There are a few children in every generation, as Mr. Bagehot
reminds us, who think the natural thing to do with any book is to
read it. "There is an argument from design in the subject," as he
says; "if the book was not meant to be read for that purpose, for
what purpose was it meant?" These are the young eyes to which
books yield up great treasure, almost in spite of themselves, as
if they had been penetrated by some swift, enlarging power of
vision which only the young know. It is these youngsters to whom
books give up the long ages of history, "the wonderful series
going back to the times of old patriarchs with their flocks and
herds"--I am quoting Mr. Bagehot again--"the keen-eyed Greek,
the stately Roman, the watching Jew, the uncouth Goth, the horrid
Hun, the settled picture of the unchanging East, the restless
shifting of the rapid West, the rise of the cold and classical
civilization, its fall, the rough impetuous Middle Ages, the
vague warm picture of ourselves and home. When did we learn
these? Not yesterday nor today, but long ago, in the first dawn
of reason, in the original flow of fancy." Books will not yield
to us so richly when we are older. The argument from design
fails.
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