As a man’s stomach is what he eats, a man’s mind is what he reads. It goes without saying that no healthy, active mind could exist without the companionship of Shakespeare.  Nowadays it is possible to secure the entire works of the immortal poet in one volume.  There is a special Oxford University edition which can be had for a small sum.  The type is large, the paper good and there are many notes to help one over the rocky places.  There is no doubt of the truth of the saying that a man who reads Shakespeare consistently and with understanding needs no other education.  Like the philosopher Emerson he boiled down the world’s thoughts into terse sentences and one goes into a new universe when reading any of the plays.  It is a good thing to learn parts of them by heart so that we can apply them to our own lives.  They strengthen the mind ... their beauty lifts us into a great realism of splendid thought ... and they fill the heart with a longing to do something great.  Such books should become steady companions through life.  No matter where our duties call us we should see to it that we do not leave behind the thoughts of this master mind of Shakespeare.  The very fact that we have them near us lifts us out of the monotony of nothing to do.

Among the books about America for Americans perhaps Roosevelt’s “Winning of the West” is among the best.  Not only has he thrown the whole vigor of his interesting personality into the writing of it, but he has given us a vivid picture of the conquest of the States by the settlers.  No man could read it without being thrilled at the dangers our forefathers faced ... at the great courage they possessed ... at their hardihood ... their bulldog tenacity.  The reading of such a book is like going back over the years and living with them, sharing their troubles and their enthusiasms.  The man who contemplates gathering a small library could not afford to do without the inspiration of what his countrymen have done for him.

In choosing our books we must bear in mind one thing—­let them be inspiring.  Let them be of such a nature that when we read them we will feel like going out into the world to accomplish something big!

That is probably the mission of great books—­to inspire and uplift.  The world’s greatest men have been readers—­would they have cared for books unless they were inspiring?  It is said that when Napoleon was being taken to St. Helena he advised one of the officers never to stop reading.

Most of the things worth while are at some time or other stored away in books by the thinkers.  Every phase of history, every movement to better mankind and lift it above the drudgery of mere toil, every beautiful thought is to be found in them and the better the book the more will be found in it of these very things.  When we have finished the day’s work we can pull down a volume from the shelf and in a moment be lost in an entirely different world.  The man who neglects to read surely misses the one best means of broadening his mind.