SHORT COURSES.
When the reader has a special purpose in view, it is of the greatest advantage to arrange in systematic order the books that will be most helpful in the accomplishment of his purpose, study them one after the other, mark them, compare them, make cross references from one to another, digest and assimilate the vital portions of each, and seek to obtain a mastery of all that the best minds of the past have given us in reference to the object of his effort. For example: a person who has devoted himself exclusively to one line of ideas will be greatly benefited by reading a short course of books that will give him a glimpse of each of the great fields of thought. One who is lacking in humor should get a good list of fine humorous works and devote himself to them, and to the society of fun-loving people, until he can see and enjoy a good joke as keenly as they do,—not only to quicken his perception of humor, but that the organ of fun (the gland that secretes wit and humor) may be roused into normal activity. Again, if a gentleman finds that he does not appreciate Shakspeare, Dante, Irving, etc., as he sees or is told that literary people do; if he prefers his newspaper to the English classics as a source of pleasure and profit; if he sees little difference between Tennyson and Tupper, enjoys Bill Nye as much or more than Holmes, and is able to compare the verses he writes to his sweetheart with Milton without any very distinct feeling except perhaps a disgust for Milton,—if any of these things are true, he has need of a course to develop a literary taste.
In the three tables following will be found a suggestion of several important short courses, and others will be found on page 123 et seq.