fund of useful ideas, facts, arguments, and illustrations, and a large
stock of common sense.

Every man who essays to speak in public should cultivate a judicial
mind, or the habit of weighing and estimating facts and arguments. Such
a mind is supposedly free from prejudice and seeks the truth at any
cost. Such a mind does not want this or that to be necessarily true, but
wants to recognize as true only that which is true.

In these days of multiplied publications and books of all kinds, when
printed matter of every description is soliciting our time and
attention, it is particularly desirable that we should cultivate a
discriminating taste in our choice of books. The highest purpose of
reading is for the acquisition of useful knowledge and personal culture,
and we should keep these two aims constantly before us. It is noteworthy
that men who have achieved enduring greatness in the world have always
had a good book at their ready command.

If you are ever in doubt about the choice of books, you would do well to
enlist the services of a literary friend, or ask the advice of a local
librarian. But in any case, be on your guard against books and other
publications of commonplace type, which can contribute nothing to the
enrichment of your mind and life.

It is desirable that you should own the books you read. The sense of
personal possession will give an interest and pleasure to your reading
which it would not otherwise have, and moreover you can freely mark such
books with your pencil for subsequent reference. It is also well to have
a note-book conveniently ready in which to jot down useful ideas as they
occur to you.