The measure of a successful life is surely the amount of happiness, of true lasting pleasure which it has contained and which it has passed on to others. We do not count our years in terms of sorrow or vexation; we do not recall again and again our moments of failure or folly; only the bright and golden hours remain fast emblazoned in our memories, those days of sunshine and delight, when beauty and laughter sang in our hearts and the air was filled with music. Of all such days, those on which the friendly pages of some treasured author were first opened, or those when we reveled in the companionship of our favorite heroes of romance and adventure--those days indeed are among the brightest of all. The greater the number of red-letter days of such wonder and rapture, the greater the value of our lives, not only to ourselves, but to all who have shared them. In work and in play, at home and abroad, our undoubted ideal is that of finding perpetual joy in life. The Fountain of Youth, which Ponce de Leon vainly sought, is the quest of us all--we no longer seek to lengthen our lives, but instead we strive with might and main to fill them to the very brim with joyous thoughts and deeds. To be happy is to be forever young. THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK It is the easiest thing in the world to open the treasure-vaults of the Bank of England--if you have the combination; if you haven't, the task is hopeless. It is the easiest thing in the world to enjoy the most brilliant stories, the most laughable humor, the most heroic deeds that the world has known--if you know where to find them. "Where's something to read, something so interesting that I can forget how tired I am and what a hard day I had at the office?" There is the problem of almost every home in this country. Tired men and women must have some means of refreshing themselves, of forgetting their worries and trials for a time. They must rest and gather strength for the next day's work. Where are they going to get it? The purpose of this book is to give the owners of THE LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINMENT an easy answer to that question. Its opening pages contain some unusual notes on the oddities of literary folk and some suggestions for hours and hours of entertainment and amusement that will drive away care and fatigue unfailingly. The brightest stories and the most fascinating humor are put right on the table beside you, all you have to do is to turn to them according to the directions in these pages.