He fed his spirit with the bread of books.

Markham’s line treats reading as a form of sustenance: books are “bread,” and the inner life—mind, conscience, imagination—is something that must be fed to grow. The metaphor elevates literature from pastime to necessity, suggesting that a person’s character and resilience are shaped by what they take in intellectually and morally. In Markham’s broader humanistic and reform-minded outlook, such nourishment is not merely private self-improvement; it is a quiet force that can enlarge sympathy and strengthen one’s capacity to confront hardship. The phrasing also implies discipline and regularity: a spirit is fed over time, by steady habits of reading.