HOW TO THINK 



self. He may indeed accept the verdict of the critic 

 as to what constitute the great classics of literature, 

 but no critic can tell him which ones of these will sup- 

 ply the pabulum which his mind most needs. This he 

 must find out for himself by patient searching. As he 

 browses among the books he will find that this author 

 or that is to him stimulative, helpful, thought-provoca- 

 tive. You may find such stimulus in Marcus Aurelius, 

 in Emerson, in Thoreau; your neighbor may search 

 the pages of these writers in vain, yet may find what he 

 needs in Plato, in Kant, or in Spencer. 



Search for yourself until you find the words that are 

 written for you. Take no man's verdict in advance ; 

 you will know your master when you meet him. But 

 search widely and ever expectantly. Beyond all ques- 

 tion there are hundreds of pages written expressly 

 for your eye that in the maze of literature you will never 

 see. Now and again, by sheer accident, as you browse 

 and as you turn the pages of obscure books in the 

 dustiest corner of a library, you will come upon words 

 that have been awaiting you perhaps for centuries; 

 words that will lift you away from your former self, 

 giving you joy in the present and inspiration for the 

 future. 



As one stumbles sometimes upon a receptive and 

 sympathetic mind in a chance travelling acquaintance, 

 so here in a chance book you will have found a new 

 friend who can be to you always a guide and monitor, 

 who will by no chance desert you, and who will re- 

 spond always to your every mood. 



All this would be denied you were it not for books; 



[109] 



