To master a worth-while book is to master much else besides; few of us, however, make perfect conquest of a volume without first owning it physically.  To read a borrowed book may be a joy, but to assign your own book a place of its own on your own shelves—­be they few or many—­to love the book and feel of its worn cover, to thumb it over slowly, page by page, to pencil its margins in agreement or in protest, to smile or thrill with its remembered pungencies—­no mere book borrower could ever sense all that delight.

The reader who possesses books in this double sense finds also that his books possess him, and the volumes which most firmly grip his life are likely to be those it has cost him some sacrifice to own.  These lightly-come-by titles, which Mr. Fatpurse selects, perhaps by proxy, can scarcely play the guide, philosopher and friend in crucial moments as do the books—­long coveted, joyously attained—­that are welcomed into the lives, and not merely the libraries, of us others who are at once poorer and richer.

So it is scarcely too much to say that of all the many ways in which an owned—­a mastered—­book is like to a human friend, the truest ways are these:  A friend is worth making sacrifices for, both to gain and to keep; and our loves go out most dearly to those into whose inmost lives we have sincerely entered.

When you have not the advantage of the test of time by which to judge books, investigate as thoroughly as possible the authority of the books you read.  Much that is printed and passes current is counterfeit.  “I read it in a book” is to many a sufficient warranty of truth, but not to the thinker.  “What book?” asks the careful mind.  “Who wrote it?  What does he know about the subject and what right has he to speak on it?  Who recognizes him as authority?  With what other recognized authorities does he agree or disagree?” Being caught trying to pass counterfeit money, even unintentionally, is an unpleasant situation.  Beware lest you circulate spurious coin.

Above all, seek reading that makes you use your own brains.  Such reading must be alive with fresh points of view, packed with special knowledge, and deal with subjects of vital interest.  Do not confine your reading to what you already know you will agree with.  Opposition wakes one up.  The other road may be the better, but you will never know it unless you “give it the once over.”  Do not do all your thinking and investigating in front of given “Q.E.D.’s;” merely assembling reasons to fill in between your theorem and what you want to prove will get you nowhere.  Approach each subject with an open mind and—­once sure that you have thought it out thoroughly and honestly—­have the courage to abide by the decision of your own thought.  But don’t brag about it afterward.

No book on public speaking will enable you to discourse on the tariff if you know nothing about the tariff.  Knowing more about it than the other man will be your only hope for making the other man listen to you.