r 



\ feGLiterie^l. 



"Who reads a book more than once and who accumu- 

 lates a hbrary, nowadays?" asks a correspondent in a 

 recent number of this journal. If by "lil^rary" our inter-^ 

 rogator means a collection of books chosen more with a 

 view^ to having their bindings match the rest of the furni^ 

 ture, than for any regard for their contents, w^e will quick- 

 1^^ agree that that fashion has happily passed on ; but we 

 are not so ready to admit that the studious man or 

 woman finds tjiese strenuous times to militate against the 

 accumulation of good books. The statement is as true 

 now as it was \vhen first |3enned that "a book that is 

 worth reading is worth owning." In fact one ina^^find in 

 this statement a very safe guide to book buying. Buy no 

 books that are not worth reading, and read no books 

 that are not worth buying and you will have a librar}' to 



be proud of. 



* * 

 * 



If any reader of these lines thinks that a scientific book 

 will not bear reading more than once, let him try to prove 

 it by a second reading of such books as Thoreau's 

 "Walden," "Excursions," or "Maine Woods," Burrough's 

 "Locusts and Wild Hone3^," "Signs and Seasons" or 

 "Pepacton." Gibson's "Sharp Eyes," Torrey's "Foot- 

 path Way" or any of the half hundred books on kindred 

 subjects that have appeared since those mentioned were 

 written. The fact is that however carefully we may read 

 a book there are many things which the mind fails to 

 make its own at a first reading for want of a peg to hang 

 the ideas upon, if we may so express it. If you have never 

 seen the delicate Arethusa in her chosen bog, or the great 

 flowers of Sarracenia glowing above her clustering 

 pitchers, how can you either understand or appreciate 

 what others have written about them ? One must see his 

 plant or perform his experiment for himself before the 

 ideas of others will have the fullest significance. Each 



