seems to have been almost neglected. Of "goody-goody" Sunday School
library books of an old-fashioned type, which are insipid and lacking
both in virility of thought and literary form, there are, alas, already
too many. What we need is something to take their place, something which
will furnish real literature, and yet which from subject matter and
manner of handling is specially adapted to what I still like to call
Sunday reading, a phrase which unfortunately seems to mean little to
most people to-day. Bearing this in mind, it is the purpose of this book
to gather together, in attractive form, such religious classics as are
specially fitted to interest and uplift young people.

There is a wide variety in so far as _subject matter_, _source_ and
_form_ are concerned, but a certain unity is given to the contents of
the volume by the religious note, which, whether brought prominently
forward or not, is found alike in all the selections.

The Bible has furnished directly or indirectly most of the _subject
matter_ here used. The biographies of various Scripture characters
appear in large numbers. Adam and Noah head the list, and Peter and
Paul bring up the end of a procession of worthies whose heroic deeds as
the servants of Jehovah will always appeal to the imagination of
youthful minds. But it is not with Bible characters only that this book
deals. The lives of Christian saints who entered upon their inheritance,
such as Christopher and Sylvester and Francis of Assisi, also have their
place, while yet more prominent are stories and poems based on some
Bible incidents. Even selections such as Hawthorne's Great Stone Face or
Wordsworth's Ode to Duty have their roots deep in the Bible, for they
can be understood and explained only by those who know the Revelation it
contains. In so far, then, as the subject matter of the volume is
concerned, either it or its inspiration can always be traced back to the