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BOOKS. A book is far more than a few pages of paper on which words have been printed. A book that is worthy of the name is filled with the thoughts of the writer. Unfortunately, some books are filled with thoughts that are bad and injurious. But there are thousands of books published every year that are filled with thoughts of a high order that are helpful and inspiring. Some people have an idea that they may read any kind of books and think that they will not affect them. They might just as well cat any kind of food, wholesome and poison ous, thinking that it will not affect their bodies. Books should be read for one of three rea sons, for amusement, for improvement of the mind, or for the uplift of the soul. [Books that are read merely for entertainment are likely to be the most dangerous. Such books are often of poor literary character and set forth a low standard of morals. Such books may poison both mind and soul. A highly educated literary woman was asked if she had read a recent popular book. She replied, "No, I cannot afi'ord to read the writings of that author, as his poor literary style would injure my style." IIow much more is it true that books of low moral teachings will do harm to the reader. And so the books that are not true to the teaching of God's Word will injure the soul. On the other hand, there are many books that are uplifting to mind and soul. One who attempts to do without books will find his soul narrowed and his mind un developed. No one has all the knowledge that, he needs or can use. He may gain some knowledge from association with others, but Ihe knowledge that sinks down deepest into his mind is that which he finds stored away in a good book, and which he absorbs and makes his own by quiet, careful reading. One of the best means of growth in the Chris tian life is to learn and appropriate the thoughts of those who have lived close to God. No one can learn all of God's truth from his own study and experience. He needs the help of others who give forth from full hearts streams that refresh a thirsty soul. Books should be carefully selected. This may be done by the knowledge of the author, by the reviews published in reliable papers and magazines, and on the advice of wise friends who know the books. Most people are careful about the clothes and food they buy. The wise farmer gives much consideration to the buying of seed and stock for his farm. The same careful consid eration should be given to the buying of books, so that mind and soul may be nourished and store of wisdom may be accumulated. There was n?ver a time in the history of the world when as many books were published as there are at this time, and one of the gratify ing facts is that their general standard is be ing elevated. ARE TOO MANY OF OUR YOUTH ATTEND ING COLLEGE? This question is being seriously discussed by learned college presidents, and many of them assert that entirely too many young men and young women are rubbing their backs against the college wall. The reasons are that our colleges, especially in the North, are crowded with men who fill ihe rooms, but not the class-rooms; who set an < xtravagant pace in money matters and add a fashionable air that destroys the purposes of Ihe college. College attendance is looked on as necessary to social prominence. To have been to college marks a man as among the ""Who's "Who." If there are too many, and by too many they mean undesirables, the col leges are to blame. As a people we have gone mail after 4 'big ness." We think in billiQns of dollars. We count voters by the million. We despise any thing small. We assume that because ten thousand students are connected with a uni versity by affiliated schools and correspondence courses, it must be a great institution, the very place for a youth to go. The virus of this ambition has gotten into the veins of college presidents, so that few of them have the courage to limit the number of attendants. The idea abroad seems to be to get as many in as possible. The entrance units amount to but little. There is no really diffi cult entrance examination to most of them. The boy is passed along from a high school, which has as many studies as the old college curriculum, and as extensive a course; yet the boy slips on through. lie has the units, though perhaps his acquaintance with these studies is necessarily of a smattering character. The boy is m, and often he is lost in the absolute difference in methods of teaching. By reason of an elective system, the poor student drags through several years of college course. Why not make a mental test at the begin ning such as will determine the mental ability of the boy to take the course. A knowledge lest, to see if he has really mastered the studies necessary to doing creditable work, as well as physical test to determine both his physical defects and physical need. If these examina tions were made sufficiently rigid, the number getting in would shrink considerably. Then, if at the end of a few months, or even a year, it was seen that the boy could not get through, or derive any benefits from re maining in college, demit him home without disgrace. It will take courage on the part of college executives to do this. It may cause some shrinkage in popularity. It may affect the in come of the institution, but it would certainly lift up the morale of the student body. The college world has gone mad over Ath letics. We spell it with a capital, because it is a sacred subject to many. We believe that many of our colleges are ceasing to exist as seats of learning, and are become arenas for fathletic sports. Some years ago a small col lege acquired an unusual football team. They won unexpected victories. We are told that next year the town in which the college is lo cated could not hold the boys who must needs go to such (?) a famous institution. No doubt its teaching was good, but Athletics brought lhe boys. As long as that is allowed, and col lege standings are determined by the games won, all the "A grades" that the Association of American Colleges may set up will amount to nothing. We have understood that a man who led a successful football team to victory has been employed by one of our Southern clleges as coach under a five-year contract at $35,000. He is paid twice what the professor is. Is it any wonder that the boy who studies {>nd is not on the team is despised, and our American colleges are come to be considered arenas for the development of brawn rather than brain, and so arc crowded? It is time our ecclesiastical authorities at ipast are saying to colleges, appealing to them for students and money, that Athletics must not occupy the primary place in your college life. When our colleges and universities become places of hard study and high thinking; when the man who stands at the head of his class stands higher than the captain of the football leam, or the member of a choice fraternity, there may not be too many students at the college, but there will not be so many of the indifferent and wrong kind. A. A. L. Contributed A VISIT TO THE OLDEST CAPITAL IN THE WORLD. By Rev. P. F. Price, D. D. The editor of the Presbyterian of the South, in an appreciated letter, writes: "I wish very much that our missionaries would write more for the Church papers. I know that you arc busy men, but 1 also know that your letters would do a great deal toward increasing in terest in the work in this country. When you missionaries come back to this country you spend most of your time, when I feel that you ought to be resting, in traveling over the coun try to speak to the people of a few churches. If you would put into the papers, from time to time, articles giving the striking incidents which you put into your speeches, there would not be the same necessity for your visiting the churches." I am sure that Dr. Campbell would not min imize the value of personal contact between the missionaries and the churches, but he is quite right about the paucity of missionary informmation sent from the field to our Church papers. One reason for this is the feeling on the part of not a few that when one writes to his own church, or to individual friends or groups of friends, he can use the personal pro noun and pass on personal incidents. But when one sits down to write for the papers there is a conscious or unconscious feeling of restraint in regard to telling things of a more or less personal nature. And, again, each one b absorbed so much in his own. personal work that it is hard to write on general topics. And it is often easier to do a little bit toward mak ing mission history than to write about it. Af ter all is said, however, it is neglect that is responsible for not writing more, and the edi tors are right to stir up our minds by way of remembrance. Inasmuch as I promised him to do better, you will let me first try to tell of a visit to another city. It is often remarked that new missionaries write more interestingly of things they see because of the fresher im pression on their minds. Older missionaries who have gotten used to these things fail often to tell the little things in which people are interested. Our first visit to Peking, which was unexpectedly made possible the past sum mer, gave us the opportunity of seeing things somewhat as a new-comer would do, and I ven ture to pass on to you three of the most out standing impressions made on my mind. The Altar of Heaven. Peking is one of the most interesting cities in the world. Some visitors spend weeks wan dering through all the points of interest in the city, going out to the summer palace, and absorbing the old world atmosphere, into which is being slowly injected a new and mod ern spirit. Wc were able to touch only on the high spots. The three deepest impressions left on my mind are the altar and temple of heaven, symbolic of ancient China; the Rocke feller Hospital and Medical School, symbolic of new China, and ^'Mother Stuart," a typical missionary who has seen both the old and the new. I wish I had the words in which to describe the impression made upon Mrs. Price and my self and (tfher new visitors who happened to be in the party that day, by the Altar and Temple of Heaven. You have no doubt read much about this famous spot, but to appre