Books; Their Influence and Power.
ON one occasion James the First, of England, made a visit to Oxford, and was publicly received in the Bodleian Library. He said "If I were not a king, I would choose to be a University man.. If it ever should be my lot to be a prisoner, I could wish for nothing better than to be imprisoned in this room, with all these books around about me for my friends, my counsellors, my comforters, and my advisers. Books are among the best friends that it is possible for any man to have. They will be silent when he does not wish to converse; they will speak to him when he desires to be spoken to; they will take no offense at his silence, neither will they take any offense at his comments. They include the most illustrious of the living and the most illustrious of the dead. Having books, a man can number among his friends those who have distinguished themselves in civil life and military life; he can have friends from the State, he can have friends from the church. He can entertain them all his life at the least possible expense, because they ask no more at his hands than the tenderest accommodations and the quietest place in his dwelling." Something like that was said regarding books many centuries ago. It has been said again and again by multitudes on platforms and in print; but it has not always been assigned to its cultivated and talented author, many of whose other works are now practically forgotten. Books, in many respects, are like men; but they are like the greatest of men, men so great that they can make their voices heard through the coming generations. Said Fenelon, "If all the crowns of Europe were placed at my disposal on the condition that I should abandon my books and my studies, I should spurn the crowns away and stand by the books." Such utterances as these would have been impossible if there had not been an immense power and immense attractiveness about books.—Illinois Christian Weekly