nity； unaware of degradation suffered。 Only by contrast with this thick…witted multitude can I pride myself upon my youth of endurance and of bat。 I had a goal before me； and not the goal of the average man。 Even when pinched with hunger； I did not abandon my purposes； which were of the mind。 But contrast that starved lad in his slum lodging with any fair conception of intelligent and zealous youth； and one feels that a dose of swift poison would have been the right remedy for such squalid ills。
XII
As often as I survey my bookshelves I am reminded of Lamb's 〃ragged veterans。〃 Not that all my volumes came from the second…hand stall； many of them were neat enough in new covers； some were even stately in fragrant bindings； when they passed into my hands。 But so often have I removed； so rough has been the treatment of my little library at each change of place； and； to tell the truth； so little care have I given to its well…being at normal times （for in all practical matters I am idle and inept）； that even the eliest of my books show the results of unfair usage。 More than one has been foully injured by a great nail driven into a packing…case……this but the extreme instance of the wrongs they have undergone。 Now that I have leisure and peace of mind； I find myself growing more careful……an illustration of the great truth that virtue is made easy by circumstance。 But I confess that； so long as a volume hold together； I am not much troubled as to its outer appearance。
I know men who say they had as lief read any book in a library copy as in one from their own shelf。 To me that is unintelligible。 For one thing； I know every book of mine by its SCENT； and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things。 My Gibbon； for exam