76 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



character. There is a passion for reading 

 which weakens mind and vitiates spirit. One 

 should find his way in the literary world as he 

 learns geography, by maps, and not by first 

 hand explorations, the process is too costly and 

 too dangerous. Emerson says wait a year be- 

 fore you read a new book! A good sugges- 

 tion but most valuable often in its violation. 

 Literature and life are interpenetrating each 

 other at every vital point and adding strength 

 and beauty to each. 



The world of literature is as wide and great 

 as the world of life. To read a story, true to 

 life, is to live through an emotional experience 

 under circumstances very different from your 

 own, and full of pleasure and profit. From 

 such a story one gains a knowledge of life more 

 accurate than that which comes from actual 

 life. One can examine and judge of the emo- 

 tions in a story as he could not face to face with 

 the real events. 



One's library, in content and condition, is 

 very like a Palace Wonderful ; such rooms and 

 furnishings, halls and corridors, attics and 

 niches, and such a variety of real people. This 

 palace puzzles and delights me, in it I am lost 

 and found, a stranger and well-known, enriched 

 and ennobled. We know it only in part, our 



