An intimate and wide acquaintance with books is a work that will take a lifetime. Most young women under twenty have not had time to read very much, though it is a great advantage to them to have read a little. Schools and colleges act as guideposts along the roads to the treasure houses of literature. Ideally, they teach what to read and what to pass by. A young girl should be introduced during her school days to some of the most distinguished historians, dramatists and poets of her own tongue and have acquired some knowledge of Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth, Browning and Tennyson. A good, well-rounded introduction to English, Dutch, Spanish and American history needs to be had. She needs to have some idea of who Carlyle, Ruskin, Parer and Thoreau are. By having read the best, she has some discernment as to why it is the best.

Frankly, if she would admit her preference, unless she is a student born and bred, she will tell you that for pleasure she chooses a good novel. Here there is wide room for selection of topics or time periods. No one is obligated to waste an hour today over a worthless or wicked book because there are so many good books to choose from. The well-read girl has encountered Jane Austen and is surprised to discover that her heroines, except for a change of costume, fit very easily into twenty-first-century grooves. The wonderful Bronte sisters, writing their fiery romances from the subdued atmosphere of the Yorkshire moors, have revealed to her what genius can do unaided by fortunate accessories and have led her to the study of their lives. Discovering facts about an author’s life always makes their work more interesting. Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Villette are all illuminated when one reads what manner of education, what style of friendship and what home bringing-up the gifted daughters of Patrick Bronte had. The ordinary young woman does not feel obligated today to read Sir Walter Scott yet, lacking familiarity with his work, she cannot claim to be educated in English literature. Even though what was once a fascination may assume the guise of a task, she must read the Waverly novels, and submit herself to the spell of Scott’s lyrical muse; read “Marmion,” “Lord of the Isles” and “Lady of the Lake.”

If, in childhood, so many were not spoiled by reading stories and childish tales which simply amuse us without requiring mental effort, there would be more girls to enjoy books to which the compliment of attention must be paid. A multitude of childish books is a misfortune to children, though fairy tales are a good diet for young and old because they cultivate the imagination, a royal gift of God which we cannot too highly value.

The young girl must not overlook Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot and William Black, though she need not read every one of their works. A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, David Copperfield, and Bleak House will give her the freedom of the Dickens’ land; The Virginians, Henry Esmond, Fair and the Newcomes are masterpieces of that marvelous writer and magnificent man, William M. Thackeray, and she may read them more than once. From the shelf of George Eliot’s work she may choose a good and impressive array. A few of her titles are Daniel Deronda, Middlemarch, and Adam Bede. Some of William Black’s works include The Princess of Thule, Macleod of Dare, and A Daughter of Heth.

Among current writers of fiction, seek wise advice before you devote precious time to their study. Some ways to find good books are to find a book list that has suggested reading for your age level or on specific time periods. You could ask your mother what books she has read and would approve of you reading. A book has an immediate effect and as far-reaching an influence upon the receptive mind, as a bad companion; sometimes it makes a more indelible impression than any other bad companion can make.

On a girl’s own bookshelf in her own room, what shall we find? Probably the books she loves best. First and most important, her Bible. I hope we shall see a worn Bible, one which bears evidences of being read. Then, perhaps, a book of favorite daily devotions. It is like some sweet and lovely flower for every day picked from a great garden where grows herbs of many flavors and trees of the Lord’s own planting. She will have a school book or two, a story she has loved, a memoir she has found helpful. If there are two or three missionary biographies or a few books on travel and adventure, I would guess that she appreciates valor and heroism and takes an interest in the outside world. Her books will indicate her tastes and her character. They will show where she browses for her daily food; they will describe character as unerringly as a camera captures a face.

A well-furnished mind is like a beautifully appointed home; it has room for many things and must be kept with constant vigilance. Moth and rust mar and ruin the house in which no one lives. Simple neglect is more destructive than continual use. We often meet women who have ceased to grow because they have ceased to study, have ceased to be receptive and responsive. By forming the habit of reading and arranging for an hour with a good book in the day’s work, every woman, young or older, will increase her mental wealth and her facility to learn. A girl’s greatest charm is not in her graceful figure nor a beautiful grace; it is in her power to interest those whom she meets. To be an interesting woman one must have a bright and wide-awake mind. She must use her talents that they will increase. It is eternally true that to him that has, and exercises the gifts, more shall be given, while from him that has and does not use the gifts, there shall be a loss.

Girls, may I remind you to read your Bibles? Not merely a few hurried lines in the early morning and a few verses at night when you are half asleep, but, with listening ear and with a reverent eye, realizing that you are in God’s presence and that He is speaking to you, read the divine Word. Do not omit the Old Testament, nor forget the New; the one is the following out of the other and the two are interdependent. Nor read to criticize; rather come to the Book as they who are thirsty come to a well, as they who are weary, to a pillow, as they who are afraid, to a refuge. Learn the Bible by heart, whole chapters of it, and be assured the day will come when the precious bits of truth will be to you as the fine gold and the fadeless gem. Choose where you will; the whole Bible is God’s inspired message to humanity and you cannot read a single book without profit. Whatever other literature is noble, this is nobler. Whatever else be full of sweetness and light, this Book of God surpasses it. It is as a lamp on a dark night, as a brook in the desert, as a flower in the fallow field, as a star in the sky.

With other books you may safely trust yourself to take up the reading at odd moments or when you have time to fill. But the Bible should not be left to when the mood strikes you. It should be read seriously and at a stated time or times in your day. The morning seems to be at time that works well for most. Before the business of the day intrudes, while you are still rested after sleep, sit down for a little while and listen to God’s message to you. Read the Book before you pray and you will be able to pray with its counsel fresh in your mind. Make the daily closet service a habit not to be lightly broken, and do not leave your closet until you have read your chapter or your few texts if you have time for no more. Take a verse with you each morning as your motto for the whole day. Meditate by considering that particular verse and how it illumines your life. The Book is meant to give us our marching orders.

Margaret Elizabeth Sangster, Winsome Womanhood, Chapter Five: Her Books

What are your thoughts? What about this do you think is no longer true for girls of today? What do you think about her list of the “must reads” for all ladies? Are there any you know you need to make time for?

“No one is obligated to waste an hour today over a worthless or wicked book because there are so many good books to choose from.”

Are there books you’ve read that were a waste? Why are we sometimes tempted to spend time on a lesser book when there are so many good ones?

“A book has an immediate effect and as far-reaching an influence upon the receptive mind, as a bad companion; sometimes it makes a more indelible impression than any other bad companion can make.”

Do you agree or disagree? Why? How have you seen a book affect you more than you expected, in a negative or positive way? Why do you think books have this power?