who has iik- ing of good reading can no more help proving himself cultured than the flower can help revealing Its beauty. A taste for good books is an anchor that win hold the spirit safe In many of life's storms.
 If young people could understand that the best books are also the most interesting. a deal of trash would quickly go out of print. The ''popu- lar" books that stream from the mod- ern press are really not half stories that have stood the test of time. In truth. the reading public will not let a stupid book live. Sheer interest is one of the standards that must be conformedl to by any book that is to have a permanent value. A real plea- sure Ia conferred upon a person, aa we'll as a genuine service done to the cause of good literature. when he is made to understand that the greenest pastures for all who would browe in the printed page are those by the masters of the art of writing.
 The good book and the goody-goody book arc not the same thing. The book that has value Is the one that reflects real life. and every page of which breaths sanity and wholesome v4r. n kas HnN sNn4s sancitmonious volume is really bad book, for 1t violates the eternal canon of life and art. The best book al- ways sets forth, in fair propotion and in living coiors. things as they are" That so much of the popular" Iitera~ ture of religion has not done so has been a reproaeh upon the wisdom ot sNo profit goes where there's no pleasure ta'eu,s says Shakespeare. The truly helpful book must be an Inter- esting book
 What a reader takes to a book deter- mines, in part, what he wiii get from it. Thus Kiplings best works are to be appreciated only by those who un- derstand his India, either by personal travel there or by previous reading. Ia like fashion. a book about heaven ia not understandable or attractive to one who has no interest in things heaven Iy. The carnally-minded man gets little out of the Bible. and is likely te vote 1t stupid book
 
 A book is a friend, to be treated as such. in order that 1t may i'll the high offices of friendship.
 This Is a newspsper-rsading age; ana noanv nersons beuoan this fact. Yet how comes it to pass that this fs also the greatest book-reading age or the world, with more public libraries and these better patronized--fhan the school of an earlier generality would have deemed possible3 From study of fife as 1t is mirrored in the pages of the daily newspaper 1t IS shart and easy step to the study Of life as 1t Is more fully, discriminat- ingiy and entertAiningly set forth in Che great works of literature.
 We are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions--Fteldine
 
 The great public libraries report that the most popular books among their readers are works Of fiction There are several good reasons For this: and among these must be includ- ed the desire on the part of muititudes
  of books from the irksomenesa and unloveliness of the real world in which they live. A book is a refuge for the weary. the discouraged and the dissatisfied. In it's realm all turns out well, and things are seen in pro- portion. What a comfort are books even surer than the comfort of living friends one needs only scant imagi- nation to picture the multitudes of heartsore men and women who this day will turn to the Book of inapira- tion to find the comfort which tho world has withheld.
 One can better afford not to read the best-sellIng book of the month than to miss those classics which bear the seal of the approval of the ceft- turtes. And if. one feels that the lat est books may not be omitted, then at least the wise rule may be adopted to read one old book for every new one
 No man should think to highly of himself as to think he can receive but little light from books: no one so meanly as to believe he can discover nothing but what Is to be learned from them.-Johnson.
 SEVEN SENTENCE SERMONS. I will never presume, because I am a man: I will never despair, because have a God.-Feltham.
 The space between a mans ideal and the man himself Is his opportunity Margaret Deland.
 
 All experiences goes to show
 No mud can soil but the mud we
 throw.-Anon,
 To presevere in one's duty and to be silent Is the first answer to calumny-- Washington,
 Little things are little things. but faithfulness in little things Is soFne- thing great--St Augustine.
 
 A man can bear
 A worlds contempt. when he has
 that within
 Which says he's worthy.
 --Alexander Smith.
 
 He who receives a good turn should never forget it he who does one ehnal6