52
January 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
“From Dawn to Sundown” B y M rs . K. F reeman
Visitors wandering through the maze of my pine shelves in the closely packed attic sometimes ask me if I have read all these books. Yes, with the heart, though of course not all of them with the head. I know them all intimately by the insight of affection, which is so much better than the cold appraisal of the eyes. It has been love at first sight in every case, and this has accomplished more than decades of formal meeting. I know the character of every book, I might almost say its personality. I have no pride of possession in these books. I would that all the world had as many friends, and I am never more happy than when I can introduce these book comrades to my friends of flesh and blood. It is a cordial brotherhood into which one is admitted by the love of books. A library is a true democracy. But though I gladly admit all others to this blessedness of books, those eigh teen thousand volumes in my attic make me feel as rich as Rockefeller or Carne gie. Richer; for their libraries, though worth immensely more than mine in dollars and cents, did not come to them in the intimate way in which mine came to me, by the loving search of many years, by a hundred glad economies, by scores of miles of walking annually, by a pursuit of painstaking enthusiasm. As I sit in the midst of my books it is a wealthy joy to realize that I am at least a potential millionaire of thoughts. I am sitting in a treasure house the like of which Croesus did not own. Here by the bushel are jewels of wisdom, gems of brilliant imagination. Here are stories of golden experience that would bankrupt the riches of India if one should try to buy them. So far as I make them really my own, I am possessed of the eternal treasures that will outlast this world and all worlds. There’s the rub, in all that has to do with books—making them really our own. It is easy to pay a dollar or a dollar and a half for a new book, but when the money leaves your purse the book does not enter your head. Write your name on the flyleaf, record it in your book catalogue, place it on your shelf, and still it is not yours. Read it, read every word of it, and it may be as far as ever from being really yours. Before you can own the book, in some way or other the spirit of the book must become your spirit, the book—its essential facts, its living pur pose-must get embodied in your memory and your purpose, must become you. When this happens, you understand anew the blessedness of books. You have been made more than yourself. You have added a cubit to your mental and spirit ual stature. You have enlarged your life by another life, a life of significance, of beauty and of power. It is this that ex hilarates you, that fills you with strange joy, in all your authentic dealings with books. Thus it will be seen that no slothful man can read a book. The process is strenuous, calling for the most alert attention, the most eager appropriation. For every thousand that go through the motion of reading, there is scarcely one that actually reads. If readers were as many as books or even as libraries, this old world would be leagues nearer its goal. Education in the art of reading is therefore the task of a lifetime. The most expert readers are constantly grow-
this great dreamer. The ninth chapter, which is entitled “Vision,” is especially helpful to the understanding of the back ground of Bunyan and his thinking. Published by Doubleday, Doran & Com pany—Price $3.00.—J. M. M.
“From Dawn to Sundown” by Mrs. K. Freeman is a book of real profit and interest to all, as it is a book written by one with a love for souls, a desire to see young Christians strengthened in the “most holy faith” and older Christians given comfort and instruction. As the title suggests, the book deals with the Christian life from its dawning all along the road, with many helpful chapters on real Christian living and end ing with the glorious sunset of the Blessed Hope “Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” Published by Pickering and Inglis. —P. — o — John Bunyan B y G wilym O. G riffith There is a great revival of interest in John Bunyan and his writings this year. It is the three hundredth anniversary of his birth. Mr. Griffith writes in a very interesting and illuminating way, bringing to our notice some things that are over looked in the ordinary biographies, and giving some passages of interpretation that are quite stimulating and helpful. Of course, the way to know John Bunyan is to study him through his “Grace Abound ing” and his immortal allegory “Pilgrim’s Progress.” However, for those who have time and like bright, gripping writing, this book would be a delight as well as a genuine help to the understanding of
The Blessedness of Books A m o s R. W e l l s
I have in my attic eighteen thousand friends. Among those friends are the very wisest men and women the world has known, the most sympathetic, the wittiest, the most delightful, the noblest. Not one of those eighteen thousand friends has ever forced himself on me. They are all modest and retiring; they come at my call, go when I dismiss them, and calmly bide my further pleasure. When I go away, I am constantly happy in the thought that these eighteen thou sand friends are waiting my return. They have never failed me or disappointed me. I go to them for information, and they freely give it; for advice, and it is mine— advice of the best and without nagging. I seek comfort in sorrow, a new hold on life, a new insight into eternity, and all this is bestowed upon me. Of course these eighteen thousand friends are so many books; what else could they be? I am blessed with many friends in the flesh, and they can do for me what my library cannot do ; but there are many times when my friends on the shelf can help me more than my friends that move and talk.
Youth Must Be Served JTT The coming generation moving up to take the place of t Uthose now in the front rank must be adequately equipped in things of the spirit as well as by material endowments. The Church School Hymnal for Youth Sets a High Standard in the Field of Religious Education. Publication Date, T^ovember i, ig 28 Price, $1.00 Single Copy, postpaid 80 cents when ordered in quantities. Carriage additional. A returnable sample copy sent upon request. Hymnal Department P r e s b y t e r i a n B o a r d o f C h r i s t i a n E d u c a t i o n 120 Witherspoon Bldg., Philadelphia, Penna.
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