A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company
he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and
one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or
of men. A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today
that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and
cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of
adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing
and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age. Men
often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have
for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration
which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love
my dog." But there is more wisdom in this:" Love me, love my book." The
book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize
with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together
, and he in them. A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining
the best that life could think out; for the world of a man's life is, for
the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are
treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished
, become our constant companions and comforters. Books possess an essence
of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort
. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with
great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through
their author's minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks
to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time
have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can
long survive e but what is really good. Books introduce us into the best
society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have
ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the as if they were
really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them
; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure
actors with them in the scenes which they describe. The great and good
do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk
abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still
listens.