of centuries, and the title of the book should be pronounced exactly as if they were English words: Mort Darthur. The first word is often spelled without the e. Little, almost nothing, is surely known about Sir Thomas Malory. But his wonderful book of old legends, tales, and stories has been re-printed again and again, since the first edition came from the press of Caxton, the first English printer. So popular are these tales of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, of Sir Launcelot and the other knights of the Round Table, that the Morte Darthur is still, after more than four hundred years, a profitable book for publishers to bring out.

Its scenes are cast in a land of enchantment, of wonder-working magicians, of forlorn queens and damsels held captive in high towers, of battles with strange knights in gloomy woods, of perilous assaults upon lonely castles. To read it is to take yourself far away from the tiresome realities of many of the modern novels. It is told in words and phrases as odd and unexpected to our ears as would be to our eyes the sight of a man in full armor walking upon the street at noonday. The book has a curious and wholly unintentional humor, which makes us smile at the author, even while we enjoy him most. Perhaps these are the reasons why the Morte Darthur is still read, year after year.

Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" is one of the books constantly recommended, but not so often read. Its lovers read it and read it again, but to many persons it is merely a "classic," a tiresome, big book in several volumes, which the "highbrows" like to talk about, and pretend they enjoy.

If you have had some such idea as this, but are willing to find out how much fun there really is in the life of the famous Dr. Johnson, go at it in a different way. Do not pick it up with the notion of reading it through from beginning to end

always a discouraging thing with a long book but turn to the index at the end of the last volume. You will remember that Boswell made up much of the book by recording Johnson's opinions on this and that, and by noting down conversations between the Doctor and himself. He even subjected himself to insult and derision in order to make his hero talk on any subject under the sun.

Look at the index entries until you find something that attracts your atten

tion. Here is one: "America and Americans" — what, you wonder, did Dr. Johnson think of them? You look it up: "Sir," said he, "they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging! And again: "I am willing to love all mankind - except an American!" he roared.

You will find him in a gentler mood if you read his replies to Boswell's whimsical inquiry about what he would do if he found himself shut up in a castle alone with a new-born baby. You may discover something of the absurd scientific opinions of his time if you look up the reference to "Swallows," and find that the learned man could deliver himself of. this bit of information: "Swallows certainly sleep all the winter. A number of them conglobulate together, by flying round and round, and then all in a heap throw themselves under water, and lie in the bed of a river."

But you find yourself reading on, turning the page, and following his arguments and pronouncements on other subjects. In the end it is extremely likely that you will read the greater part of this wonderful biography, and henceforth the words "Dr. Johnson" will call to your mind a vivid picture of the tremendous man, wheezing and roaring and rolling in his chair, battering down his opponents in argument. but leaving them, as his biographer leaves you, with a real sense of a great man, a faulty man, but nevertheless a noble one. You will have not only a mental image, but an acquaintance with him, such as you get with few men of the past. The average biography tells you that this or that man did such and such things: Boswell makes Dr. Johnson a permanent part of your knowledge, and he stands out almost as clearly in your mind as your own brother. You see him in his brown clothes and wig just as you see Napoleon in his gray coat and cocked hat — an interesting figure forevermore.

the time approaches for the close of the club season, the requests for a special programme for the last meeting become more urgent. Members wish to share with parents, neighbors, and other library clubswhen possible-some of the pleasure derived from the winter's work. So while the programme must differ from the regular one, and be enjoyable for the parents, it must also reflect the work, reading and general club interest, in order that the visitors may realize what the boys' and girls' Library, Literary, and Reading Clubs really are, and the standard they maintain.

Since this is the vote of the majority, the library club leaders try as far as possible to grant the wish. Each club appoints an "entertainment committee" to consult with the club leader. The members vote on choice of subject for debate, play, or recitation; and in some clubs of long standing, the members have entire responsibility for making up the programme and carrying it out.

The results of these "open meetings" have been most gratifying. They have aroused neighborly interest and pride in the local branch library, and given the community a clearer idea of the plan and scope of the entire library system. They have shown that each library reading club forms an interesting link, in a chain of forty-six such clubs, extending from Kings Bridge to the end of Staten Island. It has been difficult to make a selection from the many interesting programmes, but those chosen show the interests, work, and spirit of all.

The Boys' Literary Club of the 115th Street Branch challenged the boys of the Harlem Library League to a trial debate; the challenge was accepted, and the first debate between library clubs was held April 22, at the Harlem Library Branch.

While the judges rendered a fair decision in favor of the affirmative, the speakers on the negative side deserved high commendation.

The Waverly Club girls of the Hamilton Grange Branch, as a result of their winter's reading of The School for Scandal, She Stoops to Conquer, Barbara Fritchie, and Cyrano de Bergerac, decided to give four scenes from She Stoops to Conquer. The charm of the old comedy was most admirably portrayed by the girls, and the evening was a delightful one to audience and actors.

The Yorkville Club, while not organized and self-governing as are the clubs above mentioned, is, nevertheless, the oldest library club for boys. It has met regularly, twice a month, during the club season, for six years, to listen to stories. One evening, during the second year of the club, one of the members who was interested in magic and sleight of hand, gave an exhibition of his skill; and this year, this charter member, now a young business man, offered to entertain the club in the same way again, to show the boys how much he had improved. His offer was hailed with delight, voted to be the suitable entertainment for the last meeting, and the whole club turned out to do him honor. Three other charter members were also present, one coming all the way from Greenpoint to prove his allegiance to the "Yorkville Literary Club."

The closing exercises of all the clubs show much care and thought on the part of the club leaders and committees, and an earnest effort, free from the taint of prize-competition or reward, on the part of those giving the entertainment. Their only rewards are the happiness of self expression, giving pleasure to others, and expressing loyalty to the Library and the Library Club.

Art of cross-examination, by F. L. Well

man.

Describes one of the most interesting parts of a trial in court.

As others see us, by J. G. Brooks.

What foreign travellers have answered to the question: "How do you like America ?"

Autobiography, by Anthony Trollope. Frank and readable story of a novelist's life. Book of buried treasure, by R. D. Paine. True stories of pirate gold.

Careers of danger and daring, by Cleveland Moffett.

The work of the steeple climber, the diver, the fireman, the tamer of wild beasts, and others who go in daily peril.

Case of Oscar Slater, by Conan Doyle. Slater, the author says, is suffering life imprisonment, and narrowly escaped the gallows, for a crime he did not commit.

Chronicle of friendships, by Will Low. Story of an artist's life.

Cruise of the "Cachalot," by F. T. Bullen.

"I've never read anything that equals it in its deep-sea wonder and mystery." -Rudyard Kipling.

Diary, by Samuel Pepys.

One of the most curious books in the world. Perhaps the only diary ever written which was really intended for no one but its writer to see.

Discovery of America, by John Fiske. Not a dry history, but the romantic story of the uncovering, little by little, and century by century, of a new and strange world.

Father Damien, by R. L. Stevenson.

A flaming attack upon the slanderer of a dead saint.

Great Boer war, by Conan Doyle.

Makes a reader, who knows nothing of strategy and tactics, understand how a modern battlefield really looks.

History of our own times, by Justin McCarthy.

One of the most readable of modern English histories.

Hypocrites, by H. A. Jones.

A play, showing how all of us can advise other people to be virtuous.

Joseph Pulitzer, by Alleyne Ireland.

The last year of an extraordinary life.

Justice, by John Galsworthy.

A play that is said to have inspired an English cabinet minister to try to reform the prisons.

Letters of a diplomat's wife, by Mme. Waddington.

The author, an American, was the wife of a French statesman who had been educated in England. Together they saw many of the remarkable events in Europe during a period of twenty years.

Letters to his family and friends, by R. L. Stevenson.

The best letter-writer of his time chats with his friends on his life in Europe, America, and the islands of the Pacific.

Life of Benvenuto Cellini, by himself. Autobiography of a genius, who, quite in the manner of his time, "killed his man" on more than

one occasion.

Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain. In the same evening the German Emperor, and a Berlin hotel porter, told Mark Twain that this was his best book.

London to Ladysmith via Pretoria, by Winston Spencer Churchill.

How an English war correspondent reached the enemy's capital sooner than he wished.

Mrs. Dane's defence, by H. A. Jones. A play. Contains a remarkable scene between a noted criminal lawyer and the heroine.

Napoleon, the last phase, by Lord Rosebery.

The unhappy, years at St. Helena, when captive and captors made each other miserable, and Napoleon investigated plans of escape.

On many seas, by H. E. Hamblen.

First-rate yarns.

Prisoner at the bar, by A. C. Train. Peculiarities of law. What might happen "if the cook should steal the teapot," etc.

Real soldiers of fortune, by R. H. Davis. About William Walker, the famous filibuster, Major Burnham, the American scout, and others.

Reminiscences, by Carl Schurz.

His prison adventures in Germany, and his part in the American Civil War are especially absorbing. Sailing alone around the world, by Joshua Slocum.

Author built his own boat, and circled the globe in her.

Sailor's log, by R. D. Evans.

By "Fighting Bob," who

"Sat up in a conning tower
Bossing eight hundred men."

Second Mrs. Tanqueray, by A. W. Pin

ero.

A play.

Servant in the house, by C. R. Kennedy. A play.

Seven ages of Washington, by Owen Wister.

An informal biography, making Washington a human character. Told with poetic feeling.

Silver box, by John Galsworthy.

A play. The dramatist shows you the every day injustice of the world, and leaves you to ask yourself: What is to be done?

Sin and society, by E. A. Ross.

A description of modern grafters and corrup tionists, written with a pen dipped in vitriol.

Some strange corners of our country, by C. F. Lummis.

About the wonderland of the southwest; about the rattlesnake dancers, the self-crucifiers, the rivers of stone.

Story of my life, by Ellen Terry.

Tells, in Miss Terry's lively fashion, of the famous actors, artists, and literary folk she has known.

Talks in a library, by Laurence Hutton. The author talks not so much of books, as of the interesting men and women he knew and worked with.

Three Gringos in Venezuela and Central America, by R. H. Davis.

In the "banana republics", where revolutions are concocted over night.

Three plays for Puritans, by Bernard Shaw.

The plays are brilliant; the stage directions and the prefaces are, some think, even better.

Through the magic door, by Conan Doyle.

The door leads into the author's library, where he talks of his books.

True stories of crime, by A. C. Train. The Patrick case, and various peculiar crimes, described by a former assistant district attorney.

Twenty years of the Republic, by H. T. Peck.

American history in our own times, told in entertaining fashion.

Vagabond journey around the world, by H. A. Franck.

Author saw much of the working classes in every country he visited. His adventures in Ceylon and Burma are especially readable.

War-god, by Israel Zangwill.

The drama contains characters founded on those of Tolstoi and Bismarck.

White umbrella in Mexico, by Hopkinson Smith.

An artist's travels. A book that pretends to little, but really tells much.

With Kitchener to Khartum, by G. W. Steevens.

A narrative of marches and battles in the desert.

Words and their ways in English speech, by J. B. Greenough and G. L. Kittredge. Showing how much fun may be found in the dictionary.

"AS INTERESTING AS A NOVEL"

S interesting as a novel," is a phrase

biography, book of travels, or other dramatic narrative. It must be taken with a grain of salt- very few books are really as interesting as the best novels. For, taken at its height, the novelist's art shows us the characters and events of life made vivid by the great emotions, and illuminated by imagination, pathos, and humor. A fine novel holds the attention of the majority of readers in a way that no other book can.

Nevertheless, some writers present true narrative in a fashion almost as entertaining as the fictitious story of the novelist. Some books of this kind are named in the list printed above. They vary from plays which, of course belong to the class of fiction to such an ordinarily dry subject as etymology. The last book in the list is in that class. Most of them, however, are true stories of adventures at sea, descriptions of warfare, and history, biography, or travel. It is believed that nearly all of them are sufficiently human to justify the heading which placed over them.

has been

If you read "As others see us," you may care to look up some of the books mentioned therein, and read the full comments of the visitors to this country. Fiske's "Discovery of America" will, perhaps, interest you in reading his "American Revolution," or his "Critical Period of American History - the story of the years when the victorious American colonies were in almost greater danger than during the War. Another terribly "critical period” is told at length, but in thoroughly readable style, in Rhodes's "History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850."

Lord Rosebery's "Napoleon, the last phase" may make you wish to read the whole of Napoleon's career, by some of the historians like Sloan or Rose. The volumes by Carl Schurz can be matched by the autobiography of the diplomat, Andrew D. White, and of the senator, George F. Hoar. Ellen Terry's life suggests the biography of her great actorassociate, Henry Irving, by Bram Stoker, and Steevens's "With Kitchener to Khartum" leads one naturally to Lord Cromer's work on "Modern Egypt."

PHILOSOPHY

Including Ethics

Benson, A. C. Where no fear was. 1914. Contents: The shadow. Shapes of fear. The darkest doubt. Vulnerability. The use of fear. Fears of childhood. Fears of boyhood. Fears of youth. Fears of middle age. Fears of age. Dr. Johnson. Tennyson, Ruskin, Carlyle. Charlotte Bronte, and other essays.

Binet, Alfred, and TH. SIMON. A method of measuring the development of the intelligence of young children; authorized translation, with preface, by Clara Harrison Town. 1913.

Cabot, R. C. The Christian approach to social morality; three lectures on the consecration of the affections, and report of the commission on social morality. 1913.

Carrington, Hereward. The problems of psychical research; experiments and theories in the realm of the supernormal. 1914.

Croce, Benedetto. Historical materialism, and the economics of Karl Marx; translated by C. M. Meredith; with an introduction by A. D. Lindsay. 1914.

The philosophy of Giambattista Vico; translated by R. G. Collingwood. 1913.

Foster, W. T. The social emergency; studies in sex hygiene and morals; edited by William Trufant Foster; with an introduction by Charles W. Eliot. 1914.

Contents: The social emergency, Various phases of the question, by W. T. Foster, Physiological aspects, by William House. Medical phases, by A. C. Smith. Economic phases, by A. E. Wood. Recreational phases, by L. H. Weir. Educational phases, by E. O. Sisson. Teaching phases for children, by W. G. Eliot, and other essays.

Key, Ellen. The renaissance of motherhood; translated from the Swedish by Anna E. B. Fries. 1914.

Lyttelton, Edward. The corner-stone of education; an essay on the home training of children. 1914.

Eddy, G. S. The new era in Asia. 1914. Religious work with students in Asia. Galloway, George. The philosophy of religion. 1914.

Gardner, C. S. The ethics of Jesus and social progress. 1914.

Gottheil, R. J. H. Zionism. 1914.

Gould, Sabine Baring. The church revival; thoughts thereon, and reminiscences. 1914?

Hutchinson, W. M. L. The muses' pageant; myths and legends of ancient Greece, retold by W. M. L. Hutchinson. 1914? 3 v.

v. 1. Myths of the gods. v. 2. Myths of the heroes. v. 3. The legends of Thebes.