In the books of this series the love story has little place, and into it sex problems do not enter. Its readers have not reached an age when such things are of serious moment, and there is enough good literature for them without dragging in or even admitting stories of passion and those that make their strongest appeal to the attraction of one sex for another. However, there is an abundance of sentiment, and the home feelings are recognized again and again; the love of parents for each other and for their offspring, the love of brother and sister, friendship, the pure affection of young people, love of home, of God, of country, all are subjects of the finest selections the language contains. Such are to be found in abundance. In the lists more latitude has been allowed, and while nothing has been included that may excite anything but the purest emotions, yet room has been made for many of the great novels that are real studies of the lives and characters of adults. These books, really written for older people, will have their message for the young, a message that will be amplified and perhaps changed entirely, when, after many years, the book is read again with no lessened interest. _Les Miserables_ was read once by a young boy whose attention was caught and held so strongly by the exciting story that he held himself through all the long, prosy meanderings with which Hugo has delayed the march of his plot. Some years later the same boy, grown to a college student, read _Les Miserables_ again with even greater interest. He remembered the story quite well, but the prosy meanderings had to his broadened intelligence become wonderful pictures of life, and even the book-long description of the Battle of Waterloo was fascinating, though its only function in the story was to say that one man saved another man's life. The boy, now a man in middle life, read Hugo's masterpiece a third time. Story and description were now secondary in interest, but the author's deep insight into human nature, his brilliant style and shrewd, kindly philosophy held the old reader more closely than had anything before. So will it be with many of the books in the list. If we are to make friends, let us meet them as early as we can, see them as often as we can, and cling to them as long as we can. In recommending books to children, parents will do well to remember that books in which young people are not interested will not be read in such a way as to be profitable. The books in these lists are all interesting in themselves, and there need be no fear that they will not be read. The child who has been trained after the manner indicated in these talks will need little further assistance in mastering these books. [Illustration: CHARLES KINGSLEY THOMAS MOORE JOHN TYNDALL ALEXANDER POPE THOMAS CAMPBELL DAVID LIVINGSTONE GEORGE MACDONALD] _Volume I_