company. The one in advance thought he saw a hornet's nest just ahead, and he cautiously paused. The other pooh-poohed his fears and mowed right on exclaiming, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion." But pretty soon he struck the nest and was fighting the hornets that assailed him, whereupon the first, who also had a knack of quoting proverbs, exclaimed, "The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished." The prudent man had the best of it as he always does. Other gifts and attainments, however ample and varied, are negatived and neutralized without it, therefore in all pleasures be discreet. "It is sad To think how few our pleasures really are; And, as Pope wrote, "Pleasures, wrong or rightly understood, I INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER XVIII BY ANTHONY COMSTOCK N the heart of every boy is a "Chamber of Imagery." Practically speaking, this is Memory's storehouse, the "Commissary Department of thought," "the Hall of Entertainment." Bad books, foul pictures and criminal stories are used by the spirit of evil to decorate the walls of this Chamber of Imagery. When once there comes through the doors of this chamber (eye and ear) either one of these influences for evil, the looms of Imagination and Fancy (the reimaging and reproductive faculties of the mind) are started in motion and then the Chamber of Imagery becomes the Hall of Entertainment. Charmed by pictures created by Imagination and Fancy a boy soon becomes a day-dreamer and castle-builder. Led on by these debasing allurements he soon develops into a full-fledged criminal. Thoughts are the aliment upon which the mind feeds. If pure and holy, they are like fertilizing currents flowing through the soul, enriching, ennobling and beautifying character and life. If impure, sensational and sensual, they are equally degrading, demoralizing and deadly in their influence. It is as important that Imagination and Fancy have pure material to work with, as that a stream shall originate in a fountain free from deadly poison. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." The heart cannot be pure if the thoughts are defiled. Autiomfantock CHAPTER XVIII BE CHARY OF BAD BOOKS T is only about four hundred years since the first book was issued from the press. Between 1450 and 1455 Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press, succeeded in publishing the first copy of the Bible, but he was compelled to make the initial letters of the chapters with the pen. As the years passed, many improvements were made, until now, more than twentyfive thousand books are published annually. Books are wonderful things. They are companions and teachers. For their authors they cost much thought, time and expense; for the reader they are cheap and helpful. They carry the mind fast and safe. the world over. "In the twinkling of an eye one can be exploring with Livingstone in Africa, or campaigning with Napoleon or Grant. One can meditate with Socrates, conspire with Cataline, steal the Stratford deer with Will Shakespeare, swim the Hellespont with Byron, weigh the earth with Newton, and climb the heavens with Herschel." There being such an abundance of literary works, the question often arises, "What should a boy read? Would it be wise to read everything that comes into his hands?" By no means. To eat all kinds of food, suitable or otherwise, would be sure to create disease. There are the "scavengers" among animals, but there should not be such among readers. To read everything would be most injurious. Good judgment should be exercised in selecting the quality of books read and no less in the quantity perused. There are books, which, if read, would poison thought, corrupt morals and perchance blast the prospects of the future. On the other hand, there are books which stimulate the mind, strengthen the morals, comfort the heart and prepare the life for usefulness and success. GOOD BOOKS. Good books are a blessing to everyone. The principles they inculcate, the lessons they exhibit, the ideals of life and character they portray, stamp themselves indelibly upon the mind and habits of the reader. "Give a man a taste for good books and the means of gratifying it," said Sir John Herschel, “and you can hardly fail of making him a happy man. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history, with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. You make him a denizen of all nations, a contemporary of all ages." "A good book," said Milton, "is the precious life-blood of a master spirit embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." "In the best books," said Dr. Channing, "great men talk to us, with us, and give us their most precious thoughts. Books are the voices of the distant and the dead. Books are the true leaders, they give to all who will faithfully use them, the society and the presence of the best and. the greatest of our race. No matter how poor I am, no matter though the prosperity of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling, if learned men and poets will enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of Paradise, and Shakespeare open to me the world of imagination and the workings of the human heart, and |