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Class IERA\^

Book

Preface

OREMOST in the preparation and presentation of this work one great object has been sought — to place in the hands of the entire household o-ems of literature calculated to uplift, broaden and awaken that which is noblest in each nature. The grandest and most sublime efforts of the world's greatest authors have been gathered in concise form, affording to the busiest man, the woman encompassed by multitudinous duties or the child barred by circumstances from access to the great libraries opportunity to become familiar with those who achieved most in the world of letters and to enjoy the most striking types of their literary products.

Poet, novelist, historian and dramatist alike find a place within its covers. The honored writers of the past who have gone to ther last reward breathe forth their messages of hope, love and ambition from these pages. The living members of this guild that has done so nuich to enrich mankind have not\een neglected. Their burning words in story, song and essay will here be found, inviting closer acquaintance, and endless source of amusement, instruction, and — to the thoughtful— inspiration.

In this day of universal education an 1 of popular cultivation of the arts and sciences it is the acknowledged duty of each individual to move with the procession to the best of his ability and assimilate his full share of knowdedge and culture.

Books are the only things that never die. To that fact we owe the education, culture and refinement of this period, for we have as our grandest heritage everything that man has acquired of a useful, enlightening or entertaining character, and set down in books, through the ages of the past.

Carneo-ie and other great men of vast resources have felt it their obligation to the world to devote their wealth to the dissemination of learning, inspiration and hope through the establishment of libraries where less favored men could draw on this heritage through the medium of books. The same work has long been undertaken by municipalities, villages and organizations of all kinds, including churches and Sunday schools.

- ' A grand result has been accomplished, yet the lofty aim has failed in part. The failure is ?n this : although we as a people maintain all men are born equal, no solemn declaration nor effort on our part has ever resulted in equalizing opportunity. While libraries teem with the wealth of the ages in book form, the business cares and demands crowding on many men prevent them from bestowing upon themselves the time to read that for^which their souls crave and which would do so much to advance them socially and in a business way. The same is true of countless thousands of busy housewives, devoting their time and energy to husband and children at the sacrifice of their own mental

development.

The circumstances that abridge the opportunities of the parents reflect with mcreased force upon the children and deprive them of the intellectual food that has now

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6 PREFACE.

become a necessity. To those living amid the fields that feed the world this analysis will appeal as a bitter truism. With ample means at hand and the leisure that winter brings, they must still contend with environment as a handicap in the race of life. The isolation of the small town and ':he farm operate to abridge opportunity in this direction regardless of prosperity in a material way and the proud independence that is the chief glory of the husbandman.

It was with a full appreciation of these facts that the work of preparing this volume was undertaken, in the belief that a fruitful yet neglected field invited the labor. From almost innumerable volumes the best efl:"orts of their authors have been culled, affording at least one example of the v/riter's ablest efifort. In many instances several selections are given, affording opportunity to contrast the style and moods in which the producer worked.

Here then is in brief an introduction to the recognized authors of the world, both those of today and those who have gone before. It is an opportunity to meet the famous writer in his happiest mood when he is at his best without the expenditure of time necessary to grope with him from his early efforts until the period when recognition has been forced. Instead of pursuing that long and tortuous method of gaining close acquaintance, we greet him at the psychological moment when he has won fame and attained success with a stroke of the pen. The very words that won for him are the medium of the introduction.

More than a mere introduction to any single author, however, it is the aim to make this volume the literary "open door" — not to the east, nor to any section, but to the entire world of letters. Through this "open door" we. will enter at the most interesting moment, being ushered into a vast congress of writers of all climes and all ages. Each is seeking to bestow upon us the best he has to give. Casting aside in forgetfulness our unpreparedness, due to neglect or lack of opportunity in the past, the common usages of good society compel us to feel at home at this reception.

Concealing from even ourselves for the moment the countless demands upon our time, duty compels us to enjoy the hour to the uttermost. The hour! Not one, but many hours — yea days, weeks and months may be passed in this goodly company with profit to ourselves and to those with whom we will come in contact and upon whom will reflect the lofty thought, the polish and the understanding we shall acquire in this classic society.

Nor will the flight of time dim the friendships we shall make or the vistas of sound thought and the avenues of pleasure our new acquaintances open to us. Throughout the fleeting years the "open door" shall beckon, enticing us to brief sessions with old and honored friends and inviting us to make new ones.

And these friends are the kind that are firm and true. Neither trouble nor adversity will cause them to desert us. If we drink deeply of the profifered glass of friendship, if we quaff in hearty spirit from the loving-cup, loneliness shall become a forgotten term, meaning naught to us. Who would be lonely when on the book shelf or table near at hand rests a magic casket, which needs but to be lifted and opened to send trooping forth an army of comforters and entertainers. To prove such a boon this work was designed.

To the tired man, wearied with the common-place drudgeries of business or industrial life, this casket will summon philosophers with soothing and optimistic truths that will drive dull care away. Or, if occasion require, from its depths he may call forth orators whose noble and inspiring utterances will impart new strength and awaken dormant

WILLIAM DEAN HOVVELLS is one of the most popular writers of fiction in America, and his works have had a wide circulation. The most conspicuous feature of his books is their absolute cleanliness. He has never written anything of an immoral or suggestive nature, and for this reason his influence upon the literature of the United States has been for the greatest good. He is one of the classic authors of the time, the purity of his English being worthy of study by young men and women who have an ambition to make names for themselves in the realm of literature. Mr. Howells has lived in the East many years, having journeyed there from Ohio, where he' was born in 1837.

ii-Lvi/\i\i i^ui^LHiN aKY i ij.y J. , jju\_l, tuiuui, idwyci, dim itiuciu biudeni oi literature, was a descendant, on his mother's side, of John Alden; his family characteristics were those of the stern and severe Puritans. Bryant was- born at Cummington, Massachusetts, in 1794, and died in New York City in 1878, where, for many years, he had been the editor of the Evening Post. He began to write verses at an early age, his father encouraging him in this, and was but eighteen years old when he composed the imperishable "Thanatopsis."

PREFACE. " 9

ambition, urging him on to action when he would procrastinate and perchance do nothing more. Wit, too, that most subtle of gifts, will obey his call and come forth with smiling face and unctuous jest to make merry an otherwise sad hour.

Woman, weighted down with the multiplicity of details that are the lot of the sacrificing wife and mother, will find within this magic casket many valued friends. The soft voice of the poet will assail her in unhappy moments with a message of love and cheer and hope, awakening the echoes of music of other days, half forgotten in the humdrum of daily existence. To her the writers of her sex will softly whisper words that will awaken vibrations in her own heart. Their tears will mingle in a common cause, in the sunshine of their pages she will find joy and in the incidental philosophy repose and peace.

The growing child, budding to manhood or young womanhood, who ere long must bear the brunt and burden that is the common fate of all on this mundane sphere, may turn to this modern Aladdin's lamp with a certain knowledge that the genii it will call forth shall serve with faithful purpose today, tomorrow, and so long as life may last. Truth, virtue, honesty, uprightness, honor, morality, wisdom, philosophy, ambition, courage, charity, steadfastness of purpose — all these and many more constitute the genii.

It is with these attributes the great writers of prose have dealt. They have formed the topic of the poet's song and the foundations on which the eloquence of the orator have rested. Shall it not profit the growing child to have these grand qualities exalted before his receptive mind while that mind is yet forming ? Exalted, not in commonplace, homely and unattractive phraseology, but with all the force and with all the embelishment that the master minds of the world have been able to bestow !

The child may summon one of the genii and receive a selection suited to his or iier elocutionary ability for rendition in school or elsew^here, proud in the knowledge that the selection is the best of its kind the world affords. He may find comfort, pleasure and education within the pages of this book and at the same time without effort grasp with lasting force the great truths upon which character is founded.

It has been no small undertaking to attempt so comprehensive a work within the covers of one volume and it was with a spirit of reverence the task was approached. It is not contended that all that is masterful, beautiful or entitled to recognition is presented. Rather it has been the aim to select. the best. production, or group of productions, of each author and publish it as a sort of key to the character and ability of the producing genius. To weigh the literature of the world in order to reject that considered unavailable for a volume of this kind has been no light a-nd inconsequential undertaking.

It is not unlikely that cUscussion may arise over the selections made. After all, individual judgment of literary values nar^rows down largely to individual preferences, and in this respect the greatest dififerences preyail. The most casual glance, however, will make it at once apparent that the compilers have exercised conscientious judgment, free from all prejudice in assembling the gems of thought that have been included. Physical limitations alone made necessary the rejection of many writings entitled to high praise. The latter, while in many instances popular, are in no instance as close to the heart interest of the people at large as those accepted for publication.

Heart interest — the real preference of real people of flesh and blood and thought and action — has ever been kept uppermost in mind in the work of selection, without, lo PREFACE.

liowever, losing sight of the primary question of Hterary worth. In consequence the vohuue hreathes of action, attainment. accompHshment. It is well that such is the case for the modern demands on our energy are so great that every stimulus that is pure, wholesome and healthy is a blessing.

Any who may feel that their favorite author has been slighted in not receiving greater recognition than has been accorded him or her will do well to bear this explanation in mind. All have been treated fairl}' and all deserve the space allotted them — and perhaps more. Others, perhaps thousands, who are struggling to enrich the world in thought and sentiment are vv'orthy of every consideration. Yet it must be remembered that. this volume is not an attempt to present all that is good in literature, but all that is best.

In conclusion it is to be hoped that sometime, somewhere in this volume each reader will find something that will awaken within him a desire to follow the thought of some particular author further and to partake more fully of the good things he or she may have given to the world. If that result follows mankind shall have indeed profited through this little echo of the great voice that speaks in all tongues, in all lands and throughout all time — literature.

The book has worked miracles since first human ingenuity guided by divine intelligence gave it birth. It has been, perhaps, the most potent factor in working out human destiny through evolution. It has brought down through the centuries religion and the storv of the fellowship of man ; it has opened the way for laws and reforms that have made whole nations free ; it has handed from generation to generation the ever increasing scientific knowledge that enables the almost blind to see, the lame to walk, and the dying man to look with hope for the coming of the hurriedly summoned physician.

Today the book is teaching all men, rich and poor alike, to think ; and with the growth of thought all despotism, injustice and dishonesty shall ultimately pass away. Equality in capability to think is the coming powder that gives promise of making all men truly equal in fact, in opportunity and in prospects.

Accept, then, this "open door" not only as a personal introduction to some of the great men who have aided in setting this mighty power in motion, but as a tribute to them and to their work. Let us enter, then, as gladly as though it were a triumphal arch erected to their glorification. We shall be well repaid by the sunshine that glows within.

MARSHALL EVERETT.

MURAT HALSTEAD is a journalist whose career began about 1850. He was present at the execution of John Brown, in 1859; was correspondent and staff officer durmg the War of the Rebellion; was correspondent during the Franco-Prussian War; has reported every Republican National Convention since 1856, and was editor and proprietor of the Cincinnati Commercial many years. He was born in 1829. He has written many books that have had an extra large sale, some of them selling over a million copies.

RALPH VVALDO EMERSON, author, preacher and scholar, was of Boston birth ; he died at Concord, in 1882, at the advanced age of seventy-nine. Emerson's character was a beautiful one m every way ; his writings have a grace and charm possessed by none others ; his ideals were always high, as is evidenced by his advice to the aspiring youth of America— "Hitch your wagon to a star." His pulpit oratory was simple, eloquent and effective. In 1833, while in England, he visited Carlyle, Coleridge and Wordsworth and formed friendships which were only terminated by death.