THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



heard passed it on to one another. And then con- 

 sider the vast mass of useful knowledge not comprised 

 within the scope of classical writings matter which no 

 one now commits to memory, because the written page 

 embalms it securely, and which must therefore be 

 utterly lost were the treasury of books destroyed. 



Something might be said, to be sure, on the other 

 side, regarding the chaff that would perish with the 

 grain. Not all the matter embalmed on the printed 

 pages is worth preserving. Doubtless, the destruction 

 of much of it would make for progress. Along with 

 the pearls of thought are countless false jewels. There 

 are false ideas commingled with the true. There are 

 lies and superstitions that threaded their way into 

 the mesh of human thought, the perpetuation of which 

 does not make for progress. But few will contend 

 that these false ideas for a moment counterbalance 

 the great mass of useful and inspiring knowledge that 

 finds preservation in books; indeed, even to suggest 

 this phase of the subject is to bring forward an idea 

 almost too whimsical for our present serious purpose. 

 And, even were the dross greatly in excess of the pure 

 metal, the treasure-house of books would still be only 

 on a par with the storehouses of nature; there is but 

 here and there a grain of gold in a mass of sand, yet 

 that grain is well worth searching out. 



Perhaps indeed it is as well that the mental treasures 

 stored in books require some searching, for in hunt- 

 ing them out the delver will acquire valuable lessons in 

 discriminative judgment. Something at least as to his 

 own requirements, each man must find out for him- 



[108] 



