thing wanting in most homes is not more chairs and tables, but
books, and not so much more books as better ones.
There is a new method of ministering to minds diseased, and
alleviating melancholy and other disturbed conditions of the nerves
and brain, which is very simple, and is said to have done good to
many who have tried it. It is called the color cure, and merely con-
sists in selecting for wall-paper, window panes, furniture or carpets,
curtains and drapery, those colors that relieve the eye, and acting
through the sight upon the mind produce a diversion of feeling and
give another current to the thoughts. Every one has been conscious
of the relief which beautiful flowers, both by their colors and their
perfume, afford, when one is suffering with headache or what is
known as " the blues." They have the same effect upon us through
the eye as a strain of exquisite music has upon us through the ear.
A single rose has often gladdened a whole room, and brought pleas-
ant thoughts and feelings to the invalid in mind or body. Beautiful
books can do the same, and with more permanent effect. Not by
the rich binding, the fine paper, the clear type, the pretty pictures —
although all these are pleasant to the taste, and good food for the
imagination and the fancy — but chiefly by the precious jewels of
truth and light, of memory and hope, of beauty and sweetness that
lie within the casket of the leaves and bindincr.
Of completeness and perfection, size or bulk is not the test or the
condition. A large and showy book may not be worth reading, while
a small and unpretending one may be a pearl of great price to the
reader's mind. " Handsome is that handsome does," is true of books
as well as men. A showy person, however faultless his exterior, may
be a fool, and some little people are the greatest of men and the
most agreeable of companions. The beauty of a house does not
I'.epend upon its size. It may be very defective, although very large;
and have completeness and perfection, although merely a cottage.
"A man's life," said One who knew what was in man, " does not
consist of the abundance of the things that he possesses, for the life is
more than meat, and the body than raiment." Neither do the com-
THE LIBRARY IN THE HOME. 121
pleteness and perfection of a man's life depend upon the length of it.
A short day may see great deeds done, and a long day may be full
of emptiness. Some men and women have accomplished their life-
work at thirty, while others who live to be a hundred have never done
anything at all. One man has been a benefactor to his race while
yet a youth, and has retired to rest early because his work was done.
Another may go on living, if that can be called living which is
merely eating, drinking and sleeping, until all his companions have
departed and all whom he has conversed with have fallen asleep,
and nothing of him be noted or have ever been observed, except that
he was a creeping thing made up of coat, and hat and cane.
Page 72
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
thing wanting in most homes is not more chairs and tables, but books, and not so much more books as better ones.
There is a new method of ministering to minds diseased, and alleviating melancholy and other disturbed conditions of the nerves and brain, which is very simple, and is said to have done good to many who have tried it. It is called the color cure, and merely consists in selecting for wall-paper, window panes, furniture or carpets, curtains and drapery, those colors that relieve the eye, and acting through the sight upon the mind produce a diversion of feeling and give another current to the thoughts. Every one has been conscious of the relief which beautiful flowers, both by their colors and their perfume, afford, when one is suffering with headache or what is known as " the blues." They have the same effect upon us through the eye as a strain of exquisite music has upon us through the ear. A single rose has often gladdened a whole room, and brought pleasant thoughts and feelings to the invalid in mind or body. Beautiful books can do the same, and with more permanent effect. Not by the rich binding, the fine paper, the clear type, the pretty pictures — although all these are pleasant to the taste, and good food for the imagination and the fancy — but chiefly by the precious jewels of truth and light, of memory and hope, of beauty and sweetness that lie within the casket of the leaves and binding.
Of completeness and perfection, size or bulk is not the test or the condition. A large and showy book may not be worth reading, while a small and unpretending one may be a pearl of great price to the reader's mind. " Handsome is that handsome does," is true of books as well as men. A showy person, however faultless his exterior, may be a fool, and some little people are the greatest of men and the most agreeable of companions. The beauty of a house does not depend upon its size. It may be very defective, although very large; and have completeness and perfection, although merely a cottage. "A man's life," said One who knew what was in man, " does not consist of the abundance of the things that he possesses, for the life is more than meat, and the body than raiment." Neither do the com-
pleteness and perfection of a man's life depend upon the length of it. A short day may see great deeds done, and a long day may be full of emptiness. Some men and women have accomplished their lifework at thirty, while others who live to be a hundred have never done anything at all. One man has been a benefactor to his race while yet a youth, and has retired to rest early because his work was done. Another may go on living, if that can be called living which is merely eating, drinking and sleeping, until all his companions have departed and all whom he has conversed with have fallen asleep, and nothing of him be noted or have ever been observed, except that he was a creeping thing made up of coat, and hat and cane.