w the hero bore up
against his wrongs, his sorrows and defeats, and how he sustained
himself in times of triumph. Phillips Brooks thought that the basis of
every library should be biography, memoirs, portraits and letters. Nor
should we forget the books of art, wherein the facts of life are
idealized and carried up to beauty. Witness the dramas, poems, or the
several great novels.

But apart from and above all others is the book, the Bible. Alone it
has civilized whole nations. Be our theories of inspiration what they
may, this book deals with the deepest things in man's heart and life.
Ruskin and Carlyle tell us that they owe more to it in the way of
refinement and culture than to all the other books, _plus_ all the
influence of colleges and universities. Therein the greatest geniuses
of time tell us of the things they caught fresh from the skies, "the
things that stormed upon them, and surged through their souls in
mighty tides, entrancing them with matchless music"; things so
precious for man's heart and conscience as to be endured and died for.
It is the one book that can fully lead forth the richest and deepest
and sweetest things in man's nature. Read all other books, philosophy,
poetry, history, fiction; but if you would refine the judgment,
fertilize the reason, wing the imagination, attain unto the finest
womanhood or the sturdiest manhood, read this book, reverently and
prayerfully, until its truths have dissolved like iron into the blood.
Read, indeed, the hundred great books. If you have no time, make time
and read. Read as toil the slaves in Golconda, casting away the
rubbish and keeping the gems. Read to transmute facts into life, but
read daily the book of conduct and character--the Bible. For the book
Daniel Webster placed under his pillow when dying is the book all
should carry in the hand while living.

THE SCIENCE OF LIVING WITH MEN

"There is an art of right living."--_Arthur Helps._

"The supreme art life above all other arts is the art of
living together justly and charitably. There is no other
thing that is so taxing, requiring so much education, so
much wisdom, so much practice, as the how to live with
our fellow-men. In importance this art exceeds all
productive industries which we teach our children. All
skill and knowledge aside from that is as nothing. The
business of life is to know how to get along with our
fellow-men