Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-04

mind wants his own of everything. The
reader who does not worry whether
others have paved over the same vol
ume is book communist. 1t Is neces-
sary to say that this differentiation
presupposes no balancing OF values.
One is not declared better than the
other. All that is said is that the
two are different.
The bookiover who wants his own
books refuses to borrow them, not be-
cause borrowing is not good, but be-
cause he wants to possess his own
Whether he reads it once or many times
makes no difference. He has found that
it is impossible to assess books accord
ing to what one may or may not get
out of them. There is more to good
book than that
He has discovered that as much de-
ponds upon what one puts into them
as what one takes out Of them. The
mere taking has little to do with IL.
Many of his best books he has read but
once. A few, whose very titles have done
him good, he has never read at all. and
never means to. Their presence upon
his shelves Is enough.
- ~
One only keeps what he gives away,
such is a favorite conclusion OF men
~~N~N
it scarcely applies to books. One only
has what he keeps in the beautiful land
of bookdorf.
That is why the joy has gone out Of
book loaning, as most acquaintance
have reached the stage when they fan
to realize the personal obligation to re-
turn a borrowed volume. The book
lover will continue to insist that books
are not 50 much COAL to be purchased
by the ton. used up and the ashes
dumped out.
Books as coal are failure, but BOOKS
as friends are things to be kept as close
as possible. to be cherished. and never
let 90. Often the ideal Is not feasible.
Life has a queer way of taking ones
books away from one. They disappear
and even their best friend cannot tell
what has become Of them.
One vaniSfes, although the best care
has been taken of it. The writer here
treasured for years a copy of Lucre-
thus "Of the Nature of Things" IL
was never loaned, 1t was never out Oh
sight, and yet one day it turned up
missing" From that day to this no one
has seen it. We would find 1t impos-
sible to explain to any one just why
that copy can never be replaced; 10
be quite honest about 1t, we don't know
OuIOCl1 Willy Az NoAA ~ @NE~eS~N
1t cannot.
X \ X X
The end of the bookloaning era
among friends must bring sadness to
those who recall the days when a new
book was not only an adventure but
also an opportunity
Nowadays one does not loan, but
adopts one of two policies--he simply
recommends the book, or presents
copy Of it.
If he does the former he runs the
risk of being too enthusiastic and thus
killing the book for his friend.
II he makes a presentation (Which.
of course. he does If he "loansO he
must beware of praising the book too
much. He should not forget that the
very act OF presentation says as plainly
as words, Here is q book I feel sure
you will like"
There are, thank Heaven, still num-
Der of good borrowers in the world.
These take care of the books loaned
them, appreciate them, read them with
an open mind and return them at last.
Happy is the friend of books who
knows one or two of these. They keep
alive in him an ancient faith and warm
his soul when no one else will. To
them he may still loan books.