deavor, according to some such method as we have indicated, to
carry on our reading. "Every man and every woman who can read at all
should adopt some definite purpose in their reading, should take
something for the main stem and trunk of their culture, whence branches
might grow out in all directions, seeking air and light for the parent
tree, which it is hoped might end in becoming something useful and
ornamental, and which at any rate all along will have had life and
growth in it." These words of Sir Arthur Helps put very tersely the
point on which we have been insisting.

_Third_, We should read books _on the same principle as we associate
with men_. We only admit to our society those whom we deem worthy of
our acquaintance, and from whose intercourse we are likely to derive
benefit. We should do the same in regards to books. There are people
who read books which, if they took to themselves bodily form and became
personified, would be kicked out of their houses. Readers often
associate in literature with what is vile and contemptible, who would
never think of associating with people possessing a similar character.
Yet the society of a weak or bad book is just as harmful to us in its
way, and should be as little tolerated by us as the society of a weak
or bad man. Indeed, between an author and a careful reader there is an
intimacy established even closer than is possible in the intercourse of
life, and evil books poison the springs of thought and feeling much
more thoroughly than an evil acquaintanceship could do. We cannot be
too strict, therefore, in applying to books the rules we follow in
regard to society, and refusing our acquaintance to those books
unworthy of it. (_a_) Such books may be known by reputation. We would
not associate with a man of bad reputation, neither should we read a
book of which the reputation is evil. (_b_) They may be judged of also
by very slight experience. Very little tells us whether a man is
worthy to be admitted to companionship, and very slight acquaintance
with a book is sufficient to tell us whether it is worth reading.
(_c_) But especially by beginning with those great authors that are
beyond doubt high toned, "the master-spirits of all time," we shall
acquire a power of discrimination. We shall no more care to read foul,
impure, and unwholesome literature than a man brought up in the society
of honorable men would choose to cast in his lot with thieves and
blacklegs