the best of companions, for they give of their pleasant stores and demand nothing in return. You can sit with them on your desk, or in your hand, or on your knee, and let them remain unnoticed as long as your idle mood lasts, and they will not be offended at your neglect. You can turn over their leaves, pausing here and there at a page at your will, or whenever a passage seems to accord with your varying humour, and they will take it all in good part, nor be hurt at your trifling with their feelings. They will add a sweet insouciance to your moments of delightful indolence, which are felt as the pleasantest experiences of life. As companions and acquaintances books are without rivals; and they are companions and acquaintances to be had at all times and under all circumstances. They are never out when you knock at the door; are never "not at home," when you call. In the lightest as well as in the deepest moods they may be applied to, and will never be found wanting. In the good sense of the phrase, they are all things to all men, and are faithful alike to all.

As teachers books hold a high and peculiar

place. They do not reward the quick and the dull alike; but they do not spoil the one with flattery, nor fill the other with despair by coldness or complaint. With what wonderful patience they watch over the often slow development of truth in the student's mind, and listen to the frequently reiterated questions which he puts! They are in no hurry to get through the lesson, and betray no irritation at the apparent lack of understanding in the laborious inquirer. He may rest as long as his tardy intellect needs for the gradual unfolding of the problem, the demonstration of and answers to which he cannot grasp at once; and no imperative voice will bid him leap over the gulf. He may return as often as he requires, and ask what questions he will, and never meet with an unkindly welcome, nor a harsh repulse. These

teachers have no stated times, no fixed hours at which you are to apply for their knowledge to be imparted. Whenever the thought arises that you now see the light dawning, that now you can track a truth to its lair, that now the clue is obtained which will lead you to the often-missed goal, you can turn to them for help, for guidance, for

confirmation, or disproof. They are always ready, always patient, always kind, generous, forbearing, sympathetic, and encouraging, whatever the subject, or whatever the branch of knowledge and learning on which you ask for instruction. Books are universal teachers, and they impart their knowledge alike to all, without the hope of reward, and are alike indifferent to the wealth or poverty of their scholars. The only passport to their favour is a love of knowledge; the only key which will unlock their hearts is a desire for wisdom; the only charter required to make you free of their rich demesnes is one in which you are entered- -a seeker after truth.

Books are also among man's truest consolers. In the hour of affliction, trouble, or sorrow, he can turn to them with confidence and trust. They will comfort him in adversity, soothe him in grief, cheer him in trouble, and console him in tribulation. He can tell them all his sorrow, and they will sweeten the bitter tear, release the anguishprompted sigh, and relieve the over-burdened heart. To them he can make confession and be sure of finding sympathy; can let his grief find

utterance in words without restraining the blessed flow so full of consolation and strength. With them he need not restrain the sigh, the tear, the sob, the groan which are the natural language of affliction, but which the presence of his fellow-man would compel him to suppress. With these consolers he can be natural and free, and consolation will come naturally and freely to reward his confidence and trust. They give sympathy without censure, pity without rebuke, and solace without limitation. From them the wounded heart may obtain the healing balm of comfort, and the afflicted spirit the calming influences of peace and rest. Books are the willing and most potent handmaidens of time in administering to the "mind diseased," and in plucking "from the memory a rooted sorrow;" and they are consolers who never weary of their good work, never betray a trust, and never reveal a confession.

As friends and companions, as teachers and consolers, as recreators and amusers books are always with us, and always ready to respond to our wants. We can take them with us in our wanderings, or gather them around us at our

firesides.

In the lonely wilderness, and the crowded city, their spirit will be with us giving a meaning to the seemingly confused movements of humanity, and peopling the desert with their own bright creations. Without the love of books the richest man is poor; but endowed with this treasure of treasures, the poorest man is rich. He has wealth which no power can diminish; riches which are always increasing; possessions which the more he scatters the more they accumulate; friends who never desert him, and pleasures which never cloy. In the future, when all that is in "this world amiss" shall be " unriddled," may we not hope that every human being will be blessed with the love of books!