to the books of his own time not only
a trained instinct for sound work, but
a deep sympathy with the latest effort
of the human spirit to express itself in
new forms. So deep and real will be
his feeling for life that he will be eager
to understand and possess every fresh
manifestation of that life. However
novel and unconventional the new
form may be, it will not make its
appeal to him in vain.

It remains true, however, that liter-
ature is a universal art, expressive and
interpretative of the spirit of humanity,
and that no man can make full ac-
quaintance with that spirit who fails
to make companionship with its great-
est masters and interpreters. The
appeal of contemporary books is so
constant and urgent that it stands in
small need of emphasis; but the claims
of the rich and splendid literature of

[[273]]

p272 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p273w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p274

v?