260 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



and they will probably be helpful about in pro- 

 portion to the outsider's knowledge of the mind 

 and soul of the person to be helped. 



Of course, if any one finds that he never reads 

 serious literature, if all his reading is frothy and 

 trashy, he would do well to try to train him- 

 self to like books that the general agreement 

 of cultivated and sound-thinking persons has 

 placed among the classics. It is as discreditable 

 to the mind to be unfit for sustained mental 

 effort as it is to the body of a young man to be 

 unfit for sustained physical effort. Let man or 

 woman, young man or girl, read some good 

 author, say Gibbon or Macaulay, until sus- 

 tained mental effort brings power to enjoy the 

 books worth enjoying. When this has been 

 achieved the man can soon trust himself to 

 pick out for himself the particular good books 

 which appeal to him. 



The equation of personal taste is as povv^erful 

 in reading as in eating; and within certain 

 broad limits the matter is merely one of individ- 

 ual preference, having nothing to do with the 

 quality either of the book or of the reader's 

 mind. I like apples, pears, oranges, pineapples, 

 and peaches. I dislike bananas, alligator-pears, 

 and prunes. The first fact is certainly not to 

 my credit, although it is to my advantage; 



