AN AUTUMN BONFIRE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1313, 16 December 1911, Page 9

AN AUTUMN BONFIRE.

Lord Eosebory's speech on i.he bonfire of books must have moved mow than ceo of his hearers to make a review of iiis library. A friend of mine tells me that he has just sent oil a rart-lcad of books, which had bean cumbering his shelves for years, but which, for one reason or another, lie thought that ho ought to kc-ep. The process of sending these books to the bonfire, as he called it, was, he admitted, a very painful one, for they were mainly books which he had kept from his childhood, if for no other rea.<xin ilinn that tliey had been given to him by some relations, probably by this time dead. X have a whole sheft of these books. Ought one, in the name of sentiment, to keep them ? _ Every one of them recalls some associations of' my early days. Eut, afler all, iny friend, I tliink, was right when he argued that it was mere selfishness to keep tlie-'-s books when they might be in tho hand* of children who oould enjoy them'. And so, with, man) pang.i of regret, I shall send them off io the nearest children's hospital. There is another shelf of books which my friend admits that he has no further use for. These are his old school books and prizes. They are well-bound volumes. Host of them, however, are quite useless for dealing with modern science 01 modern theology. But he cannot part wiih them, for, after'all, they, are part of himself. This is really the roat>on why one keeps many books on one's shelves that certainly might bo banished, and their places filled -by others one actually requires. The old story-books and .novels, the brown-and-yeilow backs of a former generation, each wiih their peculiar association of time' and place—such books tire very diflicult to part with, and yet how often does one read them? Then there is a collection of what ono might call topical books, dealing with history and society in the making. T;hey comprise that largo number of travel books and historical romance which takes up so much space on one's shelves. The worst of it is that ono never knows whether somo of ■them may not come in useful; whether tho subjects which they deal with will not some day come to the front again. For instance, I ninko n point of having an autumn clearance from m.v shelves ever}- year, and now I am regretting that I dispatched to tho second-hand shop qitito a nnmbei of books 011 Morocco and North Africa, as- well as travel books on China and others that described wanderings in tho Balkans and the Near East. They wore pleasant books enough to read, but they did not seem quifco worthy of a permanent place on one's shelves. For wiles oni; has a mansion to house them in, what is one to <lo with those everincreasing volumes? It is true that I ian got. those books from a reference library, but that is not quite the same thing us having them ready to hand to take up at a moment's notice. I am always regretting theso books, but most of them have to go.

I have spent to-day in going through my tank-shelves and weeding tliem for the bonfire. There is one shelf which I never touch. They contain my Stevensoil's, by .Merediths, Tluckoravs, and Dickensss, nearly fifty little volumes of Evory."ian's Library, containing what one calls "classics," for want of a better name, and a number of lietentgeiieous poetry books, from Shakespeare to Henley. It would be sacrilege to touch this book-case, and to-day I have almost made up my mind to send some of these little classics to the bonfire, for they represent tho books I have outgrown or which have outgrown me, and which 1 scarcely ever handle. I.'or instance, I never 'road one of Anthony Trollopc's novels now, so they can go. No; I dare not send them, because it would bo a confession of abjcct failure which I cannot bring myself to make. So there they remain, as a concession, not to what I read in roality, bnt what I' ought to read. And to put it squarely there aro a good many books in my library which might bo placed in this category. Lot me, however, go to another book-citso, oomposod of the travel booki to which I reflined slUtto, I

I have been grieving over those books on China and Morocco which I parted with I last year. Now, hero is one that deals with the Congo, which i did not throw away. I am glad J did not, becausc it lias lieen of great use to mo lately. What of this book, on the Dwarf 'tribes of Central Ali-iea? It is interesting and well illustrated; but I do not think that these, little people are worth a permanent place 011 thesu shelves. lliey are never likely to make an international complication. 1 have read tho book, ami do not want to read it again. 1 think it may go. Here is another that gives all account of a soldier's wanderings on the irontiers of India. 1 remember enjoying the book very much, and have kept it for years, lor some reason or other; perhaps because sumo day I thought I might go to India. Next door to it is a fat, red volume, describing a totiT in Arabia. 1 am sorry, but 1 think this must go too, for, after all, it is nearly ton years old, and there are always new books on such subjects. But that ponderous volume on tho history of India must, 1 suppose, be kept, unless, indeed, a new copy of the British Encyclopaedia renders it unnecessary. Encyclopaedias havo really enabled me to clear off quite a lot of those history booKs. Wluit more can I waut in tho way of reference? . Here is n yarn by a sailor all about the Crimean War. Out it must como. A volume of reminiscences only holds good until another volume covering the same ground appears. 1 am puzzled to know what to do with a book on tho first Marquis of Halifax, his life and letters. 1 rememlx'r enjoying this account of the "Great Trimmer" very much when at Uxiord, but I havo no tiino for ,tho Marquis now, and though ho hits faced me for many years on this shelf, 1 think that someone else ought to enjoy his society. 1 wonder if I should keep that delightful book called "The Parmer's Year." I do not know anything about farming, and care less • and yet it interested mo very much at one time. I am afraid it must give placo to a volume on small holdings, -perhaps by the samo author, and -so I Shall not oii'ond Mr. Rider Haggard. All these history books—cannot one of tlienv bo touched. I cuiinot. discover one, unless it he Lecky's "Map of Life," with which I.ord Morlev has made mo thoroughly discontented." Here also are superfluous volumes dealing with Canada in an up-to-dato maimer. | One or two are. Quito sufficient for mv 1 purpose. , I certainly cannot let G. W. Steovens's "Land of the Dollar" go, but I am doubtful about these semi-historical semi-travel books on such countries as Brazil and Argentina. Can; thev bo given thet happy dispatch? They a-i* very bulky, and there is ahvavs the Encyclopaedia to fall back on, hut they are so much more breezy and interesting than any Encyclopaedia. They give one the atmosphere of the country and some exciting adventures. Yet I think the reference library will coim- in here. I am sure I shall never go to Alaska or the Yukon, and I am certain that I do not care sufficiently about Inner Asia to keep those three or four volumes dealing with Tartars and CossacKs and other exciting people and places on my shelves, liie boufire must claim them. I am always wanting old books— books by the great masters. I would willingly sacrifice a bushel of my n'.'w books tor a peck of tho old ones. Apart trom this, one is more and more driven to cast aside ornamental books and to keep those that are purely necessary which are not always those that' one iiKos, At tho same time, there must be a fringo of romance and frivolity on ones shelves, or what v.ould one's II lends say when they came to stav with P" 0 .-. tli-ey shall always" have Alico in Wonderland," and "Unlliver's * a \? i Robinson Crusoe," and some Su. " l a 'f ac ,' s novels to entertain thnm. iho latest novel, with one or two exceptions, must come from tho circulating libraries. J cannot give ft ent homo except to tho vcrv best of them, and even these, must lie weeded out in time to givo placo to others hv ™e same authors perhaps.—H.F.S.. in the Westminster."