Sir Walter Scott, in lending a book one day to a friend, cautioned him to be punctual in returning it. "This is really necessary," said the poet in apology; "for though many of my friends are bad _arithmeticians_, I observe almost all of them to be good _book-keepers_." 129 AN EXPERIENCE AND A MORAL. I lent my love a book one day; She brought it back; I laid it by: 'Twas little either had to say,-- She was so strange, and I so shy. But yet we loved indifferent things,-- The sprouting buds, the birds in tune,-- And Time stood still and wreathed his wings With rosy links from June to June. For her, what task to dare or do? What peril tempt? What hardship bear? But with her--ah! she never knew My heart, and what was hidden there! And she with me, so cold and coy, Seemed like a maid bereft of sense; But in the crowd, all life and joy, And full of blushful impudence. She married,--well, a woman needs Someone, her life and love to share,-- And little cares sprang up like weeds And played around her elbow-chair. Years rolled by--and I, content, Trimmed my own lamp, and kept it bright, Till age's touch, my hair besprent With rays and gleams of silver light. And then it chanced I took the book Which she perused in days gone by; And as I read, such passion shook, That, I needs must surely cry. For, here and there, her love was writ, In old, half-faded pencil-signs, As if she yielded--bit by bit-- Her heart in dots and underlines. Ah, silvered fool, too late you look! I know it; but let me here record This maxim: Lend no girl a book Unless you read it afterward! --_F. S. Cozzens._ 130 We should make the same use of a book that the bee does of a flower; she steals sweets from it, but does not injure it. --_Colton._ 131 Be as careful of the books you read, as of the company you keep; for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as the latter. 132 BOOKS. If thou art borrowed by a friend, Right welcome shall he be, To read, to study, not to lend, But to return to me. Not that imparted knowledge doth Diminish learning's store; But books, I find, if often lent, Return to me no more. --_Murphy._ 133 BOOKS.