1096 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Out-of-door books. — Those of us who Hve in the country have the op- 

 portunity of knowing intimately the world that lies all about us, the 

 world of the great out-of-doors. In gaining this knowledge books are 

 our most helpful and sympathetic friends. They show us where to go 

 and wnat to see and to hear. They express for us the joy that we feel 

 but do not know how to put into words. They comfort us when illness 

 shuts us in, by carrying us back in imagination to our favorite haunts. 

 Nature herself is of course our best teacher: 



" Many runes the cold has taught me, 

 Many lays the rain has brought me, 

 Other songs the winds have sung me; 

 Many birds from many forests 

 Oft have sung me lays in concord." 



The library in the farm home should include a few books that will help 

 us to know the trees, the wild flowers, the birds, and the stars. Every 

 woman who is fond of wild flowers will take real pleasure in owning Mrs. 

 Dana's "How to know the wild flowers"; and Mrs. Ely's "Woman's 

 hardy garden " will be the greatest help to any one who desires something 

 more than annuals in her garden. Bailey's " Garden-making " includes 

 suggestions for raising both vegetables and flowers, and gives plans for 

 laying out grounds. Keeler's " Our native trees and how to identify them " 

 will be useful to the lover of trees. 



There is such a number of books about birds that it is hard to select 

 just one. No one, however, would make a mistake in buying Chapman's 

 " Bird life " or Merriam's " Birds of village and field." For a simple 

 book on the habits of birds, a book, perhaps, that the children would enjoy, 

 Olive Thorne Miller's " Second book of birds" is very good. 



Martin's " Friendly stars " is a popular, entertaining description of the 

 twenty brightest stars and the principal constellations, and renders easy 

 their identification with the naked eye. 



Books of inspiration. — It is more or less the fashion at present to cavil 

 at fiction. When we do this we forget that Shakespeare was a writer 

 of fiction, that Aesop wrote fiction, that it was a novel (" Uncle Tom's 

 cabin ") which contributed more toward freeing the slave in this country 

 than did any other thing. " But," you say, "it is the novel of the day 

 to which we object." True, many of these are poor and many are more 

 than poor — they are weak and bad ; but one docs not need to read that 

 kind unless he is guided entirely by advertisements in his choice of books. 

 It is unfortunate to condemn all fiction simply because some is bad. It 

 would be a misfortune to have missed knowing " Bob, son of battle " 

 and not to have thrilled at the " Call of the wild " because one had crossed 



