AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



beginning at the bottom, the first shelf was i8 

 inches above the base shelf, and the other spaces 

 were ii, 9^, 8|, 8 J, 8, and yf, and in the other 

 half II, loj, 10, 9^^, 8, 8, and 8. No shelf 

 should be much longer than three feet between 

 supports, for If it is, the shelf will sag in time. 

 There should be no openings behind supports to 

 hide the books from sight. I put no doors at 

 all on these cases, as we have scarcely any dust 

 on the island, and anyway I would rather bear 

 with the dust than be pestered with the doors. 



When we came to select our books, we con- 

 sulted all those lists of " A Hundred Best Novels 

 in English," and the like, and our first purchases 

 were selected from them. Adding to it in after 

 years, we got much that was worthless, all of it 

 highly commended by the reviewers, or insinuat- 

 ingly included in our packages by the too oblig- 

 ing bookseller. 



In attempting to give a list of books for a 

 summer library I approach the task with becom- 

 ing modesty and cannot hope to please all tastes. 

 None of us would of course make exactly the 

 same list, but in this task I have been materially 

 aided by the friends who have been with us in 

 past years. They have been urged to note on 



62 



