This survey, already too long for the limited space of this Guide, yet far too brief to represent properly the aspect of the Britannica with which it deals, will have accomplished its purpose if it induces the possessor of the volumes to go to them when he needs relaxation. Articles of the kind described in this chapter, showing you how to make the most of leisure hours, are doubly serviceable, giving pleasure while they are being read, and again when their suggestions are carried into effect.

But it is not only in the articles dealing with recreation that Britannica reading insures future as well as present enjoyment. Lafcadio Hearn said it was worth while to visit Japan if only because what one sees there makes one’s dreams more beautiful all through later life. And so the fascination of history, of science, of biography, does not end, but only begins, with the reading which opens for you a gate leading into fresh fields. What you read this coming year, in any department of the Britannica, will be still, ten years from now, a source of pleasure, for knowledge, once acquired, brings continually renewed delight.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES