COMFORTABLE BOOKS 219 



enterprise. &quot;Not a bit!&quot; she protested. &quot;I 

 am not reading it to be enterprising, I am 

 reading it to get rested. I find Shakespeare 

 so peaceful, compared with the magazines.&quot; 

 I have another friend who is taking entire 

 charge of her children, besides doing a good 

 deal of her own housework and gardening. 

 I discovered her one day sitting under a tree, 

 reading Matthew Arnold s poems, while the 

 children played near by. I ventured to com 

 ment on what seemed to me the incongruity 

 of her choice of a book. &quot;But don t you see,&quot; 

 she replied, quickly. &quot;That is just why ! I am 

 so busy from minute to minute doing lots of 

 little practical, temporary things, that I sim 

 ply have to keep in touch with something 

 different something large and quiet. If I 

 didn t, I should die!&quot; 



I suppose in the old days, in a less &quot;liter 

 ary&quot; age, all such busy folk found this nec 

 essary rest and refreshment in a single book 

 the Bible. Doubtless many still do so, but 

 not so many; and this, quite irrespective of 

 religious considerations, seems to me a great 

 pity. The literary quality of the Scriptures 

 has, to be sure, been partly vitiated by the 



