_And ye shall keep me until the fourteenth day. And it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this book. Send me away unto my master. Ex. xii. 6: Jer. li. 63: Gen. xxiv. 54._ [Illustration: THE PROPERTY OF THE Worcester Circulating Library Company.] Every one has suffered from book-borrowers, even from school-day times, when the rude doggerel,-- _Steal not this book for fear of shame,_ _For here you see the owner’s name_, or its variant, _Steal not this book for fear of strife,_ _For its owner carries a huge jack-knife_, was printed in coarse letters across the cover of the books most likely to go astray. How irritating it is to find the very volume one needs at the moment, missing from its accustomed place on the shelf; if anything is lacking to complete the torment of the discovery, let it be impossible to find out who has taken the desired volume, or to get any clew as to when it went or where! _Private Library of J. N. Candee Cole, This book is not loaned. Matt. xxv. 9._ _Read not books alone: but men, and be careful to read thyself. The property of John Lambert, South Reading._ _To Borrowers of Books._ YOU _remember, my friend, I freely comply’d With the favour you asked me, and fully relied On a favour from you, which, tho’ promised, I find, As it hasn’t been granted, is out of your mind, To return in due time what I’ve wanted to see, The Book, which ’tis long since you borrow’d of me. Another I now with reluctance implore, ’Tis only to ask that you borrow no more._ _Stolen from J. W. Houx_, _Book-keeping taught in three words, Never lend them._ The would-be borrower who finds these sentiments in the book he was about to ask for will scarcely be encouraged to do so, and for directness they are exceeded by only one example, in which the owner’s name is followed by the simple declaration, _He does not lend books_. The motto on the plate of the late _George Ticknor_--_Suum cuique, To every man his own_--was also calculated to discourage the borrower. But some people do lend books, and have them returned too,--in good second-hand condition. And so it comes about that the proper use of books is made the subject of another class of mottoes. _My Friend! Should you this book peruse,_ _Please to protect it from abuse:_ _Nor soil, nor stain, nor mark its page,_ _Nor give it premature old age:_ _And, when it has effected all,_ _Please to return it ere I call._ [Illustration: Daniel Greenleaf] The following verse is common property and is found on several plates:-- _If thou art borrowed by a friend,_ _Right welcome shall he be_ _To read, to study, not to lend,_ _And to return to me._ _Not that imparted learning doth_ _Diminish learning’s store,_ _But books, I find, if often lent,_ _Return to me no more._