England is so near to us, and her books are so many, that no girl will have trouble in finding them, but as she reads English history let her take with it Agnes Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of England," those poems of Austin Dobson's that belong to certain eras, and the comedies and tragedies not only of Shakespeare, but of those old writers who to-day furnish ideas for modern playwrights.
THE GOOD NOVEL
But some of you have so little time that you cannot read any histories but must find relaxation in the good novel alone. By the good novel I mean the one that, written in good English, tells an interesting story, has a distinct plot, and ends happily. The novel is the comedy of the library; it should bring pleasure; it may cause tears, but as the tears course down your cheek they should mark the place where the dimple is to form for the laughter. First of all Thackeray, and then Dickens. When you read "Henry Esmond" and the "Virginians" you will get a good picture of life in America when it was called "the Colonies." When you read "The Newcomes" you will meet and be thankful for the acquaintance of one of God's noblemen—a Christian gentleman. You will like "John Halifax, Gentleman." You will probably drift to the books of Walter Besant,
