you want to know the life of the ancients,
as you know the life of your own community, read Josephus. Do you want a
glimpse of early apostolic times, read "The Life and Times of Jesus," by
Edersheim. Do you want to see the battlefield of Waterloo, visit Paris
in the beginning of the nineteenth century, stop over night with Louis
Philippe, see the English through French spectacles, and the Frenchman
through his own; do you want a glimpse of the political despotism, court
intrigue, and ecclesiastical tyranny in France a hundred years ago; do
you want to hear the crash of the bastile, and see Notre Dame converted
into a horse-stable; do you want a picture of the "bread riots" and mob
violence that terminated in the French revolution of 1848; in short
do you want a tale of French life and character in its brightest,
gloomiest, and intensest period, read "Les Miserables," by Victor Hugo.
To-day one must read current history. It is not enough to plan, work,
and economize, one must make and seize opportunities. And this he can
do only as he is alive to passing events. In a few years one may outgrow
his usefulness through losing touch with advancing ideas and methods of
work. To keep abreast of the times one must read the newspaper and the
magazine. The newspaper is the history of the hour, the magazine is the
history of the day. The magazine corrects the newspaper, and "sums up in
clear and noble phrase those fundamental facts which are only dimly seen
in the newspaper." A serious and growing tendency is that the newspaper
and magazine shall take the place of the best books. A few minutes a day
is enough for any newspaper, and a few hours a month is enough for any
magazine. The greatest part of one's reading should be that of books.
Who gormandizes on current events will pay the price with a morbid mind
and with false conclusions in his reasoning.

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The life of a great man is a continual inspiration. No other exercise so
fires a soul with noble ambition as the study of a great life. Real
life is not only stranger than fiction, but it is more interesting than
fiction. No boy should be without the life of Washington, of Lincoln, of
Webster, of Franklin. Every girl should know by heart brave Pocahontas,
sympathetic Mrs. Stowe, queenly Frances Willard, and kind-hearted
Victoria. No private library is complete without Plutarch's "Lives," the
"Life of Alfred the Great," of Napoleon, Grant, and Gladstone.

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