708 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



of our purso. We will want to j;('t ouly tliat which is jjood and 

 whoh'somc, that which "is opened with expectation and closed with 

 profit." 



The first appearance of many of the best books of fiction, science 

 and ]»hilos(»phy, is often in the leading- magazines. The religious 

 press gives much attention to the discussions of the great moral 

 movements of the age which present themselves for solution; and 

 besides, they bring their readers into living touch with the countries 

 of the Orient and with the islands of the sea, through missionaries 

 and tourists. Most, if not all, of these periodicals furnish a high 

 grade of reading, giving knowledge and inspiration. Nature studies, 

 or books and magazines devoted to the study of natural history, 

 open the (\ves and ears of the soul, and reveal to it the wonderful 

 works of God. 



Since ''all the known world, excepting only savages, is governed 

 by books," a love for the true, the beautiful, the good should be cul- 

 tivated, and cultivated early in life, in order that the men and women 

 of the future America may be lights radiating heroism, purity and 

 truth. 



WHAT BOOKS AND MAGAZINES SHALL WE READ? 



By MRS. H. E. EALY, Fredonia, Pa. 



We hear a great deal said, and find much written nowadays on 

 how to make farming pay. Best methods of cultivating the soil, and 

 kindred topics. But comparatively little on the subject of (he cul- 

 tivation of the farmer, or how to make the most of his natural endow- 

 ments. 



We often hear farmers and their wives say: ''We like to read, 

 and know that we ought to read and study a great deal more than we 

 do; but we have so little spare time, summer or winter, week in and 

 week out there is something to claim our attention almost every 

 hour in the day." And how true that is, only we busy farmer folks 

 know. But once in a while we run across one who boasts that you 

 don't find him spending his hard earned money for books and maga- 

 zines. If he subscribes for a county newspaper that's enough. He 

 holds to the antiquated idea that anybody can farm. He is the 

 farmer who is generally found loafing about the village store rainy 

 days and winter evenings, chewing, smoking and having what he 

 would call a good time, leaving his wife to raise, train and entertain 

 the children as best she can, without the aid of books, pictures or 

 amusements, other than her already too busy brain is able to manu- 

 facture. He insists that it is not only a waste of money, but a waste 

 of time as well, for the farmer to cultivate a taste for reading. His 

 business is to farm, raise potatoes, hay and grain, in other words, cul- 

 tivate the soil, and leave mind cultivation or intellectual culture, to 

 lawyers or other professional men. This class of farmers, though 

 steadily becoming fewer in number, are still too frequently met with. 



