And always he expresses his thoughts and his desires, in music, in art, in poetry. He is curious about himself, about Nature, about the stars and the waters and the depths of the earth, about his fellows, about the world before life came to it, about his soul and its fate, about the future of his race. He can bask in the sun after a good meal, just like any animal. Like an animal he will fight for food, for his young, to repel the stranger, to get into his possession things that he desires. But he can reflect on these things that he desires, or curb his desires when they are wicked. He lives according to his ideals of how a man should live, and multiplies his powers to enjoy the months. and years during which he lives on the earth and partakes of its benefits.

One of the chief sources of man's power to raise his life above that of the brute beasts, who do not know their ancestry or their period of life and death, lies in his command of self-expression. He reflects about things, can communicate his thoughts to his fellows, can set down his ideas of beauty and right action. His life, like that of animals, is concerned with what goes on in his immediate presence, with food and shelter and comfort. But he not only has found out how to insure his food and his comfort to a higher degree than the animals; he has also found joys and powers that animals know nothing about. He finds enjoyment not only in his immediate surroundings, but in a world of fancy and imagination. He can forget the present, his weariness of the struggle for food and life, his sorrow-for his very superiority to animals in love and sense of beauty makes him more subject to suffering than the beasts-he can forget all that surrounds him, if he will, in a world of imagination into which he can pass instantly. The animal, confronted by a crisis, can draw on no inspiring past in which his race has triumphed, but must meet it for himself alone. But man finds new powers born in him from his knowledge of how his fellows in far distant ages met life's difficulties bravely, or rejoiced in its beauty, or had faith in the future of the soul. What is more, the animal knows no law of relationship besides the instinct of

parenthood and even this is lost after a time, while man has discovered not only enormous gains to be won through coöperation with his fellows but also the joy that such coöperation brings. He has enlarged his self, developed a wider personality, through sympathy and service, through the brotherhood of the race. And, finally, he has found a larger and deeper personality through reflecting on his relation to Nature and the world in which he lives. He has learned how to make Nature serve him; he has also felt the magic and the mystery of flower and star, of the tempestdriven sea, of the silent pageantry of the summer night and the canopy of stars.

II

Before we go any farther, suppose we stop for a moment to think over what we have just been speaking about.

We are apt to think that the age in which we live is the most marvelous in the history of man because people, or most of them, live so much more comfortably than in earlier times. In Shakespeare's England, to go no farther back, travel was slow and dangerous; houses were cold, badly lighted, inconvenient; terrible diseases devastated whole provinces. Yet great men lived then, and great things were done then. The point is that unless we are careful we shall be in danger of thinking that the greatness of man in this twentieth century consists merely in material comforts and enterprises. An office boy can use the telephone, travel on fast trains, run an automobile. Shakespeare knew nothing of these things, knew nothing of a thousand wonders that are commonplace to us. But does the office boy tower above Shakespeare because of these things?

The fact is that the most vital differences between men and animals consist in things quite apart from what we call the conveniences of modern life. These things are memory and imagination.

Through memory men make use of their own past experiences and of the past experiences of the race. This means not only that great deeds live on, great achievements for human welfare, the victories of the human spirit, but also that whatever of progress toward greater human comfort

the selections. This book, of course, may be used in just the same way. But it is not intended for such use, as the program will show you.

The program is the Table of Contents. If you will look at it for a moment you will see that the book contains ballads, epics, dramas, short stories, lyrics, and prose selections of various sorts. You will find a part of one of the oldest poems in the world, the Odyssey of Homer, some ballads that belong to a very early and primitive type of English culture, and some poems that were written only the other day. You have, then, a considerable amount of literature at your disposal. We may omit, for the present, any discussion of the difference between literature and ordinary printed matter, stating only this fact: literature means not merely that which is printed, in contrast to that which is spoken, but it is "The expression of the facts of life, or of the interpretation of life, or of the beauty of life, in language of such enduring charm that men treasure it and will not let it die." Facts, interpretation, beauty-the selections in the following pages are built upon this relationship between literature and life.

But this is not all. You will observe that the book is divided into four parts, and that these parts deal with adventure, legend and history, the relations of man to his fellows, and the relations of man to Nature. The Introduction prefixed to each of these parts will bring out the meaning of these divisions. Just now only one thing is necessary, and this idea you should carry with you throughout your study. The general purpose of the book is to show how, through literature, men have put on record their ideas about this great adventure of living. No one who is worth anything is satisfied with mere existence. Such a life is mere prose. Man wants adventure, because through adventure he finds a means of realizing some of his ideals of what makes life interesting. Therefore, the first part of this book is devoted to some stories about adventures of all sorts. There is nothing serious here. They are just snapshots of scenes in all sorts of lives in all sorts of times, like the snapshots that you take

with your kodak on a summer vacation trip. They are to be added to the collection you have been making ever since you read with amazement of Jack Horner's exploits with the Christmas pie. You will continue to add to your collection as long as you live.

In the second part of the book, legend and history-also forms of adventurebecome means through which we may enter into the experience of the race. In many of these we see how men have sought to realize their fullest powers through some heroic deed.

In Part III of the book, man's effort to realize his ideals finds a different definition. It is not alone through the spectacular deed that a man comes to himself. He may bring out the best within himself through sympathy, through service, through cooperation. Democracy rests on this idea of coöperation of all for the good of all. It is not necessary to be a knight of Arthur's court in order to find the fullest expression of one's powers.

And finally, in Part IV the intimate relationship between man and Nature is brought out in a series of selections that show, on the one hand, how man interprets in terms of beauty the world in which he lives, and, on the other, how he makes use of the forces of Nature to give him enjoyment and safety.

For literature is the record of the adventures of the soul of man as he struggles to understand himself and the world in which he lives. It is one of the chief sources of right enjoyment and of right thinking. In it we find not merely a subject to be studied in school as a series of lessons, but a means of satisfying our curiosity about life, of living more lives than one. It opens a world of fancy and imagination into which we go at will, just as Ali Baba or Aladdin could enter the world of magic by using a charm. It opens a world of heroic action, through which the desire to do worthy things may be born in us. It opens a world of sympathy and service because it shows how men have sought for realization of their highest ideals through service to their fellows. And it brings enrichment through knowledge of the world of Nature,

a perception of the beauty of Nature and of the way in which Nature serves man as the genius of the lamp served Aladdin. Poetry, drama, story, all writing that men have preserved because of its beauty or its enduring worth, these are means for

recreation and for growth. By reading, man is lifted far above the realm in which animals pass their lives, and is taught how to crowd into his brief years enjoyment and experience that make rich his life and multiply his powers.

1. What evidence can you find that animals possess the power of communicating with each other? Give some illustrations from your personal experience. What is language? What can you find of its origin? (Try an encyclopedia, or use some book on the history of language. There is a fascinating chapter on this subject in Words and Their Ways in English Speech, by Greenough and Kittredge, pp. 1-6). What is the difference between the language of an uncivilized man, such as an Indian when the white men first came to America, and that of an educated man? What is the difference between the language used in a conference of technical experts, such as a group of engineers, and that used by a group of men who are discussing a national baseball championship?

2. What was the origin of writing? Give a definition. Look up the article "Writing" in the Encyclopedia Britannica or in some other similar work. Define some primitive means of communication, such as message-sticks, marked pebbles, picture-writing, and any others that you find.

3. One of the most widely used dictionaries defines four hundred thousand words. What does this fact suggest to you? Shakespeare used about fifteen thousand words. How many words does an untrained man use, do you suppose? What is the difference between recognizing the meaning of a word when you are reading a selection in a book and using it in your own writing

and speaking? Why is the addition of words to your vocabulary an important element in your education?

4. Sum up the results of your work by making a brief statement of the differences between an intelligent animal and an intelligent man so far as language, writing, vocabulary are concerned. 5. Name several ways in which men have recorded their past history. In what way may a poem be such a record? Name several poems that seem to you to have historical value.

6. In what ways are the telephone, the ocean liner, and the electric light illustrations of man's "power to ask questions of life and to get answers to his questions"? Show that these and other forms of what we call “progress” depend in part upon some sort of "records" or previous attempts to find answers to man's questions.

7. Does "progress"—that is, the possession of greater wealth, greater command over Nature, more conveniences-necessarily mean a higher state of civilization? What is the point of comparison between Shakespeare and the office boy?

8. How does memory enter into language, written expression, the progress of invention and discovery? How does imagination enter in? Is imagination a characteristic only of the poet or the novelist, or is it characteristic also of the inventor? Is it necessary in building up a great business?