Dining-room bric-a-brac generally consists of whatever occupies the plate rail—­an interesting array of plates, pitchers, bowls, jars, cups and saucers, steins, cider mugs, and tankards.  And here our cherished ancestral china finds a safe haven from which it surveys its young, modern descendants with benignant toleration.

BOOKS

A spirit of friendliness and companionship radiates from a good book—­a geniality to be not only felt, but cultivated and enjoyed.  The friendship of man is sometimes short-lived and evanescent, but the friendship of books abideth ever.  Paraphrasing “Thanatopsis”: 

      “For our gayer hours
  They have a voice of gladness, and a smile
  And eloquence of beauty, and they glide
  Into our darker musings, with a mild
  And healing sympathy, that steals away
  Their sharpness, ere we are aware.”

Truly, a book for every mood, and a mood for every book,

THEIR SELECTION

The true measure of a book is not “How well does it entertain,” but “How much help does it give in the daily struggle to overcome the bad with the good,” and as one makes friends with muscle-giving authors the fancy for light-minded acquaintances among books gradually wears away.  Although different tastes require special gratification in certain directions, yet some few books must have place in every well-balanced library.  First always, the Bible, with concordance complete for study purposes, a set of Shakespeare in small, easily handled volumes, a set of encyclopaedias, and a standard dictionary.  Then some of the best known poets—­Milton, Spenser, Pope, Goldsmith, Burns, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, the Brownings, Byron, Homer, Dante, etc., with Longfellow, Riley, and some others of our best-loved American poets—­for though we may not care for poetry we cannot afford to deny ourselves its elevating influence; standard histories of our own and other countries; familiar letters of great men which also mirror their times—­Horace Walpole, Lord Macaulay, etc.; essays of Bacon, Addison, DeQuincey, Lamb, Irving, Emerson, Lowell, and Holmes; and certain works of fiction which have stood the test of time and criticism, with Dickens and Thackeray heading the list.  Indulgence in all the so-called “popular” novels of the day, like any other dissipation, profits nothing, and vitiates one’s taste for good literature at the same time.  Therefore, hold fast that which is known to be good in novels, with here and there just a little spice of recent fiction; for man cannot live by spice alone, which causes a sort of mental dyspepsia which is very hard to overcome.

SETS

An appetite for “complete sets” is a perverted one which usually goes with a love for the shell of the book rather than its meat.  It is better far to prune out the obscure works and buy, a few at a time if necessary, the best known works of favorite authors, than to clutter up one’s bookshelves with volumes which will never be opened.  Partial sets acquired in this way can be of uniform edition and gain in value from those which are left in the shop.