select something to read which in itself tends to stimulate interest. The room should be well ventilated; not too warm and not too cold for comfort. Between sixty-five and seventy degrees Fahrenheit is recommended. One should not be sleepy or tired, either mentally or physically. He should have had enough physical exercise to promote good circulation and to stimulate the bodily processes in general, but not enough to exhaust or diminish his energy. Any one who has difficulty in concentrating his thoughts might profit by selecting a book that is largely narrative and descriptive, and then compelling himself to have vivid images of the real things he is reading about. These images may be either visual or auditory, or both.

But

Good memory is partly determined by native characteristics of the individual brain. It may, however, be more fully determined by one's habits of thought. Cultivation of the memory comes indirectly through control of attention and association. Take care of attention and memory will take care of itself. attention should be directed towards the fundamental thoughts and their natural and logical relations. This takes time; and to be well done, requires prolonged mental discipline. Measure the extent and worth of reading by the thoughts stimulated, not by the pages covered. One chapter really read is worth more than a whole volume merely run through. What is most thought over and woven into precious experiences by numerous associations is most easily and permanently remembered. All one's spare time should not be taken up in reading. Part of it should be given to thinking over what has been read, and making it an organic part of one's life. Talking about the contents of what has been read with some one who is interested may be helpful to the understanding and to the memory.

It should not be assumed, however, that it is possible on first reading to get all the thought and feeling there is to be had out of a piece of good literature. It is both natural and desirable that with further study and mental growth one should get more profound thought and a richer appreciation. The mental result of reading is always the joint product of the author and the reader. While the printed page may remain the same, the reader ought to grow from year to year and thus get an ever better product from

reading the same page of really good literature. The fifteenth Psalm read at the ages of ten, fifteen, twenty, and forty years respectively, should yield a very different result in each case.

on the other hand, be an

The fact, then, that one is able to get new thought and inspiration on re-reading a book, after setting it aside for six months, is no cause for alarm. It may, indication both of the intrinsic value of the book and of the mental advancement of the reader. The opposite result would indicate either that the literature read is very poor, or that the reader is rather stupid. Literature is an expression of life; and life is very complex and many-sided. The associations suggested may never be exactly the same in any two readings of the same poem. Even during the same day the thought may vary greatly, since it is determined in part by the temporary moods of the reader.

"How can I turn what I read into life?” I am not sure that I understand the intent of this question. If it refers to the intellectual life, some suggestions on this point have already been offered, if to the moral life, it opens a broad field. Activity and motive taken together, are the index of the moral life. Thought and feeling gained through reading must, then, be turned into motive and action. Let no good thought or feeling escape without being expressed in some good act, performed through a worthy, unselfish motive. This can be done only by grasping principles, and then applying them in a manner appropriate to circumstances and conditions.

Salt Lake City, Utah.

WHAT THE CLOCK SAYS.

(For the Improvement Era.)

These bright little seconds are nuggets of gold.
The minutes are pails into which they are rolled.
The hours are the buckets; when each bucket weighs
A just portion, 'tis tipped to the measure of days;

Thence to the measure of weeks; and when

It teems to the brim, it is emptied again.

Thus they are rolled to the various spheres,

From the caldron of months to the cistern of years.

And time, like a mountain as firm as a rock,

Is built with the seconds that fall from the clock.

Prestige, renown, character, fame,

The zenith of mind, the strength of a name,

Are bought with these nuggets or won by your tears,
That you turn to the days, and the months, and the years.
Each shy little moment you pass with a frown

Puts a stone in the way, and a void in your crown.

A SUMMARY OF EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY.

BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER.

Great Britain.

At the opening of the year 1907 there are perhaps more questions of far-reaching significance to the peace and prosperity of Europe than at the beginning of any other year for the past century. In the first place, there is a struggle for alliances among the European powers, which clearly indicates some expectation of a great European war.

From this side of the Atlantic, Great Britain naturally takes a leading place in the interest manifested by the American people. There is some indication today that before long Great Britain may enter a great struggle for a change in the constitutional government of that country. At the recent election of parliament, the Liberals went into power by an overwhelming majority, and they represent the popular feelings in the government of the empire. This party proceeded at once to pass certain laws which represented the popular will as expressed at the ballot. The school question has been a burning question in England for many years. The Conservatives, or Union party, when in power had enacted laws providing for religious instruction in the public schools by the established church of England. Religious instructions are therefore given under the provisions of the law and at the expense of the government.

The Liberals proceeded forthwith to repeal this law in the House of Commons, and sent it to the House of Lords for its approval, and now the House of Lords is overwhelmingly Conservative in its political composition. It is said that at least threefourths of this House is made up of the Conservative party. As

all laws have to be approved by this hereditary body, it is quite natural that the Liberals should be at a great disadvantage; and this proved to be the case when the education bill was vetoed by the Lords. The Liberal party has therefore the alternative of submission to the veto of the House of Lords or an appeal by the dissolution of parliament to the voters of Great Britain. If reelected to office by a majority, the Liberals might proceed at once to pass again the education bill, and submit it a second time to the House of Lords. If the House of Lords again refuses to pass the bill, the House of Commons might declare the opposition of the House of Lords to be in defiance of the will of the people of Great Britain, and that henceforth the consent of the House of Lords in matters of legislation was not necessary to constitutional government of the English people. This would be in effect the dissolution of that hereditary body. It is, of course, quite likely that if the educational question were made a plain and direct issue before the people, in an election, the House of Lords would yield to the mandate of the people, and thus preserve its existence rather than to take chances.

The Liberal party has not proceeded to a test, and will probably try the House of Lords on a measure of home rule for Ireland -a measure of legislation which the House of Lords would be quite likely also to veto. Other differences may also arise between the Lords and the House of Commons, and thus the Liberals, in a dissolution of parliament, would have a number of issues on which to go before the people, and thus create a strong sentiment against the existence of the upper house of parliament, a sentiment that might result in the downfall of the House of Lords.

With respect to its foreign policy, Great Britain has made a wonderful change in her time-honored policy of "splendid isolation." Great Britain in past decades has considered her opportunities to take advantage of differences between European powers more valuable while standing aloof; and this has been largely the case, for England has profited by the wars of other nations without having herself to take any part in them. But new conditions have arisen, and the British have shown themselves, after all, the foremost statesmen of Europe.

For a long time England's leaders have seen the folly of con