American Book Keepers

Among the many points of superiority ef' the Ainerioan over peoplc of uny other nationality, must bc notcd bis ability to keep, under all circutLstances, a book which he has borrowed. Had tlio cu-tom been properly fostered abroad, Europe might perhaps compare favorably witli us, but the proud fact remains tliat she does not. In the first place, Europeans are uot generoi enough to leud books, or impudent enough to borrow them, whilo the Ainerican character ia big enough to develop both of these qualities to an astouisb.ing extent. A neighbor, who will not lor the world borrow five cents from you, will cheerfully send in for a volume ut' your Hume or Homer - he wants it just long enough to refresh his muuiory on a cejrtain passage. From that muuieut, unül the date of it return, time enough elapso to suffice for the rcfreshing of all the defeotivc memories that have existed in record time. The means by which the borrower will avoid rcturning that book, for which he really has no further use, are innumerable. Éïrst, be thinks he will make its return an excuse for a friendly cali ; tbeu he puta oft the cali eveniiig by evenipg, for otlier and more exbilarating social picasures, but insista tliai the book mu.st not be put into the "bookease, or it miirht he, forgetten. Sume evening, at bed time, lie remembera it, and enjoins bis wife to remind himofthat book tho very next dny ; the dutiful wife doos as requstod, and gota a snub for her pains. Fio:tlly tliat particular servant, wbo is mistress of the house, tuck the book into the iamily library, tille downward, and ns vory few men ever look into the hetórogeneousmassofalleged literature that cotist ilutes most home liliraries, that volume is as securely entombed as il' it were in tho secret chamber of the tiivut l'yramid. A quarter of a ceniury later, wlicD the owner hs nuhed that lamí where the only bocks are volume of record, and the borrower has fouud his home in tho place whtre books ureusclrss, untasd printed on mica sheets, souie descendaril of the formcr will find the lon lost volume on a cheap book stall, and wonder how in creation it got therc. Let liim bnrrow a book, and unies hisuonesty U exeeptional, he will find out, f ba will foilow the casi.