[Illustration: Title page]
GOLDEN TREASURY
_of_
FAMOUS BOOKS
A GUIDE TO GOOD READING FOR BOYS
AND GIRLS, AND FOR THE ENJOYMENT
OF THOSE WHO LOVE BOOKS
By
MARJORY WILLISON
TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF
CANADA LIMITED, AT ST. MARTIN'S HOUSE
1929
Copyright, Canada, 1929
By
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED
PRINTED IN CANADA
T. H. BEST PRINTING CO., LIMITED
TORONTO, ONT.
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FOREWORD
One day, a little more than a hundred years ago, a boy was walking
along a crowded street in London. It is likely that Dick Whittington
had walked on the very same street about the time when he heard Bow
Bells ring. But this boy was not thinking about the bells of London.
He had been reading a story in a book, and he was thinking of the
people in the story, especially of a man called Leander who swam
across the straits named the Hellespont.
The story of Hero and Leander is told in a poem. These two people
were in love with one another. But Hero, who was very beautiful, was
a priestess of Aphrodite, and she was not supposed to fall in love or
marry. Leander lived at Abydos, which is on one side of the straits
of the Hellespont. Hero lived in a high tower at Sestos, which is on
the other side of the straits. The shores are rocky and dangerous,
beautiful to look at, but hazardous for sailors and ships. Tides and
winds make it difficult to sail through the straits, and very
difficult at times to swim across from shore to shore. Leander used
to swim from Abydos to Sestos after nightfall to see Hero, who had
become his wife; and Hero, on her high tower, held a lighted lamp
that shone like a star to guide Leander so that he would not be
dashed on the rocks.
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The name of the boy who had been reading the story was Samuel Taylor
Coleridge. He was a country boy, the son of a clergyman, and he was
at a boarding school in London. The school was for boys whose
parents had not much money or who had no parents living.
On a school holiday, after breakfast, at which there was not a great
deal to eat, the boys who were boarders were sent out into London and
were not expected to come back until nightfall. Sometimes, they had
nothing to eat all day long until supper-time. Coleridge was one of
the boys who had to spend his holidays in this fashion.
On one holiday, Coleridge, as he walked along the crowded street,
began to imagine how it would feel if he were swimming the Hellespont
with Leander. You know how often we think when we are reading an
interesting book that we are living with the people in the story.
Being greatly absorbed in his thoughts, Coleridge began to move his
arms as if he were swimming. If he had been in a field by himself,
or on an empty street, no one would have minded. But Coleridge was
on a crowded street, and by and by one of his arms struck a man who
was passing, and his hand caught in the man's pocket. The man
thought that Coleridge, who was only a boy, was trying to steal from
him. However, he asked Coleridge a good many questions, and
discovered that the boy had been reading in a book the story of Hero
and Leander, and had been imagining that he was swimming across the
Hellespont.
When the man found that Coleridge loved reading, but could not get
the books he wanted easily, {vii} he took the boy to a library, which
was not a free library but one where people had to pay a fee, and the
man arranged for Coleridge to be allowed to read there.
Many stories are told of the different ways in which boys and girls
have found famous books which they have read with enjoyment, and
never forgotten. Another boy called Samuel--Samuel Johnson--had been
looking for apples that he knew were hidden somewhere. He climbed
upon a step-ladder to look behind the rows of books in his father's
book shop, and while he was looking for the apples he found
Plutarch's _Lives_. Very likely the boy Samuel Johnson began reading
the book, and forgot about the apples. Another boy once was told to
watch a fire, which was burning rubbish in a field, so that it would
not spread and burn the fences. He watched the fire for a while, but
he had a book in his pocket and presently he forgot to watch, and so
the fence was burned. Likely he was punished at the time, but years
after his friends used to tell the story, for the boy had become an
eminent man. How many of us have climbed into trees to read books in
a leafy solitude! Louisa May Alcott was one of the girls, later
known for her charming stories, who had a special tree into which she
used to climb, so that no one should interrupt her while she was
reading.
This book which you are reading now is meant to help you to find
books that you will enjoy. You may begin at the first chapter;
perhaps this is the best way. Or you may look at the list of
chapters, {viii} and try the one which seems to you most interesting.
But when you have read that chapter, come back to the beginning and
start over again.
Fairy tales and stories of marvels you will find described in Part
III, also stories of heroes, and such stories as _Alice in
Wonderland_, Kipling's stories, and Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, a
great book telling of knights and their adventures.
The books in Part I are wonderfully interesting. In this Part you
will find examples of some of the ways in which we may enjoy books of
famous authors, for instance, the work of novelists like Dickens and
Scott, and the plays of a great dramatist like Shakespeare. First,
we may read some of their stories or plays; then we may learn of the
lives of these authors, especially about that part of their lives
when they were young which is always interesting; and finally, we can
read of the world as it was when these writers lived in it and of the
effect their work has had on this world of ours.
Part II is about romance and adventure. In Part IV you will find
ballads and stories in rhyme or verse. Part V tells of some of the
greatest writers and their work. Part VI is meant to help boys and
girls to be good citizens, and to undertake all kinds of
responsibilities when they are men and women. In one of the chapters
of Part VI there is a list of books, many of which are biographies of
noted men and women, but there are also books about such subjects as
flying, inventions, science, hobbies, birds, flowers, gardens and
mountain climbing. The last chapter in Part VI tells of some books
of travel and discovery.
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The books in Part VII are specially enjoyable, because they are
intimate books; and you will find great poetry spoken of in Part VIII.
We do not all like the same books; and this is likely the best way,
for some books which may seem dull to us, other people find
interesting. What is important is for each of us to discover the
books we enjoy most.
So if we do not happen to like _Gulliver's Travels_ by Jonathan
Swift, there is no great harm done, although Dean Swift was a notable
writer. And if some of you do not care for Robert Louis Stevenson's
_Child's Garden of Verse_ now, the chances are that by the time you
are over sixty, you will think it a charming book, and you may even
repeat the verses aloud to your grand-children.
We never know when we may discover, hidden in the midst of dullness
perhaps, some gem of a story or poem; and this is one of the reasons
why most of us love reading, and will take a good deal of trouble to
find the books we enjoy.
Before you read this book, perhaps you had better ask yourselves the
question, what kind of books each one of you cares for most? And
then, after that, ask yourselves another question, what kinds of
books do you think you would like to enjoy? The last question is
worth considering with not a little care; for when we think about it,
we really set out on a journey into the world of books.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following authors, literary
agents and publishers, for permission to quote in this volume certain
excerpts as follows:
To Mr. Walter de la Mare and Messrs. James B. Pinker & Sons, for an
extract from "The Listeners"; to Mrs. James Elroy Flecker and Messrs.
A. P. Watt & Son, for an extract from the late Mr. James Elroy
Flecker's _Hassan_, and to Messrs. Macmillan & Co., Ltd., for a
quotation from _The Iliad of Homer_ (edited by Lang, Leaf and Myers)
and for a short passage from the late Mr. Thomas Hardy's _The
Dynasts_.
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CONTENTS
PART I
DICKENS, SCOTT, SHAKESPEARE, THE BIBLE
CHAPTER
I SOME OF DICKENS' NOVELS AND CHARACTERS
II CHARLES DICKENS: BOY AND MAN
III WHAT DICKENS DID FOR HUMANITY
IV THE WAVERLEY NOVELS
V SCOTT'S OWN STORY
VI THE TEMPEST AND OTHER OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
VII SHAKESPEARE: THE GREAT WORLD ITSELF
VIII STORIES FROM THE BIBLE
IX LIVING WATERS
PART II
ROMANCE AND ADVENTURE
X DUMAS. HUGO. STEVENSON
XI ROBINSON CRUSOE. LORNA DOONE. HEREWARD. WESTWARD HO! ROUND THE
WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS. TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA.
MIDSHIPMAN EASY. PETER SIMPLE. TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. THE
GOLDEN DOG
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XII LAVENGRO. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. TOM SAWYER. HUCKLEBERRY
FINN. KIM. SARD HARKER. THE LIVING FOREST
PART III
SONGS OF HEROES, MYTHS, FAIRY TALES AND MARVELS
XIII THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY. GREEK HEROES. TANGLEWOOD TALES.
THE WONDER BOOK
XIV ÆSOP'S FABLES. GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES. HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY
TALES. THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. MALORY'S MORTE D'ARTHUR
XV ALICE IN WONDERLAND. THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS. THE GOLDEN AGE.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. FOUR BOOKS BY A. A. MILNE. RIP VAN WINKLE
XVI THE JUNGLE BOOKS. JUST SO STORIES. PUCK OF POOK'S HILL.
REWARDS AND FAIRIES. THE BLUE BIRD. PETER PAN. KILMENY
PART IV
BALLADS, LAYS, AND STORIES IN VERSE
XVII PERCY'S RELIQUES. CHEVY CHASE AND THE BATTLE OF OTTERBOURNE.
SIR PATRICK SPENS. THE NORTHERN MUSE
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XVIII THE LADY OF THE LAKE. MARMION. JOHN GILPIN. EDINBURGH AFTER
FLODDEN. HORATIUS. THE ARMADA
XIX HIAWATHA. FRENCH CHANSONS IN QUEBEC. A CHRISTMAS SONG
PART V
SOME GREAT IMAGINATIVE WRITERS
XX DANTE. CERVANTES. SPENSER
XXI JOHN BUNYAN AND THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
XXII THACKERAY. MEREDITH. HARDY
XXIII JANE AUSTEN. GEORGE ELIOT. THE BRONTES
PART VI
HISTORY, POLITICS, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVEL
XXIV WHAT IS HISTORY?
XXV THE MEANING OF POLITICS
XXVI HISTORIES
XXVII BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON
XXVIII READING FOR WHAT YOU WANT To BE
XXIX TRAVEL AND DISCOVERY
PART VII
ESSAYS, CRITICISM, LETTERS, DIARIES
XXX CHARLES LAMB AND HAZLITT: ESSAYISTS AND CRITICS
XXXI LETTERS AND LETTER WRITERS. PEPYS AND OTHER DIARISTS
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PART VIII
POETRY
XXXII POETRY AND BEAUTY
XXXIII POETRY AND TIME
XXXIV READING FOR YOUR OWN COUNTRY. ENGLISH LITERATURE AND ITS
BRANCHES
AFTERWORD
INDEX
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PART I
DICKENS, SCOTT, SHAKESPEARE, THE BIBLE
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CHAPTER I
SOME OF DICKENS' NOVELS AND CHARACTERS
It is an odd reflection how silent a book may seem when it is waiting
on a shelf to be read. But once its covers are opened, and our eyes
follow the lines of print for page after page, voices speak, people
that we had not known before become familiar to us or old friends
give us greeting; thoughts, knowledge, events, pass from the silent
pages into our minds. Some books possess this property of rich and
glowing life in a high degree. No books surely have it more
abundantly than the novels of Charles Dickens.
Here are scores of friends for us, playmates, companions. If anyone
has a fit of loneliness, or should anyone be looking for change and
variety, let him open one of Dickens' novels. Which one will he
choose first? A boy or girl is well advised who takes, shall we say,
_David Copperfield_ or _Pickwick Papers_. One or the other will make
an excellent beginning. Having read one, or both, it is unlikely
that the reader will refrain from adding five, six, seven, eight, or
even twelve more novels by Dickens to the list of books he is happy
to remember having read.
What are the names of Dickens' other better known novels? _Nicholas
Nickleby_, _Oliver Twist_, _The Old Curiosity Shop_, _Barnaby Rudge_,
_Martin {4} Chuzzlewit_, _Dombey and Son_, _Bleak House_, _Little
Dorrit_, _A Tale of Two Cities_, _Great Expectations_, _Our Mutual
Friend_. But still we must add the Christmas books, for no one, old
or young, should lose the benefit of having read _A Christmas Carol_.
And there is also the unfinished novel _Edwin Drood_, probably more
talked of still than any other story of a mystery, new or old. It is
nearly sixty years since Dickens left the story incomplete, but how
gladly many people still would discover the secret ending that the
great novelist had planned in his mind.
Once read, Dickens' novels cling to the memory. The characters he
made inhabit this world of ours as substantially, it seems, as people
do who have been born not from imagination merely. As lately as the
spring of 1928 a London hotel, the Adelphi, changed owners. In a
brief history of the place a list of persons was given who had
visited it, ending with the remark that Mr. Pickwick had had his
first dinner there after being released from prison. The other
people mentioned were what we describe as historical characters. Mr.
Pickwick, although thousands of people know him so well that if they
met him on the street they could not possibly fail to recognize him,
is the miraculous product of Dickens' imagination. If you have not
read _Pickwick Papers_, in a few hours you too may know Mr. Pickwick,
and he will be for you also a lifetime friend.
When we read these stories for the first time, we must be prepared to
become acquainted with Dickens' characters much in the same way as we
meet strangers in everyday life. His people are {5} odd, exuberant,
amusing, extravagant; they are too strange to be true, we may say to
ourselves. But as we read on, we come to know them so well that the
oddness and queerness seem to wear off. We look into their hearts
and forget to be surprised by their extraordinary looks and
characteristics. Sam Weller is odd, but he is the most delightful,
amusing young man on his own, once boots at the White Hart Inn. Like
Mr. Pickwick, Sam lives in _Pickwick Papers_. No one could imagine a
better Sam Weller than Dickens' creation, for the simple reason that
to make a better Sam Weller is impossible.
It is a great, a glorious adventure to sit out of doors in summer, or
in a warm, quiet room in winter, and read one of Dickens' novels.
What happenings, what delightful, absorbing people, what a stir of
life, what laughter, gaiety, bravery, what wonderful meetings with
high and low fortune!
The world of Dickens' novels is a world of coaching days, of old
English roads and inns, of feasts and conviviality; a sporting world,
often hard and cruel, in which existed bad old customs against which
Dickens fought with all his might; a boisterous world of strange
adventures, great friendships, and measureless laughter. These books
are crowded with people, diverting and friendly, grotesque and
menacing, or grotesque outside but with golden hearts hidden behind
the queer exteriors, loving people, heartless people, beautiful
people, brave, true friends, friends of everybody.
We have already spoken of Mr. Pickwick and {6} Sam Weller, his man or
valet. Mr. Pickwick's benevolence, his goodness of heart, innocence
and simplicity make us love him more and more as the story unfolds.
Sam's wit and audacity, his extraordinary good humour and high
spirits, his devotion to Mr. Pickwick, his independence and
self-reliance, make Sam so real that he seems never far away. He is
always only round the corner of our minds and will appear jauntily as
soon as we think of him. In the one book, _Pickwick Papers_, there
are a dozen other characters only less wonderful than these two.
Would anyone prove at once how diverting and delightful such a book
can be, let him read of Christmas at Dingley Dell in chapter 28, or
the Adventure at the Great White Horse Inn, chapter 22, or the trial
of Bardell against Pickwick, chapter 34, or for natural feeling
simply expressed the lines in which Tony Weller, Sam's father, tells
of Mrs. Weller's death in chapter 52, or the downfall of Mr.
Stiggins, in the same chapter, or, in the last chapter of all, of
Sam's devotion to Mr. Pickwick.
Striking characters of a like description are to be found in all
Dickens' novels. _David Copperfield_ is probably the richest of all,
in this respect, although one can easily imagine a dispute amongst
the warm admirers of Dickens as to which novel is pre-eminent in the
possession of immortal characters. Those who love _David
Copperfield_ best can scarcely discuss the book with detachment; it
belongs, as it were, to such a reader's own special family life. The
novel holds a wonderful company of people: David himself, Peggotty,
her brother and nephew, Little Em'ly, {7} Mrs. Gummidge, Miss Betsey
Trotwood, Steerforth, Traddles, the magnificent Wilkins Micawber and
Mrs. Micawber, Uriah Heep, Miss Mowcher, Mr. Spenlow, Dora, and many,
many others. _David Copperfield_ was Dickens' own favourite among
his books.
In _Nicholas Nickleby_ is the infamous school, Dotheboys Hall, and
Wackford Squeers, the schoolmaster. Dickens' crusades for reform
will be considered in another chapter. But Mrs. Nickleby is one of
the most memorable of Dickens' foolish characters. Surely no other
writer has achieved so many delineations of the silly person,
masterpieces touched with an unerring hand. Yet, and this point is
perhaps the crown of Dickens' genius, these foolish characters of his
often reveal, before the novels to which they belong are ended, some
nobility of character, some goodness of heart, some greatness in
conduct or of nature which makes us bow before them as belonging to
the highest ranks of human nature. Toots in _Dombey and Son_ is a
very foolish person, but Toots saying goodbye to Florence Dombey
shows a chivalry comparable with that of Sir Philip Sidney.
Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness belong to _The Old Curiosity
Shop_. Barnaby Rudge and his raven Grip are easily found. Mr.
Pecksniff, Sairey Gamp and Betsey Prig, terrible examples of
hypocrisy and heartlessness, are from _Martin Chuzslewit_. But the
same book has loveable Tom Pinch and indomitable Mark Tapley, the
champion of courage and good cheer in adversity. Tiny Tim and Bob
Cratchit live forever in _A Christmas {8} Carol_. Paul and Florence,
Captain Cuttle, Susan Nipper, Mr. Toots, Cousin Feenix, belong to the
crowded pages of _Dombey and Son_. _Bleak House_ is a wonderful
story; if one chooses Caddy Jellyby from its pages it is not because
a dozen other characters are not as interesting. In _Great
Expectations_ the boyhood of Pip is marvellously portrayed. Anyone
who has read _Our Mutual Friend_ can never forget Mr. and Mrs.
Boffin, or Lizzie Hexam, or the R. Wilfer family, or Silas Wegg, or
Mr. Venus, or the dolls' dressmaker, Jenny Wren, or Johnny the
orphan, and Mrs. Betty Higden and Sloppy.
It is a point not to be overlooked that Dickens takes his characters
from any occupation, but preferably, it would seem, from the
humblest. Goodness of heart, wit, humour, gaiety, stout-heartedness,
are proved by him to exist in the most depressing circumstances. His
heroes and heroines do not wear crowns or jewels. They are not
specially learned, and they are rarely wealthy or beautiful, but they
are good company, light-hearted, and kind-hearted. Love,
faithfulness, self-sacrifice, purity, sincerity, courage and
cheerfulness shine out from his pages so brightly and so engagingly
that we cannot but long to join the company of those who travel the
same road.
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