,,open ,,that ,,door6 ,,by ,,robert ,,sturgis ,,ingersoll ,,philadelphia ,,london ,j4 ,b4 ,,lippincott ,,company #aiaf ,,copyright1 #aiaf1 ,,by ,j4 ,b4 ,,lippincott ,,company ,,published ,,september1 #aiaf ,,printed ,,by ,j4 ,b4 ,,lippincott ,,company ,,at ,,the ,,washington ,,square ,,press ,,philadelphia1 ,u4,s4,a4 99,,contents99 ,,chapter ,i4 ,walled ,in ,,ii4 ,an ,open ,door ,,iii4 ,reading ,fiction with an ,eye on ,life ,,iv4 ,history and ,your ,vote ,v4 ,clio's ,vintage ,,vi4 ,the ,poet and the ,reader ,,vii4 ,the ,children of ,pan ,,viii4 ,men ,behind ,books ,,ix4 ,keeping up with ,life 99,,open ,,that ,,door699 99,,chapter ,i99 99,,walled ,,in99 ,the brave man carves out his fortune1 and every man is the son of his own works4--,,cervantes ,an author is of necessity a rather egotistical sort of a fellow1 or else he would not trumpet abroad his name upon the title-page of a book4 ,if we should measure this egotism by the size of the audience to which he hopes to appeal1 we fear that the sponsor of this little book should make humble apologies in behalf of his phrenological egocentric bump4 ,he who writes upon how to grow fat1 modestly limits his audience to those who1 from pride of appearance1 or upon doctor's orders1 desire to add to their avoirdupois4 ,there is a similar modesty upon the part of those who limit their audiences by writing cook-books for the cooks1 temperance appeals for the drunkards1 novels for the seminary ladies1 war books for the valiant1 peace books for the pacificists4 ,we 7notwithstanding the fact that he fears to call himself ,i in the first chapter7 acknowledge no such modesty4 ,every one wants to get the best of life4 ,this general statement is as true as the more specific ones that every one wants to enjoy his dinner1 his work1 his family1 and his friends4 ,the desire to obtain satisfaction through the passing of the years is the prime motive in the actions of the male and the female1 the fat and the thin1 the long and the short1 the stupid and the wise1 the railroad president and the ditch digger4 ,it is for this cosmopolitan1 democratic crowd of you and myself and every one else that there is1 or is not1 a message in the following pages4 ,one of the most stimulating thoughts to which mankind is heir is the realization of the handicaps under which we are all laboring4 ,this is a great thought in that it is so universal1 so levelling1 so powerful in making us truly appreciate that we are all brothers one unto another4 ,the millionaire is a slave to his money2 another man is embittered by poverty1 a third carries the burden of an unsound body1 a fourth of a selfish nature1 a fifth of an unhappy family life1 a sixth is overwhelmed by his own stupidity1 a seventh by his sense of duty towards others1 an eighth by a sense of duty towards himself1 and so it goes through the rank and file1 the humble and the mighty4 ,how many of us take the bit in our teeth1 and have a glorious revel in enjoying every furlong of life's race-course8 ,to run such a race is a hard task1 as there is always some handicap hanging on our shoulders4 ,we are afraid to knock it off4 ,oftentimes the burden is terrifically hard for the man who carries it to define1 and yet1 when you look into your inmost self you realize that the precious hours of life are slipping by without your cramming into them all the good things that you feel should be offered by a world in which there is the romance of other people's lives1 the blue of the sky1 the play of the sunlight1 the success of your rivals4 ,there seems too often a wall between ourselves and that romance1 that sky1 that sunlight and that success4 ,there is indeed this wall between us and our ideal4 ,if we break through it1 there is another one that dares our courage to the assault and capture of our greater1 enlarged ideal4 ,this is stimulating and comforting1 as each man and woman has to make his own assault2 there is no one so lucky as to get the prizes of life without a fight1 and no one so unlucky as to be without the desire1 no matter how deeply it may be buried in his nature1 to make that fight4 ,in what direction are you going1 and what are you going to do when you get there8 ,are you plugging against an impassable barrier1 or is there a way through for the man who does his best8 ,some lie down in the traces and quit4 ,they have three satisfactory meals a day1 work that is not too arduous1 a warm bed at night1 and1 taking it all in all1 that is sufficient2 at any rate1 they think it better than the attempt to break down any more walls4 ,perhaps they bruised their knuckles at the first3 ,george ,washington1 ,thomas ,edison1 and the other heroes were not afraid of the blows at the first or at the score that followed1 but we all cannot be great1 and ,i am willing to subside with what is already my portion4 ,yes1 that is the attitude of the slackers4 ,they are in every walk of life--the stupidly content4 ,there are many others who say that if they could only lift the mortgage off their house1 or buy an automobile1 or get into society1 or get promoted1 they could pass untouched through the barrier that crushes them1 and be ready to tackle the second with unheard-of power4 ,they are sadly suffering under an illusion4 ,when you take the spur from a laggard steed1 you do not make him a thoroughbred4 ,two thousand years ago ,christ told us that unless we become as little children we cannot enter the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,that was a tremendous statement1 and one of infinite truth4 ,to find the reasons for our struggles and the means of carrying our burdens we must go to the boy of ten4 ,he is having a splendid time6 ,are you8 ,from the moment he leaves his bed with a whoop and a hurrah1 until the evening when he sinks to sleep exhausted but happy1 he has lived in a turmoil of adventure1 wild dreams1 and imaginings4 ,the world has been a magic pleasure dome from which there were countless doors to be opened and beckoning passages to be explored4 ,we have our troubles and sulk under their weight1 he longs for them and so invents the game of ,cowboys and ,indians and glories in the battle2 we become bored with a routine existence1 he scorns such an attitude and fears that he will miss a great excitement if he but close an eye4 ,if rainy weather or a particular mother prevents him from organizing a military campaign1 fraught with danger and hardship1 against the enemies in the next block1 he stays at home and reads of battling with dragons4 ,the world is forever a thing of wonder1 a tremendous feast from which he is forever called before he has had sufficient courses4 ,hungry for life1 he cannot find within the twenty-four half enough hours to fulfil his demands4 ,a fishing-rod in his eyes is a magic thing with an incarnate life and power of its own2 the dark pool contains a possible catfish1 and what1 by all the stars1 could be more wonderful1 more inexplicable1 more mysterious and awe inspiring than a bearded catfish6 ,every new friend1 old or young1 is a peculiar individual of which he must ask a thousand questions to find out whether he be an engineer1 a policeman1 or a fireman1 or whether he can spin a top or owns a collection of postage stamps4 ,what a lesson in the way of life is a lad of ten6 ,he sees in life an opportunity1 a vast opportunity for everything4 ,no specialist is he--within the month he decides that his career shall lie in any one of a dozen1 from that of the man upon the back of the ice wagon1 to that of the ,president of the ,united ,states4 ,why are the young so superior to their elders8 ,why1 indeed1 do we have to cast off our years to enter the ,kingdom of ,heaven8 ,ponce de ,leon1 in search of the ,fountain of ,youth1 journeyed from ,spain to the ,new ,world1 and1 weary of the quest1 left his body to rot in the ,american wilderness4 ,he need not have gone so far upon his travels1 as in the point of view of the last boy whom he met before embarking from the shores of ,spain there was this very ,fountain which he sought4 ,to break down all the barriers which hedge us in1 to open a thousand doors entering upon undiscovered countries of ambition and delight1 to forget time1 to forget everything but the joy of living1 to experience the thrill of carrying heavy burdens and the overcoming of obstacles1 all we have to do is to see the world through the eyes of the boy of ten4 ,it is the youth's relation to the world as he finds it that makes him superior to1 and a more worthy inheritor of the ,kingdom than is his father4 ,the former's outlook is that of perpetual wonderment1 of endless romance1 of intensive interest1 and wide horizons2 the latter's too often is that of a blind man in a picture gallery4 ,a lad lives acutely1 never lets an hour slip by1 is ever willing for an assault against any battlement1 and in that lies the secret of life4 ,most things1 to be sure1 are easier said than done1 but after having found that the proper door to open is that which leads to the world of fervid expectancies1 experienced by the boy1 we may at least attempt to find the key that fits the lock4 ,perhaps you have already found it6 ,this is a good personal test--do you feel that your mind is a-tingle with the music that is played by the world in which you live8 ,it has been said that you can tell a man by the company he keeps--but there are far better methods6 ,find out his experiences when he walks along a city street1 rubbing elbows with the crowd1 dodging motors at the crossings1 with every step he takes passing faces1 human faces1 passing windows behind which are woven the webs of human happiness and grief4 ,what are his innermost sensations8 ,does he feel the throbbing pulse of men and women1 or is his heart and soul dead and forbidding8 ,or else go with him upon a walk into the country--,spring or ,fall--,winter or ,summer--his talk and expression will show the stuff that is in him4 ,is he alive to the multifarious beauties of color1 life1 and movement that are about him1 or is he the same gnarled1 twisted parody of man who1 when in the office1 always thinks himself imposed upon1 or in his home appears a misfit1 uncomfortable piece of furniture8 ,yes1 there is a sublime religion in the joy of jostling your fellows in the workaday streets1 there is a sublime possibility of growth in the soul of him who1 when upon a journey in the country1 breathes a deep and lasting draught of the joyousness of life4 ,and yet1 why does this religion slip from us1 why at times do we refuse to grow8 ,why do we lose the tingle of living which is the very essence of the boy's sense of life8 ,one man will tell you that he is in a rut4 ,he has worked until his youth is passed1 and there is no further chance of promotion4 ,a second has lost his money1 and he is bitter against the world that took it from him4 ,a third misses the companions whom he used to know1 and with them went the color and the value of the world4 ,a fourth has gambled with life's good things3 has wasted his body and mind in his lust for women1 wine1 or food1 or in his greed for gold4 ,perhaps1 although not admitted1 with the satisfaction of his desires women have lost their beauty1 wine and food their taste1 and gold has proved tarnished metal4 ,what is1 at bottom1 the matter with them all8 ,and what is the matter with the men and women who have had worldly success1 who have had all the exterior things that life could give them1 and yet feel that this ,earth is an unsatisfactory sort of pasture in which to graze8 ,why should there be sighs of discontent when above us the sky is blue1 and in the world about us children are born of women1 heroic deeds are accomplished1 and tragedies met and defeated by the courage and love of our human kind8 ,the answer is in the fact that many of us lose the blessed heritage that was part of our youth3 our sense of wonderment1 our breadth of sympathy4 ,to the youth1 every moment of every day meant an awakening to new things1 an introduction to strange1 exciting mysteries1 whereas there are no such awakenings for the man who finds not the wonder in the windows bordering and the faces passing on the crowded city streets1 or feels not1 in the country1 the subtle magic of ,nature's workings4 ,you say the world grows stale2 it is not the world grown stale that takes the lustre from life1 it is your own sleepiness1 the profound drunkenness of the lazy and the cold heart4 ,it is the loss of a personal sympathy with ,god and man4 ,a loss of sympathy is a horrible thing4 ,the loss of that sympathy which holds your heart engripped1 and makes you feel part and parcel of this great1 moving1 turbulent1 sorrowing thing we call the ,world1 is as grievous a loss as can befall any man4 ,it is worse than a separation from money1 friends or family--it is the loss of an individual's personal stake in the world4 ,and yet1 we see men who have lost and are losing it4 ,in them we see die that spark of life which has made them an integral part of all that lives4 ,we see smothered the divine fire of humanity and godliness4 ,if we consider ,nature1 including man1 as one great spirit1 we feel that those who have lost an embracing sympathy are apart from that great spirit1 are drifting off into the barren deserts of bewilderment and decay4 ,if we consider men as individual souls plotting their own destinies1 we must see in those who have lost their intimate touch with the surge of their fellows' labors1 and their sympathy to the power of beauty1 pariahs1 true outcasts1 apart and alone4 ,how great is your appetite for life8 ,how great is your willingness to break the shell of your prison and liquidate your heart8 ,what prevents you from throwing open your arms to the universe1 accepting and welcoming the embrace8 ,the embrace of humanity is a glorious thing6 ,it is the nectar of the gods4 ,be one with the world1 be not a pariah2 be part of the great wave1 be not a stagnant pool4 ,but one hears answers1 ,i can't1 ,i don't want to1 ,i'm apart and will not mingle4 ,why can't you8 ,why won't you8 ,why are you apart8 ,is it because you are old and mummified8 ,have you lost your vision1 have you lost your heart1 has the world beaten you back1 and does life roll too fast a pace8 ,has your understanding become blunted8 ,are you a snob upon a pedestal of derision8 ,are your eyes blind to the colors1 your ears deaf to the music1 your voice bitter in your companions' hearing8 ,ah1 let there be a way out of the prison--there is a door that will lead you to your youth4 ,within a man there is always the spark that can be made to brighten and to break into living flame4 ,there is no understanding so dense1 no spirit so sordid that it cannot be stirred to awaken to that sympathy for man and nature that is the pass word to the ,kingdom of ,life4 ,the ,kingdom of ,life4 ,those are perhaps hackneyed words1 and yet how many of us seem to be the inheritors of the ,kingdom of ,death4 ,live bodies find no value in dead souls1 so let us make our souls aflame and attain to a realization of life4 ,where is the match to strike the light1 the key to open the door8 ,through all the ages there has been a medium through which the hearts of men have been revealed4 ,there has been one cauldron into which the riches of our richest and most godlike minds have been poured4 ,it is the melting pot that has purified the sorrows and joys of men1 since man had wit enough to know his pangs and jubilations4 ,there is a vehicle which will bring us to a universal sympathy1 if not an understanding1 of our human kindred4 ,there is a powerful tool1 welded by man1 with which we can awaken ourselves to an appreciation of our universe1 from which we can obtain consolation in our difficulties1 stimulus for our ambitions1 tonic for our depressions4 ,the medium1 the cauldron1 the vehicle1 the tool is ,literature4 ,some men are afraid of books1 and some are afraid of life2 some do not understand books1 and some do not sympathize with1 nor care to understand life4 ,literature is the key to the door of life for those who wish to open6 ,there is no wall cramping the ambitions1 blinding the eyes1 deafening the ears of those who seek their nutriment in the spiritual messages and solemn understandings of the greatest minds of the ages4 ,the symbol of a man walking down the street with no heart to feel1 nor mind to understand the happenings about him1 is the relationship between two stones4 ,to our knowledge there is no known communication between one and the other4 ,literature is the great communicator1 the powerful disseminator of sympathies1 the magnificent doorway through which we can pass to other men's hearts1 and obtain warmth for our own in case ours are cold and comfortless4 ,god said1 ,let there be light1 and there was light4 ,perhaps there is not enough1 for we all walk in partial darkness1 but the tremendous sunburst that is here to lighten and revive is the lasting1 printed word1 handed on from generation to generation4 99,,chapter ,,ii99 99,,an ,,open ,,door99 ,this world's no blot for us1 ,nor blank2 it means intensely1 and means good3 ,to find its meaning is my meat and drink4 ,,fra ,,lippo ,,lippi ,there is the ,rub6 ,of how many of us can it be said that the ,world means intensely and means good8 ,do we unsatisfactorily stutter1 and stumble1 and barely exist through the three score years and ten that is our portion1 or do we find in life a splendid activity that gladdens our heart and fills us full of the thorough-going ecstasy of living8 ,i have a friend who is a great athlete1--an oarsman1 mountain climber1 big game hunter4 ,he exults in a life of action1 of doing big things1 and yet withal1 he is a tremendous reader and one of exquisite taste and wide knowledge in books and authors4 ,i asked him of the value of reading4 ,every time ,i read a great book1 he answered1 ,i feel as if ,i had punched a hole through the wall1 and so saying he crashed his large fist against a buttress of reinforced concrete4 ,i feel that my world has been made larger2 where before ,i had only seen a blank space1 now ,i see a new world1 the world in which the author lived4 ,i am that much more alive to my own4 ,he applied his reading to his daily life1 and the world became for him a richer1 more exciting place in which to live4 ,no one wants to plod through the world in a blind1 sleepy fashion4 ,we all want to live as keenly1 as vitally as possible4 ,the roots of the present are buried deep in the past--to appreciate and have understanding of the present you must appreciate and have understanding of the past--to realize how small and one-sided is your own point of view1 you must appreciate the thousand and one viewpoints that have appeared through the ages to the eyes of other men and women4 ,in beginning to form the habit of reading1 the first thing to be realized is that books are intimately connected with the world in which we live4 ,their true value does not come from the pleasure you experience during the actual hours in which you are turning the pages1 but 7and this point cannot too vividly be borne in mind7 in the reaction of you upon the world and the world upon you after having read them4 ,if a book does not influence your point of view towards ,god1 your fellow men1 and your daily tasks and ambitions1 you may feel assured either that the book is one of little worth1 or that you have not absorbed its true meaning4 ,when you hear someone say that reading is an excellent way to pass the time1 you may feel sure that he knows little about books4 ,the poem1 the novel1 the history1 the philosophy are not to pass the time1 they are to make more vital the hours of life4 ,a book that is a book becomes part and parcel of your being1 and you must of necessity make it part of your life4 ,authors are not for the library1 they are for the street1 the railroad train1 the office1 the open fields4 ,read them in the library1 or even in bed1 but live them in the city thoroughfares1 or country roads or workaday places in which you make your life4 ,no man can read the ,journals of that mystic1 nature lover1 ,henry ,david ,thoreau1 without having his next trip to the country one of greater pleasure4 ,the colors and the sounds of the fields1 the woodlands and the brooks will bring a new joy to his spirit4 ,no man can read the novels of some great gobbler of life1 such as eighteenth century ,tobias ,smollett1 without finding the city life of our twentieth century more human1 more satisfying1 more exciting4 ,no man can seriously read a religious poet such as ,whitman or ,wordsworth without becoming more deeply religious1 more keenly conscious of the wonders of ,god and ,man4 ,and the ,bible--surely no one can read the magic beauty and truth in the ,prophecies of the ,old ,testament without feeling that he has met and talked with giants4 ,these books bear directly on life--they make us think1 love and experience in a way that we have never done before4 ,the world becomes more thoroughly a magic place in which there are a thousand things to make life one glorious escapade1 through which we may be thankful for the opportunity of living4 ,as some people believe reading to be a pleasant method of passing the time 7without realizing that time is in truth passing them71 so others believe that being well read is some sort of a social advantage4 ,it is difficult to determine which is the more stupid and superficial point of view1 that of regarding books as time-killers or as useful topics of conversation4 ,the latter is probably the worst1 as1 in addition to its superficial aspect1 there is its insincerity4 ,the man or woman who reads a great book because it is the thing to do is not only a weak follower of fashion but a waster of valuable time4 ,it is far better never to have read a book than to have read it stupidly and begrudgingly with the thought in mind that it will be a feather in your cap to be able to boast of having read it4 ,needless as it may seem to make a point of this1 it is1 nevertheless1 the idea in the mind of many a man in college1 and many a woman who joins a reading circle4 ,some misguided supporters of the study of the ancient classics use as a plea that every gentleman should read ,greek4 ,the insincerity of this defence can only be compared to the sighs of the woman who attempts to convince her neighbors that the beauty of a sunset appeals to her as it does to no one else1 or the ecstatic murmurings of the young man at the art exhibition1 who is arousing within himself a false enthusiasm1 for some artistic cult that in truth means nothing to him4 ,we see this type of man or woman all too often4 ,they are usually gushing about their latest emotional experience1 when in fact they are incapable of having any4 ,it is an insincere attempt to be the highest of the high-brows4 ,let us have none of this6 ,let us realize that education and culture are splendid things to be highly prized1 but only in that they make the individual who possesses them a richer1 deeper1 more sympathetic person4 ,a hobby1 which has to-day become a fashion1 is bird study4 ,far be it from me to disparage the movement seemingly alive in all our suburban districts1 but let us make short shift with those who ogle knowingly through field glasses1 when the motive behind the action is that in select company it is considered the thing4 ,it is a safe warning never to read a book because it is fashionable4 ,never read a book because you think it will form an engaging topic of conversation2 always read because you want to derive a sincere inspiration1 an enlarged point of view4 ,within a library is encased the soul of the past1 the meaning of the present1 the promise of the future4 ,from it we derive the entire tradition of which we are inheritors1 the deeper movements of which we are a part1 the prophecies of the future in which we and ours will live4 ,this treasure is more worthy of respect than to be treated as the devourer of an idle hour1 or the means whereby to keep in the swim4 ,the cultured man is a man of broad understanding1 of deep sympathies4 ,a fisherman who knows his boat1 his line and the bay in which he makes his livelihood may be a cultured man4 ,he may have derived from his way of life and the tools of his trade the solemn truths that give him an understanding of the ways of men and the needs of the human heart2 but another man who has gone through the ,university1 machinely made1 machinely crammed1 may be totally without culture in that he has never drunk at those well-springs of living which teach the mind the great underlying sentiments that rule the world4 ,one may well be educated and yet uncultured1 well-read and yet without the vision that may be derived from books4 ,it is not the word but the spirit of the word that must be taken to heart and lived4 ,matthew ,arnold defined culture as a knowledge of the best that has been done and said by man--but the one who opens that door must have more than that knowledge4 ,it is not enough to cram away facts in the corners of your brain4 ,these facts must have a direct bearing upon your life4 ,to have knowledge of the best that has been written1 you must not only read a great poem but you must allow the thought or fancy to sink into and become part of your personality2 of the best that has been done you must not only have knowledge of the courage and wisdom of the early ,americans who broke the yoke of ,great ,britain1 but you must apply their courage and wisdom to your daily life2 of the best that has been said you must not only read one of ,abraham ,lincoln's great speeches1 but absorb the quiet spirituality of the man who uttered them1 and allow his personality to become part of yours4 ,farcical moving-picture shows and talking-machine rag-time surely have their place1 but can they enter the soul of man as can the best that has been written1 done and said8 ,the plays of ,euripides and the words of ,marcus ,aurelius have for many centuries given deeper understandings and wider horizons to a multitude of readers1 and it is probable that the intensity with which they have acted upon the individual is commensurate with the length of time that they have acted upon the mass4 ,we do not believe that this can be said of the time-killing movie or the rag-time song of yesterday4 ,let us enter the world of living through the world of books4 ,it is from the printed page that we can best equip ourselves for a rich life of value to ourselves1 our family and our neighbors4 ,if you do not believe it1 read some book that the world has acknowledged great4 ,having read it1 live it in your eternal self1 and you will have passed through the ,open ,door4 ,it is a rainy day at the seashore2 ,i am writing in the reading room of a summer hotel4 ,without1 the rain is sweeping across the bathing beach1 the tennis courts are flooded1 the golf course1 without a doubt1 is a swampy morass4 ,it is a dreary sight for one who looks through the window pane4 ,our little world is upon a vacation1 and all but the few who wish to tramp the beach in raincoats and gum boots must stay in-doors4 ,and yet there is happiness1 and ,i believe greater promise of the morrow4 ,in one corner of the room there is a stripling of about thirteen1 curled in a chair1 absorbed in his book1 which from the cover ,i know to be ,treasure ,island4 ,he is with ,old ,pew1 ,john ,silver1 and the cut-throat buccaneers4 ,on the morrow the sand-dunes for that boy will be places of mystery where weird and exciting fairy deeds might have been accomplished4 ,the commonplace bathing beach will have new mysteries1 as the waters that splash at his feet are the same that surround some sunbaked1 ,south ,sea ,treasure ,isle4 ,at the desk opposite me1 a student with furrowed brow reads a calf-skin volume4 ,i have noted the title3 ,the ,speeches of ,henry ,clay4 ,perhaps this fellow is a young lawyer or an aspiring politician4 ,he wishes to absorb the ideas of the silver-tongued ,harry of the ,west1 the popular idol of seventy years ago1 and to consider their bearing upon the tariff questions of to-day4 ,he must agree with ,napoleon ,bonaparte3 ,read and reflect on history2 it is the only true philosophy4 ,and there is a girl reading the poetry of ,alfred ,noyes1 and a bespectacled1 bearded old man with a volume of ,pope4 ,they have both turned to poetry to find the beauty and truth those poets have seen4 ,how much will their spirits be affected1 the one by the lyric note of our contemporary singer1 the other by the didactic moralizing of the philosopher wit8 ,so it goes6 ,the boy sees visions of pirates and adventure1 the old man dreams dreams and seeks new truth2 the young man desires armor for his life's battle1 the girl finds beauty1 a refreshing and invigorating draught4 ,it rains to-day but they will all be more richly endowed to welcome the sun and sea breezes of the morrow4 99,,chapter ,,iii99 99,,reading ,,fiction ,,with ,,an ,,eye ,,on ,,life99 ,the world and life's too big to pass for a dream1 99 99 99 99 99 you've seen the world-- ,the beauty and the wonder and the power1 ,the shapes of things1 their colors1 lights and shades1 ,changes1 surprises1--and ,god made it all6 ,,fra ,,lippo ,,lippi ,our good ,brother1 ,lippo ,lippi1 has started off two of my chapters1 and it is well that he should1 as no artist had a keener appetite for life than had he4 ,he grasped all there was of the best in life--color1 love1 work--and he enjoyed it4 ,librarians1 booksellers1 and blatant advertisements assure us that we are a novel-reading public4 ,the number of copies sold of this and that best seller are at first sight staggering1 and even more so after having read the book6 ,a certain novel becomes the fashion in the same inconsequential manner as does an especially uncomfortable type of collar--another season both are forgotten and something new is taken up4 ,the writing1 publishing and advertising of such books have become a purely commercialized art upon the part of the authors and booksellers4 ,where are the snows of yesteryear8 sighed ,francois ,villon1 ,where are the masterpieces of last summer8 sighs the meditative consumer of fiction4 ,almost every novel which has those qualities which publishers believe will appeal to an idle1 amusement-loving populace is proclaimed in display advertising as the greatest novel of the decade1 the great ,american novel1 or in some other equally false manner4 ,the author1 the publisher1 and even the readers know that such statements are utter falsities and yet the sale goes up into the hundreds of thousands4 ,i often wonder what has become of the stupendous number of copies of a certain book the ,world was reading some ten years ago4 ,it is never mentioned2 it is never read2 it is seldom seen on anyone's bookshelves1 yet the material volumes must be lying about somewhere4 ,perhaps such books are indeed as the snows of yesteryear and melt away when their day is done4 ,one who wishes seriously to acquire the riches there are in books might well make it a rule never to read a novel until it has stood the test of time4 ,what1 bye the bye1 is the use of reading1 unless you mean to get the best out of it8 ,walking is better exercise1 conversation more sociable1 gambling more risky and therefore more full of zest6 ,any story worth reading this summer must surely be worth reading five years from now4 ,life is too short1 there are too many great books that are eminently worth reading1 to spend our time wading through the ruck of tastefully bound1 hurriedly illustrated1 widely advertised novels that greet us every season4 ,i repeat--,do not read a book that you may be in the swing of up-to-date conversation4 ,if you do1 you prove yourselves the gull of everyone concerned4 ,let time do your winnowing1 and if after five years the people of taste are still talking of the book1 you may turn to it and probably find something of true merit4 ,you may say that with such a plan you will read but few modern novels4 ,quite true1 there will be but few that stand the test of even five years1 but how much better it is to conserve your energies and time for reading the great works of fiction that have stood the test of generations4 ,as in all other reading1 novels should awaken you to a new life4 ,you should choose those that have the truest effect upon your goings and comings after you have put them aside4 ,you must agree that those treating of an impossible1 untrue social condition1 as some money-grabbing manufacturer of stories pretends to see it1 will not have this effect4 ,neither will those of untrue chivalry and sentiment in which untrue ladies weep unnatural tears1 and untrue heroes do impossible deeds4 ,such trivial falsities merely chew up the all too few hours allotted mortals upon this good ship1 the ,earth4 ,which then are those novels that are to be read not for the purpose of passing the time1 but of holding up the time1 and of making every minute more real1 more full of meaning1--for that is the function of all great books8 ,there is a poem of ,john ,keats beginning1 ,lo--,i must tell a tale of chivalry2 ,for large white plumes are dancing in mine eye4 ,perhaps these lines to every one do not carry the same magic beauty and promise of long-dreamed-of things that they do to me4 ,the poem was never finished1 and ,i1 for one1 deeply regret it1 as surely we would have had a tale to set our hearts afire with the clangor of the mediaeval tournament1 or the lone quest of a golden armored knight4 ,sir ,walter ,scott told such tales in prose and his novels are of the greatest in literature4 ,honore de ,balzac told stories of ,french life in which there is nothing specially chivalric1 nothing in that sense bewitching1 and yet his tales1 too1 are of the greatest in literature4 ,the terms ,realism and ,romanticism are used to describe two different aspects of art1 music and literature4 ,we will use them in considering the relation of novels to life4 ,balzac is considered the father of modern realism4 ,this is partly due to the fact that he presented in a forceful manner the principles upon which he worked4 ,he desired to put the life of ,france1 city1 provincial1 military and official1 within the covers of his books4 ,it is interesting to remember that he wrote at a period in which men were perhaps more interested in the reason and purpose of human life than they had ever been before4 ,those scientific discoveries1 which were finally to lead the way to our present theories of evolution1 were bringing men to a realization that the religious dogmas upon which they had founded their faith were weakening4 ,it was difficult for a thinking man to believe that the world had been made out of whole cloth1 but a few thousand years before4 ,science was in the air2 faiths were shattered4 ,balzac turned to man to determine anew his nature4 ,his was the huge task of presenting man in all his loves and hates1 purposes and motives1 works and joys4 ,he attempted it1 and there has been a great army of writers following in his footsteps4 ,their aim has been to give a realistic cross section of certain aspects of life1 allowing the reader to draw inferences as to its meaning and his personal relation to it4 ,this is realism4 ,it is most unfortunate that in our country the word has become synonymous with books of a sordid and erotic nature4 ,realism in literature should show us life as it is1 and as life is neither all sordid nor all erotic1 neither should literature present only those aspects4 ,the function of this type of literature is a great and important one4 ,the supreme realist has a ,god-given power of seeing and feeling the forces and emotions that make up human living4 ,he sees and examines life as if under a microscope1 and with this peculiar power he must have the faculty of expression4 ,you may ask how we can apply the words contained in such a novel to our own life8 ,we all feel that there is a great advantage in understanding life4 ,we try to analyze our own and our friends' ways of living4 ,let us go to great novels and see what we find there4 ,was it a child who said1 when going through the ,british ,museum1 that he liked the sculpture better than the paintings because he could walk around the sculpture8 ,he spoke more wisely than he knew4 ,the same simile may be applied to the realistic novel4 ,in reading it we may walk about and examine life4 ,from day to day1 as we live things happen so rapidly1 the world is passing before us so fast that1 unless you have a supreme intellect1 it is impossible to examine the pageant but from one point of view4 ,you can but look at the front of the picture4 ,it is flat1 there is but little perspective4 ,the genius with the gift for fiction such as had ,tolstoy1 ,balzac or ,smollett can encase civilization within the covers of a book4 ,you may read and understand4 ,there is something static4 ,you live a thousand lives by proxy1 you enter a hundred homes and have converse with the hearts of men and women4 ,instead of seeing but the front of things1 we walk behind and take in life from every angle4 ,the characters in the drama of life are under a microscope through which we are privileged to look4 ,tolstoy presents life as it was in ,russia forty years ago1 but human hearts that are cosmopolitan and eternal1 ,balzac1 the ,france of the forties1 ,smollett1 ,england of the eighteenth century4 ,we learn the ideals1 the struggles1 the way of life of different civilizations1 of different ages4 ,we find that our point of view is a narrow one1 that our place in the ,sun is perhaps a very small corner1 and our hearts and minds are enlarged to a deeper sympathy with all men1 a finer understanding of all ideals and practices4 ,instead of living in the little village of our own outlook1 instead of weighing all experience and action by our own1 we arrive at a higher1 more cosmopolitan point of view4 ,whereas we might think that ours is the only century in which people flock to the cities and live material lives of rush and money-grabbing1 we find the same thing true of ,smollett's ,england of one hundred and fifty years ago2 instead of condemning the woman who cannot get along with her husband we have a broader sympathy for having followed the career of the splendid ,anna ,karenina in ,tolstoy's novel of that name4 ,we break the shell of our petty selves which has made for so many misunderstandings and prejudices4 ,we must not pride ourselves upon our own motives and civilization1 until we have at least made an attempt to understand those of others4 ,since the days when ,nathaniel ,hawthorne condensed the spiritual aspects of ,new ,england in his immortal ,scarlet ,letter1 there has been a scarcity of ,american novels of any high realistic calibre4 ,ernest ,poole has recently done brilliant work in ,the ,harbor1 in which he presents the ideals that have guided a young man of our day and generation4 ,yet1 here we are1 in a strange world indeed--the greatest spirits hurling themselves into the strife of ninety-mile-an-hour living1 only to be tossed aside to make way for younger and harder workers1 more efficient thinkers4 ,the strange growling beast of a great ,american city1 the wide acres of efficient irrigated farming1 with the workers in each1 have yet even partially to be interpreted by the genius of fiction4 ,when it has been done by the great seers1 we will find answered many questions which puzzle us to-day4 ,not the mirror but the cosmic microscope must be used as the tool4 ,it will not be done by one man2 it will take a literary army--let the advance guard come with our generation6 ,and of ,romance--what will we say of the tales which take us away from the dusty world of every-day duties and responsibilities1 into a magic turmoil of brave deeds and devoted lovers8 ,we must not forever be muddling about in the mundane sphere in which we make our bread and butter--we must at times for wealth and happiness gaze through ,charm'd magic casements1 opening on the foam ,of perilous seas1 in faery lands forlorn4 ,we of the ,anglo-,saxon race have a glorious heritage in the ,waverley ,novels4 ,sometimes1 we are told that ,sir ,walter ,scott is becoming a memory1 and that of the past generation2 but many feel1 and ,i am of that number1 that the author of ,ivanhoe1 ,kenilworth1 ,quentin ,durward and the score of other yarns which have charmed youth and age for now well-nigh a century has a permanent place in our literature1 perhaps only surpassed by ,william ,shakespeare4 ,lucky is the boy or girl who has grown up1 and the older persons who still sojourn with the ,knights and ,ladies1 the ,kings and ,queens1 the ,highland ,fairies1 the human serfs who march in an endless1 enduring procession through the pages of the ,prince of story tellers4 ,for such readers the ,past is hallowed with a magic circle that defies tawdriness4 ,how pleasant it is for one who lives in a roaring city to be able by reaching to the book-shelf to forget the affairs of the day and to live in the pomp and pageantry1 the heroics and devotions of the ,past4 ,the lover of ,romance may well say to the reader of modern realism1 ,why read of slums1 of offices1 and city suburbs when you may ride out with ,prosper l',gai in ,hewlett's ',forest ,lovers' or be partner in countless intrigues of love and swordsmanship through a dozen of ,alexander ,dumas' yarns'8 ,why indeed8--we sometimes wonder4 ,it is a marvellous gift1 that of the man who can look back into the past and make it alive and breathing for the readers of the present4 ,it is dangerous to take ,dumas and ,scott for our guides to true history1 as they have too often twisted the facts in order to spin a good tale1 but as revealers of the atmosphere of history1 they are unsurpassed even by the greatest historians1 and if we have the atmosphere we have a rich and splendid background in which to place the facts4 ,we may sojourn in ancient ,carthage by reading ,flaubert's ,salammbo1 in ,rome by ,sienkiewicz's ,quo ,vadis1 in ,pompeii by ,bulwer ,lytton's ,the ,last ,days of ,pompeii1 in early ,england by ,scott's ,ivanhoe4 ,even those scornful individuals who pride themselves upon being men of the world have something to learn if they have only studied their own time as it goes fleeting past4 ,for facts let us turn to the scientific historians1 but for life to the historic romances4 ,let us find justification of each tale1 not in its historical accuracy1 but in the fact that it helps the ear to listen when the horns of ,elf-land blow4 ,it is for this that we will read them1--that we may awake refreshed as from a plunge in the springs of ,mount ,olympus4 ,if they do not revivify our jaded senses1 and awake our tired vision to the beauties of character and nature of the world in which we live1 we may lay them aside and be sure that the author does not measure up to the proper standard4 ,the love of a story is deeply ingrained in the human heart4 ,the baby1 before he can read1 listens1 fascinated1 to the paraphrase of some classic fairy tale related by his mother2 the minnesinger of old in the mediaeval castle charmed the tired fighters with tales of greater love and chivalry2 the medicine man recounted to the savage tribe the sagas of their ancestral struggles and triumphs2 we all love to hear the man talk who has been to strange lands and seen strange peoples4 ,it is the cry of human nature for accounts of the doings of men in worlds in which we live not that makes the tremendous demand for the novels of the day4 ,let us remember1 however1 that the old story tellers1 the medicine men and the mothers with their infants at their knees told tales that really fed souls in warming the hearts and awakening the intellects of their eager listeners4 ,the plumed knight buckled on his armor with more vigor1 and attempted1 the next day1 to outdo the deeds of the minnesinger's hero2 the child lived in fairyland and found a background for his playing and dreaming2 the savage warrior felt more keen to go upon the warpath to uphold the tradition of his ancestors who were watching him from their places in the ,happy ,hunting ,ground4 ,these stories were of the staff of life to their hearers4 ,how many of the novels you read bring nothing but the means of wasting an hour8 ,grown people to-day must find their stories in books3 there do not frequently come in our way travellers who have been overcome with the mystery of far-off places2 we have no longer medicine men who sing of the glories of our ancestors2 we perforce must turn for our minnesinger to the printed page4 ,let that page be worth while6 ,insist upon reading a story that means something2 either that gives you a more sympathetic understanding of your fellow men1 or an inspiration and refreshment by allowing a glimpse through that magic casement which opens to the world of ,kings and ,princes1 ,castles and ,feudal ,keeps1 or to the mountain where dwelt the ,giant or to the seas upon which sailed the ,pirates of your boyhood4 ,when novels reveal unknown vistas of beauty and delight1 or present ideas that jog our thoughtless complacency1 they are of the stuff that intensifies and glorifies existence4 ,they keep a man's mind from being commonplace and mongrel4 ,let us all be ,kentucky thoroughbreds in the way we look upon the world4 ,chafe at your bit1 stamp the ground and be eager to get away at the front when the barrier goes up4 ,anyone can be an also ran4 ,a good story is often tonic enough to turn an also ran into a winner6 99,,chapter ,,iv99 99,,history ,,and ,,your ,,vote99 ,we are much beholden to ,machiavel and others1 that write what men do1 and not what they ought to do4--,,bacon ,one of the greatest evils into which a democracy may inadvertently slide is an indifference upon the part of the populace to the political issues of the day4 ,we have upon several occasions in our history passed through periods of almost unlimited commercial prosperity during which everyone has been too much absorbed in the pursuit of power and riches to give a thought to the affairs of government1 with the result that our state and national affairs have lapsed into disgraceful conditions of inefficiency and moral laxity4 ,such periods have paved the way to corrupt boss rule and throttling machine politics4 ,ignorance1 which always comes with indifference1 and yet is most pernicious when most active1 is another extreme and vital danger4 ,it must be evident to every thinking man or woman1 that a nation whose political destinies are in the hands of the people with their almost universal franchise should be made up of voters who are alive and thinking4 ,read and reflect on history2 it is the only true philosophy1 wrote ,napoleon ,bonaparte in his instructions pertaining to the education of his only son1 the ,king of ,rome4 ,the great ,emperor must have realized that his phenomenal success in ruling men and establishing law had as an important part of its foundation his knowledge of the affairs of men in the past4 ,without suggesting that we should all be ,napoleons1 it seems true that our political fabric would be infinitely more stable1 if the rank and file of ,american citizens should feel it a duty to read and reflect on history4 ,with our ever-increasing number of ignorant ,southern ,european immigrants1 who have come from countries where republican forms of government are practically unknown1 it seems that our inherited tradition of a republican democracy will be undermined through ignorance1 unless1 indeed1 these new citizens be given an understanding of our history and the meaning of our systems4 ,to-day many specious types of radicalism1 that are for the most part pleasant ,utopian dreams of the future1 standing upon no foundation and drawing no nutriment from the past1 are thundered about most seriously4 ,in life and in statecraft there is one great teacher1--,experience4 ,a man weighs the advisability of a certain step by his past experience1 and this must be the basis of thought when determining matters of political science4 ,a reader of ,american ,history may find food for thought in comparing the manner in which the half-baked political theorists of to-day come to their conclusions with that of the great ,american statesmen of the past4 ,to-day we are opportunists4 ,instead of weighing experience and testing the future1 we jump helter-skelter at what seems of temporary value4 ,in dreaming of the future you must remember the past or your dreams are futile4 ,emerson somewhere tells us1 that when you are drawn into an argument upon moral values1 you should always ask your opponent whether he has carefully digested his ,plato4 ,if he has not1 you may placidly refuse to continue the altercation1 as he to whom ,plato is unknown is unfit to talk with a thinking man upon problems of higher morality4 ,i believe that in like manner we could close the mouths of many trumpeters of social uplift through sumptuary legislation4 ,ask them if they have carefully read their histories4 ,if they have not1 and probably the accent will be on the not1 you may safely snub them1 by insisting that they turn to the past1 before they have the right to ask people to listen to their talk of the present and the future4 ,at the time of the founding of our ,republic1 in ,thomas ,jefferson1 ,james ,madison1 and ,alexander ,hamilton we had three supreme students of government4 ,perhaps more than to any other one cause the success of our ,american ,experiment is due to the profound knowledge and scholarly attainment of those three men4 ,upon them rested the responsibility of founding a government of the people1 for the people1 and by the people that would neither be subverted by the wiles of a demagogue or the power of an oligarchy1 nor become chaotic through the unrestrained influences of the proletarian populace4 ,to ,jefferson we owe the ,declaration of ,independence1 to ,madison a great part of the thought and the wording of the ,constitution1 to ,hamilton the body of the ,federalist ,papers4 ,their thought was not the thought of the minute1 but of all time4 ,in all their writings we can see their thorough grasp of the faults and virtues of the governments of almost every nation in past ages4 ,they knew1 as too few of our public men know1 that the future cannot be made out of whole cloth1 but must evolve from the past4 ,they had studied men and the political needs and powers of men4 ,the result has been the establishment of a government that has stood the shock of almost a century and a half1 a period during which almost all other civilized governments have been the prey not to peaceful but to violent evolution4 ,upon the passing of the great ,revolutionary triumvirate we were fortunate in having men of the intellectual calibre of ,john ,c4 ,calhoun1 ,henry ,clay1 and ,daniel ,webster4 ,they were thinkers as well as great orators1 students of the past as well as guardians of the present4 ,it is a profitable study to read of the youth of great statesmen4 ,almost invariably you will find them as young men such as would to-day be sneered at as book-worms4 ,napoleon1 ,pitt1 ,gladstone1 ,cavour1 ,mirabeau1 the great ,americans and many1 many others before they entered public life were profound followers of the goddess of learning4 ,it is not surprising to find that many of them obtained wisdom and enthusiasm from the pages of ,plutarch's ,lives of the ,ancient ,greeks and ,romans4 ,it was in ,greece and ,rome that we find the origins of most of our laws and institutions1 and in the lives of the men who helped to establish them we may read of the tests and needs in their development4 ,considering the studies of great men it is always amusing to read the calendar which1 upon the request of ,mr4 ,madison1 ,senior1 it is said1 ,jefferson arranged for the working hours of ,james ,madison1 ,junior4 ,please note that ,madison's health broke down from overstudy while at ,princeton1 and it is not to be wondered at1 for here is the schedule3 until eight in the morning he should confine himself to natural philosophy1 morals and religion2 from eight until twelve1 read law and condense cases1 never using two words where one will do2 from twelve to one1 read politics in ,montesquieu1 ,locke1 ,priestley1 ,malthus1 and the ,parliamentary ,debates2 in the afternoon relieve his mind with history1 and when the evening closes in1 regale himself with literature1 criticism1 rhetoric1 and oratory4 ,in those days they indeed believed in thoroughly equipping themselves for public life6 ,a few years ago there was an agitation afoot in favor of establishing the systems of the ,initiative1 ,referendum1 and ,recall4 ,in the ,north1 the ,south1 the ,east1 and the ,west it was hailed by the spellbinders as the cure-all for corrupt legislation and undesirable laws4 ,it was argued that citizens1 who did not have enough political acumen to elect honest and efficient representatives1 would have enough to become their own law-makers4 ,in the height of the political campaign ,nicholas ,murray ,butler1 the ,president of ,columbia ,university1 published a small book entitled ,why ,should ,we ,change ,our ,form of ,government8 ,the author presented the hazardous risk that our profoundly important representative system would run of being subverted into a chaotic absolute democracy by instituting laws that would deprive the executive1 legislative1 and judicial departments of their independence and prestige4 ,the republican forms would lapse back two thousand years to those democratic systems of the ,grecian states that too invariably paved the way to the despotism of tyrants or the chaos of mob rule4 ,the title of the essay was rather startling to those who had been advocating the new measures without having thoroughly analyzed their true meaning and import4 ,the distinguished scholar brought clear thinking to bear upon the situation1 whereas before it had been befogged in the spread-eagle oratory of demagogues1 and the catch-as-catch-can subtleties of ignorant theorists4 ,clear thinking1 ,president ,butler's and that of others1 won the day and the measures are now well-nigh forgotten4 ,i mention this as but an instance of the value to our nation of men who have political and historical knowledge with the ability to think clearly upon the important points of our social progress4 ,i heard ,president ,wilson1 some months before he entered upon his distinguished political career1 address in an informal manner a group of ,university students4 ,he said in part 7my quotation is rather a paraphrase1 as ,i would not dare to transcribe from memory the words of the most perfect stylist of our time73 ,gentlemen1 in many ,european countries in times of national crises and disturbances the nation looks to the ,universities and the question is asked1 ',what do the young men of the ,universities think8' ,in ,america unfortunately this question is rarely asked1 as all realize that the men at the ,universities do not think4 ,this is a bitter arraignment of the intellectual life at our universities1 and if the speaker's conclusion was correct the same must to a great degree be said of the intellectual life of our nation4 ,the public's antipathy to broad political matters is the most dangerous vice that can undermine a republic1 and it is the one that is most seriously affecting ours4 ,it would be extraordinary1 if it were not so pathetic1 the way in which1 without taking toll of the experience of the past1 without drawing analogies nor seeking wisdom1 we go muddling1 blundering on into the future4 ,that there is nothing new under the sun is perhaps more true in matters pertaining to political problems than in any other branch of affairs4 ,history repeats itself1 repeats itself1 repeats itself1 as if it never grew tired of begging the world to learn true lessons4 ,in proportion as the number of our citizens appreciate that truism and sincerely pursue its corollaries1 we will have a sound political condition4 ,when ,aristotle1 a wise man in his generation1 said that it was in the nature of human institutions to decay1 he knew whereof he spoke4 ,it is painfully apparent to the student of history and governments4 ,what were the seeds of decay that smouldered and finally undermined the ,grecian democracies1 the power of ,carthage and of ,tyre1 the world-embracing ,roman ,empire1 the ,venetian ,republic1 the ,holy ,roman ,empire1 proud ,spain of ,charles ,v1 and ,france of the seventeenth century8 ,has the ,english ,empire run its course to make way for the more vital power of the ,germanic ,people8 ,in each and every one of these decadences1 if we wish our national life to retain its pristine spirit1 there are lessons to be learned by the ,united ,states of ,america4 ,our experiment has not necessarily met the test of time4 ,our nation is not liable to be the exception from those that have slid down the path to ruin4 ,there is a ,germany1 despotic yet powerful1 that perhaps must some day be met in mortal combat2 if the danger lies not there1 perhaps it will be another4 ,in any case our loins must be girt with power and strength1 our citizenship must be hardy1 our political fabric solid4 ,to retain our virtues1 to preserve our national life from decay1 is the responsibility upon the shoulders of our generation4 ,it is for this that we must read and reflect on history and apply it directly to life4 ,what an analogy may be drawn between the ,roman ,usurpers in the time of the ,empire's decadence throwing money at the street crowds to obtain their support1 and our modern politicians bidding for the old soldier vote by passing absurdly extravagant pension bills6 ,this mulct of the treasury is now on the wane1 but is the new power in politics1 the labor unions1 going to obtain legislation and favors because it can poll a large vote upon election day8 ,such things are signs of decadence4 ,must we not learn from the ,french ,revolution that its failure as a constructive force was due to an attempt to legislate morality into existence--and yet we continue to pass as laws measures that have truly been dubbed amendments to the ,ten ,commandments4 ,how many of the great nations and institutions have had their backs broken through too excessive centralization1 yet1 to-day there are but few individuals and no political party that stand in opposition to our ever-increasing tendency towards federalism1 in contradistinction to community government4 ,until the outbreak of the ,world ,war1 ,england1 ,germany and ,russia each had a terrible internal problem3 ,england attempting to ,anglicize ,ireland1 ,russia to ,russianize ,poland1 ,germany to ,germanize ,alsace and ,lorraine4 ,there was this thorn in the side of each nation3 by brute force they were trying to denationalize another country4 ,england was failing after three hundred years of wasted men and resources1 ,russia was covering a volcano that had smouldered for generations1 after over forty years ,germany had as ugly a wound to nurse as in the beginning4 ,yet with these examples1 good ,americans1 with confident smiles1 for three years have been laughing at the ,democratic administration on account of their ,mexican policy4 ,conquer ,mexico1 the wiseacres say4 ,yes1 conquer ,mexico the way ,england has tried and failed to conquer ,ireland6 ,the political value of history lies in its disclosures of the defects that have brought on decay1 and the stumbling blocks that make trouble4 ,in reading history we must keep our eyes on the present4 ,it is unreasonable to believe that our government is an infallible one1 or that our national existence1 maintained with the most stable governmental authority1 combined with the widest possible latitude for the liberty of men1 is any more infallible than the many other systems that have met with disaster in the past4 ,the reading of history is valuable1 in that it enables us to have those visions of the future that will be fruitful in that they are moulded by our experiences in the past4 ,such visions1 inculcating power of judgment1 are never more requisite than in these days in which the blind pacifist1 the quack reformer1 the misguided theorist1 and the wide-promising demagogue are abroad in the land4 ,we must study our lessons of the past that we may spurn those governmental cure-alls evolved1 according to ,alexander ,hamilton1 in the reveries of those political doctors1 whose sagacity disdains the admonitions of experimental instruction4 ,american history properly forms the most fruitful subject of study for ,americans1 and yet one must have a wide background to obtain the proper crop4 ,one must soon be led to the investigation of our legislative1 executive and judicial functions as they developed through the evolution of constitutional government in ,england4 ,the democratic models traced to the ,grecian states1 the seeds of sans-culotte philosophy that ,jefferson and ,tom ,paine brought from ,france1 the thought of political scientists such as ,plato1 ,machiavel1 ,locke1 and ,montesquieu open fields in which every reader may learn lessons that will guide his judgment in the ever-important problems of the day4 ,a citizenship educated to a knowledge of the past is a bulwark that will defend the integrity of our nation4 ,such a citizenship is in truth an ideal in that it is unobtainable1 but it is a splendid ideal and one that should be our guiding star4 ,in a government such as ours it is intolerable that an educated man should cast his vote by habit1 and yet how often do we hear the opinion expressed that such and such a man would vote the straight ,democratic or ,republican ticket no matter what the platform1 no matter who the candidate8 ,this study of political parties is itself fruitful4 ,one hundred years ago the ,democratic party was the party of decentralization and laissez-faire1 but to-day1 since the ,bryan influence has had such sway1 it eclipses the ,republican party as the exponent of centralization and paternalism4 ,there are1 however1 thousands of voters who continue to vote the straight ,democratic ticket1 believing that the party stands for the same principles as it did when their fathers first voted4 ,this is but an incident of man becoming an indifferent1 incapable political animal4 ,too much of such indifference is a fatal disease to a country of universal franchise4 ,history has no business in the closet6 ,history and your ,vote1 gentlemen1--and now1 in several states1 you of the fairer sex1--is a phrase worth remembering upon election day4 99,,chapter ,v99 99,,clio',s ,,vintage99 ,history after all is the true poetry4--,,carlyle ,to the one who drinks of the wisdom of ,clio1 the ,muse of history1 there will come manifold riches other than the accrued satisfaction of well-weighed political judgment4 ,a knowledge of history1 in its broadest sense1 may well be said to be the essential foundation of all cultural education4 ,the movements in science1 philosophy1 music1 literature and the plastic arts are all inseparably intertwined1 and they have as their controlling background the political actions of men and the economic forces that move peoples4 ,it is as impossible to thoroughly understand the poetry of ,wordsworth1 ,shelley or ,byron without having an appreciation of the political and economic events of the ,french ,revolution and ,napoleonic ,era1 as it is to conceive of the ,epics of ,homer without the ,trojan ,war4 ,the music of ,bach and ,haydn has as its foundation the reasonableness in religion1 philosophy and political thought of the eighteenth century1 as the music of ,wagner and ,chopin the unreason and rampant individualism of the early nineteenth4 ,the books of the ,cromwellian period reflect the illiberality and severity of the ,puritan parliaments3 the books of the ,restoration reflect the ,french upbringing of ,charles ,,ii4 ,wars and rumors of war1 famine and years of plenty1 new discoveries and great invasions make up the life of the world1 and it is of this life that literature and music are made4 ,we could indefinitely cite instances of the influence that history has had upon the arts1 but in this chapter let us consider history as an art1 history as literature4 ,no historian who deserves the name should write dry histories4 ,the greatest historian is he who has an inspired passion for delving into the past1 and the ability to interpret it in its living1 human aspects4 ,the scientific student who considers his mission that of arriving at the precise facts is not an historian but a dry-as-dust recorder4 ,he is useful1 however1 in providing the material that will enable the true historian to cast illuminating spotlights upon the centuries that have gone before4 ,mr4 ,william ,roscoe ,thayer1 one of the most distinguished of our ,american historical writers1 tells us that ,hi'story'--let us not forget--is five-sevenths story4 ,the historians whom we want to read are those who tell us the dramatic story of the past4 ,two-sevenths of their ability should1 perhaps1 be their infinite patience and intellectual honesty in gathering1 sorting and weighing documents and other sources of information1 but the other five-sevenths must be that ability which is the genius of the story teller4 ,someone has said that every historian must be his own dry-as-dust1 his own bespectacled investigator of authentic facts1--if the rest of him is an impassioned teller of tales we have a supreme historian4 ,gibbon1 before the days of elaborately prepared source books1 before the days of thoroughly indexed libraries1 ransacked the learned treasuries of ,europe and ,asia ,minor for information2 to this infinite patience there was added in his character the gifts of the artist and the dreamer4 ,the result1 after ceaseless labor1 was the monumental1 yet fascinating and comparatively reliable1 ,the ,decline and ,fall of the ,roman ,empire1 a book that is acknowledged the acme of historical perfection4 ,a few months ago1 a woman of intellect1 a wide traveller1 an omnivorous reader1 a mother of a large family1 an efficient manager in whatever she undertook1 was asked the name of the book that had made the most impression upon her life4 ,without a moment's hesitation she replied1 ,carlyle's ,history of the ,french ,revolution4 ,upon questioning her1 we found that she had read the two large volumes three times1 and with each rereading there had awakened in her the sentiments aroused by the greatest dramatic tragedy1 the most intense human story4 ,carlyle was not a scientific historian1 he did not write histories for other historians2 he wrote as one whom ,god directed to put upon pages of flame the characters1 the drama1 the magnificent incidents1 the cruelties1 the braveries1 the cowardices1 the heroisms of the truth that is stranger than fiction4 ,it is indeed more interesting to read of what men have done as depicted by the historian1 than what they might have done as depicted by the second-rate novelist6 ,if you have not read the ,french ,revolution1 read it at once6 ,the author has taken the most dramatic period in modern times and he has treated it as it deserves4 ,it has the power of tragedy1 whose mission is1 according to ,aristotle1 to purify the soul through fear and terror4 ,your soul will be enlightened1 you will be made to feel1 as all great history makes you feel1 that life is played upon a wondrous highway1 and that the sights and works upon the way are of the sort to make you live in a trembling condition of wonder and expectancy4 ,the city crowds will have new meaning3 men and women1 for having once been participants in the terrible cataclysm of one hundred and twenty year ago1 are still of the stuff to accomplish strange deeds1 and to fulfil undreamed-of destinies4 ,has it occurred to you what a relatively small and insignificant number of familiar acquaintances we are able in our daily life to have8 ,how many men and women do you know who have guided the destinies of nations1 led great armies into the field1 or are to meet death in their attempts to overthrow the tyranny of a despot or a bigot8 ,in history we may meet them1 and become acquainted with their problems and struggles4 ,the past is a select drawing-room into which we all may enter4 ,we may derive inspiration from the same wells that prompted the ,crusaders to set out time after time in their well-nigh fatal effort to drive the ,moslems from ,jerusalem2 we may absorb the spirit that moved ,cromwell's ,ironsides2 we may appreciate the pettiness of our own weaknesses and vexations in comparison with the odds against which some of ,history's heroes have fought and conquered4 ,it is pleasant to live in the court of ,louis ,,xiv and to talk with kings and princes through the pages of ,st4 ,simon's ,memoirs2 it is a spiritual tonic and excitement to follow the careers of the ,indian ,missionaries through ,parkman's glowing pages6 ,it is in truth more downright fun than doing most things6 ,undoubtedly it is true that ,napoleon's ruthless ambition brought devastation to the lands that he conquered1 and sorrow to the nation whose young men he led to the cannon's mouth1 and yet ,i sometimes think that greater than the ,code ,napoleon1 which he instituted1 is the inspiration that his career has been to the young men of all countries4 ,how many boys have dreamed their vision of the future when following the work of the little ,corsican1 who at the age of twenty-seven led the armies of ,france across the ,alps to crumple in a series of whirlwind campaigns the proud power of ,austria4 ,and there was ,william ,pitt1 the ,younger1 who at twenty-four became ,prime ,minister of ,england1 one-armed and half-blind ,nelson at ,trafalgar ,bay1 ,lincoln1 the rail-splitting ,president1 ,olive1 ,garibaldi1 ,hampden1 and how many another has been a light that beckons our future soldiers and statesmen8 ,in every epoch of history we will find new horizons opened that will enrich and broaden our daily life2 in every vital struggle we will find individuals and peoples who have acted in such a way that we should hope to be guided by them in our struggles and ambitions2 in the failures of the past we may obtain moral lessons for the present and the future2 in cooerdinating our forces and forming our judgments we will obtain a training for our minds which will be of use to every man in carrying out the enterprises in which he is engaged4 ,dr4 ,johnson well said that the traveller brings from his journeys that which he brings to them4 ,it is indeed pitiful to be in ,paris and to see countless ,american tourists rushing about seeing ,paris4 ,what a difference there is between those who bring to the storied city on the ,seine a familiarity with her past1 and those who bring nothing but time and money to spend4 ,for the first1 there are human dramas lurking in the shadows of ,notre ,dame2 ,quasimodo1 the strange dwarf in ,hugo's great romance1 still swings on the bells of the belfry2 the narrow streets and turbulent cafes may still contain the instigators of the ,reign of ,terror and their shouting mobs of sans culottes2 ,camille ,desmoulins may still be visualized in the ,cafe ,royal plucking the leaves to make his tricolor cockade4 ,at every turn1 in every ancient building1 there are rich historic memories that may feed the traveller who has prepared himself4 ,and the others1 to whom history is a closed book6 ,how barren and incompetent are their wanderings in ,paris1 ,london1 ,vienna1 or any other old world city6 ,to think that one can appreciate the historic gathering places of the human race without having knowledge of their past is as absurd as to believe one knows the woods when one cannot appreciate the beauty and wonder of the wild life that makes of the woods its dwelling place4 ,go among the trees some day with one who has studied and absorbed the woodnotes varied6 ,wander about the ,quais of ,paris1 or the ,temple ,inns of ,london1 with a man who has read history with a human interpretation1 and consider upon your return the increased wealth1 you carry in your mind6 ,we cannot all be travellers1 but it is always safe to store up material against a possible future2 although ,i have never read far into the history of ,china1 and though there is little possibility of my ever visiting the land of ancient civilizations1 ,i am sure ,i could derive much pleasure and obtain a better understanding of our ,occident if ,i followed a course of reading upon the varied fortunes of the different dynasties that have ruled the richly storied ,eastern nation4 ,our history books teach us valuable lessons in the art of living1--and this is assuredly the most important of the arts6 ,as a man who brings something upon his travels besides his pocket-book and luggage comes home with rich experiences and memories1 so does the man who approaches life with something more than a hungry stomach obtain from life more than he otherwise would4 ,the greater variety of experiences we have1 the more we know of the affairs of men1 the richer our understanding of the forces that have ruled the world1 the more replete with ecstatic living is our daily life4 ,if the best of life is to be won by living in the world keen and alive to everything that moves1 or thinks1 or glitters1 a great share of riches must go to the man who has studied and thought in other realms than those which immediately surround his own dwelling house4 ,in ,philadelphia ,i sometimes watch the hurrying crowds of business men go scurrying underneath the shadow of ,independence ,hall4 ,i wonder if these crowds are in any true sense aware of the important and heroic deeds that were accomplished in that building4 ,i am sure that if they did their movements beneath that shadow would be rich in living experience4 ,at political conventions1 ,i sometimes wonder whether the delegates are aware of the vast consequence of the long governmental tradition which they1 as delegates1 have been called upon to uphold1 and ,i feel sure that those who do1 fulfil their responsibilities with a quickened sense of their weight and human moment4 ,on the observation car of a twentieth-century flyer the road-bed is so smooth1 the rails so even1 the power so terrific1 that the past as an industrial development that has cast aside the stage coach1 the prairie schooner1 the pony express1 makes one alive to the romance of the present4 ,down on the beach of a popular ,new ,jersey summer resort when the water is dotted black with bobbing civilized bathers1 look out over the waves and wonder at the change of but four hundred years4 ,in a moment your mind can travel back to the ,spanish castle and see ,columbus begging the gold that would enable him to equip his ships to sail westward into the unknown sea4 ,romance cannot be dead so long as men work1 and strive1 and play4 ,there is an art in reading history as there is an art in writing it4 ,the writer who tells us of a battle with the same lack of imagination as the recorder who prepares mortality statistics must be compared to the reader who crams his mind full of dates and uncooerdinated facts without drawing from them the riches and lessons of experience4 ,the true historian and the proper reader of history must find in the past a world of enlightenment1 an enrichment that magnifies1 clarifies1 and makes living the present4 ,it is better to have studied a minute epoch1 the history of your county or town1 with a human understanding than to have unintelligently digested the careers of a hundred heroes1 the military movements in fifty campaigns4 ,do not turn from the eight bulky volumes of ,gibbon's masterpiece with the fear that they are dry and useless1 but begin them with the determination of finding an enlightenment to your vision of inestimable value in the art of living4 ,the dates of battles1 the names of individuals1 the data about which life revolved1 are only of value in that they are the framework upon which you can hang the true meaning of the past--the evolving germ of the present4 ,the ,song of ,solomon is not to be read because it is the ,bible1 but rather because it is a love song of which the world can never grow weary2 ,motley's ,history of the ,dutch ,republic is not to be read because it is recommended in the schools and colleges1 but because in it you will find the unrolling of a human drama that will quicken your pulse and strengthen your faith in men4 ,read the record of the past with the desire of obtaining a deeper understanding1 an enlarged vision1 an inspired ideal1 a rich experience1 and you will have become proficient in the art of reading history4 ,you must have often thought upon the difficulty of determining exactly what you want4 ,what do you desire life and your exertions to give you8 ,in reading history perhaps you will be helped by finding out what ,christ wanted when he died upon the cross1 what the ,pilgrims wanted when they left comfort and sailed to strange lands1 what ,stanley wanted when he buried himself in darkest ,africa4 ,clio has had many wooers1 from ,thucydides to ,carlyle and ,george ,trevelyan1 and their offerings form a treasure trove which must not be neglected4 99,,chapter ,,vi99 99,,the ,,poet ,,and ,,the ,,reader99 ,i myself but write one or two indicative words for the future1 ,i but advance a moment1 only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness4 ,i am a man who1 sauntering along1 without fully stopping1 turns a casual look upon you1 and then averts his face1 ,leaving it to you to prove and define it1 ,expecting the main things from you4 ,,walt ,,whitman ,what is poetry to you or me1 as we rush to make the trolley car or suburban train8 ,to get to the office on time seems the main chance1 and yet returning home in the evening are we so tired that the funny page of the evening paper fulfils our entire intellectual and spiritual need8 ,in asking this let me ask another question4 ,day in and day out1 in work and play1 in sorrow and anxiety1 in pleasure and enthusiasm1 what is life worth to you and me8 ,we ,americans are not much given to philosophizing about life1 we prefer to live it4 ,whereas the intelligent ,russian argues about the reason for and the meaning of action1 ,americans are prone without thought to throw themselves into the mill of violent living1 to go at top speed until the gears break down1 and then sometimes to say with ,kipling's ,galley ,slave1 --whate'er comes after1 ,i have lived and toiled with ,men6 ,our answer to the question ,what is the meaning of life8 is simply ,the living of it4 ,work while you work1 and play while you play may be considered our national motto4 ,in short1 for every minute of our existence we want to have sixty seconds' worth of distance run4 ,to live acutely is our pleasure1 to work our hearts out and revel in the doing of it is our end4 ,it is thus1 to use an expressive phrase of the vernacular1 that we prove something4 ,and it is this fact which strengthens the paradox that the ,american1 the man of action and bustle1 must draw his greatest source of living in the realization of the spirit of singers4 ,the poet is he who has drunk more deeply at the well of experience than has his fellow men4 ,many a profound poet never writes a verse1 for when a man of temperament is deeply moved he writes a poem within his own heart4 ,it is for some to transcribe their emotions into words whereby their feelings may be communicated from one man to another2 but it is for others to be without the gift of verbal expression and the poems must remain within4 ,how many times in life is your soul afire with enthusiasm1 drunk with beauty1 stricken with sadness1 or overflowing with the meaning or portent of experience8 ,at those times you are a poet1 whether or not you transcribe the reflection of your heart upon the written page4 ,the man who sings within is a singer whether or not he gives his song verbal utterance4 ,these hours of poetic ecstasy make life a thing to be cherished4 ,the sources of such ecstasy are manifold--the love of man and woman1 or parent and children1 religious communion with the ,spirit1 comradeship1 work1 pursuance of duty1 speed1 health1 beauty1 the joy of the builder or artist1 attainment to a higher understanding1 sadness1 hope1--from such springs come the bubbles of the wine of life1 heartening the cherished hours4 ,our greatest poems are those that have never been written--true experience is poetry1 and experience is an open door to life4 ,yet all experience is an arch wherethrough ,gleams that untraveled world1 whose margin fades ,for ever and for ever when ,i move4 ,the poetry found in books is experience1 directly or indirectly1 through the agency of verbal expression1 transferred to the printed page4 ,the great writers of poems are those who have undergone spiritual experiences of greater intensity than those which come within the range of us lesser mortals4 ,in their poems we partake of their life1 of their ecstasy in the presence of beauty1 of the richness of their imaginings1 of the depth of their spiritual natures4 ,you and ,i1 when we hear the wood thrush sing1 are moved with the music of the notes1 and are possibly carried away into the bosky woods where the richly patterned bird in his evening song pours his heart to ,heaven2 but when ,keats hears the melody of the nightingale1 his nature so acutely attuned to the harmony1 the message of peace and solitude1 is swept away in such an ecstasy of heartfelt longing for that same peace1 that same solitude1 that his own heart pours forth his song1 in words no less musical1 in cadences no less rich than the notes of the feathered songster4 ,his experience is preserved for us in ,the ,ode to a ,nightingale and we may read and derive the same fascination that he felt4 ,matthew ,arnold somewhere tells us that all great poetry has one or both of two attributes3 ,natural ,magic and ,moral ,profundity4 ,whatever these two phrases may mean upon first sight1 after examining their true import it will be appreciated that the greatest ,english critic did not consider poetry a thing for the closet1 or sentimental matter only to be read by the melancholy lovelorn to his sentimental maid4 ,the effect of the natural magic of a summer's night1 of the sea breaking upon the wind-swept coast1 of the sea gull's flight1 is apparent and valued by everyone4 ,what are most holidays other than periods during which we absorb appearances and sensations1 that enter our personalities and remain part of ourselves during the succeeding year of work8 ,natural ,magic is that which acts upon us as a holiday influence1 compounded perhaps of beauty1 mystery1 fear or sentiment1 which for the moment or for eternity gives our minds entrance into a realm of new and pleasurable things4 ,read ,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge's ,kubla ,khan and you will find the essence of natural magic4 ,you enter a realm1 indeed1 of magic and witchery1 for ,in ,xanadu did ,kubla ,khan ,a stately pleasure-dome decree3 ,where ,alph1 the sacred river1 ran ,through caverns measureless to man ,down to a sunless sea4 ,do those lines charm you8 ,they charm most of us and the cadence of the words1 the confused picture of ,xanadu1 have become our own1--riches with which we would not care to part4 ,every time ,i read them the blunt edge of life is worn off1 living regains its sharpness1 ,i have to an extent experienced an ecstasy1 taken a holiday4 ,it is hard to define the exhilaration of a canter across the meadows upon a crisp ,october day1 or the impulse that surges through you as you look to the ocean breathing the sea breeze1 or the sense of religious comradeship that grips you when in the midst of a crowd1 great with a single purpose1--but this is all of the true stuff of ,natural ,magic4 ,your sensations are not of the minute1 but of all time1 as they have vivified your soul and become part and parcel of your personality4 ,it is so with the poets who sing you a song or breathe a sentiment that is not oral1 not didactic1 not purposeful1 but of the stuff that thrills the spirit of man1--their charm is impossible to define1 it must be felt1 and for having felt it1 your spirit is of a color different from what it was before4 ,as ,corot's landscapes painted in the forest of ,fontainebleau are said to express the emotion of the painter when in the presence of nature1 so does the lyric poet of magical gift express his feelings1 lay bare his soul with its emotions and vacillations4 ,the sadness and sensuous mystery of ,edgar ,allan ,poe1 the marvellous ability of ,tennyson to fit the most exquisite words to the most subtle incantations of beauty1 the thrill of romance in ,shakespearean ,england as depicted by our contemporary1 ,alfred ,noyes1 the appetite for sensuous delights of ,keats1 the tuneful1 heartfelt songs of the ,cavalier poets--these are of natural magic1 of delight to the human soul1 of the spirit of art4 ,when ,shakespeare wrote1 ,where the bee sucks1 there suck ,i3 ,in a cowslip's bell ,i lie1 he had no moral to expound1 he merely sung from his heart with the beauties of nature and the ways of fairy-land as an open book before him4 ,if we wish 7and there is no rightful reason why we should not7 to drain the very dregs of living for the richest drops of wine1 let us enrich1 make more virile our enjoyment by seeking nourishing draughts of experience from the poets who have expressed those sweetest joys on earth in poems that have cleansed the souls of men for generation upon generation4 ,there is the other phrase of ,matthew ,arnold1 ,moral ,profundity4 ,it is when we seek wisdom from the poets that we find this attribute4 ,when the greatest of them give us their innermost thought1 not the record of experiences1 but the essential deductions from all their experiences1 we have their true wisdom4 ,when ,wordsworth in ,the ,lines ,composed a ,few ,miles ,above ,tintern ,abbey4 wrote the words1 ,therefore am ,i still 44444well pleased to recognize1 ,in ,nature and the language of the sense1 ,the anchor of my purest thoughts1 the nurse1 ,the guide1 the guardian1 of my heart1 and soul ,of all my moral being2 or when1 in his ,ode on the ,intimations of ,immortality1 he wrote1 ,our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting3 ,the ,soul that rises with us1 our life's ,star1 ,hath had elsewhere its setting1 ,and cometh from afar3 ,not in entire forgetfulness1 ,and not in utter nakedness1 ,but trailing clouds of glory do we come ,from ,god1 who is our home3 and when ,shelley wrote1 ,we look before and after1 ,and pine for what is not3 ,our sincerest laughter ,with some pain is fraught2 ,our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought4 or when ,tennyson1 in ,locksley ,hall1 wrote1 ,this is truth the poet sings1 ,that a sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things4 those men formulated in exquisite language truths that have never been more intensively expressed4 ,probably most readers of poetry have already considered these two phrases1 and those who have1 ,i feel sure1 will agree that they are useful in making for a clearer understanding in our estimation of values4 ,to read intelligently1 to get the most out of our books1 we should certainly attempt to formulate the various aspects of life the different poets represent1 their relation to the time in which they live1 and their excellencies when they stand before the bar of the reader's judgment4 ,very few great poets produce poetry of but a single aspect4 ,shakespeare wrote the magical fairy jingles and yet created the stupendously profound character of woe-entangled ,hamlet2 ,tennyson composed many a lilting tune in words1 yet as a moralist he presented the most sincere thought of his generation4 ,when we feel philosophic and thoughtful1 we turn to the poems containing solemn truths2 when weary1 jaded1 and off color1 we turn to the honey of romance1 the witcheries of sensuous beauty1--and regain our lost edge4 ,a single phrase may have natural magic1 and yet may express a thought for which during years of our life we have been vainly groping4 ,the poetry of thoughtful content is probably that which has meant the most to men1 as upon the philosophy of such religious poets as ,dante or ,whitman many a man has braced his faith2 yet we must remember that much of the wisdom of sages is expressed in as magical language as we have in our cherished heritage4 ,let us not1 however1 be academic about our poets1 let us not balance one against the other1 let us not be carping about metre1 subject matter and critical phrases1 let us go to them for what they can give towards making this world a more marvellous place in which to dwell4 ,if ,kipling makes you feel the glory of work1 of the hard1 terrific work in which we rejoice1 if he gives you the call of the road1 the wanderlust1 and you hear1 --the song--how long6 how long6 ,pull out on the trail again6 if ,bobbie ,burns with his songs of ,scotia gives you a human sympathy with mankind1 an appreciation that for all his foibles and impossibilities a man's a man for a' that2 if ,byron fills your heart with the divine discontent that in a sweep of glory lands you above and beyond the commonplaces of every-day existence2 if ,wordsworth makes you see ,nature as you have never seen her before1 if he makes a meadow of buttercups appear in a new light1 with unsuspected meaning1 with hitherto unseen color and grace2 if ,keats attunes your heart to a deeper appreciation of a form1 a fragrance1 a musical harmony2 if ,milton's solemn cadences inspire you with the depth of that great ,puritan's spirit2 if ,shakespeare unbares your own character in revealing the inner springs of his eternal heroes2 if ,longfellow in ,my ,lost ,youth brings back to you the home of your boyhood1 and you see again ,the sheen of the far-surrounding seas1 ,and islands that were the ,hesperides ,of all my boyish dreams2-- if you can say with ,walt ,whitman1 ,logic and sermons never convince2 ,the damp of the night drives deeper into my soul2 or if there is a man unknown except for one poem that still stirs you with the sentiments that you love and honor--if these1 ,i say1 have thus met your requirements1 each and all of them are great poets to you1 they have opened a door to a life richer in content1 deeper in import1 more vastly worth living4 ,there is no danger that the poets will ever be in need of readers4 ,the musical expression of thought or sentiment is as old and fundamental as is human nature4 ,the sailors singing their chants as they pull in their anchor1 the negro laborers whom we have seen singing a song as they unload the railroad ties1 or put the heavy rails in place1 the ,western range rider calming the steers1 and quieting his own nerves through the lone night watches1 the sagas and harvest songs of simple people in all lands1 are facts that establish the part that poetry plays in the workings of the human heart4 ,in reading poetry you will obtain no credit for upholding a tradition1 as the tradition will stand of its own vitality2 but in not reading it you will miss one of the most bounteous sources of inspiration1 you will pass by the richest treasure house1 you will neglect the supreme opportunity for a thorough life that the art of man has put within your reach4 ,when you do read1 do it for all time1 not for a moment4 ,if the muse is to give you of her best1 you must feel after sharing her store as did ,wordsworth when he heard the ,highland ,reaper singing1 ,for old1 unhappy1 far-off things1 ,and battles long ago3 as he tells us1 ,the music in my heart ,i bore1 ,long after it was heard no more4 ,the poem but begins after you have read it--the experiences that come after are the ones that count4 ,let us remember the simile and hold the music in our hearts as a reservoir of powerful beauty that will carry us over the stupid1 the heavy1 the unpoetic bumps of the days' doings4 99,,chapter ,,vii99 99,,the ,,children ,,of ,,pan99 ,for ,i'd rather be thy child ,and pupil1 in the forest wild1 ,than be the king of men elsewhere1 ,and most sovereign slave of care2 ,to have one moment of thy dawn1 ,than share the city's year forlorn4 ,,thoreau ,the enthusiastic nature poetry of ,james ,thompson1 called ,the ,seasons1 came as a shock to that inbred lover of the city streets1 the taverns and town activities1 ,doctor ,samuel ,johnson4 ,in these poems1 the ,doctor found that natural objects which before had hardly been worthy of attention were made to appear beautiful4 ,we must believe that after having read ,spring1 ,summer1 ,autumn1 and ,winter1 upon his infrequent excursions beyond the environs of the great metropolis he saw new beauties in the hitherto common-place landscapes1 responded to the color in the fields and hedgerows1 became interested in fantastic cloud effects1 heard music in the streams1 the waterfalls and in the songs of birds4 ,for how many of us have arisen new sources of joy in ,nature's beauteous wonderland at the instigation of poets1 essayists and novelists who have seen and read with loving eyes ,of this fair volume which we ,world do name4 ,in an ardent conversation upon the power of certain poets a friend told me that the ,anglo-,saxon world looked at ,nature through ,wordsworth's spectacles4 ,he maintained that the reaction of nature upon even those who have never read a poem by this poet was influenced by his poetry2 ,wordsworth's interpretation of ,nature had so permeated nineteenth century religion and literature that it was impossible for even the casual newspaper reader to escape it4 ,we do not directly acknowledge our debt1 but the garden clubs1 the bird-study societies1 the surburbanite who throughout the year will spend an hour and a half in the train1 in order1 on the way to the station in the early morning1 to obtain the pleasures of ,nature's awakening1 and her retirement upon his return at twilight1 and the ,saturday afternoon golfer who1 after holing his ball1 looks beyond the course at the green whispering woods and rolling hills1 expands his chest and murmurs ,this is the life1 are all unconsciously paying part tribute to the poet who wrote1 ,the world is too much with us2 late and soon1 ,getting and spending1 we lay waste our powers3 ,little we see in ,nature that is ours4 ,we need a love of nature to-day1 as we have never needed it before4 ,in the terrific complexity and speed of our external existence we crave the quiet1 internal stimulus to meditation and dreams that comes from the ,great ,mother's intricate1 manifold1 yet untempestuous method of doing things4 ,from the close hatches of the city where the noise1 the smells1 and the turmoil seem all man-made1 we must get away to the fields and blossoming pastures to find our souls alone with ourselves and the ,great ,god ,pan4 ,to those who answer the call of the wild1 or even the call of the suburban garden1 there come new strength and new conceptions of beauty1 to apply to the work of the world to which we have lent our hand4 ,the call is being answered1--man goes back to his own4 ,we see it on every side3 no one in any walk of life seems so humble or satisfied not to desire some day to own a farm2 most summer resorts where there were formerly many a flanneled fool have now become ,adamless ,edens1 for our young men have answered the call of the ,red ,gods1 and have packed their kits for the trail that leads to the tall timbers of solitude1 of balsam1 of camp fires and dreams4 ,any book or poem that gives you a keener appreciation of the crimson of the sumach1 the whispers of the wild things1 the glory of the sunrise or of the all-embracing broadmindness of ,nature1 will have done its part towards bringing literature into perfect accord with life4 ,if my friend speaks truly in saying that ,wordsworth has influenced two nations' outlook upon the world1 those poems1 laughed at by some for their quiet simplicity1 have indeed arisen to the highest realm of literature and have become soul of our soul1 mind of our mind1 flesh of our flesh4 ,there are others--,wordsworth is not alone in his glory4 ,henry ,david ,thoreau1 the perfect child of a cross country ramble1 is my favorite4 ,to write immortal words1 it is said that a man must have an immortal passion1 whether it be for beauty1 or his ,god1 his neighbor1 his country1 his lady1 or himself4 ,thoreau sunk the love of all else in his passionate devotion to ,nature4 ,his ,journals1 kept year by year with ever a spontaneous freshness1 are little else than an ecstatic love song dedicated to his mate1--the lake1 the woods1 the fields1 the apple orchards1 the winds1 the colors1 the birds1 and all that lived and grew about his haunts near ,walden4 ,a lover sees a beauty in his lady's eye to which all the world is blind1 and ,thoreau senses a magic in an awakening ,spring to which the senses of us lesser mortals are comparatively blunt4 ,his sincerity of appreciation was one with his marvellous power of observation4 ,he did not have the scientific attitude of mind as had that fascinating ,frenchman1 ,fabre1 who wrote the biographies of insects in a way that makes you tremble at the wonders that go into the making of the life of a fly4 ,thoreau would have scorned the aquarium and cage methods of ,fabre1 not because of the lack of interest in the results1 but rather on account of his love of ,nature1 naked1 wild1 and free4 ,upon the shortest ramble he saw myriad happenings1 from the unusual frost crystal upon the web of a spider to the most subtle changing with the varying temperature of a bird's note2 but it is all discovered without the microscope1 without thought of entomological or ornithological records4 ,a man should be afraid to say that the woods are a dreary place in which to walk upon a winter's day--let him read a page from the ,winter ,journal of our author and he will find that the book of ,nature is never closed for him who has an eye in focus for her mystic letterings4 ,i say that ,thoreau is my favorite and how could ,i deny it1 since there is many a winter's day in the city when ,i am sick of the asphalt and the bricks1 and yet unable to leave them1 that ,i can turn to any one of his pages and be carried by his words to my favorite woods or stream1 to the longed-for fields and roadways8 ,and in other seasons when time is more prodigal1 and nature so bounteous that there seems to be a glut upon the market1 my senses1 that might grow befogged1 are given a tonic in a paragraph that makes the drowsy summer atmosphere seem pregnant with beauty and fascination4 ,if you are cooped among the chimneys and elevated trains1 ,thoreau will bring you to the country--if in the country1 he will multiply the pleasures of your walk1 your ride1 or fishing trip4 ,he stimulates the best of life that is in you1 and that is all we can ask of any literature4 ,nature from one point of view or another has always been one of the chief inspirations of the poets4 ,if you examine the literature of the human race since the days when ,solomon sang ,and the voice of the turtle is heard through the land1 you will find the various aspects of the seasons1 the songs of the individual birds1 the beauty and sentiment of flowers1 and even the habits of the different species of fish1 continually reflected in prose and verse4 ,america has been especially blest with men we must term literary naturalists4 ,we have spoken of ,thoreau1 but there are also ,audubon1 ,wilson and our elderly contemporary1 ,john ,burroughs4 ,wilson and ,audubon are especially famous for their magnificent colored plates of the birds of ,north ,america1 but ,i ask all nature lovers to go to a public library and secure the prose works of these two great ornithologists4 ,there you will find as interesting reading as will come to your hand in many a day4 ,they were both pioneers in science1 art and exploration2 both children of nature1 more at home in the forest than in the city2 both enthusiastic1 thrilled worshippers of their feathered friends whom they have so brilliantly preserved in their cherished portfolios4 ,because their work was accomplished one hundred years ago1 before our birds were charted and when journeys of scientific exploration1 even into the mountains of ,pennsylvania1 were made with almost the same difficulty as is now caused in the exploration of the most jungled ,south ,american river1 the naive spirit of the explorer1 of the elemental pioneer1 is in their every page4 ,there is ever the surprise1 the uncertainty1 the joy of life and study among unknown and untrammelled things4 ,theirs was the joy of children who for the first time discover a blackbird's nest in the far-off meadow and their joy is communicated to us2 we become children of delight1 as when lying upon bur backs on the edge of a flowery field of clover we watch with fascination the darts of kingbirds dashing from the top of the nearby chestnut after the myriad insects4 ,john ,burroughs1 whose essays have been a joy upon many an evening and a stimulating remembrance upon many a tramp1 with a similar freshness and unworldliness carried on the tradition of the earlier men4 ,from his fruit farm upon the ,hudson he continually sends us messages to forget our tea parties1 our moving pictures1 our country clubs1 and really to find ourselves in the discoveries of beauties and life in the growing1 nesting1 and flowering things about us4 ,one of the happy thoughts that we derive from him is the knowledge that to obtain the beneficence to soul and mind we 7poor suburbanites tied to the necessity of earning our daily bread in the city7 need not follow the ,long ,trail to the ends of the world of the furious globe trotter1 ,rudyard ,kipling1 but must only take store of the things at hand1 find the same happiness in the quiet1 civilized1 thoroughbred-cattled meadow as we would hope to find up against a rugged blow in the ,northern ,seas off the coast of which you've lost the chart of overside4 ,you do not have to go so far from home to know the world4 ,thoroughly know the garden that you cultivate1 study all that happens along the hedgerow upon the way to the station1 and you will be richer than he who has racketed with half blind eyes from the ,yukon to ,patagonia1 ,or ,east all the way into ,mississippi ,bay1 ,or ,west to the ,golden ,gate4 ,in conjunction with the reflection of nature in books1 ,i mentioned our scaly friends1 the fish1 without paying due homage to the king of all philosophic fishermen1 ,izaak ,walton4 ,how many devotees of the gentle art of angling have made of their own the wisdom1 the beauty1 the thoughtful content of the fisherman's classic1 ,the ,compleat ,angler8 ,a man once said to me that the next best thing to taking a walk was to read the accounts of ,walt ,whitman's rambles upon ,timber ,creek4 ,i answered that upon the days you could not go a-fishing1 you had best read ,the ,compleat ,angler4 ,i hold to this6 ,will not the men who stand by the trout1 the bass1 the salmon1 the weak fish1 or the gallant tuna and tarpon1 and the boys who put their faith in the catfish1 the sucker1 the eel1 or the perch1 fall in together and be one in believing as the ,venerable ,izaak believed1 ,o the gallant fisher's life1 ,it is the best of any6 ',tis full of pleasure1 void of strife1 ,and 'tis beloved by many2 ,other joys ,are but toys2 ,only this ,lawful is2 ,for our skill ,breeds no ill1 ,but content and pleasure4 ,there is many another writer who opens the door to the traveller who wishes to enrich his enjoyment of ,nature as it is to be seen along life's highway4 ,i mention but a few who may give you new worlds for which you would not trade a mint of silver4 ,have you ever gone with ,stevenson upon his walking trips8 ,if not1 do so1 and perhaps you will agree with him that it is pleasant to have a companion upon your journeys2 as ,lawrence ,sterne expresses it3 ,let me have a companion of my way were it but to remark how the shadows lengthen as the sun declines4 ,if you prefer to be alone1 ,hazlitt will tell you that no companion is necessary1 as thoughts need no companions3 ,i want to see my vague notions float like the down of the thistle before the breeze1 and not to have them entangled in the briars and thorns of controversy4 ,or have you read the books of the ,homer of the ,insects1 the ,frenchman ,i have mentioned1 ,fabre8 ,there is a treat ahead of you--he wrote of the crawling1 burrowing and flying things of his beloved ,provence1 and if there is anything in this realm more interesting than his records of observing the daily lives of the ,house ,fly1 the ,praying ,mantis1 and many another beetle1 cricket and creeper1 ,i have yet to find it4 ,to say that you must immediately line your room with aquariums1 jars1 and boxes1 in which to preserve and watch the births1 loves and deaths of all the spiders1 whirligigs1 and butterflies that come within your reach is relating the result in its mildest form that this author has had upon me4 ,such books introduce you to a thousandfold intensity of existence1 as every great book must4 ,intensive agriculture is heralded as the saving factor of human progress4 ,let us make a plea for truly intensive living4 ,as the crops that come from a rich1 well-cultivated soil are bountiful1 so is the life that is the product of a fertile mind4 ,a poor crop is a superficial existence of discontented pleasures and shallow unhappiness2 a rich crop is a life in which the heart and mind are at least attune to the joy which may be derived from the living of it1--brave when courage is needed1 patient when patience is a virtue4 ,the word culture is sometimes derided as a synonym for pretentious high-browism1 but let us remember that the farmer respects the word cultivate1 as he knows that it is necessary if he wishes to make the harvest a season of happiness and rich reward4 ,a man's harvest season is his every minute of existence--his bounty is the depth and pleasure of that existence4 ,our future life is or is not a great perhaps1 but our present life is assuredly a reality4 ,it is here--what are you going to do with it8 ,if you can make every day a day of intense interest you have won the greatest battle6 ,you have stormed the world's richest citadel6 ,the ,children of ,pan1 who have loved and written of ,nature1 charm and transport you to a world of infinite interest4 ,they offer rich fertilizer that gives promise of a bumper crop--,open that ,door into their ,realm4 99,,chapter ,,viii99 99,,men ,,behind ,,books99 ,every word man's lips have uttered ,echoes in ,god's ,skies4 ,,adelaide ,a4 ,,procter ,books contain the accumulated store of human thought and scientific attainment--this is a treasure without which there would be no civilization--yet in addition1 we may say that the most potent inheritance1 that books vouchsafe1 is the personalities of the great authors who have inscribed their souls within them4 ,personal character affects our lives as does nothing else4 ,in the back of the mind of every one there are men and women who1 we appreciate1 have been the makers of our souls4 ,most often it is a mother or a father1 sometimes a teacher of our youth1 or a friend and fellow worker of whose nature we realize we have absorbed a part4 ,contact between human personalities is the most profound mover for good and evil4 ,a preacher may declaim against sin for ever and a day1 but you know that your great friend who scorns sin has infinitely more influence upon you4 ,the greatest doers of good are men and women who lead others by the examples of their own lives4 ,it is unfortunately not given to many to come into intimate personal contact with the most supreme human souls1 but fortunate we are that many have extended their personalities without limit into the future1 by truly encasing themselves in books that will remain as the leaven and inspiration of all ages and all peoples4 ,i have a number of volumes upon my shelves that ,i choose to consider not as books1 but as men4 ,instead of printed pages1 cloth bindings1 and labels1 they are living personalities with whom ,i can pass an evening4 ,the reading is over1 and ,i have within me the character of a great human being4 ,as have my ,mother and ,father and the old fisherman1 whose knowledge of the sea and storm beaten coast fed my boyish spirit1 they have become part of me4 ,the greatest books are those that present the greatest men4 ,it is not the artistry of telling a story or writing a poem that really counts2 the sincerity and intensity with which a man1 whom we may call our guide1 philosopher and friend1 is revealed forms the most cherished treasure of our bookshelf4 ,in sorrow1 in dejection1 in need of mental or spiritual sustenance1 when the joy of living is blunted1 when lazy1 discouraged or annoyed1 you can go to these great fellows1 converse with them and return again to the world with a bird's-eye view1 an enlarged vision1 a quickened spirit4 ,have you read ,walt ,whitman8 ,there is a glorious human being--so magnificent1 so all-embracing in his love1 so turbulent1 so large in his personality that to know him1 to feed upon him1 you must become submerged in his book1 his soul1--,the ,leaves of ,grass4 ,of this volume containing his poems he himself said1 ,this is no book2 ,who touches this1 touches a man4 ,you do indeed touch a man6 ,a great spirit who saw in all things ,god2 a ,democrat who saw in all men the spark of the divine2 a leader who raced out to the farthest reaches of the soul and beckons and begs you to follow2 a lover who embraced all1 the prostitute1 the poet1 the lowly1 the exultant1 ,christ himself1 in a spirit of human fellowship2 a physical giant who gloried in his sex and makes you consider sacred the relationship of the sexes2 a nurse who brought upon himself paralysis by caring for the wounded in the ,civil ,war2 a prophet who could no more believe that the spirit of an individual man could die than that it had never been born4 ,perhaps you think ,i write extravagantly--,i do not--,i but attempt to present what the personality of ,walt ,whitman has meant to me1 and to many1 many others4 ,i but ask that you go to the ,leaves of ,grass1 and come in contact with that man to whom so many look and say--,a great part of myself is you1 ,walt ,whitman6 ,my life has been renewed since first ,i touched your hand4 ,tolstoy6 ,there is another one who believed in humanity and ,god1--there is another who has put a huge1 rugged1 loving soul within books4 ,probably no one has so influenced the humanitarianism of our day as did this bearded old warrior from ,russia2 but it was the deep human sympathy of the actual living ,tolstoy that moved the world1 not the arguments he deduced nor the warnings he gave4 ,he was always a moralist1--even in his masterpiece ,anna ,karenina it is not the story he tells1 but the human love which he reveals that has made the eternal monument4 ,afraid of nothing1--the ,czar1 convention1 hatred1 oppression1--he lived his life according to the dictates of his own conscience1 the most punishing conscience that has ever been the attribute of a master soul4 ,if you do not know him1 read his short story ,master and ,man4 ,there you will find enunciated1 in a manner as poignant1 as powerful1 as even that of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 the doctrine of happiness found in living your life for others4 ,selfishness1 pride1 materialism1 the sins that spoil the world1 cannot stand in the way of the burning words of ,tolstoy4 ,your conscience will receive a stiffening medicine1 your sympathies for the sins and sufferings of your neighbors will deepen to bed rock1 and your life will become proportionately more true1 more happy1 more ,christian4 ,six years ago in the lowly hut near the ,caucasus1 when the mighty soul of ,tolstoy left the body1 the ,world missed a leader1 a lover1 a prophet--but his word still remains1 and the doctrine as told by him of universal betterment through love and human sympathy will reach mankind whilst there are men left to read1 and to communicate4 ,we all know the poems of ,robert ,burns1 most of us know something of his life4 ,his life and character are revealed in his poetry4 ,he too was a lover1 but a weak rather than a rugged one4 ,we love him for his very weakness4 ,his heart was his strength and his undoing4 ,he loved until his heart would break1 ruthlessly and impetuously1 and of his sufferings1 his remorses1 regrets1 and forlorn hopes he sang4 ,in this cruel world1 where might so often makes right1 what a benediction it is to read a poem written from the depth of a simple1 sorrowing1 yet deeply human heart upon the suffering that he has caused the wee sleekit1 cow'rin1 tim'rous beastie in turning up her nest with the plowshare4 ,as with all the personalities that are great in the deepest sense1 his was one that felt a companionship for all that lives upon the earth1 and from his sympathy for the drunken1 the heart-broken1 and the meadow mice1 and his joy in patriotism1 true lovers1 and beauteous roses1 we derive a depth of sentiment that needs must mellow our hearts4 ,a brave spirit in a weak body had ,bobbie ,burns--he drank and was unfaithful1 but he felt deeply4 ,we love him for his depth1 we sympathize with him in his weaknesses4 ,as a friend he purifies rather than stimulates our souls1 but he is a true friend and a loving one4 ,francois ,villon1 the greatest ballad singer of all time1 the tavern lover1 the vagabond1 the heavy-hearted sorrower1 the lighted-hearted laugher1 the bosom companion of thieves1 cut-throats1 chattering grisettes1 old courtesans1 rioters1 and brawlers of the narrow streets1 ,cathedral shadows1 ,seine banks of mediaeval ,paris1 was another of those great-hearted human lovers who had the gift of telling his heart secrets in words of wondrous beauty4 ,by twentieth century standards ,villon's actions1 thieveries1 and suspected murder1 would have been neither moral nor proper1 but by the standard of all ages1 in all true hearts1 his feelings towards the people among whom he moved will stand the test of the most austere morality4 ,he loved all men and women for the best that was in them1 he did not scorn them for the worst4 ,he was unselfish and true to his friends1 and more than that we cannot desire4 ,where there is hypocrisy there is vice2 where there is selfishness there is lack of ,christianity and humanity2 our tavern poet1 ,francois ,villon1 had neither of these1 and if you want a friend who will make you see the good in the bad1 the beautiful in the ugly1 go to your bookshelf and become acquainted with the fervid soul of this ancient ballad singer4 ,when you are too contented1 when your mind feels squidgy with good living1 or sultry from the summer heat1 go to another man1--,george ,gordon1 ,lord ,byron4 ,they say that ,byron 7with ,scott7 is nowadays out of fashion4 ,they are mistaken4 ,the author of ,childe ,harold and ,don ,juan will never be truly out of fashion1 so long as there is a flare in youthful hearts1 a discontent in ambitious minds4 ,he is the poet of a great revolt1 a kicker at the traces1 and then again he is the singer of the bleeding heart1 of lost causes2 he hurries you across the seas upon his speeding bark2 he tops the crags of human loneliness and leaves you desolate4 ,his songs are of the rollicking wine of life with its excitements1 its depressions1 its sentiments of hatred1 beauty1 joy4 ,for youth he is the poet of liberty1 of intense individualism2 for age the poet of thwarted desires1 for everyone he has a chestnut burr to put beneath dull content2 his mockery is for stupidity1 dryness1 stagnation4 ,get under the crust of his effusive egotism and you will meet a sombre1 lonely1 sensitive individual1 who needs you as a friend and who will be to you a hypodermic stimulative4 ,how different a one from this poet is his contemporary1 the essayist1 ,charles ,lamb4 ,the essays we love the best are those that reveal the point of view1 the little personalities of the writer1 and no man of letters ever had a more magnetic personality1 or knew better how to preserve himself in little literary gems1 than did the author of ,the ,essays of ,elia4 ,lamb spent his days in the ,south ,sea ,counting ,house transferring figures from one great ledger to another4 ,but his evenings with his books1 his family and his friends6 ,ah6--there was a companion6 ,a booklover whose enthusiasm1 for musty duodecimos has become a classic allusion1 a punster whose puns are sometimes good and sometimes bad1 but always original1 a relisher of good conversation1 a man of many petty weaknesses1 a lover of good food1 with a taste for old wine1 and with an infinite appreciation of the fads and foibles of himself and others1 he seems to have been altogether the most lovable individual with whom it would be possible to scrape up an acquaintance4 ,read but one hundred pages of his essays and he becomes your chuckling1 appreciative1 inimitable companion4 ,every old book shop1 every roast pig1 every glass of rich wine1 every threadbare clerk stooping over his ledger--these and many such will take on fresh and romantic aspects for the friend of ,elia4 ,thomas ,carlyle was an historian and philosopher who wrote his name over every page of his work4 ,his was the voice and the soul of the ,old ,testament prophets1 who railed at men from the depths of their bitter yet anxious hearts4 ,the ,preacher of the ,nineteenth ,century1 when he spoke the world listened6 ,have you read ,sartor ,resartus8 ,among his works this is even the most personal4 ,it is rough and jagged in style1 turbulent and confused in arrangement1 but behind it all1 or rather under it all1 is revealed the spiritual message to his age4 ,the message is ,carlyle's own personality3 his bravery1 his sincerity1 his fine hatred of muddle-headed thinking1 of credulity1 of cant2 his love and admiration for the fundamental greatnesses of human nature1 his belief in an omnipotent ,god4 ,he wished men to believe1 and the thunder he bellowed in his endeavor still resounds4 ,his soul was a battery of twelve-inch guns directed against the forces of ignorance and hypocrisy4 ,it is to the reading of ,sartor ,resartus that many men point as the turning stake in their spiritual lives4 ,it was not in the book that they found their spiritual bulwarks1 but in the soul of the great ,scotchman with whom they came in contact4 ,there is our own ,emerson1 whose admiration for ,carlyle was probably only outdone by ,carlyle's admiration for him6 ,self ,realization1 ,the ,american ,scholar1 ,friendship1 ,politics--how many of his essays have become part and parcel of ,america's loftiest thought and action4 ,the metallic acuteness of his personality was not of the kind with which you can become familiar1 but its very aloofness holds our respect and devotion4 ,the austerity of ,george ,washington in public life can only be compared with the cold distance at which this philosopher holds us1 and yet upon their pedestals we recognize them as men from whom the best in ,american character has derived nourishment4 ,in every sentence of his every essay1 we feel the soul at peace1 the intellect enthroned1 the power of will predominant4 ,a man without friends is a man without life1 and ,i have but told you of some of my boon companions4 ,never to have shared in the fellowship of the great spirits who are preserved for us in books is to cut one's self off from the most rewarding of human relationships4 ,the chums of our boyhood1 our companions at college1 too often drift away to distant parts1 or diverge from us in pursuits other than our own2 although remembrances of our times together are sacred and of sweet recalling1 too often they are of the past and renewal forever impossible4 ,the friends of our books1 however1 are forever with us1 they cannot die1 they cannot depart1 they remain fresh and vigorous1 hearty sojourners upon our road1 forever willing to lend a hand over the rocks and bumpy places4 ,without disparaging those with whom ,i sit before the fire1 and chat1 and smoke1 ,i must confess that ,i value equally with them the friends of eternal character that exist there in the book-case4 ,they lighten the path of life2 they are ready for converse when my spirit calls4 ,go to the greatest books for your most enduring friends1 but upon having formed their friendship do not leave them in the study1 but carry them within your spirit to your business and the marts of men1 and in holding their confidences burning in your heart you will find yourself a more thorough human being4 99,,chapter ,,ix99 99,,keeping ,,up ,,with ,,life99 ,reading is the key which admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination1 to the company of saint and sage1 of the wisest and wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moments4 ,it enables us to see with the keenest eyes1 to hear with the finest ears1 and to listen to the sweetest voices of all time4 ,,james ,,russell ,,lowell ,if in the minds of some readers this little book has helped to break down the futile distinctions and to show the real relation between the man who reads and the one who enjoys life1 between the thinker and the man of action1 it has done all that the author dared hope4 ,let us look upon our library not as an end in itself1 but as a means to an end4 ,it is a mistaken ambition to read as many books as possible within a year1 or to attempt religiously to read the complete works of a number of authors4 ,the man who buries himself in his library and exists only in the books therein is an unsocial1 stagnant creature2 but the one who reads as a means of attaining to a more productive life among his fellow men is the one who has gained the true riches of literature4 ,the world is a world for workers1 not idlers4 ,we live in ,america in the twentieth century1 and we are of but little use to the general machinery if our minds are forever sojourning with the mediaeval knights or gossiping in the by-ways of ,london with ,charles ,lamb and his contemporaries4 ,literature for you and me who live1 and toil1 and hope to obtain joy in the doing of it1 must be vivifying nourishment to apply to our living and toiling4 ,great books and all true education provide this nourishment or else they would not be worth the price of a comic supplement4 ,poetry1 fiction1 philosophy and history are not alone for old maids and retired business men who desire comforting1 amusing solace to while away the hours until the race is run1 nor alone for college professors and writers whose business it is to read1 abstract1 and judge1--they are truly1 have been1 and always will be for the minds of men and women who need and use the spirit of them in their work1 their play1 their sorrows1 and their joys4 ,when ,francis ,bacon wrote ,reading maketh a full man1 he did not mean full to imply a great accumulation of facts and dry-as-dust learning4 ,bacon was a philosopher1 scientist1 essayist1 of the first order in each1 and yet a leading statesman in his age4 ,his mind was full in that he had probably as had no other man in ,england absorbed all the literature and science of all the centuries that had preceded him2 his was the fulness of the reservoir from which could be drawn an endless stream of resource with which to undertake new political enterprises1 of strength to maintain his position and of philosophy in the face of losing it4 ,he was a literary man in that he knew the literature of the world1 a man of letters--he wrote masterpieces1 a man of action--he virtually ruled ,great ,britain4 ,this is the threefold thread of life that we may all have as our ambition1--the connoisseur1 the creative artist1 the productive worker4 ,after having considered the bearing the reading of books has upon life1 let us consider the bearing that living has upon reading and writing4 ,elbert ,hubbard carried out this thought in his little book upon ,william ,morris1 the ,english poet4 ,morris1 as you may know1 was a weaver1 a blacksmith1 a wood-carver1 a painter1 a dyer1 a printer1 a furniture manufacturer1 a musician1 and withal a great poet4 ,hubbard said3 ,william ,morris thought literature should be the product of the ripened mind4 ,we have looked at ,bacon as one whose literary output must have been the product of a mind that had manfully grappled with worldly affairs1 and here is a further list that the ,roycrofter gives us3 ,shakespeare was a theatre manager1 ,milton a secretary1 ,bobbie ,burns a farmer1 ,lamb a bookkeeper1 ,wordsworth a ,government employee1 ,emerson a lecturer1 ,hawthorne a custom-house inspector1 and ,whitman a clerk4 ,the professional man of letters1 except in rather rare instances1 is by no means the man who erects the most enduring literary monuments4 ,literature must come from elemental life to have the true relationship to the affairs of men4 ,we could increase ,elbert ,hubbard's list to an almost indefinite length--the author of the ,gettysburg address had the weight of a nation upon his shoulders1 ,thoreau was more interested in observing the changing seasons than he was in writing books1 ,tolstoy was a soldier1 an economist and farmer1 ,balzac an unsuccessful publisher1 ,bunyan a preacher1 ,pepys a high government official1 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes a doctor1 and countless novelists and poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries hard-working1 hard-driven newspaper men4 ,leisure does not make great literature1--all that is effective must come from interior or exterior experiences1 and acute observations4 ,the most effectual reading is that which is done in the light of personal experience1 with one's eye upon unliterary activity4 ,there is an endless chain1 of which the links are the subject1 the artist1 the reader and his life as reflected by the author's treatment4 ,to live in a world of books and to have as their profession the spinning of other volumes is the life of too many of our writers4 ,on the other side of the shield1 we of course see readers whose lives are entirely absorbed in the volumes they read without an outlet to the practical activities of existence4 ,how tiresome it is to have a bustling man or woman tell us that they have not the time or that they are not literary enough to read great books4 ,they of course1 being good ,americans1 have plenty of time to go through stacks of worthless novels1 and absorb a half dozen continuous serial stories in our monthly magazines4 ,i say it is tiresome1 and it is foolish1 as with a moment's thought we can realize that books are essentially for the man or woman who is most deeply immersed in life4 ,break down the barrier between literature and life8--there is none6 ,i have a certain friend who has more to do within the twenty-four hours of the day than has anyone else ,i know4 ,politics1 municipal corporations1 railroads--these are apparently his life--absorbed in men and affairs4 ,and yet if ,i run across a book that especially appeals to me1 ,i go to him and ask his ideas upon it4 ,he has probably read it and with his greater experience in the actual turmoil of living than ,i have had1 he can enlighten me with a dozen new points of view upon the book under consideration4 ,he interprets it in the light of his experience1 as the author had written in the light of his4 ,it was said that during ,president ,wilson's first winter in the ,white ,house1 society in ,washington was much exercised as to how he passed his evenings4 ,it later developed that those evenings in which he was not absorbed in official business were spent in reading poetry1 preferably ,wordsworth1 to his family4 ,washington stood amazed6 ,perhaps there is no truth in this story1 but the ingredients are certainly there1 which1 if brought into conjunction1 would make a true yarn4 ,the active helmsman of the ship of state1 with innumerable matters weighing upon him1 seeking wisdom and spiritual fibre from a great poet2 ,washington society1 without much to do1 yet frightfully busy1 amazed at his wasting or dreamily passing his hours of possible recreation6 ,many another great public man has well appreciated that books are not for the closet but for life4 ,theodore ,roosevelt is the apostle of strenuosity1 statesman1 ranchman1 hunter1 and yet a writer upon a wide range of subjects and an omnivorous reader4 ,the plays of ,shakespeare were the school books and college education of our rail splitter1 ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,a great ,english liberal1 ,charles ,james ,fox1 would charm the ,house of ,commons for hours with his oratory1 go to ,brooks' and lose a fortune at cards1 and then home to his bed to read the ,plays of ,euripides1--probably to absorb wisdom and courage for his thinking and gaming upon the following evening4 ,of the men and women to whom books mean life1 we could go on with our list indefinitely1 not only through the ranks of kings and queens1 soldiers and statesmen1 financiers and merchants1 but sea captains1 mechanics1 farmers1 clerks1 and coal miners4 ,in every walk of life we find the true philosophers1 the true adepts in the art of living1 seeking sustenance from the printed page4 ,go into a public library1 and study the faces of those who are reading there--ambition1 inspiration1 delight will be expressed by those who have found the open door1 the way to riches and plenty4 ,observe the homes of your acquaintances6 ,cicero said that books are the soul of a room1 and we may expand this epigram in saying that the use of books in a family brings all the members into a communion with each other1 creating an atmosphere far removed from that of the home in which books are infrequent sojourners4 ,oh no1 it is not the professed gentleman of literature with the pedantic knowledge and bookish phraseology1 but the men and women who seek explanation of and relief from sorrow1 stimulus to higher attainment1 pleasure that mellows activity1 to whom the authors are truly the path of life4 ,those whom you see on the elevated trains reading ,shakespeare1 the ranchman with his pocket edition of ,dickens1 the country doctor who hates to buy an automobile as when driving his old buggy he could read his ,boswell upon his round of visits1--they are the ones to whom the poet can truly say1 ,you will hardly know who ,i am1 or what ,i mean2 ,but ,i will be health to you nevertheless1 ,and filter and fibre your blood4 ,you need never be afraid of becoming intellectual4 ,to be sure it is somewhat the fashion in ,america to think that a man who reads ,meredith should be a college professor or the editor of a book review--but this is only a fashion and held to by the most stupid4 ,it is smart to laugh at good books and culture1 but it is the same sort of smartness at which all ,europe has been sensibly sneering for a century4 ,reading should not be a profession2 those that make it such invariably become world weary1 book weary1 at sea in an ocean in which life is necessarily a more vital thing than they are able to swallow4 ,do not give your life over to your library1 but make of it an electric battery with which to vivify life4 ,it can be done1 and is done by the great and the little1 the sorrowful and the joyful1 the leading warriors in the battle for civilized progress4 ,call upon the supreme minds of past ages to support you in the strife of this and they will prove stalwart1 faithful legions4 ,read as is your need and inclination2 not as a duty1 not as a feat1 but as an acknowledgment that you are glad to win the best and most helpful of friends4 ,aristotle said that all men desire knowledge4 ,if knowledge means deeper human sympathy1 a more profound enlightenment1 a richer1 happier1 more productive life1 let each one of us admit that the attainment of knowledge is in truth our endeavor4 ,let us try the experiment of finding this knowledge in the volumes of the deepest1 the most intensive livers4 ,make the book you read to-day play a part in the world of to-morrow1 and you will rise above the reader in the closet who carps and criticizes1 thus cutting himself off from the work of men4 ,you will disprove all statements about the lack of practicability of education1 the other-worldiness of books4 99 99 99 99 99 ,there was a boy who wandered out along an unknown highway into a far country4 ,the way seemed sombre1 foreign and meaningless4 ,his questions were unanswered1 his desires unsatisfied2 there seemed no by-paths into which he could turn in the hope of finding a solace or a reason for his journey4 ,a never-ending vista without rhyme or reason lay before him of flat1 uninteresting solitudes1 only broken by dark pits or rugged obstructions which he had either to circle about or climb over or under4 ,they always annoyed and provoked him1 as there seemed no set plan for meeting such difficulties1 no apparent purpose in wandering on4 ,he knew1 however1 that there was no turning back1 he had to stagger1 and stumble1 and plod forward1 ever forward4 ,it was the way of life1 and it was a meaningless road1 a disappointing journey undertaken with great expectations4 ,after a deal of suffering1 impatience and profound discouragement1 he came upon a great ,palace standing in his way4 ,it was the first that he had ever seen1 and he wondered at it4 ,with hesitancy he determined to walk about it and to follow the beaten road1 uninteresting but familiar1 which he felt must stretch beyond4 ,he spied1 however1 a small door at the side of the great barred gate and he determined to enter and to see what could be found within4 ,the panel yielded to his timorous push1 and he found himself in a mighty hall where there were wondrous things6 ,many another wanderer had already arrived1 and many others were to follow1--there was a happiness1 a purpose1 a vitality in life that had been sadly lacking upon the road of his journeying4 ,wisdom1 riches1 the answers to his questions1 the reasons for his arduous pilgrimage lay before him4 ,he grasped them and was content4 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99 99,j4 ,b4 ,,lippincott ,,company',s ,,important ,,new ,,books99 99,betty at ,fort ,blizzard99 ,by ,,molly ,,elliot ,,seawell4 ,four illustrations in color and decorations by ,edmund ,frederick4 #a4ej net4 ,this is a straightaway army love story1 with the scene laid at a post in the far ,northwest4 ,it is a sequel to the famous ,betty's ,virginia ,christmas so popular a few years ago4 ,it is realistic and yet as light as ,betty's laugh1--presented in a delightfully dainty gift book style1 it makes a charming ,christmas present4 99,behold the ,woman699 ,by ,t4 ,,everett ,,harre4 #a4ce net4 ,a child of the ,alexandrian gutter1 a redeemed woman seeing a vision of ,christ upon the ,judean hills1 and finally a mystic saint upon the desert1 was ,mary of ,egypt1 the heroine of this historical novel4 ,from beginning to the end ,i found ',behold the ,woman6' gripping and thrillingly interesting4--,mrs4 ,minnie ,maddern ,fiske4 99,the ,finding of ,jasper ,holt99 ,by ,,grace ,l4 ,h4 ,,lutz4 ,three illustrations in color by ,e4 ,f4 ,bayha4 #a4be net4 ,another great ,lutz novel1--wholesome1 uplifting1 interesting and amusing4 ,this tale 444 is one of the kind one reads with interest refusing to be quenched when the hall light goes out4--,detroit ,free ,press4 99,adam's ,garden99 ,by ,,nina ,,wilcox ,,putnam4 ,frontispiece in color by ,h4 ,weston ,taylor4 ,new ,second ,edition4 #a4be net4 ,the ,new ,york ,sun aptly termed this ,an ,idyl of ,manhattan4 ,it is full of warmth and sunlight1 and its inner urge is that come what may--the world is a good place to live in if we only make the best of that which lies nearest to hand4--,review of ,reviews4 99,a ,man's ,reach99 ,by ,,sally ,,nelson ,,robins4 ,three illustrations in color by ,edmund ,frederick4 #a4be net4 ,a ,virginia story by a ,virginian4 ,randolph ,turberville is the scion of an aristocratic ,virginia house2 his struggle against evil forces begins at the ,university of ,virginia4 ,fascinating1 he is adored by all1 especially by ,lettice ,corbin1 for whom he saves himself4 99,the ,curved ,blades99 ,by ,,carolyn ,,wells4 ,frontispiece by ,gayle ,hoskins4 #a4ce net4 ,as bizarre a mystery as any which she has hitherto provided 444 ,the stage is there set for a thrilling and puzzling story 444 ,one worthy of the talents of ,stone4--,the ,boston ,transcript4 99,the ,conquest99 ,by ,,sidney ,l4 ,,nyburg4 #a4be net4 ,originality and dramatic strength are marked on many pages of this production of a promising writer4--,springfield ,republican4 ,sidney ,l4 ,nyburg is a man who writes a man's book4--,san ,francisco ,call and ,post4 99,the ,strange ,cases of ,mason ,brant99 ,by ,,nevil ,,monroe ,,hopkins4 ,illustrated in color by ,gayle ,hoskins4 #a4be net4 ,the stories are very entertaining and are more human than the usual detective stories4--,new ,york ,sun4 ,out of the beaten track of detective stories4--,philadelphia ,north ,american4 99,ten ,beautiful ,years99 ,by ,,mary ,,knight ,,potter4 ,net1 #a4be4 ,those who desire knowledge of the most brilliant work in ,american fiction should read this series of short stories on psychological subjects4 ,they are clean but intensely emotional2 most of them appeared in the ,atlantic ,monthly1 ,harper's1 etc4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,early ,american ,arts and ,crafts99 ,by ,,harold ,,donaldson ,,eberlein and ,,abbot ,mc,c,l,u,r,e4 ,profusely illustrated4 ,colored frontispiece4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,there is an eminently proper revival of interest in the arts and crafts of early ,american workmanship4 ,in glass1 wood1 metal and textile stuffs our forefathers obtained results of a delightful nature4 ,amateur collectors still have a rich field of investigation1 owing to the present opportunity for obtaining desirable specimens4 ,this book is a thorough and practical guide for the collector and general reader4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,architecture99 ,by ,c4 ,,matlack ,,price4 ,profusely illustrated4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,not only a book for the man or woman who wishes to build a home 7and for whom it is more helpful than any work previously published71 but a book which tells the general reader what he needs to know about architecture--about the buildings he sees in ,america or ,europe1 public as well as private4 ,a valued addition to the ,home ,life ,enrichment ,series4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,period ,furniture99 ,by ,,harold ,,donaldson ,,eberlein and ,,abbot ,mc,c,l,u,r,e4 #bbe illustrations in color1 doubletone and line4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,this book places at the disposal of the general reader all the information he may need in order to identify and classify any piece of period furniture1 whether it be an original or a reproduction4 ,the authors have greatly increased the value of the work by including an illustrative chronological key4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,oriental ,rugs99 ,by ,g4 ,,griffin ,,lewis4 ,new ,edition1 revised and enlarged4 ,twenty full page illustrations in color1 #ic illustrations in double-tone1 and #gj designs in line4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,from cover to cover it is packed with detailed information compactly and conveniently arranged for ready reference4 ,many people who are interested in the beautiful fabrics of which the author treats have long wished for such a book as this and will be grateful to ,g4 ,griffin ,lewis for writing it4--,the ,dial4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,garden ,architecture99 ,by ,,phebe ,,westcott ,,humphreys4 ,frontispiece in color and #abe illustrations4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,this beautiful volume has been prepared from the standpoints of eminent practicability1 the best taste1 and general usefulness for the owner developing his own property1--large or small1--for the owner employing a professional garden architect1 for the artist1 amateur1 student1 and garden lover4 99,the ,practical ,book of ,outdoor ,rose ,growing99 ,by ,,george ,c4 ,,thomas1 ,,jr4 ,new ,edition1 revised and enlarged4 #if perfect photographic reproductions in full color4 ,slip case4 #d4jj net4 ,there are a number of pages in which the complete list of the best roses for our climate with their characteristics are presented4 ,one prominent rose grower said that these pages were worth their weight in gold to him4 ,the official bulletin of the ,garden ,club of ,america said3--,it is a book one must have4 ,it is in fact in every sense practical1 stimulating1 and suggestive4 99,parks3 ,their ,design1 ,equipment and ,use99 ,by ,,george ,,burnap4 ,official ,landscape ,architect1 ,public ,buildings and ,grounds1 ,washington1 ,d4,c4 ,profusely illustrated4 ,frontispiece in color4 #f4jj net4 ,this1 the only exhaustive book on the subject and by the foremost authority on the subject1 is an amazing addition to the literature of civic planning4 ,it is a thorough resume of the finest ,european and ,american examples of ,park work4 ,to the owner of a country estate and to all who are interested in park and playground establishment and up-keep1 it will be a stimulating and trustworthy guide4 99,the ,book of the ,peony99 ,by ,,mrs4 ,,edward ,,harding4 ,twenty full page color illustrations1 #be in black and white4 #e4jj net4 ,the glory of the illustrative work and the authoritative treatment by the author mark this book as one which will stand alone amidst the literature upon this popular flower4 ,it is a thorough and complete guide to the culture of the peony and proves a fitting companion volume to the famous ,practical ,book of ,outdoor ,rose ,growing4 99,the ,civilization of ,babylonia and ,assyria99 ,by ,,morris ,,jastrow1 ,,jr41 ,,ph4,d41 ,,ll4,d4 #adj illustrations4 ,in a box4 #g4jj net4 ,this work covers the whole civilization of ,babylonia and ,assyria and by its treatment of the various aspects of that civilization furnishes a comprehensive and complete survey of the subject4 ,the language1 history1 religion1 commerce1 law1 art and literature are thoroughly presented in a manner of deep interest to the general reader and indispensable to the historian1 clergyman1 anthropologist1 and sociologist4 99,winter ,journeys in the ,south99 ,by ,,john ,,martin ,,hammond4 ,profusely illustrated4 #c4ej net4 ,the kingdoms of wonder for the golfer1 the automobilist and almost every other type of pleasure-seeker are revealed in this book4 ,mr4 ,hammond is an enthusiastic traveller and a skilful photographer4 ,he believes in the pleasures that may be found in ,america4 ,he has wandered about the ,south from ,white ,sulphur to ,palm ,beach2 ,aiken1 ,asheville1 ,charleston1 ,new ,orleans1 and many other places of fascinating interest have been stopping points upon his journeyings4 99,english ,ancestral ,homes of ,noted ,americans99 ,by ,,anne ,,hollingsworth ,,wharton4 ,twenty-eight illustrations4 #b4jj net4 ,miss ,wharton so enlivens the past that she makes the distinguished characters of whom she treats live and talk with us4 ,she has recently visited the homelands of a number of our great ,american leaders and we seem to see upon their native heath the ,english ancestors of ,george ,washington1 ,benjamin ,franklin1 ,william ,penn1 the ,pilgrim ,fathers and ,mothers1 the ,maryland and ,virginia ,cavaliers and others who have done their part in the making of the ,united ,states4 99,quaint and ,historic ,forts of ,north ,america99 ,by ,,john ,,martin ,,hammond4 ,photogravure frontispiece and sixty-five illustrations4 ,in a box4 #e4jj net4 ,mr4 ,hammond1 in his excellent literary style1 with the aid of a splendid camera1 brings us on a journey through the existing old forts of ,north ,america and there describes their appearances and confides to us their romantic and historic interest4 ,we follow the trail of the early ,english1 ,french and ,spanish adventurers1 and the soldiers of the ,revolution1 the ,war of #ahab1 and the later ,civil and ,indian ,wars4 99,joseph ,pennell's ,pictures of the ,wonder of ,work99 ,profusely illustrated4 #b4jj net4 ,mr4 ,pennell is notably a modern1 and has found art in one of the greatest phases of modern achievement--the ,wonder of ,work--the building of giant ships1 railway stations1 and the modern skyscraper2 giant manufacturing1 marble-quarrying2 oil-wells and wharves--all the great work which man sets his hand to do4 ,the crisp and wonderful and inspiring touches of introduction to each picture are as illuminating as the pictures themselves4 99,nights3 ,rome1 ,venice1 in the ,aesthetic ,eighties2 ,paris1 ,london1 in the ,fighting ,nineties499 ,by ,,elizabeth ,,robins ,,pennell4 ,sixteen illustrations from photographs and etchings4 #c4jj net4 ,the pleasure of association with equally famous literary and artistic friends has been the good fortune of the ,pennells4 ,the illustrations1 photographs1 and some etchings by ,joseph ,pennell are unusual4 99,our ,philadelphia99 ,by ,,elizabeth ,,robins ,,pennell4 ,illustrated by ,joseph ,pennell1 with #aje reproductions of lithographs4 ,in a box4 #g4ej net4 ,joseph ,pennell's ,pictures of the ,panama ,canal ,twenty-eight reproductions of lithographs made on the ,isthmus of ,panama1 with ,mr4 ,pennell's ,introduction giving his experiences and impressions4 #a4be net4 99,joseph ,pennell's ,pictures in the ,land of ,temples99 ,forty plates in photogravure from lithographs4 #a4be net4 99,life of ,james ,mc,neill ,whistler99 ,by ,,elizabeth ,,robins and ,,joseph ,,pennell4 ,thoroughly revised ,fifth ,edition of the authorized ,life4 ,ninety-seven plates reproduced from ,whistler's works4 ,whistler binding4 #d4jj net4 ,three-quarter grain levant4 #h4ej net4 99,rings99 ,by ,,george ,,frederick ,,kunz1 ,,ph4,d4 ,profusely illustrated in color and doubletone4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,the origin1 purposes and methods of wearing1 the forms and materials1 the historic interest and talismanic powers of rings as they have played a part in the life and associations of man4 ,it is an authoritative volume1 magnificently illustrated4 99,shakespeare and ,precious ,stones99 ,by ,,george ,,frederick ,,kunz1 ,,ph4,d4 ,four illustrations4 #a4be net4 ,treating of all the known references to precious stones in ,shakespeare's works1 with comments as to the origin of his material1 the knowledge of the poet concerning precious stones1 and references as to where precious stones of his time came from4 99,the ,curious ,lore of ,precious ,stones99 ,by ,,george ,,frederick ,,kunz1 ,,ph4,d4 ,profusely illustrated in color1 doubletone and line4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,being a description of their sentiments and folk lore1 superstitions1 symbolism1 mysticism1 use in protection1 prevention1 religion and divination1 crystal gazing1 birth stones1 lucky stones and talismans1 astral1 zodiacal and planetary4 99,the ,magic of ,jewels and ,charms99 ,by ,,george ,,frederick ,,kunz1 ,,ph4,d4 ,profusely illustrated in color1 doubletone and line4 ,in a box4 #f4jj net4 ,magic jewels and electric gems2 meteorites or celestial stones2 stones of healing2 fabulous stones2 concretions and fossils2 snake stones and bezoars2 charms of ancient and modern times1 etc4 99,open that ,door699 ,by ,r4 ,,sturgis ,,ingersoll4 #a4jj net4 ,a stimulating volume with a kick upon the relation of books to life2 the part great books play in our goings and comings1 in the office1 in the street1 and in the market place4 ,the relation of poetry to the suburbanite1 etc4 ,a book for the man who never reads and for the one who does4 99,from ,nature ,forward99 ,by ,,harriet ,,doan ,,prentiss4 ,limp leather binding4 #b4jj net4 ,the public mind is unsettled2 the individual lives a day-to-day existence1 wrestling with disease1 mental troubles and unsatisfactory issues4 ,this book outlines a system of psychological reforms that can be followed by every man and woman1 as the author says1 to buoyant physical health1 release of mental tension1 and enlarged and happy outlook on life4 99,peg ,along99 ,by ,,dr4 ,,george ,l4 ,,walton4 #a4jj net4 ,dr4 ,walton's slogan1 ,why ,worry1 swept the country4 ,his little book of that title did an infinite amount of good4 ,peg ,along is the present slogan4 ,hundreds of thousands of fussers1 fretters1 semi- and would-be invalids1 and all other halters by the wayside should be reached by ,dr4 ,walton's stirring encouragement to peg along4 99,a ,short ,history of the ,navy99 ,by ,captain ,,george ,r4 ,,clark1 ,u4,s4,n41 ,professor ,w4 ,o4 ,,stevens1 ,ph4,d41 ,instructor ,,carrol ,s4 ,,alden1 ,ph4,d41 ,instructor ,,herman ,f4 ,,krafft1 ,,ll4,b41 of the ,united ,states ,naval ,academy4 ,new ,edition4 ,illustrated4 #c4jj net4 ,this standard volume is used as a text at the ,united ,states ,naval ,academy4 ,this edition brings the material to date and is an especially timely book4 99 99 99 99 99 99,,lippincott',s ,,training ,,series99 ,for ,those ,who ,wish ,to ,find ,themselves ,a series of handbooks by authorities for young men and women engaged or anticipating becoming engaged in any one of the various professions4 ,the aim is to present the best methods of education and training1 channels of advancement1 etc4 99,training for the ,newspaper ,trade99 ,by ,,don ,c4 ,,seitz1 ,business ,manager of the ,new ,york ,world4 ,illustrated4 #a4be net4 99,training for the ,street ,railway ,business99 ,by ,c4 ,b4 ,,fairchild1 ,,jr41 ,executive ,assistant of the ,philadelphia ,rapid ,transit ,co4 ,illustrated4 #a4be net4 99,training for the ,stage99 ,by ,,arthur ,,hornblow1 ,editor of ,the ,theatre ,magazine4 ,preface by ,,david ,,belasco4 ,illustrated4 #a4be net4 99,training of a ,forester99 ,by ,,gifford ,,pinchot1 ,new ,edition1 illustrated4 #a4be net4 99,,in ,,preparation99 99,the ,training and ,rewards of a ,doctor99 ,by ,,dr4 ,,richard ,c4 ,,cabot4 99,the ,training and ,rewards of a ,lawyer99 ,by ,,harlan ,,stone1 ,dean of the ,columbia ,law ,school4 99,fundamentals of ,military ,service99 ,by ,,captain ,,lincoln ,c4 ,,andrews1 ,u4,s4 ,cavalry4 ,prepared under the supervision of ,major-,general ,leonard ,wood1 ,u4,s4,a4 ,bound in limp leather4 #a4ej net4 ,this book is especially prepared for citizens who wish in the militia1 in training camps or in military courses to equip themselves thoroughly for the responsibility that may come upon them4 ,a really capital handbook4--,theodore ,roosevelt4 ,this little handbook is one which each and everyone should read4--,general ,leonard ,wood4 99,fight ,for ,food99 ,by ,,leon ,a4 ,,congdon1 ,advising member of ,kansas ,state ,board ,health4 #a4be net4 ,the high cost of living is everybody's problem4 ,this book presents the reason and stimulating thoughts upon the solution4 ,it treats the problem from the producer's1 the middleman's and the consumer's viewpoints4 99,the ,rise of ,rail ,power in ,war and ,conquest99 ,by ,e4 ,a4 ,,pratt4 #b4ej net4 ,the basis upon which military railway transport has been organized alike in ,germany1 ,france and the ,united ,kingdom1 with a presentation of the vast importance of railway facilities in modern warfare and a thorough discussion of the subject from the standpoint of the ,american looking to his country's needs4 99,first ,aid in ,emergencies99 ,by ,,eldridge ,l4 ,,eliason1 ,m4,d4 #ajf illustrations4 #a4ej net4 ,nowhere will be found a better ,first ,aid guide for the soldier1 the camper1 the sportsman1 the teacher1 scout master1 and the father and mother of the family4 99 99 99 99 99 99,,lippincott',s ,,reader',s ,,reference ,,library99 ,each volume3 crown octavo1 half morocco1 gilt top4 ,,heroes ,,and ,,heroines ,,of ,,fiction4 ,modern ,prose and ,poetry4 ,by ,william ,s4 ,walsh4 #c4jj net4 ,,heroes ,,and ,,heroines ,,of ,,fiction4 ,classical1 ,mediaeval and ,legendary4 ,by ,william ,s4 ,walsh4 #c4jj net4 ,,handy-,,book ,,of ,,literary ,,curiosities4 ,by ,william ,s4 ,walsh4 #c4ej net4 ,,handy-,,book ,,of ,,curious ,,information4 ,by ,william ,s4 ,walsh4 #c4ej net4 ,a ,,dictionary ,,of ,,miracles4 ,by ,rev4 ,e4 ,cobham ,brewer1 ,,ll4,d4 #b4ej net4 ,,dictionary ,,of ,,phrase ,,and ,,fable4 ,by ,rev4 ,e4 ,cobham ,brewer1 ,,ll4,d4 #a4ge net4 ,,benham',s ,,book ,,of ,,quotations4 ,by ,w4 ,gurney ,benham4 #c4ej net4 ,,thesaurus ,,of ,,english ,,words ,,and ,,phrases4 ,by ,peter ,mark ,roget1 ,m4,d41 ,f4,r4,s4 #b4ej net4 ,a ,,dictionary ,,of ,,english ,,synonyms4 ,by ,richard ,soule4 #b4ej net4 ,,chambers',s ,,concise ,,gazetteer ,,of ,,the ,,world4 #c4jj net4 ,,the ,,writer',s ,,handbook4 #b4ej net4 ,,chambers',s ,,biographical ,,dictionary4 ,edited by ,david ,patrick and ,francis ,hindes ,groome4 #c4jj net4 ,,curiosities ,,of ,,popular ,,customs4 ,by ,william ,s4 ,walsh4 #c4ej net4 ,,the ,,historic ,,notebook4 ,by ,rev4 ,e4 ,cobham ,brewer1 ,,ll4,d4 #c4ej net4 ,,the ,,reader',s ,,handbook4 ,by ,rev4 ,e4 ,cobham ,brewer1 ,,ll4,d4 #c4ej net4 ,,facts ,,and ,,fancies ,,for ,,the ,,curious4 ,by ,charles ,c4 ,bombaugh4 #c4jj net4 ,,words1 ,,facts ,,and ,,phrases4 ,by ,eliezer ,edwards4 #b4ej net4 ,,chambers',s ,,twentieth ,,century ,,dictionary ,,of ,,the ,,english ,,language4 #b4jj net4