se minister he is.--This hard work will
always be done by one kind of man; not by scheming speculators, nor
by soldiers, nor professors, nor readers of Tennyson; but by men
of endurance, deep-chested, long-winded, tough, slow and sure, and
timely."

Emerson's chemistry and physiology are not profound, but they are
correct enough to make a fine richly colored poetical picture in his
imaginative presentation. He tells the commonest facts so as to make
them almost a surprise:--

"By drainage we went down to a subsoil we did not know, and have
found there is a Concord under old Concord, which we are now getting
the best crops from; a Middlesex under Middlesex; and, in fine, that
Massachusetts has a basement story more valuable and that promises
to pay a better rent than all the superstructure."

In "Works and Days" there is much good reading, but I will call
attention to one or two points only, as having a slight special interest
of their own. The first is the boldness of Emerson's assertions and
predictions in matters belonging to science and art. Thus, he speaks of
"the transfusion of the blood,--which, in Paris, it was claimed, enables
a man to change his blood as often as his linen!" And once more,

"We are to have the balloon yet, and the next war will be fought in the
air."

Possibly; but it is perhaps as safe to predict that it will be fought on
wheels; the soldiers on bicycles, the officers on tricycles.

The other point I have marked is that we find in this Essay a prose
version of the fine poem, printed in "May-Day" under the title "Days." I
shall refer to this more particularly hereafter.

It is wronging the Essay on "Books" to make extracts from it. It is all
an extract, taken from years of thought in the lonely study and the
public libraries. If I commit the wrong I have spoken of, it is under
protest against myself. Every word of this Essay deserves careful
reading. But here are a few sentences I have selected for the reader's
consideration:--

"There are books; and it is practicable to read them because they
are so few.--

"I visit occasionally the Cambridge Library, and I can seldom go
there without renewing the conviction that the best of it all is
already within the four walls of my study at home.--

"The three practical rules which I have to offer are, 1. Never read
any book that is not a year old. 2. Never read any but famed book