An excellent test of a friend is the making of a journey in his company. Many who are most agreeable amid the little events of every day at home, or in an accustomed round, are unable to withstand the petty annoyances that come with travel—the deferred meals, early rising, loss of sleep, the minor discomforts we all have suffered. But none of these affects the temper of a favorite book. It is ever ready for your amusement, yet never resents being put aside. It has no choice as to your-route, and asks no more than a little corner of your traveling-bag, or, at a pinch, will go into a pocket as snugly as a pet squirrel. The “London Academy” says: “Indeed, of all travellmg comrades books are the most genial and the most gentle; not books of travel—they are for the home fireside, but tales that have for background the scenery you are looking upon, or histories which deal with men and women who have dwelt and worked in the cities you are visiting.”
The Power of Time
Some years ago the school readers used to contain. a goodly proportion of stories that conveyed a moral. There was one favorite selection—how many of you recall it—called ‘The Value of
Time.” It was meant to show that even a second might make all the difference between safety and disaster. There was one striking paragraph beginning, “A train comes rushing around a curve,” and ending, “and all because the engineer’s watch was behind time!” But all this was about punctuality, the value of time. There is another matter worth your thought, quite as much as promptness and economy of minutes. The economy of saving time is wise, but there is an economy of spending time.
In reading, especially, hurry is most wasteful. Reading is the making of thoughts, of ideas, of pictures in the brain. All young photographers know how little is to be made out of an “under-exposed plate,” but do they understand that there may be such a thing as an under-exposed brain? It takes time to make impressions on the mind. If you read too fast, either aloud or to yourself, or skim over your reading, the mind receives poor impressions or none at all.
Story-poems
Who will send us a good list of poems that tell interesting stories?—poems that will interest young readers by the incidents related, as well as by the beauty of the lines? “King Robert of Sicily” is the sort of poem desired, or “The Pied Piper,” or “The Jackdaw of Rheims.” Of course they should be so written as to be within the understanding of younger readers.
New Books Worth While.
Aother book-season is over. What has it brought that our young people should read? The very fact that so many volumes come out is a strong reason for taking care that the best are not overlooked. Let us know any you have found worth the attention of our readers, and be kind enough to tell us their good points. The new books on American history are especially worth sifting; for as our country grows older and bigger, it is all the more desirable that young Americans should be reminded of the steps by which it became what it is.
The Works of Cooper.
We should be glad to, know whether our young readers are acquainted with others of James Fenimore Cooper’s books than the Leatherstocking series. There seems to be nowadays a tendency to overlook his sea-stories, though these were once great favorites. Who remembers “Long Tom Coffin,” or that famous scene in “The Pilot” where there is a series of captures that keep the reader in a state of breathless suspense?
Won't some of our older friends tell the juniors the names of books that pleased their girlhood or boyhood?—such as “Author:James Greenwood|The Adventures of Reuben Davidger]],” or “Ran Away to Sea,” or “The Life-boat,” or “Gascoyne, the Sandalwood Trader,” They are too good to be forgotten.
Helps to Right Reading
There are certain books about things that are not literary, and yet they are necessary to give us clear ideas concerning the matters we meet with in literature. Good specimens are those by
