30 _ 1'
~v~4
i . I
Ex Libris
ONLY a thief, in my belief, ,  ,
Would lch what wasnt hisn. .
> - Whoever absconds with gilt-edge bonds 1  ,
Belongs by rights in prison. , .
People who steal, or pick a purse,
 Are justly considered crooks; .
But the honor system goes into reverse _, , ,
When it comes to borrowing books, . ,.
w. A friend whod quail at robbing the mail
 And cavil at graft or bribery, '
J Will look at your shelf and help himself -
. To a tome from your slender liberry._
Ill give it the best of sare, says he, i
 " u'And hurry it"back-timorrow', ~A m ,, _. ,
But that is the last youll ever see ,
' Of the book you let him borrow.
\ _ . V ,
 - Its never the type of ephemeral tripe _,
V , Youd lose of your own volition, _
Its part of a set or, sadderyet, . .
A limited rst edition.
Perhaps its the Kelmscott Faerie Queene,
An autographed work by Austen, ,
A Gutenberg Bible, spotless clean, 
Or a novel they bannedin Boston.
Who steals my purse steals trash, or worse,_
As somebody told Othello, , . 4
But to swipe a _tome from a friends own home
Is the mark of a caddish fellow, ' . g
For duller than peoplewho dont read books
And viler than those who burn them
' Are the barefaced, smiling gentleman crooks, . v
. Who borrow and dont return them. .
' NORMAN R. JAFFRAY;