3. But we make the worst possible use if we allow them to usurp the place of true books; for, strictly speaking, they are not books at all, but merely letters or newspapers in good print. Our friend's letter may be delightful or necessary to day; whether worth keeping or not is to be considered. The newspaper may be entirely proper at break fast time, but assuredly it is not reading for all day.

4. So, though bound up in a volume, the long letter which gives you so pleasant an account of the inns and roads and weather last year at such a place, or which tells you that amusing story, or gives you the real circumstances of such and such events, may not be, in the real sense of the word, a book' at all, nor, in the real sense, to be 'read.'

5. A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written thing, and written, not with the view of mere communication, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed only because its author cannot speak to thousands of people at once: if he could, he would; the volume is mere multiplication of his voice. You cannot talk to your friend in India: if you could, you would; you write instead: that is mere conveyance of voice.

6. But a book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to preserve it. The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it.

7. He is bound to say it-clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life. he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him-this the piece of true knowledge or

sight which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down for ever-engrave it on rock if he could, saying, 'This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate and drank and slept, loved, and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.' That is his 'writing.' That is a 'Book.'

8. Perhaps you think no books were ever so written? Whatever bit of a wise man's work is honestly and benevolently done, that bit is his book, or his piece of art. Books of this kind have been written in all ages by their greatest men, by great readers, great statesmen, and great thinkers. These are all at your choice; and life is short.

Ruskin.

mul'-ti-ply-ing as-sur-ed-ly

per-ceives'
va'-pour

hum'-oured ed-u-ca'-tion com-mun-i-ca'-tion ben-ev-o-lent-ly

EXERCISES.-1. The Latin prefix (1) male- means badly; as malefactor, one who does evil; malediction, evil speaking; maltreat, to treat badly; malevolent, bearing ill-will. (2) Non means not; as nonsense, not sense; nonentity, a being not existing; nondescript, anything not yet described.

2. Analyse and parse the following: 'The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful or helpfully beautiful.’ 3. Make sentences of your own, and use in each one or more of the following words: Pathetic, divisible, usurp, malefactor.

THE PINE-TREE SHILLINGS.

[Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American novelist, wrote many pleasant and entertaining tales for the young, and this is an example from a series called True Stories.]

1. Captain John Hull was the mint-master of Massachusetts, and coined all the money that was made there. This was a new line of business; for in the earlier days of the colony the current coinage consisted of gold and silver money of England, Portugal, and Spain. These coins being scarce, the people were often forced to barter their commodities, instead of selling them.

2. For instance, if a man wanted to buy a coat, he perhaps exchanged a bear-skin for it. If he wished for a barrel of molasses, he might purchase it with a pile of pine boards. Musket-bullets were used instead of farthings. The Indians had a sort of money, called wampum, which was made of clam-shells; and this strange sort of specie was likewise taken in payment of debts by the English settlers. Bank-bills had never been heard of. There was not money enough of any kind, in many parts of the country, to pay the salaries of the ministers; so that they sometimes had to take quintals of fish, bushels of corn, or cords of wood, instead of silver or gold.

3. As the people grew more numerous, and their trade one with another increased, the want of current money was still more sensibly felt. To supply the demand, the general court passed a law for establishing a coinage of shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Captain John Hull was appointed to manufacture this money, and was to have about one shilling out of every twenty to pay him for the trouble of making them.

4. Hereupon, all the old silver in the colony was handed over to Captain John Hull. The battered silver cans and tankards, I suppose, and silver buckles, and broken spoons, swords that had figured at courts -all such curious old articles were doubtless thrown into the melting-pot together. But by far the greater part of the silver consisted of bullion from the mines. of South America, which the English buccaneers (who were little better than pirates) had taken from the Spaniards and brought to Massachusetts.

5. All this old and new silver being melted down and coined, the result was an immense amount of splendid shillings, sixpences, and threepences. Each had the

date 1652 on the one side, and the figure of a pine tree on the other. Hence they were called pine-tree shillings. And for every twenty shillings that he coined, you will remember, Captain John Hull was entitled to put one shilling into his own pocket.

6. The magistrates soon began to suspect that the mint-master would have the best of the bargain. They offered him a large sum of money if he would but give up that twentieth shilling which he was continually dropping into his own pocket. But Captain Hull declared himself perfectly satisfied with the shilling. And well he might be; for so diligently did he labour, that in a few years his pockets, his money-bags, and his strong-box were overflowing with pine-tree shillings. This was probably the case when he came into possession of grandfather's chair; and, as he had worked so hard at the mint, it was certainly proper that he should have a comfortable chair to rest himself in.

7. When the mint-master had grown very rich, a young man, Samuel Sewell by name, came a-courting to his only daughter. His daughter-whose name I do not know, but we will call her Betsy--was a fine hearty damsel by no means so slender as some young ladies of our own days. With this rosy Miss Betsy did Samuel Sewell fall in love. As he was a young man of good character, industrious in his business, and a member of the church, the mint-master very readily gave his consent. 'Yes, you may take her,' said he, in his rough way; 'and you'll find her a heavy burden enough.'

8. On the wedding-day, we may suppose that honest John Hull dressed himself in a plum-coloured coat, all the buttons of which were made of pine-tree shillings.