,classics of ,american ,librarianship ,edited by ,,arthur ,e4 ,,bostwick1 ,ph4 ,d4 ,,the ,,library ,,and ,,society ,reprints of ,papers and ,addresses ,with ,notes by ,,arthur ,e4 ,,bostwick1 ,ph4 ,d4 ,new ,york ,the ,h4 ,w4 ,wilson ,company ,london3 ,grafton ,company #aibj ,published1 ,january1 #aiba ,,preface ,it may be desirable to repeat here the warning that the word classics in the title of this series is to be understood as meaning early and standard expressions of ideas that have later developed into prominence4 ,the papers and addresses in this volume have been chosen especially with this in view1 and as they emphasize social relations an effort has been made to include expressions from men of eminence whose names would not probably occur to the student of library economy as having expressed an opinion about the work of libraries or as having influenced it in any permanent way4 ,i desire to acknowledge the kindly assistance rendered in the selection and grouping of the articles by ,mrs4 ,gertrude ,gilbert ,drury1 chief instructor in the ,st4 ,louis ,library ,school4 ,it has been most valuable4 ,the original suggestion of this volume1 and of the character of its contents1 ,i owe to ,dr4 ,james ,i4 ,wyer1 ,jr41 ,director of the ,new ,york ,state ,library4 ,,arthur ,e4 ,,bostwick ,,contents ,,preface #e ,,the ,,library ,,and ,,society #ac ,,general ,,community ,,relations #ae ,the ,historical ,evolution of the ,free ,public ,library in ,america and ,its ,true ,function in the ,community2 ,dedication ,address at ,sage ,library4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhd1 p4 #dj7 #ag ,,moses ,,coit ,,tyler4 ,the ,library as a ,field for ,philanthropy4 7,extract from ,the ,best ,fields for ,philanthropy1 ,north ,american ,review1 ,december1 #ahhi47 #cc ,,andrew ,,carnegie4 ,the ,idea of a ,popular ,library4 7,life1 ,letters1 and ,journals1 ,vol4 #b1 #ahea47 #di ,,george ,,ticknor4 ,the ,function of a ,town ,library4 7,protection of ,majorities17 #ahge #ee ,,josiah ,p4 ,,quincy4 ,the ,free ,public ,library4 7,extract from ,men and ,women1 #ahhh47 #fc ,,thomas ,w4 ,,higginson4 ,two ,fundamentals4 7,library ,journal1 #ahif1 p4 #ddf47 #fg ,,mary ,,salome ,,cutler4 ,what a ,library ,should ,be1 and ,what ,it ,can ,do4 7,public ,libraries1 #ahii1 p4 #bfi47 #ge ,,melvil ,,dewey ,the ,public ,library in ,american ,life4 7,library ,journal1 #aije1 p4 #ibe47 #gi ,,hugo ,,munsterberg4 ,books and the ,public ,library2 ,dedication ,address of ,chelsea ,library4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhf1 p4 #aj47 #hg ,,james ,,russell ,,lowell4 ,the ,influence of ,good ,books2 ,dedication ,address1 ,spencer ,library1 ,mass4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhi1 p4 #chj47 #aja ,,robert ,,collyer4 ,books and ,life4 7,library ,journal1 #aijf1 p4 #bjc47 #aji ,,edward ,,asahel ,,birge4 ,address at the ,dedication of the ,boston ,public ,library4 7,orations and ,speeches1 ,boston1 #ahei2 ,vol4 ,,iii47 #abg ,,edward ,,everett4 ,address at a ,meeting in ,favor of the ,new ,york ,free ,circulating ,library4 7,library ,journal1 #ahij1 p4 #ajg47 #aci ,,grover ,,cleveland4 ,addresses at the ,opening of the ,wadsworth ,athenaeum ,library1 ,hartford1 ,conn4 7,library ,journal1 #ahic1 p4 #ah47 #ade ,,charles ,,dudley ,,warner4 ,,charles ,,hopkins ,,clark4 ,libraries as ,leaven2 ,dedication address1 ,madison ,public ,library4 7,american ,bibliopolist1 #ahge1 p4 #ahi47 #adi ,,james ,,davie ,,butler4 ,the ,free ,public ,library4 7,american ,magazine of ,civics1 #ahie1 p4 #dfi47 #afi ,,henry ,,hervey ,,barber4 ,,the ,,community',s ,,service ,,to ,,the ,,library #ahc ,the ,relation of the ,state to the ,public ,library4 7,transactions of the ,second ,international ,library ,conference1 ,london1 #ahih1 p4 #ai47 #ahe ,,melvil ,,dewey4 ,methods of ,securing the ,interest of a ,community4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhj1 p4 #bde47 #aic ,,william ,,eaton ,,foster4 ,,financial ,,support #aii ,free ,libraries3 ,an ,argument against ,public ,support4 7,a ,plea for ,liberty1 ed4 by ,thos4 ,mackay1 #crd ed41 ,london1 #ahid1 p4 #bfj47 #bja ,m4,d4 ,o',,brien4 ,arguments for ,public ,support of ,public ,libraries3 a ,rejoinder to the ,foregoing4 7,library ,journal1 #ahia1 p4 #ci1 ,conference ,no47 #bae ,,william ,,eaton ,,foster4 ,public ,libraries and the ,public1 with ,special ,references to ,san ,francisco4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhe1 p4 #bbc47 #bca ,,frederic ,,beecher ,,perkins4 ,the ,levy of ,library ,tribute2 ,presidential ,address to the ,a4,l4,a4 7,library ,journal1 #ahie1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #a47 #bdc ,,henry ,,munson ,,utley4 ,,alternatives ,,to ,,tax ,,support #bea ,if ,not a ,tax-,supported ,library--,what8 7,iowa ,library ,quarterly1 ,april1 #aijc1 p4 #ba47 #bec ,,anonymous4 ,cooperation ,between ,library and ,community4 7,university of ,new ,york1 ,home ,education ,bulletin #ca1 p4 #aca47 #beg ,m4 ,,anna ,,tarbell4 ,,boards ,,of ,,trustees #bfe ,library ,work from the ,trustees' ,standpoint4 7,library ,journal1 #ahij1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #bc47 #bfg ,,john ,,calvin ,,learned4 ,trustees of ,free ,public ,libraries4 7,library ,journal1 #ahij1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #ai47 #bga ,,charles ,,carroll ,,soule4 ,duties of ,trustees and ,their ,relations to ,libraries4 7,library ,journal1 #ahij1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #bd47 #bgi ,,samuel ,,swett ,,green4 ,,the ,,library',s ,,service ,,to ,,the ,,community #bhe ,some ,popular ,objections to ,public ,libraries4 7,library ,journal1 #ahgf1 p4 #de47 #bhg ,,william ,,frederick ,,poole4 ,how to ,use a ,library3 ,addresses at ,pittsfield1 ,mass4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhd1 p4 #be47 #big ,,james ,,mascarene ,,hubbard4 ,adaptation of ,libraries to ,constituencies2 ,world's ,library ,congress1 ,chicago ,exposition4 7,education ,bureau ,report1 ,chap4 ,,ix41 ,part ,,ii1 p4 #feh1 #ahib-ic47 #cjg ,,samuel ,,swett ,,green4 ,relation of ,free ,public ,libraries to the ,community4 7,north ,american ,review1 #ahih1 p4 #ffj47 #cae ,,herbert ,,putnam4 ,the ,public ,library3 ,its ,uses to the ,municipality4 7,library ,journal1 #aijc1 p4 #bic47 #cbi ,,john ,,shaw ,,billings4 ,the ,library3 a ,plea for ,its ,recognition4 7,international ,congress of ,arts and ,science1 ,st4 ,louis ,exposition4 ,library ,journal1 #aijd1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #a47 #ccc ,,frederick ,,morgan ,,crunden4 ,the ,library as a ,factor in ,modern ,civilization4 7,library ,journal1 #aijf1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #ah47 #cdc ,,william ,,herbert ,,perry ,,faunce4 ,,the ,,provision ,,of ,,books #cdi ,the ,librarian and ,his ,constituents4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhf1 p4 #bbi47 #cea ,,reuben ,,brooks ,,poole4 ,the ,usefulness of ,libraries in ,small ,towns4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhc1 p4 #bbg47 #cei ,,theresa ,,hubbell ,,west4 ,address at the ,dedication of the ,university of ,pennsylvania ,library4 7,library ,journal1 #ahia1 p4 #ajh47 #cfe ,,talcott ,,williams4 ,,collection ,,of ,,information #cgi ,libraries ,as ,bureaus of ,information4 7,library ,journal1 #ahif1 p4 #cbd47 #cha ,,samuel ,,swett ,,green4 ,the ,library ,friend4 7,library ,journal1 #aija1 p4 #aig47 #chg ,,winifred ,,louise ,,taylor4 ,,control ,,and ,,guidance ,,of ,,reading #cie ,probable ,intellectual and ,moral ,outcome of the ,rapid ,increase of ,public ,libraries4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhe1 p4 #bcd47 #cig ,,bradford ,,kinney ,,pierce4 ,possibilities of ,public ,libraries in ,manufacturing ,communities4 7,library ,journal1 #ahhg1 p4 #cie47 #dja ,,minerva ,,amanda ,,sanders4 ,presidential ,address1 ,lake ,placid ,conference4 7,library ,journal1 #ahid1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #a47 #daa ,,joseph ,,nelson ,,larned4 ,the ,library as an ,inspirational ,force4 7,public ,libraries1 #ahii1 p4 #ajb47 #dai ,,sam ,,walter ,,foss4 ,the ,use of the ,public ,library2 ,ryerson ,library ,dedication ,address4 7,library ,journal1 #aijd1 p4 #eib47 #dbe ,,james ,,burrill ,,angell4 ,,community ,,center ,,service #dca ,the ,library as a ,social ,centre4 7,public ,libraries1 #aijf1 p4 #e47 #dcc ,,gratia ,,alta ,,countryman4 ,the ,library and the ,social ,centre4 7,wisconsin ,library ,bulletin1 #aiaa1 p4 #hd47 #dci ,,lutie ,,eugenia ,,stearns4 ,where ,neighbors ,meet4 7,from ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library report1 #aiaf-ag47 #ddc ,,margery ,,closey ,,quigley4 ,what of the ,future8 7,library ,journal1 #ahig1 ,conference ,no41 p4 #e47 #dec ,,frederick ,,morgan ,,crunden4 ,,index #dei ,,the ,,library ,,and ,,society ,recent progress in all directions--political1 educational1 industrial1 hygienic--has been marked by the growth and strengthening of a social consciousness4 ,it is this chiefly that has differentiated the modern library from its predecessors and has made prominent our present insistence on the reader as well as the book1 as a fundamental element in what we are doing4 ,at first evident only in a general and somewhat vague recognition1 by writers and speakers1 of a vital relation between libraries and the communities that they serve1 it later crystallized into definite discussions of their reciprocal service--that of the community to the library1 consisting of financial1 material and moral support expressing itself partly in the appointment of adequate boards of trustees and their proper backing1 and that of the library to the community1 showing itself largely in the provision of books1 the collection of information1 the control and guidance of reading1 and so-called community-centre service4 ,these facts have guided the grouping and sequence of the papers and addresses that make up the present volume4 ,the authors1 it will be noticed1 include more statesmen1 publicists1 and professional men1 and fewer librarians1 than was the case with the two previous volumes1 thus reflecting the greater generality and wider interest of the subject4 ,,general ,,community ,,relations ,in the following group have been included papers and addresses largely by publicists or educators interested in libraries from the general civic standpoint1 and affected by the general trend toward what has been termed here socialization4 ,they have been loosely arranged in three groups--general ideas on the field1 function and possibilities of the library1 papers on books and their uses1 as affected or promoted by the library1 and general addresses1 chiefly at the opening of library buildings4 ,within these groups they are given in general in their chronological order1 although with some exceptions whose purpose will be self evident4 ,through them all runs the thread of consciousness that service to the community must be the primary object of the library1 although the breadth and extent of that service1 as it was destined later to grow and develop is not generally realized and in some cases doubtless would have been deprecated by the writers or speakers1 could they have foreseen it4 ,but in all these pronouncements we may clearly see the dawning light of a new library day4 ,,the ,,historical ,,evolution ,,of ,,the ,,free ,,public ,,library ,,in ,,america ,,and ,,its ,,true ,,function ,,in ,,the ,,community ,this comprehensive sketch1 by ,professor ,tyler of ,cornell ,university1 forms part of an address delivered at the dedication of the ,sage ,library1 at ,west ,bay ,city1 ,michigan1 ,jan4 #af1 #ahhd4 ,moses ,coit ,tyler was born in ,griswold1 ,conn41 ,aug4 #b1 #ahce and graduated at ,yale in #aheg4 ,he was professor of ,english at ,michigan ,university in #ahfg-ha and from the latter year to his death1 ,dec4 #bh1 #aijj1 held the chair of ,american ,history at ,cornell4 ,in this address1 ,prof4 ,tyler has added to his equipment as a philosophical historian his personal knowledge and experience of the service that a properly administered collection of books may render to a community4 ,looking over the entire course of ,american society1 from its rough and hardy beginning1 in the first years of the #agth century1 ,i find six distinct stages of development with reference to the possession and use of books by the people4 ,the first stage is that of private libraries2 the second is that of special institutional libraries1 like those of colleges and other learned corporations1 and intended for a limited and rather scholastic class in the community2 the third is that of association or joint stock libraries1 i4e41 libraries of a more miscellaneous and general character1 but for the use only of those whose names are on the subscription list2 the fourth is that of common school libraries2 the fifth is that of endowed libraries1 i4e41 public libraries founded and sustained entirely by private endowment and thrown open to the public without any cost whatever to the public2 and finally1 the sixth is that of free public libraries created1 it may be1 by private benefaction1 but sustained in part at least at the public cost1 i4e41 uniting the two elements of private help and public selfhelp1 and cherished by the public only as people will cherish that which costs them something1 and of which they have some sense of real ownership4 ,but before proceeding to inspect these successive forms of library evolution1 the fact should be distinctly brought out as applicable to them all1 that the ,american people started on their career in this country with an uncommon interest in books2 and say what one will about ,american philistinism and ,american devotion to the practical1 this people have always retained that ancient and primitive homage for books4 ,to an extent1 ,i think1 unapproached elsewhere1 they are1 and they always have been1 a bookish people4 ,in some other nations there is1 undoubtedly1 a larger leisurely class2 and among persons of that class there is a profounder and more extensive contact with books than is the case with us4 ,but while among most other nations1 the craving for books is the propensity of one class1 with us it may be fairly described as the propensity of all classes4 ,a certain tincture of bookishness has pervaded the ,american people from the beginning4 ,perhaps the most decided quality of ,american civilization has been its effort to unite the practical with the ideal2 its passion for material results ennobled by the intellectual and the spiritual2 its fine reverence for studiousness1 even amid the persistent fury of dollar-hunting4 ,and not only was this bookish trait visible in our colonial infancy but it may be said to have had an ante-natal origin4 ,the two ,englishmen who in the latter half of the #afth century did most to make possible the birth of ,american civilization in the first half of the #agth1 were ,sir ,humphrey ,gilbert and ,sir ,walter ,raleigh2 and both were men possessed by this large zest for ideas as well as for deeds2 both were contemplative men as well as active men4 ,the last glimpse that any surviving mortal had of ,sir ,humphrey ,gilbert1 before his ship went down in the sea1 was of that stern hero sitting calmly on the deck1 with a book in his hand1 cheering his companions by telling them that heaven is as near by water as by land2 and the last labor of ,sir ,walter ,raleigh1 before his judicial murder in the ,tower1 was to write one of the learnedest and stateliest books to be met with in the literature of modern men4 ,and this flavor of bookishness which belonged to these two great pioneers and martyrs of ,american colonization1 seems to have passed on to the men who successfully executed the grand project in which they had failed4 ,when you run your eyes along the sturdy list of the great colony-founders of the #agth century--the men who carried out the fierce task of conveying ,english civilization across the ,atlantic1 and of making it take root and live in this wild soil--,captain ,john ,smith1 and ,william ,bradford1 and ,winslow1 and ,robert ,cushman1 and the ,winthrops1 and ,dudley1 and ,hooker1 and ,davenport1 and ,roger ,williams1 and ,william ,penn1 you will find them all1 in some special sense1 lovers of books1 collectors of books1 readers of books1 even writers of books4 ,and what is true of the leaders of that great act of national transmigration is true also of the men of less note who followed in it4 ,the first ,american immigrants were reading immigrants--immigrants who brought in their hands not only axes and shovels1 but books4 ,their coming hither was due to the restlessness inflicted by the possession of ideas4 ,books were to them a necessary part of the outfit for the voyage and the settlement4 ,and so rare and so precious were books in those days that they were cherished as family treasures1 and handed down as heirlooms2 nay1 they were so dealt with in wills and in contracts as if they rose almost to the dignity of real estate4 ,in fact1 in those days1 the possession of an unusual number of books1 with the reputation of using them1 constituted a sort of patent of gentility1 and seemed to bridge the chasm between the most widely separated classes in society2 as when1 in #agbd1 a young mechanic1 named ,benjamin ,franklin1 arriving in ,new ,york on a sloop from ,newport1 is invited to the house of the ,governor of ,new ,york and is honored by him with a long and friendly interview1 for no other reason than that the captain of the sloop had told the governor of a lad on his vessel who had with him a great many books4 ,the governor received me1 says ,franklin in his autobiography with great civility1 showed me his library1 which was a considerable one1 and we had a good deal of conversation relative to books and authors4 ,this was the second governor who had done me the honor to take notice of me1 and for a poor boy1 like me1 it was very pleasing4 ,so ,i think ,i am justified in saying that we started on our career as a people with this underlying intellectual quality--a pretty general respect for books1 love for them1 habit of using them2 and this is the impelling moral force which prompts to the several efforts which society has made for providing itself with books4 ,now1 the first stage in the process of library evolution--and ,i have called it that of private libraries--was the prevailing condition of the ,american colonies during the whole of the #agth century and the first third of the #ahth4 ,this is the picture3 ,everywhere books1 but few1 costly1 portly1 solemn1 revered1 read over and over again2 every respectable family1 however poor1 having at least a few hereditary treasures in the form of books1 as in that of silver and choice furniture2 and here and there up and down the colonies1 an occasional luminous spot1 drawing to itself the wide-eyed wonder of the surrounding inhabitants1 the seat of a great private library1 belonging to some country gentleman1 or clergyman1 or publicist1 like that of ,colonel ,william ,bird1 of ,westover1 or of the ,reverend ,james ,blair1 of ,williamsburg1 or of ,dr4 ,cotton ,mather1 of ,boston1 or of ,james ,logan1 of ,philadelphia1 or of ,cadwallader ,colden1 of ,new ,york4 ,this is the first stage of library evolution4 ,and1 of course1 it has its pleasant aspects2 but surely there is here no adequate provision for the intellectual wants of the entire community4 ,very few persons in any community are rich enough to buy and own all the books they ought to have access to2 and the existence of great private libraries in a few wealthy households can no more supply this general need of books than the great private dinners which are given in the same households can keep the entire community from going hungry4 ,accordingly1 the second stage in the evolution of libraries is away from mere private ownership and use1 and is toward complete public ownership and use2 but it stops far this side of it2 it is the stage of special scholastic libraries1 collected by colleges and other learned corporations1 and intended for the particular use of the learned class--students1 investigators1 and specialists4 ,the earliest library of that sort ever formed in this country was begun at ,harvard ,college in #afch2 near the close of the #agth century1 another was begun at ,william and ,mary ,college1 and still another at ,yale2 thenceforward1 and especially during the past eighty years1 such libraries have been multiplying in the land1 so that at the present moment there are more than three hundred of them1 and a few of them are now really vast library collections4 ,the value of these libraries--who can doubt8 ,yet their direct value is only for a class2 they are scholars' libraries1 not people's libraries4 ,this will not suffice2 society cannot rest satisfied1 and will not rest satisfied until everywhere good books for all are placed within the reach of all4 ,the complete popularization of books is the goal4 ,so we come to the third stage of library evolution--that of libraries gathered and controlled by voluntary associations of people1 e4g41 joint stock associations1 but of course for the use only of those who subscribe to them and share in the expense4 ,here we have a natural step forward2 a goodly step2 a step in the right direction1 but still not far enough4 ,we shall all agree that this is the strong and hearty modern method of doing difficult things--the method of clubbing together to do something2 it is self-reliant1 social1 cooperative1 mutually1 helpful1 ,what the individual cannot do alone a club of individuals can do together4 ,thus the hardest and grandest achievements of our time have been brought about--vast railroads1 vast manufacturing and commercial enterprises4 ,and so men and women1 who could not singly get the books they wanted1 have joined forces and have got them by combination4 ,it is a notable fact1 however1 that this third stage of library evolution was not reached until more than a hundred years after the first colonies had been settled4 ,many of you1 doubtless1 in wandering about ,philadelphia--perhaps during our great centennial visit to that city--may have noticed the venerable building of the ,philadelphia ,library company1 and in the walls of it an old tablet with this inscription3 ,be it remembered in honor of the ,philadelphia youth 7then chiefly artificers7 that1 in #agca1 they cheerfully1 at the suggestion of ,benjamin ,franklin1 one of their number1 instituted the ,philadelphia ,library1 which though small at first1 is become highly valuable and extensively useful1 and which the walls of this building are now destined to contain and preserve4 ,now1 in reality1 that year #agca1 when that first subscription library was started in ,america1 begins a new epoch in the intellectual life of the ,american people1 the epoch of systematic cooperation for the procurement by the people of the great intellectual and spiritual boon of books4 ,immense results have followed from that example set in #agca4 ,therefore1 let us stop a moment longer1 and listen to ,benjamin ,franklin's own account of the way in which he came to think of that capital project4 ,at the time ,i established myself in ,pennsylvania1 there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of ,boston4 ,those who loved reading were obliged to send for their books from ,england2 the members of the ,junto had each a few4 ,we had left the alehouse1 where we first met1 and hired a room to hold our club in4 ,i proposed that we should all of us bring our books to that room2 where they would not only be ready to consult in our conferences1 but become a common benefit1 each of us being at liberty to borrow such as he wished to read at home4 ,this was accordingly done1 and for some time contented us4 ,finding the advantage of this little collection1 ,i proposed to render the benefit from the books more common by commencing a public subscription library4 ,i drew a sketch of the plan and rules that would be necessary1 and got a skilful conveyancer to put the whole in form of articles of agreement to be subscribed2 by which each subscriber engaged to pay a certain sum down for the first purchase of the books and an annual contribution for increasing them4 ,so few were the readers at that time in ,philadelphia1 and the majority of us so poor1 that ,i was not able with great industry to find more than fifty persons1 mostly young tradesmen1 willing to pay down for this purpose forty shillings each and ten shillings per annum4 ,with this little fund we began4 ,the books were imported2 the library was opened one day in the week for lending them to the subscribers1 on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned4 ,the institution soon manifested its utility1 was imitated by other towns and in other provinces4 ,the libraries were augmented by donations2 reading became fashionable2 and our people1 having no public amusements to divert their attention from study1 became better acquainted with books2 and in a few years were observed by strangers to be better instructed1 and more intelligent1 than people of the same rank generally are in other countries4 ,i think you will agree with me that this is a very striking bit of testimony1 too much so to permit us to hurry past it4 ,note these few things about it4 ,in the first place1 that device of ,franklin's1 started in #agca--what does it really signify in our history8 ,it signifies this4 ,it signifies a new departure for mankind--the application of the democratic spirit to the distribution of intellectual advantages4 ,these things called books--these bewitched and bewitching fabrics of paper and ink1 which somehow contain the accumulated thought of all nations and of all centuries1 and can communicate to us the noblest pleasures and the most godlike powers--these potent things1 in all the ages before1 had been accessible only to some few fortunate human beings--to a privileged class--to rich men who wished them--to scholars who could win their way to them--in short1 to an aristocracy of intellectual privileges4 ,but in #agca1 by that modest device of ,benjamin ,franklin1 the democratic spirit--the modern humane spirit--the spirit which in its true nature is a levelling spirit only in this grand sense that it levels upward and not downward1 and raises the general average of human intelligence and felicity--this benign and mighty democratic spirit1 ,i say1 which was then marching with gentle but invincible footsteps along all avenues and pathways of modern life1 and was laying its miraculous touch on church and state1 on kings and priests and peasants1 on the laws and law-makers and law-breakers1 on all the old activities of society1 on the old adjustments of human relations1 that spirit then began to touch this relation also1 the relation of man to the superb and royal realm of books4 ,and the first effect of that touch was what8 ,it was enlargement1 liberalization1 extension of intellectual opportunity for man simply as man4 ,hitherto books had been the privilege of the privileged class4 ,in effect1 ,franklin says3 ,they shall be so no more4 ,in this year #agca ,i set agoing a device concerning books which shall abolish the privileged class by making all classes privileged1 and shall finally result in placing the blessings of books within the reach of all4 ,but1 in the second place1 in that year #agca1 who was ,franklin who did all that1 and who were the persons who helped to do it8 ,he and they were young men2 obscure men1 poor men1 laboring men2 mechanics and tradesmen of the town where they lived2 young men just getting a start in the world4 ,so this new era in the brain life of the ,american people had its beginning with such as they were4 ,who of us1 therefore1 however modest be our lot in life1 has any right to say to himself1 ,i am not in position to do anything for the advancement of my race8 ,nay2 my brother1 think of young ,ben ,franklin1 the printer1 and his #ej brother mechanics2 remember what they accomplished2 and do not despair of being useful in your time also4 ,and in the third place1 this movement came from those young men associated together in a social debating club4 ,it was their experience in the actual discussion of the problems of human thought which made them feel the need of books and suggested this great measure for popularizing books3 a fact which fits in well with ,mr4 ,sage's idea of blending the two things together here2 of giving perpetual house-room and hospitality to a debating club1 here1 in the very midst of this library4 ,and now the fourth point is1 that the plan started by ,franklin and those other young mechanics in ,philadelphia1 in #agca1 the plan of joint-stock library associations1 worked so well there that1 as ,franklin tells1 it was taken up in other provinces4 ,naturally1 the new plan was adopted first in the towns where it was heard of first--the towns nearest to ,philadelphia4 ,but before many years1 the news of it had travelled far1 to the southward and the northward1 and whether consciously or unconsciously the model set up in ,philadelphia1 was imitated1 with more or less closeness1 in scores of places far away4 ,one curious example springs up in ,south ,carolina4 ,it is in the ,georgetown district1 then given to the growth of indigo4 ,a number of the planters came together and formed the ,winyaw ,indigo ,society4 ,their chief business was to have a pleasant time together and talk indigo2 they paid their initiation fees in indigo2 they paid their annual dues in indigo2 and presently they found their treasury so full and overflowing with indigo1 that they resolved to devote their surplus in part to the formation of the ,indigo ,society ,library4 ,then1 too1 at about the same time in ,charleston1 seventeen young men1 of very limited means1 desirous of seeing the best and freshest ,english magazines1 formed a club for that purpose1 and started with a fund of ten pounds sterling1 not venturing at first to hope to be able to purchase books also4 ,soon1 however1 their plan grew and took in books2 and from this small beginning arose the great ,library ,society of ,charleston1 which has ministered to the pleasure and benefit of the people of that place for nearly a century and a half4 ,but the ,philadelphia plan travelled northward as well as southward4 ,in #agdg1 at ,newport1 ,rhode ,island1 was formed1 also out of a discussion club1 the famous ,redwood ,library1 which lives and flourishes still4 ,in #agec the ,providence ,library was started on the same general plan2 in #aged1 the ,new ,york ,society ,library2 in #agfj1 the ,social ,library at ,salem1 ,massachusetts2 in #agfc1 similar libraries at ,lancaster and at ,portland1 ,maine2 in #agec1 a similar one at ,hingham2 and so on throughout the country4 ,one of the most curious of these joint-stock library associations was one formed in #agea in three parishes in the towns of ,york and ,kittery1 ,maine1 and called the ,revolving ,library4 ,it was not a circulating library--that being the name of a library from which the books circulate singly and in units2 but it was called a revolving library because the entire library was to revolve1 in bulk1 on its own axes1 in an orbit including the parsonages of the three parishes embraced in the scheme4 ,and thus this library began to revolve from parsonage to parsonage more than #acj years ago2 and it has been revolving ever since1 occasionally encountering some queer experiences1 as when1 about #ae years ago1 it was found by the new pastor of ,kittery ,point in the garret of the parsonage1 dumped down on the attic floor like a load of coal1 the wife of the former incumbent having had a prejudice against books for sanitary reasons1 considering them unhealthy1 and so being unwilling to have them in any living room where their presence might communicate diseases to the family4 ,this1 of course1 is a rather eccentric specimen of the class of libraries now under view4 ,a very good normal example of the class is furnished us by the social library of ,castine1 ,maine1 organized in #ahja2 and its articles of association ,i desire to read to you as exhibiting the scope and spirit of this whole movement for supplying the public with books through jointstock companies4 ,the articles of association are as follows3 ,it is proposed by the persons whose names are here subjoined to establish a social library in this town4 ,it is greatly to be lamented that excellent abilities are not unfrequently doomed to obscurity by reason of poverty2 that the rich purchase almost everything but books2 and that reading has become so unfashionable an amusement in what we are pleased to call this enlightened age and country4 ,to remedy these evils2 to excite a fondness for books2 to afford the most rational and profitable amusement2 to prevent idleness and immorality2 and to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge1 piety1 and virtue1 at an expense which small pecuniary abilities can afford1 we are induced to associate for the above purposes2 and each agrees to pay for the number of shares owned1 and annexed to his name at #e per share4 ,the first public library in the north-west was established by an association formed at ,marietta1 ,ohio1 in #agif4 ,then followed similar libraries at ,cincinnati1 and at ,ames1 ,athens ,county4 ,the latter1 which was formed as early as #ahjb1 had a curious origin4 ,it was popularly known as the ,coon-skin ,library4 ,the hardy pioneers of that township of ,ames met together1 it seems1 to consider the subject of roads2 and1 having considered it1 they proceeded to consider also the subject of books--a fine illustration1 ,i think1 of the blending of the practical and the ideal in the ,american character and in ,american civilization4 ,here were these sturdy pioneers projecting a public library even before they had got their public roads cut out and put in order4 ,what is called money hardly existed among them2 but they knew how to shoot bears and to catch coons and to take their skins1 and these skins could be sent to ,boston and sold for cash1 and the money invested in books4 ,this accordingly was done4 ,the noted politician1 ,thomas ,ewing1 then a boy at ,ames1 gives this account of the affair3 ,all my accumulated wealth1 ten coon-skins1 went into the fund1 the total amount of which proved to be about #ajj4 ,squire ,sam ,brown1 of ,sunday ,creek1 who was going to ,boston1 was charged with the purchase4 ,after an absence of many weeks1 he brought the books to ,capt4 ,ben ,brown's1 in a sack on a pack-horse4 ,i was present at the untying of the sack and pouring out of the treasures4 ,there were about #fj volumes1 ,i think1 and well selected2 the library of the ,vatican was nothing to it1 and there never was a library better read4 ,this1 with occasional additions1 furnished me with reading while ,i remained at home4 ,that is the stuff of which strong men are made1 and strong communities1 and mighty nations4 ,and what was done at ,marietta1 and at ,cincinnati1 and at ,ames1 was done in a multitude of other towns all over the north-west4 ,at ,vincennes1 ,indiana1 a library was started by similar means in #ahjg2 and one of the founders was ,gen4 ,wm4 ,henry ,harrison1 the hero of ,tippecanoe and hard cider4 ,that was the first public library established in ,indiana4 ,so1 too1 in ,michigan1 far back in its territorial days1 similar libraries were formed1 especially that of the ,young ,men's ,society of ,detroit4 ,but in ,michigan1 by far the greatest service in this direction has been rendered more recently by the ladies1 whose admirable library associations in such towns as ,ann ,arbor1 ,flint1 and ,kalamazoo have done much1 especially during the past twenty years1 for the literary improvement and enjoyment of the people4 ,but this third stage of library evolution1 good and useful as it has been during the past #aej years1 has this defect3 it does not offer books freely to all who would like books2 it is limited to those who participate in its privileges by paying for them4 ,therefore society pushed forward into a fourth stage of evolution--one still nearer to the grand object to be reached--the complete popularization of books4 ,this fourth stage was reached chiefly through a new idea entering into the case1 namely1 the duty of the state to help in providing books for the people who compose the state4 ,the principle is already admitted that the state must educate its citizens1 and for that purpose must sustain schools4 ,for the same purpose1 and on the same principle1 it must sustain libraries2 for these are but an annex to schools1 and the books in them are only a part of the necessary apparatus for public education4 ,in this way was started the fourth plan1 that of district school libraries1 a plan which for a while was hailed with delight as a real contribution to human progress and happiness2 which was eagerly adopted in this state and in many others2 but which has1 upon the whole1 resulted in failure4 ,the ,state of ,new ,york has the honor of having started this plan1 which was first publicly advocated by ,governor ,de ,witt ,clinton1 in his message for #ahbf4 ,in #ahch ,general ,john ,a4 ,dix1 then secretary of state1 was charged with the execution of the law giving to the school districts #ee1jjj a year to buy books for their libraries1 and requiring them to raise by taxation an equal amount for same purpose4 ,the system was received throughout the state with enthusiastic favor4 ,in #ahda the school libraries of the state reported the possession of #dbb1dei volumes2 in the following year1 #bjj1jjj volumes more2 and in #ahec they had reached the enormous number of #a1fjd1baj volumes4 ,the plan as advocated in ,new ,york soon passed over into ,massachusetts1 where it was taken up and advocated by ,horace ,mann1 that noble-minded and eloquent champion of popular enlightenment4 ,through his influence the necessary law was passed in #ahcg1 but the operation of the plan was never very successful in that state1 and after twelve years had resulted in the accumulation of only #db1gjg volumes4 ,michigan appears to have been abreast of ,massachusetts in the adoption of the plan of district school libraries1 incorporating it into its school law of #ahcg4 ,after ,new ,york1 ,massachusetts1 and ,michigan1 the several other states which adopted this plan did so in the following order3 ,connecticut in #ahci2 ,rhode ,island and ,iowa in #ahdj2 ,indiana in #ahda2 ,maine in #ahdd2 ,ohio in #ahdg2 ,wisconsin in #ahdh2 ,missouri in #ahec2 ,california and ,oregon in #ahed2 ,illinois in #ahee2 ,kansas and ,virginia in #ahgj2 ,new ,jersey in #ahga2 ,kentucky and ,minnesota in #ahgc2 and ,colorado in #ahgf4 ,these data will give you some idea of the wide extension of this fourth stage in library evolution4 ,its merits are very great4 ,perhaps its greatest merit is that it recognizes the true function of the public library as a part of the system of public education1 and therefore as entitled to a share in public taxation4 ,moreover1 it has undoubtedly done a vast amount of good in placing the means of intellectual improvement within the reach of millions of people of all ages2 it has stimulated the love of books and diffused knowledge and happiness4 ,and yet with all these merits1 it has been a failure2 and this is largely due to just three defects in administration3 #a4 ,lack of care and wisdom in the selection of the books1 resulting in the acquisition of many volumes of trash and of profligacy4 #b4 ,lack of care as to the distribution and return of the books1 resulting in their rapid dispersion and disappearance4 #c4 ,lack of care in the preservation of the books that were not strayed and stolen1 resulting in their rapid deterioration4 ,you have got to apply business principles to the handling of books1 as well as of any other material possessions4 ,libraries as well as sawmills need to be dealt with according to common-sense and with efficiency4 ,now upon the general failure of these libraries1 let me quote for you a little testimony4 ,the superintendent of schools in ,new ,york ,state1 in #ahge1 says3 ,the system has not worked well in this state4444 ,the libraries have fallen into disuse1 and have become practically valueless4 #a ,pub4 lib4 of ,u4,s41 i4 #da4 ,the superintendent for #ahfa says that in nearly every quarter of the state1 the libraries are almost totally unused and rapidly deteriorating4 #b ,pub4 ,lib4 of ,u4,s4 i4 #dj4 ,for #ahfb1 the superintendent gives a more detailed picture of the condition of the school libraries4 ,he finds them mainly represented by a motley collection of books1 ranging from ',headley's sacred mountains' to the ',pirate's own book1' numbering in the aggregate a million and a half of volumes1 scattered among the various families1 constituting a part of the family library1 or serving as toys for children in the nursery2 444 crowded into cupboards1 thrown into cellars1 stowed away in lofts1 exposed to the action of water1 the sun1 and of fire1 or more frequently locked away into darkness unrelieved and silence unbroken4 #b ,pub4 ,lib4 of ,u4,s4 i4 #dj4 ,this graphic picture of the failure of the system in ,new ,york is perhaps matched by a similar picture of its failure in ,michigan1 as drawn by our superintendent of education in #ahfi3 ,the books were distributed to the districts by the town clerk to be returned by the directors every third month for exchange4 ,this would now require more than #fj1jjj miles' travel per annum1 at a positive expense to the directors1 certainly1 of #ajj1jjj1 to say nothing of more than #aj1jjj days' time4 ,this was like putting two locomotives ahead of each other to draw a hand-car4 ,the result was the books were generally hidden away in the clerks' offices1 like monks in their cloister1 and valueless to the world4 ,and what kind of books were they8 ,some good ones1 doubtless2 but generally it was better to sow oats in the dust that covered those books than to give them to the young to read4 ,every year1 soon after the taxes were collected1 the state swarmed with pedlers1 with all the unsalable books of ,eastern houses--the sensational novels of all ages1 tales of piracies1 murders1 and love intrigues--the yellow-covered literature of the world4 ,finally1 the superintendent for #ahgc says3 ,the whole system seems to have come into general disfavor2 and is1 more than any other feature of our school system1 the one of which we are least proud4 ,now we come to the fifth stage in the evolution of libraries--that of libraries fully endowed by private generosity1 and thrown open to the public on such conditions as the founders have been pleased to indicate2 sometimes called patronymic libraries4 ,notable specimens of this class of libraries are the ,astor1 ,cooper1 and ,lenox ,libraries1 of ,new ,york1 and the ,peabody ,library1 of ,baltimore4 ,the note of this species of library is this3 it is for the use of the public entirely without cost to the public4 ,in short1 it is a library completely endowed1 not only as to the original expense of its erection and equipment1 but absolutely for all subsequent expense in its increase and administration4 ,concerning this species of library1 ,i have this to say3 ,it is a noble use to make of private wealth2 it does immense good2 but it is not the best final form of library evolution4 ,and for two reasons3 first1 the man who will completely endow a free public library does not arise in every community2 whereas1 every community needs a free public library4 ,and1 second1 the wholesomest kind of a gift is not that which does it all for the community and requires no exertion or sacrifice on their part2 but that which gives the community a good generous start1 but still leaves something for the community to do for itself4 ,in other words1 the healthiest sort of help1 whether for one man or for ten thousand1 is that help which helps a man to help himself4 ,and this brings us to the sixth and final form of library development4 ,it is the one which is the resultant of the two grand ideas2 primarily1 the recognition of the free public library as an essential part of the system of public education and therefore as a legitimate subject for public taxation4 ,this idea is essential to the most satisfactory form of a public library--the public must invest something in it4 ,but this idea can adjust itself to that other noble one--private liberality in aid of the public4 ,and it is in this final and most consummate form1 combining private help with public selfhelp1 that many of the most successful libraries in this country have been organized2 and yet it is only since #ahdh that such libraries have been possible4 ,for it was in #ahdh that the first state in our ,union1 ,massachusetts1 passed an act authorizing a municipality to tax itself for the support of a free public library4 ,since then many other states have followed with similar legislation4 ,so that it is only within the past thirty-five years that this grand result has been reached3 the systematic popularization of books under the direction of the municipality1 partially at least at the public expense1 and often in combination with private benefaction4 ,now1 it is this grand result that you have reached here in ,west ,bay ,city4 ,the library which you to-day dedicate to the perpetual service of the people1 and which we may believe will continue as long as society lasts here to do its serene and beneficient work for the instruction and delight of innumerable generations of mankind--this library represents the latest1 and ,i think we may say the most perfect and the final term in a process of library evolution1 which has been going forward on this continent for more than two hundred years1 and has involved1 as we have seen1 countless struggles and failures and sacrifices for the production of this single result4 ,ladies and gentlemen1 may ,i venture to express the hope that this study which we have now made of the process--the slow1 costly1 laborious process--by which this brilliant result has been made possible and easy for you1 in ,west ,bay ,city1 is something which will enhance even your pleasure in the acquisition of this noble library as well as your appreciation of the princely act of ,mr4 ,sage in his creative relation to it8 ,i trust it may enhance also your feeling of responsibility for the perpetual success of this library in the purposes for which it has been formed4 ,this library has been well organized2 but the working of it will depend upon you4 ,it is on one side of it a business concern2 and like any other business concern it will go to wrack and ruin unless it is conducted on sound business principles1 accurate accounting1 sharp supervision1 punctuality1 system1 order1 promptitude1 energy4 ,but more than ordinary business qualities are needed to make this library all that it should be4 ,recognize the true function of the free public library2 it is a part of a large system of public education4 ,it is but a co-ordinate department of that larger institution for public education--the people's university--including the ward schools and the high schools4 ,some of the fruitfullest and best work of those schools will be done in this library4 ,then1 too1 the public library stands for the wholesome truth that education is never finished and should not stop when one stops going to school4 ,the boy and the girl who graduate at the school do not desert the library2 they keep up and carry forward their intellectual training by a post-graduate course in the public library1 for the rest of their lives4 ,furthermore1 the free public library supplements the work of the free public schools by reaching those whom the schools never reached at all1 or only reached very slightly4 ,and that public library is never a complete success1 in which is not present in the officers a spirit of courtesy toward readers1 of sympathy1 of cheerfulness1 of patience1 even of helpfulness4 ,don't permit your library ever to be a dismal1 bibliographical cave1 in charge of a dragon4 ,let it always be a bright and winsome place1 hospitable to all orderly people2 a place where even those ill-informed about books will not be made embarrassed1 but encouraged4 ,let it be one of the most attractive places in town2 let it outshine in attractiveness the vulgar and harmful attractions of the bar-room and the gambling den2 let it grow up into the best life of the community1 a place resorted to by all1 loved by all1 a blessing to all4 ,,the ,,library ,,as ,a ,,field ,,for ,,philanthropy ,at a dinner given to ,andrew ,carnegie by the ,authors' ,league in ,new ,york1 he said3 ,they say ,i am a philanthropist4 ,i am no such foolish fellow4 ,nevertheless1 to the ,north ,american ,review for ,december1 #ahhi1 he contributed an article1 entitled ,the ,best ,fields for ,philanthropy1 in which he gives the ,library first place4 ,it is of course impossible to tell whether the title was his or a suggestion of the editor4 ,the extract printed here is interesting as embodying ,mr4 ,carnegie's gospel of help by self-help1 but also as giving credit to ,enoch ,pratt of ,baltimore as an earlier exponent of it4 ,andrew ,carnegie was born in ,dunfermline1 ,scotland1 ,nov4 #be1 #ahce4 ,he was brought by his family to ,pittsburgh1 ,pa4 as a boy of #ac1 and after working as a weaver's assistant and a telegraph messenger boy1 became an operator1 rose to be head of his division1 made money by organizing a sleeping-car company and after the ,civil ,war became an ironmaster1 retiring in #aija as a multi-millionaire4 ,much of his fortune he gave to build libraries1 almost always on the condition that the municipality should assure them a stated support4 ,he died in ,new ,york1 ,aug4 #aa1 #aiai4 ,the reception given to the first paper#a upon this subject1 to which our lamented friend1 the late editor and proprietor of this ,review1 was pleased to give the first place in the ,june number1 has been most encouraging to its author1 as it would surely have been to the editor had he been spared1 for he was most deeply interested in the subject4 #a ,wealth by ,andrew ,carnegie4 ,in the ,north ,american ,review1 ,june1 #ahhi4 99 99 99 99 99 ,before entering upon the question which you have proposed1 it may be advantageous to restate the positions taken in the former paper1 for the benefit of those who may not have read it1 or who cannot conveniently refer to it4 ,it was assumed that the present laws of competition1 accumulation1 and distribution are the best obtainable conditions2 that through these the race receives its most valuable fruits2 and1 therefore1 that they should be accepted and upheld4 ,under these it was held that great wealth must inevitably flow into the hands of the few exceptional managers of men4 ,the question then arose1 ,what should these do with their surplus wealth8 and the ,gospel of ,wealth contended that surplus wealth should be considered as a sacred trust1 to be administered during the lives of its owners1 by them as trustees1 for the best good of the community in which and from which it had been acquired4 ,it was pointed out that there were but three modes of disposing of surplus wealth1 and two of these were held to be improper4 ,first1 it was held that to leave great fortunes to children did not prove true affection for them or interest in their genuine good1 regarded either as individuals or as members of the state2 that it was not the welfare of the children1 but the pride of the parents1 which inspired enormous legacies1 and that1 looking to the usual results of vast sums conferred upon children1 the thoughtful man must be forced to say1 if the good of the child only were considered3 ,i would as soon leave to my son a curse as to leave to him the almighty dollar4 ,the second mode open to men is to hoard their surplus wealth during life1 and leave it at death for public uses4 ,it was pointed out that in many cases these bequests become merely monuments of the testators' folly2 that the amount of real good done by posthumous gifts was ridiculously disproportionate to the sums thus left4 ,the recent decision upon ,mr4 ,tilden's will1 which is said to have been drawn by the ablest of lawyers1 and the partial failure of ,mr4 ,williamson's purposes in regard to the great technical school which that millionaire intended to establish in ,philadelphia1 are lessons indeed for the rich who only bequeath4 ,the aim of the first article was thus to lead up to the conclusion that there is but one right mode of using enormous fortunes--namely1 that the possessors from time to time during their own lives so administer them as to promote the permanent good of the communities from which they have been gathered4 ,it was held that public sentiment would soon say of one who died possessed of millions of available wealth which he might have administered3 ,the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced4 ,the purpose of this article is to present some of the best methods of performing this duty of administering surplus wealth for the good of the people4 ,the first requisite for a really good use of wealth by the millionaire who has accepted the gospel which proclaims him only a trustee of the surplus that comes to him1 is to take care that the purpose for which he spends it shall not have a degrading1 pauperizing tendency upon its recipients1 and that his trust should be so administered as to stimulate the best and most aspiring poor of the community to further efforts for their own improvement4 ,it is not the irreclaimably destitute1 shiftless1 and worthless that it is truly beneficial or truly benevolent to attempt to reach and improve4 ,for these there exists the refuge provided by the city or the state1 where they can be sheltered1 fed1 clothed1 and kept in comfortable existence1 and--most important of all--where they can be isolated from the well-doing and industrious poor1 who are liable to be demoralized by contact with these unfortunates4 ,one man or woman who succeeds in living comfortably by begging is more dangerous to society1 and a greater obstacle to the progress of humanity1 than a score of wordy ,socialists4 ,the individual administrator of surplus wealth has as his charge the industrious and ambitious2 not those who need everything done for them1 but those who1 being most anxious and able to help themselves1 deserve and will be benefited by help from others and the extension of their opportunities at the hands of the philanthropic rich4 ,it is ever to be remembered that one of the chief obstacles which the philanthropist meets in his efforts to do real and permanent good in this world is the practice of indiscriminate giving2 and the duty of the millionaire is to resolve to cease giving to objects that are not proved clearly to his satisfaction to be deserving4 ,he must remember ,mr4 ,rice's belief1 that nine hundred and fifty out of every thousand dollars bestowed to-day upon so-called charity had better be thrown into the sea4 ,as far as my experience of the wealthy extends1 it is unnecessary to urge them to give of their superabundance in charity so-called4 ,greater good for the race is to be achieved by inducing them to cease impulsive and injurious giving4 ,as a rule1 the sins of millionaires in this respect are not those of omission1 but of commission1 because they will not take time to think1 and chiefly because it is much easier to give than to refuse4 ,those who have surplus wealth give millions every year which produce more evil than good1 and which really retard the progress of the people1 because most of the forms in vogue to-day for benefiting mankind only tend to spread among the poor a spirit of dependence upon alms1 when what is essential for progress is that they should be inspired to depend upon their own exertions4 ,the miser millionaire who hoards his wealth does less injury to society than the careless millionaire who squanders his unwisely1 even if he does so under cover of the mantle of sacred charity4 ,the man who gives to the individual beggar commits a grave offence1 but there are many societies and institutions soliciting alms which it is none the less injurious to the community to aid4 ,these are as corrupting as individual beggars4 ,plutarch's ,morals contains this lesson3 ,a beggar asking an alms of a ,lacedaemonian1 he said3 ',well1 should ,i give thee anything1 thou wilt be the greater beggar1 for he that first gave thee money made thee idle1 and is the cause of this base and dishonorable way of living4' ,as ,i know them1 there are few millionaires1 very few indeed1 who are clear of this sin of having made beggars4 ,bearing in mind these considerations1 let us endeavor to present some of the best uses to which a millionaire can devote the surplus of which he should regard himself as only the trustee4 ,first--,standing apart by itself there is the founding of a university by men enormously rich1 such men as must necessarily be few in any country4 ,perhaps the greatest sum ever given by an individual for any purpose is the gift of ,senator ,stanford1 who undertakes to establish upon the ,pacific coast1 where he amassed his enormous fortune1 a complete university1 which is said to involve the expenditure of ten millions of dollars1 and upon which he may be expected to bestow twenty millions of his surplus4 ,he is to be envied4 ,a thousand years hence some orator1 speaking his praise upon the then crowded shores of the ,pacific1 may repeat ,griffith's eulogy of ,wolsey1 ,in bestowing he was most princely3 ever witness for him this great seat of learning4 ,here is a noble use of wealth4 ,we have many such institutions1 ,hopkins1 ,cornell1 ,packer1 and others1 but most of these have only been bequeathed1 and it is impossible to extol any man greatly for simply leaving what he cannot take with him4 ,cooper1 and ,pratt1 and ,stanford1 and others of this class deserve credit and the admiration of their fellows as much for the time and the attention given during their lives1 as for their expenditure1 upon their respective monuments4 ,we cannot have the ,pacific coast in mind without recalling another important work of a different character which has recently been established there1 the ,lick ,observatory4 ,if any millionaire be interested in the ennobling study of astronomy1--and there should be and would be such if they but gave the subject the slightest attention1--here is an example which could well be followed1 for the progress made in astronomical instruments and appliances is so great and continuous that every few years a new telescope might be judiciously given to one of the observatories upon this continent1 the last being always the largest and the best1 and certain to carry further and further the knowledge of the universe and of our relation to it here upon the earth4 ,as one among many of the good deeds of the late ,mr4 ,thaw1 of ,pittsburg1 his constant support of the observatory there may be mentioned4 ,this observatory enabled ,professor ,langley to make his wonderful discoveries4 ,the professor is now at the head of the ,smithsonian ,institution1 a worthy successor to ,professor ,henry4 ,connected with him was ,mr4 ,brashear1 of ,pittsburg1 whose instruments are in most of the principal observatories of the world4 ,he was a common millwright1 but ,mr4 ,thaw recognized his genius and was his main support through trying days4 ,this common workman has been made a professor by one of the foremost scientific bodies of the world4 ,in applying part of his surplus in aiding these two now famous men1 the millionaire ,thaw did a noble work4 ,their joint labors have brought great1 and are destined to bring still greater1 credit upon their country in every scientific centre throughout the world4 ,it is reserved for very few to found universities1 and1 indeed1 the use for many1 or perhaps any1 new universities does not exist4 ,more good is henceforth to be accomplished by adding to and extending those in existence4 ,but in this department a wide field remains for the millionaire as distinguished from the ,croesus among milionaires4 ,the gifts to ,yale ,university have been many1 but there is plenty of room for others4 ,the ,school of ,fine ,arts1 founded by ,mr4 ,street1 the ,sheffield ,scientific ,school1 endowed by ,mr4 ,sheffield1 and ,professor ,loomis's fund for the observatory1 are fine examples4 ,mrs4 ,c4,j4 ,osborne's building for reading and recitation to be regarded with especial pleasure as being the wise gift of a woman4 ,harvard ,university has not been forgotten2 the ,peabody ,museum1 and the halls of ,wells1 ,matthews1 and ,thayer may be cited4 ,sever ,hall is worthy of special mention1 as showing what a genius like ,richardson could do with the small sum of a hundred thousand dollars4 ,the ,vanderbilt ,university at ,nashville1 ,tennessee1 may be mentioned as a true product of the gospel of wealth4 ,it was established by members of the ,vanderbilt family during their lives--mark this vital feature--during their lives2 for nothing counts for much that is left by a man at his death4 ,such funds are torn from him1 not given by him4 ,if any millionaire is at a loss to know how to accomplish great and indisputable good with his surplus1 here is a field which can never be fully occupied1 for the wants of our universities increase with the development of the country4 ,second--,the result of my own study of the question1 ,what is the best gift which can be given to a community8 is that a free library occupies the first place1 provided the community will accept and maintain it as a public institution1 as much a part of the city property as its public schools1 and1 indeed1 an adjunct to these4 ,it is1 no doubt1 possible that my own personal experience may have led me to value a free library beyond all other forms of beneficence4 ,when ,i was a boy in ,pittsburg1 ,colonel ,anderson1 of ,allegheny1--a name ,i can never speak without feelings of devotional gratitude1--opened his little library of four hundred books to boys4 ,every ,saturday afternoon he was in attendance himself at his house to exchange books4 ,no one but he who has felt it can know the intense longing with which the arrival of ,saturday was awaited1 that a new book might be had4 ,my brother and ,mr4 ,phipps1 who have been my principal business partners through life1 shared with me ,colonel ,anderson's precious generosity1 and it was when revelling in these treasures that ,i resolved1 if ever wealth came to me1 that it should be used to establish free libraries1 that other poor boys might receive opportunities similar to those for which we were indebted to that noble man4 ,great ,britain has been foremost in appreciating the value of free libraries for its people4 ,parliament passed an act permitting towns and cities to establish and maintain these as municipal institutions1 and whenever the people of any town or city voted to accept the provisions of the act1 the authorities were authorized to tax the community to the extent of one penny in the pound valuation4 ,most of the towns already have free libraries under this act4 ,many of these are the gifts of rich men1 whose funds have been used for the building1 and in some cases for the books also1 the communities being required to maintain and to develop the libraries2 and to this feature ,i attribute most of their usefulness4 ,an endowed institution is liable to become the prey of a clique4 ,the public ceases to take interest1 in it1 or1 rather1 never acquires interest in it4 ,the rule has been violated which requires the recipients to help themselves4 ,everything has been done for the community instead of its being only helped to help itself4 ,many free libraries have been established in our country1 but none that ,i know of with such wisdom as the ,pratt ,library1 of ,baltimore4 ,mr4 ,pratt presented to the city of ,baltimore one million dollars1 requiring it to pay #e per cent4 per annum1 amounting to fifty thousand dollars per year1 which is to be devoted to the maintenance and development of the library and its branches4 ,during the last year #dcj1bag books were distributed2 #cg1aif people of ,baltimore are registered upon the books as readers2 and it is safe to say that #cg1jjj frequenters of the ,pratt ,library are of more value to ,baltimore1 to the ,state1 and to the country than all the inert1 lazy1 and hopelessly-poor in the whole nation4 ,and it may further be safely said that1 by placing within the reach of #cg1jjj aspiring people books which they were anxious to obtain1 ,mr4 ,pratt has done more for the genuine progress of the people than has been done by all the contributions of all the millionaires and rich people to help those who cannot help themselves4 ,the one wise administrator of his surplus has poured his fertilizing stream upon soil that was ready to receive it and return a hundred-fold4 ,the many squanderers have not only poured their streams into sieves which never can be filled1--they have done worse2 they have poured them into stagnant sewers that breed the diseases which afflict the body politic4 ,and this is not all4 ,the million dollars of which ,mr4 ,pratt has made so grand a use are something1 but there is something greater still4 ,when the fifth branch library was opened in ,baltimore1 the speaker said3 ,whatever may have been done in these four years1 it was his pleasure to acknowledge that much1 very much1 was due to the earnest interest1 the wise councils1 and the practical suggestions of ,mr4 ,pratt4 ,he never seemed to feel that the mere donation of great wealth for the benefit of his fellow-citizens was all that would be asked of him1 but he wisely labored to make its application as comprehensive and effective as possible4 ,thus he constantly lightened burdens that were1 at times1 very heavy1 brought good cheer and bright sunshine when clouds flitted across the sky1 and made every officer and employee feel that good work was appreciated1 and loyal devotion to duty would receive hearty commendation4 ,this is the finest picture ,i have ever seen of any of the millionaire class4 ,as here depicted1 ,mr4 ,pratt is the ideal disciple of the ,gospel of ,wealth4 ,we need have no fear that the mass of toilers will fail to recognize in such as he their best leaders and their most invaluable allies2 for the problem of poverty and wealth1 of employer and employed1 will be practically solved whenever the time of the few is given1 and their wealth is administered during their lives1 for the best good of that portion of the community which has not been burdened by the responsibilities which attend the possession of wealth4 ,we shall have no antagonism between classes when that day comes1 for the high and the low1 the rich and the poor1 shall then indeed be brothers4 ,no millionaire will go far wrong in his search for one of the best forms for the use of his surplus who chooses to establish a free library in any community that is willing to maintain and develop it4 ,john ,bright's words should ring in his ear3 ,it is impossible for any man to bestow a greater benefit upon a young man than to give him access to books in a free library4 ,closely allied to the library1 and1 where possible1 attached to it1 there should be rooms for an art gallery and museum1 and a hall for such lectures and instruction as are provided in the ,cooper ,union4 ,the traveller upon the ,continent is surprised to find that every town of importance has its art gallery and museum2 these may be large or small1 but in any case each has a receptacle for the treasures of the locality1 which is constantly receiving valuable gifts and bequests4 ,the free library and art gallery of ,birmingham are remarkable among these1 and every now and then a rich man adds to their value by presenting books1 fine pictures1 or other works of art4 ,all that our cities require to begin with is a proper fireproof building4 ,their citizens who travel will send to it rare and costly things from every quarter of the globe they visit1 while those who remain at home will give or bequeath to it of their treasures4 ,in this way these collections will grow until our cities will ultimately be able to boast of permanent exhibitions from which their own citizens will derive incalculable benefit1 and which they will be proud to show to visitors4 ,in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in this city we have made an excellent beginning4 ,here is another avenue for the proper use of surplus wealth4 ,third--,we have another most important department in which great sums can be worthily used1--the founding or extension of hospitals1 medical colleges1 laboratories1 and other institutions connected with the alleviation of human suffering1 and especially with the prevention rather than the cure of human ills4 ,there is no danger of pauperizing a community in giving for such purposes1 because such institutions relieve temporary ailments or shelter only those who are hopeless invalids4 ,what better gift than a hospital can be given to a community that is without one8--the gift being conditioned upon its proper maintenance by the community in its corporate capacity4 ,if hospital accommodation already exists1 no better method for using surplus wealth can be found than in making additions to it4 ,the late ,mr4 ,vanderbilt's gift of half a million of dollars to the medical department of ,columbia ,college for a chemical laboratory was one of the wisest possible uses of wealth4 ,it strikes at the prevention of disease by penetrating into its causes4 ,several others have established such laboratories1 but the need for them is still great4 ,if there be a millionaire in the land who is at a loss what to do with the surplus that has been committed to him as trustee1 let him investigate the good that is flowing from these chemical laboratories4 ,no medical college is complete without its laboratory4 ,as with universities1 so with medical colleges2 it is not new institutions that are required1 but additional means for the more thorough equipment of those that exist4 ,the forms that benefactions to these may wisely take are numerous1 but probably none is more useful than that adopted by ,mr4 ,osborne when he built a school for training female nurses at ,bellevue ,college4 ,if from all gifts there flows one-half of the good that comes from this wise use of a millionaire's surplus1 the most exacting may well be satisfied4 ,only those who have passed through a lingering and dangerous illness can rate at their true value the care1 skill1 and attendance of trained female nurses4 ,their employment as nurses has enlarged the sphere and influence of woman4 ,it is not to be wondered at that a ,senator of the ,united ,states and a physician distinguished in this country for having received the highest distinctions abroad should find their wives from this class4 ,fourth--,in the very front rank of benefactions public parks should be placed1 always provided that the community undertakes to maintain1 beautify1 and preserve inviolate the parks given to it4 ,no more useful or more beautiful monument can be left by any man than a park for the city in which he was born or in which he has long lived1 nor can the community pay a more graceful tribute to the citizen who presents it than to give his name to the gift4 ,if a park be already provided1 there is still room for many judicious gifts in connection with it4 ,mr4 ,phipps1 of ,allegheny1 has given conservatories to the park there1 which are visited by many every day of the week1 and crowded by thousands of working people every ,sunday1 for1 with rare wisdom1 he has stipulated as a condition of the gift that the conservatories shall be open on ,sundays4 ,the result of his experiment has been so gratifying that he is justified in adding to them from his surplus1 as he is doing largely this year4 ,to any lover of flowers among the wealthy ,i commend a study of what is possible for them to do in the light of ,mr4 ,phipps's example2 and may they please note that ,mr4 ,phipps is a wise as well as a liberal giver1 for he requires the city to maintain these conservatories1 and thus secures for them forever the public ownership1 the public interest1 and the public criticism of their management4 ,had he undertaken to manage and maintain them1 it is probable that popular interest in the gift would never have been awakened4 ,the parks and pleasure-grounds of small towns throughout ,europe are not less surprising than their libraries1 museums1 and art galleries4 ,we saw nothing more pleasing during our recent travels than the hillside of ,bergen1 in ,norway4 ,it has been converted into one of the most picturesque of pleasure-grounds2 fountains1 cascades1 water-falls1 delightful arbors1 fine terraces1 and statues adorn what was before a barren mountain side4 ,here is a field worthy of study by the millionaire who would confer a lasting benefit upon his fellows4 ,another beautiful instance of the right use of wealth in the direction of making cities more and more attractive we found in ,dresden4 ,the owner of the leading paper there bequeathed its revenues forever to the city1 to be used in beautifying it4 ,an art committee decides from time to time what new artistic feature is to be introduced or what hideous feature is to be changed1 and as the revenues accrue they are expended in this direction4 ,thus through the gift of this patriotic newspaper proprietor his native city of ,dresden is fast becoming one of the most artistic places of residence in the whole world4 ,a work having been completed1 it devolves upon the city to maintain it forever4 ,may ,i be excused if ,i commend to our millionaire newspaper proprietors the example of their colleague in the capital of ,saxony8 ,scarcely a city of any magnitude in the older countries is without many structures and features of great beauty4 ,much has been spent upon ornament1 decoration1 and architectural effect3 we are still far behind in these things upon this side of the ,atlantic4 ,our ,republic is great in some things1--in material development unrivalled2 but let us always remember that in art and in the finer touches we have scarcely yet taken a place4 ,had the exquisite memorial arch recently erected temporarily in ,new ,york been shown in ,dresden1 the art committee there would probably have been enabled1 from the revenue of the newspaper given by its owner for just such purposes1 to order its permanent erection to adorn the city forever4 ,while the bestowal of a park upon a community as one of the best uses for surplus wealth will be universally approved1 in embracing such additions to it as conservatories1 or in advocating the building of memorial arches and works of adornment1 it is probable that many will think we go too far1 and consider these somewhat fanciful4 ,the material good to flow from them may not be so directly visible2 but let not any practical mind1 intent only upon material good1 depreciate the value of wealth given for these or for kindred aesthetic purposes as being useless as far as the mass of the people and their needs are concerned4 ,as with libraries and museums1 so with these more distinctively artistic works2 these perform their great use when they reach the best of the masses of the people4 ,it is worth more to reach and touch the sentiment for beauty in the naturally bright minds of this class than that those incapable of being so touched should be pandered to4 ,for what the improver of the race must endeavor to do is to reach those who have the divine spark ever so feebly developed1 that it may be strengthened and grow4 ,for my part1 ,i think ,mr4 ,phipps put his money to better use in giving the workingmen of ,allegheny conservatories filled with beautiful flowers1 orchids1 and aquatic plants1 which they1 with their wives and children1 can enjoy in their spare hours1 and on which they can feed the love for the beautiful1 than if he had given his surplus money to furnish them with bread1 for those in health who cannot earn their bread are scarcely worth considering by the individual giver2 the care of such being the duty of the state4 ,the man who erects in a city a truly artistic arch1 statue1 or fountain makes a wise use of his surplus4 ,man does not live by bread alone4 ,fifth--,we have another good use for surplus wealth1 in providing for our cities halls suitable for meetings of all kinds1 especially for concerts of elevating music4 ,our cities are rarely provided with halls for these purposes1 being in this respect also very far behind ,european cities4 ,the ,springer ,hall1 of ,cincinnati1 that valuable addition to the city1 was largely the gift of ,mr4 ,springer1 who was not content to bequeath funds from his estate at death1 but who gave during his life1 and1 in addition1 gave--what was equally important--his time and business ability to insure the successful results which have been achieved4 ,the gift of a hall to any city lacking one is an excellent use for surplus wealth for the good of a community4 ,the reason why the people have only one instructive and elevating1 or even amusing1 entertainment when a dozen would be highly beneficial1 is that the rent of a hall1 even when a suitable hall exists 7which is rare71 is so great as to prevent managers from running the risk of financial failure4 ,if every city in our land owned a hall which could be given or rented for a small sum for such gatherings as a committee or the mayor of the city judged advantageous1 the people could be furnished with proper lectures1 amusements1 and concerts at an exceedingly small cost4 ,the town halls of ,european cities1 many of which have organs1 are of inestimable value to the people1 when utilized as they are in the manner suggested4 ,let no one underrate the influence of entertainments of an elevating or even of an amusing character1 for these do much to make the lives of the people happier and their natures better4 ,if any millionaire born in a small village1 which has now become a great city1 is prompted in the day of his success to do something for his birthplace with part of his surplus1 his grateful remembrance cannot take a form more useful than that of a public hall with an organ1 provided the city agrees to maintain and use it4 ,sixth--,in another respect we are still much behind ,europe4 ,a form of beneficence which is not uncommon there is providing swimming baths for the people4 ,the donors of these have been wise enough to require the city benefited to maintain them at its own expense1 and as proof of the contention that everything should never be done for any one or for any community1 but that the recipients should invariably be called upon to do part1 it is significant that it is found essential for the popular success of these healthful establishments to exact a nominal charge for their use4 ,in many cities1 however1 the school children are admitted free at fixed hours upon certain days1 different hours being fixed for the boys and the girls to use the great swimming baths1 hours or days being also fixed for the use of these baths by ladies4 ,in inland cities the young of both sexes are thus taught to swim4 ,swimming clubs are organized1 and matches are frequent1 at which medals and prizes are given4 ,the reports published by the various swimming baths throughout ,great ,britain are filled with instances of lives saved because those who fortunately escaped ship-wreck had been taught to swim in the baths1 and not a few instances are given in which the pupils of certain bathing establishments have saved the lives of others4 ,if any disciple of the ,gospel of ,wealth gives his favorite city large swimming and private baths 7provided the municipality undertakes their management as a city affair71 he will never be called to account for an improper use of the funds intrusted to him4 ,seventh--,churches as fields for the use of surplus wealth have purposely been reserved until the last1 because1 these being sectarian1 every man will be governed by his own attachments2 therefore gifts to churches1 it may be said1 are not1 in one sense1 gifts to the community at large1 but to special classes4 ,nevertheless1 every millionaire may know of a district where the little cheap1 uncomfortable1 and altogether unworthy wooden structure stands at the cross-roads1 to which the whole neighborhood gathers on ,sunday1 and which is the centre of social life and source of neighborly feeling4 ,the administrator of wealth has made a good use of part of his surplus if he replaces that building with a permanent structure of brick1 stone1 or granite1 up the sides of which the honeysuckle and columbine may climb1 and from whose tower the sweet-tolling bell may sound4 ,the millionaire should not figure how cheaply this structure can be built1 but how perfect it can be made4 ,if he has the money1 it should be made a gem1 for the educating influence of a pure and noble specimen of architecture1 built1 as the pyramids were built1 to stand for ages1 is not to be measured by dollars4 ,every farmer's home1 heart1 and mind in the district will be influenced by the beauty and grandeur of the church4 ,but having given the building1 the donor should stop there2 the support of the church should be upon its own people2 there is not much genuine religion in the congregation or much good to flow from the church which is not supported at home4 ,many other avenues for the wise expenditure of surplus wealth might be indicated4 ,i enumerate but a few--a very few--of the many fields which are open1 and only these in which great or considerable sums can be judiciously used4 ,it is not the privilege1 however1 of millionaires alone to work for or aid measures which are certain to benefit the community4 ,every one who has but a small surplus above his moderate wants may share this privilege with his richer brothers1 and those without surplus can give at least part of their time1 which is usually as important as funds1 and often more so4 ,some day1 perhaps1 with your permission1 ,i will endeavor to point out some fields and modes in which these may perform well their part as trustees of wealth1 or leisure1 according to the measure of their respective fortunes4 ,it is not expected1 neither is it desirable1 that there should be a general concurrence as to the best possible use of surplus wealth4 ,for different men and different localities there are different uses4 ,what commends itself more highly to the judgment of the administrator is the best use for him1 for his heart should be in the work4 ,it is as important in administering wealth as it is in any other branch of a man's work that he should be enthusiastically devoted to it and feel that in the field selected his work lies4 ,besides this1 there is room and need for all kinds of wise benefactions for the common weal4 ,the man who builds a university1 library1 or laboratory performs no more useful work than he who elects to devote himself and his surplus means to the adornment of a park1 the gathering together of a collection of pictures for the public1 or the building of a memorial arch4 ,these are all true laborers in the vineyard4 ,the only point required by the ,gospel of ,wealth is that the surplus which accrues from time to time in the hands of man should be administered by him in his own lifetime for that purpose which is seen by him1 as trustee1 to be best for the good of the people4 ,to leave at death what he cannot take away1 and place upon others the burden of the work which it was his own duty to perform1 is to do nothing worthy4 ,this requires no sacrifice1 nor any sense of duty to his fellows4 ,time was when the words concerning the rich man entering heaven were regarded as a hard saying4 ,today1 when all questions are probed to the bottom and the standards of faith received the most liberal interpretations1 the startling verse has been relegated to the rear1 to await the next kindly revision as one of those things which cannot be quite understood1 but which meanwhile--it is carefully to be observed--are not to be understood literally4 ,but is it so very improbable that the next stage of thought is not to restore the doctrine in all its pristine purity and force1 as being in perfect harmony with sound ideas upon the subject of wealth and poverty1 the rich and the poor1 and the contrasts everywhere seen and deplored8 ,in ,christ's day1 it is evident1 reformers were against the wealthy4 ,it is none the less evident that we are fast recurring to that position to-day2 and there will be nothing to surprise the student of sociological development if society should soon approve the text which has caused so much anxiety3 ,it is easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the ,kingdom of ,heaven4 ,even if the needle were the small casement at the gates1 the words betoken serious difficulty for the rich4 ,it will be but a step for the theologian to take from the doctrine that he who dies rich dies disgraced to that which brings upon the man punishment or deprivation hereafter4 ,the ,gospel of ,wealth but echoes ,christ's words4 ,it calls upon the millionaire to sell all that he hath and give it in the highest and best form to the poor1 by administering his estate himself for the good of his fellows1 before he is called upon to lie down and rest upon the bosom of ,mother ,earth4 ,so doing1 he will approach his end no longer the ignoble hoarder of useless millions1 poor1 very poor indeed1 in money1 but rich1 very rich1 twenty times a millionaire still1 in the affection1 gratitude and admiration of his fellow-men1 and--sweeter far--soothed and sustained by the still small voice within1 which1 whispering1 tells him that1 because he has lived1 perhaps one small part of the great world has been bettered just a little4 ,this much is sure3 against such riches as these no bar will be found at the gates of ,paradise4 ,,the ,,idea ,,of ,a ,,popular ,,library ,the following seven papers give some fundamental ideas on the functions of popular libraries4 ,they are arranged in chronological order1 and1 so grouped1 span the gap between #ahea and #aijf1 considerably more than half a century4 ,the first is interesting as presenting a discussion at the inception of our first great public library1 that of the city of ,boston1 quoted from ,the ,life1 ,letters and ,journals of ,george ,ticknor 7,boston1 #aiji74 ,ticknor's idea of a popular library1 given in a letter to ,edward ,everett1 is followed by ,everett's answer4 ,some of the editor's comments precede and conclude4 ,those interested may read on1 in ,chapter ,,xv1 ,vol4 ,,ii of the ,life1 and get a further idea of ,ticknor's zeal in promoting the ,boston library and his interest in making it as popular as possible1 in distinction to the idea of a library solely for scholars1 upheld by ,john ,jacob ,astor1 in his ,new ,york gift of three years previous1 which ,everett rather favored4 ,george ,ticknor was born in ,boston1 ,aug4 #a1 #agia and graduated at ,dartmouth in #ahjg4 ,he was admitted to the bar in #ahac but devoted his life chiefly to teaching and to literature1 serving as professor in ,harvard in #ahai-ce4 ,he died in ,boston1 ,jan4 #bf1 #ahga4 ,a sketch of ,everett appears on page #abg of this volume4 ,the endowment of a great library in ,new ,york1 given by ,mr4 ,john ,jacob ,astor1 at his death1 in #ahdh1 was much talked about2 and men of forecast began to say openly that1 unless something of a like character were done in ,boston1 the scientific and literary culture of this part of the country would follow trade and capital to the metropolis1 which was thus taking the lead4 ,still1 nothing effectual was done4 ,among the persons with whom ,mr4 ,ticknor had1 of late years1 most frequently talked of the matter1 ,dr4 ,channing was dead1 ,mr4 ,abbott ,lawrence had become ,minister to ,england1 and ,mr4 ,jonathan ,phillips was growing too infirm to take part in public affairs4 ,the subject1 however1 kept its hold on ,mr4 ,ticknor's mind4 ,his idea was that which he felt lay at the foundation of all our public institutions1 namely1 that in order to form and maintain our character as a great nation1 the mass of the people must be intelligent enough to manage their own government with wisdom2 and he came1 though not at once1 to the conclusion that a very free use of books1 furnished by an institution supported at the expense of the community1 would be one of the effective means for obtaining this result of general culture4 ,he had reached this conclusion before he saw any probability of its being practically carried out1 as is proved by the following letter1 which he wrote to ,mr4 ,everett1 in the summer of #ahea4 ,a few months before this date ,mr4 ,everett had presented to the city--after offering it in vain more than once--a collection of about a thousand volumes of ,public ,documents1 and books of similar character1 accompanied by a letter1 urging the establishment of a public library4 ,to ,,hon4 ,,edward ,,everett4 ,bellows ,falls1 ,vermont1 ,july #ad1 #ahea4 ,,my ,,dear ,,everett1--,i have seen with much gratification from time to time1 within the last year1 and particularly in your last letter on the subject1 that you interest yourself in the establishment of a public library in ,boston2--,i mean a library open to all the citizens1 and from which all1 under proper restrictions1 can take out books4 ,such1 at least1 ,i understand to be your plan2 and ,i have thought1 more than once1 that ,i would talk with you about it1 but accident has prevented it4 ,however1 perhaps a letter is as good on all accounts1 and better as a distinct memorandum of what ,i mean4 ,it has seemed to me1 for many years1 that such a free public library1 if adapted to the wants of our people1 would be the crowning glory of our public schools4 ,but ,i think it important that it should be adapted to our peculiar character2 that is1 that it should come in at the end of our system of free instruction1 and be fitted to continue and increase the effects of that system by the self-culture that results from reading4 ,the great obstacle to this with us is not--as it is in ,prussia and elsewhere--a low condition of the mass of the people1 condemning them1 as soon as they escape from school1 and often before it1 to such severe labor1 in order to procure the coarsest means of physical subsistence1 that they have no leisure for intellectual culture1 and soon lose all taste for it4 ,our difficulty is1 to furnish means specially fitted to encourage a love for reading1 to create an appetite for it1 which the schools often fail to do1 and then to adapt these means to its gratification4 ,that an appetite for reading can be very widely excited is plain1 from what the cheap publications of the last twenty years have accomplished1 gradually raising the taste from such poor trash as the novels with which they began1 up to the excellent and valuable works of all sorts which now flood the country1 and are read by the middling classes everywhere1 and in ,new ,england1 ,i think1 even by a majority of the people4#b ,now what seems to me to be wanted in ,boston is1 an apparatus that shall carry this taste for reading as deep as possible into society1 assuming1 what ,i believe to be true1 that it can be carried deeper in our society than in any other in the world1 because we are better fitted for it4 ,to do this ,i would establish a library which1 in its main department and purpose1 should differ from all free libraries yet attempted2 ,i mean one in which any popular books1 tending to moral and intellectual improvement1 should be furnished in such numbers of copies that many persons1 if they desired it1 could be reading the same work at the same time2 in short1 that not only the best books of all sorts1 but the pleasant literature of the day1 should be made accessible to the whole people at the only time when they care for it1 i4e4 when it is fresh and new4 ,i would1 therefore1 continue to buy additional copies of any book of this class1 almost as long as they should continue to be asked for1 and thus1 by following the popular taste1--unless it should demand something injurious1--create a real appetite for healthy general reading4 ,this appetite1 once formed1 will take care of itself4 ,it will1 in the great majority of cases1 demand better and better books2 and can1 ,i believe1 by a little judicious help1 rather than by any direct control or restraint1 be carried much higher than is generally thought possible4 #b ,mr4 ,ticknor was much struck by the publication of a cheap edition of ,johns' ,translation of ,froissart1 by the ,harpers1 of which he found a copy in a small inn of a retired village of southern ,new ,york1 in #ahdd2 and he always watched the signs of popular taste1 both in publishers' lists and in the bookshelves of the houses which he entered1 in his summer journeys1 or in his errands of business and charity in the winter4 ,after some details1 of no present consequence1 developing this idea1 the letter goes on3-- ,nor would ,i1 on this plan1 neglect the establishment of a department for consultation1 and for all the common purposes of public libraries1 some of whose books1 like encyclopaedias and dictionaries1 should never be lent out1 while others could be permitted to circulate2 all on the shelves being accessible for reference as many hours in the day as possible1 and always in the evening4 ,this part of the library1 ,i should hope1 would be much increased by donations from public-spirited individuals1 and individuals interested in the progress of knowledge1 while1 ,i think1 the public treasury should provide for the more popular department4 ,intimations of the want of such public facilities for reading are1 ,i think1 beginning to be given4 ,in ,london ,i notice advertisements of some of the larger circulating libraries1 that they purchase one and two hundred copies of all new and popular works2 and in ,boston1 ,i am told1 some of our own circulating libraries will purchase almost any new book1 if the person asking for it will agree to pay double the usual fee for reading it2 while in all1 ,i think1 several1 and sometimes many copies of new and popular works are kept on hand for a time1 and then sold1 as the demand for them dies away4 ,omitting other details1 now of no importance1 the letter ends as follows3-- ,several years ago ,i proposed to ,mr4 ,abbott ,lawrence to move in favor of such a library in ,boston2 and1 since that time1 ,i have occasionally suggested it to other persons4 ,in every case the idea has been well received2 and the more ,i have thought of it and talked about it1 the more ,i have been persuaded1 that it is a plan easy to be reduced to practice1 and one that would be followed by valuable results4 ,i wish1 therefore1 that you would consider it1 and see what objections there are to it4 ,i have no purpose to do anything more about it myself than to write you this letter1 and continue to speak of it1 as ,i have done heretofore1 to persons who1 like yourself1 are interested in such matters4 ,but ,i should be well pleased to know how it strikes you4 ,to this letter ,mr4 ,everett replied as follows3-- ,,cambridge1 ,july #bf1 #ahea4 ,,my ,,dear ,,ticknor1--,i duly received your letter of the #adth from ,bellows ,falls1 and read it with great interest4 ,the extensive circulation of new and popular works is a feature of a public library which ,i have not hitherto much contemplated4 ,it deserves to be well weighed1 and ,i shall be happy hereafter to confer with you on the subject4 ,i cannot deny that my views have1 since my younger days1 undergone some change as to the practicability of freely loaning books at home from large public libraries4 ,those who have been connected with the administration of such libraries are apt to get discouraged1 by the loss and damage resulting from the loan of books4 ,my present impressions are in favor of making the amplest provision in the library for the use of books there4 ,your plan1 however1 is intended to apply only to a particular class of books1 and does not contemplate the unrestrained circulation of those of which the loss could not be easily replaced4 ,that ,boston must have a great public library1 or yield to ,new ,york in letters as well as in commerce1 will1 ,i think1 be made quite apparent in a few years4 ,but on this and other similar subjects ,i hope to have many opportunities of conferring with you next winter4 ,the difference of opinion1 here made evident1 as to the possibility or safety of allowing books to circulate freely1 was not removed by many subsequent conversations1 nor were the hopes of either of the gentlemen1 with regard to the establishment of a great library1 raised even when1 in the early part of #aheb1 the mayor1 ,mr4 ,seaver1 recommended that steps be taken for such an object1 and the ,common ,council1 presided over by ,mr4 ,james ,lawrence1 proposed that a board of trustees for such an institution should be appointed4 ,when1 therefore1 both ,mr4 ,everett and ,mr4 ,ticknor--the latter greatly to his surprise--were invited to become members of this board1 they conferred together anew on the project2 and1 although the mayor1 on hearing ,mr4 ,ticknor's views1 was much pleased with them1 and urged him to take the place1 yet he at one time determined to decline the office1 certainly unless the library were to be open for the free circulation of most of its books1 and unless it were to be dedicated1 in the first instance1 rather to satisfying the wants of the less favored classes of the community1 than--like all public libraries then in existence--to satisfying the wants of scholars1 men of science1 and cultivated men generally4 ,,the ,,function ,,of ,a ,,town ,,library ,nearly a quarter-century elapsed after ,ticknor's letter1 just quoted1 before the publication in book form of ,josiah ,p4 ,quincy's ,protection of ,majorities and ,other ,essays 7,boston1 #ahge71 of which collection his paper on the function of a town library forms a part4 ,as stated in his introduction1 it appeared originally in ,old and ,new1 a magazine already extinct when that introduction was penned4 ,while asserting as strongly as ,mr4 ,ticknor his belief in making a library popular1 the writer denies that his belief justifies the inclusion of fiction4 ,his position seems to be that1 praiseworthy as much of it is1 fiction should not be supplied to the public from the public funds4 ,the present attitude1 that this is a matter to be settled by the public itself1 is repudiated in set terms and with somewhat picturesque illustrations1 by ,mr4 ,quincy4 ,his stalwart advocacy of the library as a supplement to the school is what justifies the inclusion of his paper in this collection4 ,those who desire to follow ,mr4 ,quincy a little farther may read the next paper in the above-named collection entitled ,the ,abuse of ,reading4 ,josiah ,phillips ,quincy was born in ,boston1 ,nov4 #bh1 #ahbi and graduated at ,harvard in #ahej1 the son of the statesman ,josiah ,quincy who was also president of ,harvard4 ,he was admitted to the bar in #ahed1 but afterward engaged in business and in farming1 also writing freely on civic and economic subjects4 ,this is a one-sided paper4 ,something might be said on the other side2 but1 as that is the popular side1 it is likely to receive full justice4 ,in behalf of an unconverted minority1 who should be represented through the press1 if nowhere else1 ,i desire to register a dissent from the prevailing opinion concerning the function of libraries sustained by the taxation of towns and small municipalities4 ,the importance of stimulating thought upon subjects bearing ever so remotely upon our fiscal requirements1 ,i conceive to be far greater than may superficially appear4 ,for when the mass of our people clearly comprehend what government should not be called upon to do for them1 they will insist upon its performing duties which are manifestly within its sphere of action4 ,laboring men and women are to-day suffering from the adulteration of their food and drink1 and from a system of taxation which oppresses them with weighty and unjust burdens4 ,their deliverance can only come by dismissing legislators who are disciples of what may be called the ,todgers school of economy2 that remarkable matron1 as ,dickens tells us1 caring little for the solid sustenance of her boarders1 provided the gravy was abundant and satisfactory4 ,upon what principle can the citizen1 who thinks before he casts his ballot1 justify himself in voting increased taxes upon his neighbors for the purpose of establishing a library8 ,he must assume the necessity of public schools1 and then argue that he may vote for a library that will supplement the elementary instruction which the town provides4 ,and the justification is ample4 ,if our schools are so conducted as to awaken a taste for knowledge and give a correct method in ,english reading1 the town library may represent the university brought to every man's door4 ,but suppose a large portion of the funds taken from tax-payers is devoted to circulating ephemeral works of mere amusement4 ,is it not as monstrous for me to vote to tax my neighbor to furnish the boys and girls with ,a ,terrible ,tribulation1 or ,lady ,so-and-,so's ,struggle1 as it would be for the purpose of providing them with free tickets to witness ,article #dg or ,the ,black ,crook8 ,these romances and dramas 7to represent them in the most favorable point of view7 are evanescent productions1 designed to meet the market demand for the intense and spasmodic4 ,their claims to patronage from the public purse are precisely similar4 ,so far1 the citizen has a right to object as a tax-payer4 ,but1 if he were truly solicitous for the welfare of the community about him1 the protest might be far deeper4 ,for the weak spot in our school system lies just here3 while claiming immense credit for giving most of our children the ability to read1 we show the profoundest indifference about what they read4 ,but this accomplishment of reading is a very doubtful good if it goes no farther than to give a boy the satisfaction of perusing ,the ,police ,gazette1 or introduces a girl to the immoralities of ,mr4 ,griffith ,gaunt1 and the adventures of a hundred other heroes of characters even more questionable4 ,by teaching our children to read1 and then setting them adrift in a sea of feverish literature which vitiates the taste and enervates the character1 we show an indifference about as sensible as that of the old lady who thought it could not matter whether her son had gone to the bosom of ,abraham or ,beelzebub1 seeing that they were both ,scripture names4 ,it is not difficult to conceive of communities1 existing in ,greenland or elsewhere1 which might legitimately tax the citizen to furnish his neighbors with their novel-reading4 ,but it can scarcely be disputed that an increased facility for obtaining works of fiction is not the pressing need of our country in this present year of grace4 ,dr4 ,isaac ,ray1 perhaps our highest authority on morbid mental phenomena1 concludes his study on the effects of the prevalent romantic literature in these words3 ,the specific doctrine ,i would inculcate is1 that the excessive indulgence in novel-reading1 which is a characteristic of our times1 is chargeable with many of the mental irregularities that prevail among us in a degree unknown at any former period4 ,the late ,dr4 ,forbes ,winslow1 a physician of similar note in ,england1 used still stronger language in describing how fearfully and fatally suggestive to the minds of the young are those artistically developed records of sin which form the staple of the popular novel4 ,in these days of disordered nerve centres1 and commissions to inquire into every thing1 we neglect much valuable information which lies upon the surface4 ,it is well to bear in mind that our eminent bibliographer1 ,mr4 ,spofford1 has informed us that masses of novels and other ephemeral publications overload most of our popular libraries2 and that our wisest physicians have agreed as to the influence they exert4 ,of course these views will be met by a brusque statement that town libraries must supply such books as people want1 and that they demand the current novels in unlimited quantities4 ,but ,i repudiate the dismal fallacy upon which such an argument is based4 ,plum-cake and champagne would doubtless be demanded at a ,sunday-school picnic1 were these delicacies placed upon the table2 but1 if the committee did not think it necessary to supply them from the parish funds1 is it certain that a fair amount of cold beef and hasty-pudding would not be consumed in their stead8 ,and if a heartless man-government declined to furnish ,maggie and ,mollie with ,the ,pirate's ,penance or ,the ,bride's ,bigamy for their ,sabbath reading1 is it not possible that those fair voters of the future might substitute ,mrs4 ,fawcett's interesting illustrations of political economy1 or some outline of human physiology1 their knowledge of which would bless an unborn generation8 ,i do not advocate the absurdity of a town library which should chiefly consist of authors like ,plato and ,professor ,peirce4 ,no one can doubt that the great majority of its volumes should be emphatically popular in their character4 ,they should furnish intelligible and interesting reading to the average graduate of the town schools4 ,and there is no lack of such works4 ,the outlines of physical and social science have been written by men of genius in simple and attractive style4 ,history and biography in the hands of their masters give a healthy stimulus to the imagination1 and tend to strengthen the character4 ,the function of a town library should be to supply reading improving and interesting1 and yet1 in the best sense of the word1 popular2 and ,i maintain that this can be done1 without setting up a rival agency to the news-stand1 the book-club1 and the weekly paper1 for the circulation of the novels of the day4 ,there is a saying of ,dr4 ,johnson1 to the effect1 that1 if a boy be let loose in a library1 he is likely to give himself a very fair education4 ,but1 in accepting this dictum1 we must remember the sort of library the doctor had in his mind4 ,as known to him1 it was based upon solid volumes of systematized information4 ,besides these were the noblest poems of the world1 a very few great romances1 and ponderous tomes of controversial theology2 good1 healthy food1 and much of it attractive to an unpampered boy-appetite4 ,but the range of a large library is by no means necessary to produce the soundest educational results4 ,can it be doubted that familiar knowledge of a small case of well-selected books--such1 for instance1 as the modest stipend of a country clergyman easily collects--is better for boy and girl than the liberty of devouring a thousand highly-flavored sweets in the free library8 ,at all events1 a few old-fashioned people do not question it4 ,a year ago1 writes one of them1 ,alice used to read ,irving and ,spenser1 and ,tom was dipping into ,gibbon and ,shakespeare2 liking them well enough1 yet preferring a game of base-ball to either1 as it was proper he should4 ,but the town library was opened1 and these young people are found crouching over novels in out-of-the-way corners1 when they ought to be at play2 or reading surreptitiously at night1 when they ought to be asleep4 ,it is in vain to throw all the responsibility upon parents4 ,american parents are very busy1 and somewhat careless4 ,mrs4 ,fanny ,firefly's highly-seasoned love-stories for girls1 and ,mr4 ,samuel ,sensation's boy-novels and spiced preparations of boned history1 are got up1 like the port-wine drops of the confectioners1 to tempt and to sell4 ,and they do their work4 ,no one can examine the average boy and girl of the period without being struck with their ignorance of the great works of ,english literature which young people of a former generation were accustomed to read with profit and delight4 ,the function of a town library is to supplement the town schools2 to gratify the taste for knowledge which they should have imparted2 and to serve as an instrument for that self-education to which there is no limit4 ,but tax-payers are not bound to circulate twenty-seven thousand novels against nineteen hundred volumes of biography and seventeen hundred of history1 according to the figures of one report2 or to expend two-thirds of the working force of their establishment in sending out novels and juveniles1 according to the statement of another4 ,in a word1 information1 not excitement1 should be imbibed from the atmosphere of the town library4 ,that prevailing infirmity of our time which seems to substitute sensibility for morality should there find small encouragement4 ,but we shall never know what this institution might do for a community1 so long as the temptation of free novels is thrust in the faces of all who enter4 ,for it is not to be expected that our youth fresh from school1 moving among the countless agitations of ,american life1 will select reading that may require some mental exertion1 so long as mental excitement is offered them in unlimited amounts4 ,i am well aware how much may be said for the story-tellers1 and how many people there are to say it2 and1 whenever there is danger of their being unduly neglected1 my voice shall be loudly raised in their behalf4 ,but one may allow the claims of the romances1 from ,scheherazade to ,mrs4 ,southworth1 and yet maintain that the theory upon which the average town library is run is faulty4 ,there is no virtue in despising cakes and ale1 and the heat of ginger in the mouth may at times impart a wholesome glow to the entire system4 ,but it does not quite follow that it is the function of ,american towns to supply these stimulants gratis1 at the expense of their tax-payers4 ,while we consider the immense amount of reading of a certain sort that a town library supplies1 it is well to remember that there are other sorts of reading it may possibly prevent4 ,for it may encourage reading precisely as prodigality encourages industry4 ,luxury and profusion do indeed feed industry1 and demoralize it2 but the industry which serves ,god by blessing man1 they prevent from being fed4 ,i fear that in these days more noble capacities die of a surfeit from too much poor reading1 than starve from want of good books4 ,the valid defence of institutions working in the interest of ,state education is this3 they prevent a waste of power4 ,when any one of them can be shown to encourage waste of power1 it needs looking after4 ,in our complex social condition1 the real consequences of any government interference extend far beyond its apparent consequences4 ,an institution may be very useful up to a certain point1 and yet hurtful if allowed to run its full course without restraining criticism4 ,the managers of our smaller libraries are apt to be picked men1 who give unrequited labor and intelligence to their trust4 ,but they are chosen at town meetings1--and to a certain extent must carry out the wishes of their electors4 ,upon this matter1 as upon most others1 it is the duty of the thoughtful men and women to create a wholesome public opinion4 ,they must recognize the fact that the change from a few good books to an unlimited supply of all sorts of books is by no means an unmixed advantage to a community4 ,while the results of town libraries1 taken in the aggregate1 are undoubtedly good1 it is our duty to consider whether they ought not to be better4 ,,the ,,free ,,public ,,library ,the public library had now passed the period of the merely academic advocacy exemplified in the ,ticknor letter of #ahea4 ,it was an actual1 functioning institution1 and as such was called upon to answer criticism and to justify its existence4 ,the atmosphere of apologetics begins to appear in what its friends have to say about it4 ,this is evident in the extract from ,col4 ,higginson's ,men and ,women 7,new ,york1 #ahhh7 which immediately follows4 ,the author's comparison of the evolution of a library with that of a great railroad system is perhaps the first hint of a comprehensive vision of the library as something bigger than any individual town or city institution and beyond it4 ,thomas ,wentworth ,higginson was born in ,cambridge1 ,mass41 ,dec4 #bb1 #ahbc1 and graduated at ,harvard in #ahda4 ,he entered the ministry in #ahdg but retired in #aheh and served in the ,civil ,war4 ,from that time until his death1 ,may #i1 #aiaa1 he devoted himself to literature1 publishing a large number of books4 ,just as there is a good deal of anxiety wasted in regard to our free public schools1 especially on the part of those who have never entered them1 so there is some misplaced solicitude in regard to our libraries4 ,the free town or city library is one of the few things in our democratic society that would have pleased the splenetic ,carlyle1 who mourned in one of his early letters that every village in ,england had its jail1 but none its open library4 ,it is a pity1 therefore1 when a man of high standing and great influence writes of these institutions thus hastily 7,i take the passage from a well-known literary journal73 ,among the forms of beneficence for which our own generation has been conspicuous is the ,free ,library4444 ,but it is1 ,i apprehend1 no exaggeration to say that such well-meant generosity has oftener than otherwise 7the italics are my own7 been chilled and discouraged by its results4 ,appreciative readers are few1 the best books are largely let alone1 and the cost of the 'plant' and the taste which are put into it are often in most painful contrast to the appreciation which they have received4 ,now1 while every count of this last sentence may be true indictment1 it is easy to show how little it sustains the verdict4 ,appreciative readers are few in the most cultivated circles1 if their appreciation must be tested by the best books only4 ,it is not easy even to know what the best books are1 if we may judge by the tiresome failures in making out the list of them2 and suppose that they were known1 do we find many clergymen or bishops who habitually read ,plato1 ,aeschylus1 and ,dante1 rather than ,ben-,hur or ,the lady or the tiger8 ,it does not therefore follow that people are unworthy of public libraries because the best books are largely let alone2 the question is whether even the second best may not be good reading4 ,we have the medical authority of ,hippocrates for saying that the second best medicine may be better than the best1 if the patient likes it best4 ,so in regard to the fine buildings1 the success of republican government happily does not depend on how far our citizens appreciate the architecture of the ,capitol at ,washington and the ,state ,house at ,albany2 and it is surely the same with libraries4 ,grant a few over-fine library buildings1 built to please some private benefactor2 grant a few mismanaged public libraries--though where these buildings or these libraries are ,i do not myself know--does the kindly writer of these lines mean to be understood as saying that oftener than otherwise our free public libraries are failures8 ,if he does1 it can only be said that this remark adds another to the innumerable illustrations of that invaluable remark of ,coleridge that we must take every man's testimony to the value of that which he does not know4 ,all experience shows how easy it is to construct an institution out of one's own consciousness and then condemn it2 we see this daily in what is written of our public school system4 ,in ,general ,butler's brief career as ,governor of ,massachusetts he made a severe attack upon the ,normal ,art ,school in ,boston1 and cited a pathetic instance of a fallen girl who undoubtedly 7as he urged7 received her first demoralization from the study of the nude in that school4 ,it turned out on investigation that he himself had never entered the school1 and that the young girl herself made no such charges2 that there never had been any studying from nude models in the school2 that she had attended it but a month or two1 and this in its early days1 when it did not possess so much as a plaster cast of a human foot or hand4 ,no matter2 the charge was reiterated up to the very end of ,his ,excellency's career in office1 and is believed by many worthy people of this day4 ,it is equally easy to bring general charges against public libraries1 and equally hard to remove their impression1 however unjust and even cruel they may be4 ,what are the facts8 ,there has just been a great ,librarians' ,convention assembled from all parts of the country1 and keeping together for many days4 ,did a single speaker at that ,convention take the ground that oftener than otherwise the benefactors of public libraries were chilled and discouraged8 ,on the contrary1 it was reported that such benefactors were never so active1 and their benefactions were never so large4 ,the tone was not one of discouragement1 but of buoyancy and hope4 ,every one admitted the vastness of the educational engine created by the free library system2 every one had his own suggestion by way of improvement or development1 but every one expressed a cordial faith in the community1 and reported encouragement in all work well done4 ,the simple truth is that the creation of a system of such libraries is like the creation of a great railway system2 it must be an evolution1 not a creation outright4 ,the wisest librarian in ,america fifty years ago had no more conception of the free library system of to-day than had ,benjamin ,franklin of our postal methods2 nor can any one now foresee what fifty years of development will do for either4 ,the truth is that every step in any great organization brings out new possibilities1 new dangers1 and new resources4 ,side by side with the perils of free libraries--as of too much light reading1 and the absence of proper appreciation of the best things--there are evoked resources to meet these dangers4 ,outside the library there come up the association to promote study at home1 and the vast ,chautauqua reading circles--all these being essentially based on the free library system1 and implying it for their full development4 ,inside the library there grow up such methods as those of ,mr4 ,s4,s4 ,green1 ,city ,librarian of ,worcester1 ,massachusetts1 whose ways of making such an institution useful to all sorts and conditions of the people may take rank with ,rowland ,hill's improvements in postal service1 as to their results on democratic civilization4 ,he has succeeded in linking the library and the public schools so closely that he and the teachers acting in concurrence1 indirectly control the reading of the whole generation that is growing up in that city4 ,the details must be sought in his reports--as1 for instance1 one from the ,library ,journal of ,march1 #ahhg1 which is printed as a leaflet2 but the essential thing in managing libraries1 as in managing schools1 is to have faith in the community in which one lives1 and to believe that people do1 as the ,scripture has it1 covet earnestly the best gifts1 if you will only show them how those best gifts are to be obtained4 ,put into school and library methods one-half the organizing ability brought to bear on railways and telegraphs1 and we shall stand astonished at the results within our reach4 ,those already attained1 if fairly looked at1 are sufficient to encourage any one4 ,the writer has at two different times and in two different ,states been a director in these institutions4 ,whenever he needed a little stimulus toward doing his duty it was his custom to go and look over the rack containing the books lately brought back by readers4 ,with all necessary deduction for the love of fiction--a love shared in these days by the wisest and best--the proportion of sensible and useful reading was always such as to vindicate the immense value of the free public libraries4 ,,two ,,fundamentals ,mary ,salome ,cutler1 now ,mrs4 ,milton ,fairchild1 is the first librarian to be quoted in this symposium4 ,a sketch of her appears in ,vol4 ,,ii4 of this series4 ,in the paragraphs quoted below which form part of a paper read by ,miss ,cutler1 then vice-director of the ,new ,york ,state ,library ,school1 before the ,pennsylvania ,library ,club and printed in ,the ,library ,journal 7,october1 #ahif71 appears a definite recognition of the social character of the library's task4 ,her two fundamentals--organization and human feelings--are both decided elements in its socialization4 ,in considering library interests we do well1 ,i think1 not to confine ourselves to the limited range of library subjects4 ,that mysterious thing which we call society is growing more complex1 every part more curiously intertwined with every other part1 each human life bearing some relation to every other human life4 ,whether he will or no1 it is literally true that no man liveth to himself alone4 ,if it were possible1 then1 as a part of this organism to discover some of the laws which govern the whole1 we might come back to our special domain with an application of the laws which would have the force of freshness4 ,i believe that we gain an insight into these controlling principles only by yielding to the tendency of solidarity1 by opening ourselves to surrounding influences1 by living the fullest life of which we are capable4 ,i think ,i have seen the workings of two of these laws which have a close relation to each other4 ,if ,i am right your experience will confirm mine1 and we can together make the application to what concerns us most--the library interests of to-day4 ,in any undertaking results depend directly1 and often largely1 upon the perfection of organization4 ,organization implies a mind which can grasp the undertaking as a whole1 follow it out1 each step in detail1 estimate the various factors1 personal and impersonal1 provide for unforeseen contingencies1 and furnish the faith1 the will-power1 the personal magnetism1 whatever you choose to call it1 in such measure as is needed to carry it through4 ,such a mind sees the end at the beginning1 and thinks of it as already done while to others it may seem far off and even impossible4 ,such thought1 often the work of one mind1 sometimes the result of cooperation1 is behind every piece of accomplished work4 ,other elements may doubtless be essential1 but there can be no adequate results without organization4 ,and1 making allowance for other elements1 the perfection of results depends upon the perfection of organization4444 ,for the reason of this tendency we have not far to seek4 ,i believe it is found in the scientific spirit of the age1 which is surely pervading every sphere of human thought and activity4 ,the careful investigation of facts1 the deduction of the law from the phenomena1 the distrust of chance and the loyalty to the law deduced1 all of which evidence the scientific spirit1 mark alike the great financier1 diplomatist1 inventor1 philanthropist4 ,in some undertakings organization alone will suffice4 ,for example1 making a machine1 laying out a railroad1 compiling a volume of statistics4 ,in others there must needs come in what ,i will call the human element1 the consideration of people1 not in masses1 but as individuals1 that matchless1 indescribable quality which we call human sympathy4444 ,illustrations might be multiplied in educational1 religious1 and philanthropic efforts where we work for the masses1 and forget that each one of the mass is a human being with passions1 sensibilities1 aspirations like our own4 ,this interest in the human being as such1 which is a gift to some1 can be cultivated1 but it can never be simulated4 ,the counterfeit always rings false4 ,joined to a good memory for names and faces1 it gives a person a power which can hardly be estimated4444 ,it seems to me that these two principles apply with tremendous and unusual force to the problems of the modern library4 ,i will speak of the public library alone because it has a wider reach and a closer touch on life4 ,we will review in imagination the library situation in this country4 ,we take up ,mr4 ,flint's ,statistics volume for #ahic2 we sum up #eic free libraries in the ,new ,england states1 #ebj in ,new ,york1 ,pennsylvania1 and ,new ,jersey1 #bhe in the ,southern states1 #geh in the ,western states1 a total of #baef free libraries4 ,we recall our friends in the ,american ,library ,association1 who constitute with some marked exceptions1 who prefer to work alone1 the high-water mark of the fraternity4 ,as their names pass before us we take a measure of the men and women4 ,we think of their libraries which we may have visited1 or1 better still1 which we have used as readers4 ,in some few cases we know the influence of these libraries in the town or city4 ,take it for all in all we find a body of hard-working men and women translating into practice noble ideals4 ,as a result1 the library is beginning to get a hold upon the community4 ,but it is only a beginning and1 compared with the possibilities1 only a prophecy of what may and will be4 ,are not the failures in our work due to the lack of the best organization and the true human touch8 ,a librarian is appointed1 let us say1 to an important post4 ,he has doubtless had experience in library work4 ,he comes on to consult with the trustees4 ,they vote to send him on a trip for getting ideas from other libraries4 ,he probably has on his hands a beautiful building illy adapted to library work4 ,he carries the plans with him1 and spends most of the time with other members of the craft1 in choosing the least of several evils in placing the reference-room1 catalog1 charging-desk1 etc4 ,he secures two or three assistants with training1 experience1 or both1 and fills the minor places with local help chosen by examination or by luck or by personal favor4 ,he learns in a general way the character of the town and selects books with that in view4 ,if there are certain manufacturing interests or a particular foreign population1 he makes large purchases in those lines4 ,he decides on a system of classification1 of cataloging1 and on a method of charging4 ,the books are rushed through the various processes1 though all too slowly for an impatient public4 ,in a few months at the latest the big educational plant begins to be utilized4 ,the circulation surprises the most sanguine1 the average of fiction drops a little below the usual mark1 good service is done at the information or reference desk by the enthusiastic man or woman having it in charge1 work is begun with the schools1 and a little fraction of teachers make the children know books because they know books themselves4 ,the rest go through the motions4 ,the bookworm fills his corner1 the chronic grumbler has his little say1 the usual number of prize questions are answered4 ,the library becomes the very bread of life to those who are ready to receive it1 and gives refreshment and suggestion and inspiration to many more4 ,the profession approves4 ,at the next ,a4,l4,a4 meeting ,mr4 ---- is brought forward more prominently1 and the wise ones say1 ,i always thought he was a rising man4 ,but only #bj per cent4 of the population ever set foot within the library1 and when a stranger asks the way within a block of the building1 a fairly intelligent-looking workman does not appear to know there is such a thing as the public library4 ,in looking over the proceedings of the library association for the #ah years of its existence1 we are struck by the evidences of industry and earnestness4 ,there are papers and discussions on libraries and schools1 access to the shelves1 bookbinding1 systems of classification1 cataloging rules4 ,the keynote is cooperation in securing1 with an enthusiasm which amounts to missionary zeal1 the best and most uniform methods1 with special reference to mechanical devices4 ,the very motto smacks of arithmetic and commerce4 ,the best reading for the largest number at the least cost4 ,all this is good and proper in its place4 ,wise methods are essential to the best results4 ,but we sought in vain all along the years for the philosophic insight which should grasp the higher motive of our profession and connect it with the great struggles of our modern life4 ,after the ,columbus year in the clearer air of the mountain-top1 the word for which we were waiting came4 ,i wish it were possible to stop right here and give you the papers of ,mr4 ,larned and ,mr4 ,brett1 which were read at ,lake ,placid1 as well as the discussion which followed4 ,i must content myself by quoting ,mr4 ,larned's last sentence3 ,those of us who have faith in the future of democracy can only hold our faith fast by believing that the knowledge of the learned1 the wisdom of the thoughtful1 the conscience of the upright1 will some day be common enough to prevail1 always1 over every factious folly and every mischievous movement that evil minds or ignorance can set astir4 ,when that blessed time of victory shall have come1 there will be many to share the glory of it2 but none among them will rank rightly before those who have led and inspired the work of the public libraries4 ,this leads us to the first great need of the profession to-day1 that the librarian should be in the noblest sense a large1 man1 that he should add to executive and business ability and technical knowledge a broad and generous culture in ,matthew ,arnold's sense of the word1 ,an inward spiritual activity1 having for its character increased sweetness1 increased light1 increased life1 increased sympathy4 ,he must be an omnivorous reader1 skimming many books1 and knowing by instinct which books and which chapters and sentences to read carefully4 ,he must study from books and in life the great industrial1 social1 and religious questions which stir our age4 ,he must be a scholar without pedantry1 a man of the world without indifference1 a friend of the people without sentimentality4 ,there follows naturally the second necessity1 that the librarian should be a careful student of his own town4 ,he should know its history and topography1 its social1 political1 business1 literary1 and ecclesiastical life4 ,to this end he should have a personal acquaintance with the city officers1 the party bosses1 the labor leaders1 members of the board of trade1 manufacturers1 leading women in society1 with the clergy1 with the school superintendent and the teachers1 with those who shape the charitable organizations1 with reporters1 policemen1 and reformers4 ,to what end8 ,broadly that he may catch the spirit of the civic life and relate the library to the whole as the organs to the body4 ,specifically1 that he may reach the entire population through the natural leaders1 that he may select books1 establish branches1 open up new avenues of communication between the library and the people4 ,the church may be aristocratic1 industry1 trade1 and politics a war1 the public school like the drinking-fountain1 though planned for the many scorned by the few4 ,i believe it is possible for a man with a broad and sympathetic knowledge of our age and an intimate knowledge of his own city1 to make of the public library the one common meeting-place1 the real focus of democratic ideas4 ,the church and the school will reach this in the future1 the library may achieve it to-day4 ,there is a third difficulty1 which is a very real and palpable one4 ,the librarian himself may have a fairly high ideal of the library which is shared by perhaps one or two assistants4 ,the bulk of the work in a library with a large circulation is done by young persons of less opportunity and training4 ,each has a distinct part of the work to do with little idea of its relation to the whole4 ,unfortunately the loan-desk1 registration-desk1 and reading-room are usually manned in this way4 ,i have often stood amazed at the delivery-desk of librarians whose names represent all that is best in the library profession4 ,i would not be understood as depreciating the work of the lower assistants in our libraries4 ,i know well that this service1 as a whole1 represents an amount of faithfulness and devotion which it ill becomes me to undervalue4 ,the responsibility lies with the head of the library and the failure comes from lack of organization4 ,the appointing power should be practically in his hands4 ,the man whom we have described above does not need to seek this power4 ,it comes to him4 ,it is surely possible to secure for the library service young men and women1 boys and girls1 of fair intelligence1 quick wits1 responsive minds1 and human sympathies4 ,the making of these units into an organism is the severest test of a librarian's power4 ,the ability of a general is not enough4 ,he must himself have the real human touch or he cannot call it forth from others4 ,there must be the promptness1 the accuracy1 the despatch which marks military discipline2 there must be also an intelligent conception of the purpose of the library1 a strong sense of personal responsibility and of the dignity and beauty of the public service4 ,it is sometimes said that spirit of the library should be that of a merchant and his well-trained clerks1 anxious to please their customers4 ,it should be rather the fine spirit of a hostess with the daughters of the house about her greeting her guests4 ,there is a fourth failure which is perhaps the root difficulty4 ,it is the failure to make the most of time4 ,the day opens4 ,the man hastens to his place and finds a score of voices calling him to as many different tasks4 ,he hastily begins the one which seems to call the loudest1 and has just begun to gather up the threads of thought when there is a peremptory call in another direction4 ,and so he is driven through the day1 not controlling1 but controlled1 and constantly lashed by the thought of neglected duties4 ,by dint of keeping at it all through the day and often into the night much work is done4 ,the man gets and deserves the reputation of a hard-working man1 deliberately sacrificing health1 ease1 leisure1 and the joys of a scholar's life for the public good4 ,now this is the first and natural result of the enlarged conception of a librarian's work4 ,the man is dazed by the sense of responsibility and almost crushed by the demands upon his time apparently separate and conflicting4 ,but this should be considered only the first process from which the strong man will speedily evolve a wiser way4 ,the fatal mistake lies in considering this first stage inevitable and final4 ,if a man tarries here it argues limitation1 not power4 ,there certainly are men who stand high in public life as well as those holding less prominent positions1 who accomplish an enormous amount of work with a sense of freedom and an impression of leisure4 ,as ,i have observed individual cases1 ,i am led to the conclusion that the explanation lies not in a stronger physique1 or a stronger intellect1 but in a better organization of work with reference to time4 ,there is no need more imperative than this for all of us who are proud to be called busy people4 ,the trouble is1 we think we are too busy to stop and plan4 ,our philosophic error lies in believing that the work must all be done to-day4 ,nature herself should teach us that the best work cannot be done in a hurry4 ,we may not hope in this generation to understand well the working of that complex1 mysterious thing which we call human society1 but we may at least so relate ourselves and our libraries to it that we may live1 move1 and grow together4 ,not unrelated1 ununified1 ,but to each thought and thing allied1 ,is perfect ,nature's every part ,rooted in the mighty ,heart4 ,,what ,a ,,library ,,should ,,be ,,and ,,what ,,it ,,can ,,do ,no one has done more to inspire library workers with the feeling that what they are doing is worth while than ,dr4 ,melvil ,dewey1 pioneer in this country of the modern library and of the socialized library spirit4 ,a sketch of ,dr4 ,dewey will be found in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,the following is from the stenographer's report of a brief talk at the ,atlanta ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association1 as printed in ,public ,libraries 7,chicago1 ,june1 #ahii74 ,atlanta has been known long in this country as a southern city that believes supremely that education pays1 and as the revelation has come late in this century of what the library is or should be1 and what the library can do1 on this line ,i will say a few words to you tonight4 ,we have had an illustration in the recent war with ,spain that education pays1 in what it means to have the man behind the guns trained4 ,we have an illustration in ,mr4 ,carnegie's work1 whose name has been mentioned here in his competition with the rest of the world1 illustrating another peculiar ,american feature that ,american education pays in dollars and cents2 but it is a more recent conception of the part the library has in a system of public education4 ,it took a thousand years to develop our educational system from the university down2 first the university as the beginning of all education1 and then we must have the colleges to prepare for the universities1 the academies and common schools to prepare for the colleges1 and it is only in our own generation that we have come to understand that we must begin with the kindergarten and end in our libraries4 ,i am really pleased tonight that the ,young men's association has done this generous work1 and that ,atlanta is going to pay the money from the taxes4 ,it would be no advantage to this city if your schools were provided for you without charge to the people4 ,those who study the question from the low plane of dollars and cents1 without regard to the higher things in life1 have learned that no investigation pays well4 ,in many a community men are giving liberally to the schools1 and are beginning to give liberally to the libraries1 and they do it because they know it makes everything more valuable--it makes their business more prosperous4 ,the library is going through the same process the public school went through4 ,henry ,barnard1 of ,connecticut1 visited #bg different states and spoke before them to urge upon them the system of public education1 and to provide a guidance for the children4 ,it is true that the educated parents are more likely to have children educated highly1 but there is no question whatever that the great majority of the men and women who are to shape the future of this country will be born in the humblest homes1 and we come back to the problem of the general education of all the people as the best possible advancement and the chiefest defense of the nation2 it is the concern of the state because it is the duty of the state1 because it pays1 and because the state does not dare any longer to neglect it4 ,therefore ,i call your attention to the fact that we are repeating in libraries exactly the process of the school1 and that there were meetings to urge the acceptance of them4 ,there are few who doubt the wisdom of donating money to support the free library1 and when the history of the time is written it will be marked as the history of free libraries4 ,why is it that the people are taxing themselves erecting beautiful buildings1 buying books1 paying salaries1 printing catalogs1 incurring all these expenses1 paying out an amount of money that a short time ago would have been thought only a dream8 ,it is a recognition of its necessity and importance4 ,we understand that it is a good thing4 ,a broad conception at the end of the century of the work of the schools is simply this1 to teach the children to think accurately1 with strength and with speed4 ,if it is in the school that they get their start1 then where do they get their education8 ,tell me from your own experience1 was it from the school that you got most of your ideas8 ,we had an experiment some time ago1 when the teachers of ,new ,york made an elaborate investigation as to the teaching of boys and girls4 ,the thing that influenced those boys and girls most was the books they read4 ,what1 after all1 is the supreme end of education8 ,i state that we should teach them to think with accuracy and with speed1 but ,i doubt if there is one who denies the supreme necessity of the building of character4 ,that is what is winning in the peaceful conflicts of commerce4 ,if you care to analyze how character is built1 follow it back briefly4 ,character comes from habits1 and habits from actions repeated1 and actions from a motive1 and a motive from reflection4 ,what makes me reflect8 ,what makes you reflect8 ,what is the cause8 ,isn't it something that you have read in a book1 a magazine1 or a paper8 ,so the genealogy is this3 reading begets reflection1 reflection begets motive1 motive begets action1 and action begets habit1 and habit begets that supreme thing--character4 ,so we have come to recognize that if we are to accomplish the chief end that is before the people1 we must strive to control the reading for others4 ,reading sometimes carries downhill1 as it often carries upward1 and there is no way that we can reach the people except through the free library and with proper help from the people4 ,what ,atlanta wants to make out of her citizens is not to train privates1 but to train officers4 ,if you go out on the streets you can find a thousand men to do the work of a laborer1 where you can find only a few to do the work that will demand five or ten thousand dollars4 ,the world is looking for that class of men4 ,it is the highest salaried man that is the hardest to find4 ,if you would buy a machine1 there enters into it the material that is in it2 the process of manufacture throughout which has transformed it1 and then the approved fitness for performing its functions4 ,the same way with a man--the native that is manufactured2 then comes the experience which proves the fitness for his work2 and you pay the salary for these things4 ,and by means of our schools and libraries we must reach these girls and boys4 ,thomas ,edison and other great men say that their whole lives are governed from reading a single book4 ,so the province of the library is to amuse1 to inform and inspire4 ,we have the old proverbs1 ,as free as air2 ,as free as water2 but the new one that is important to the race is1 ,as free as knowledge4 ,the people of this state cannot afford to have any boy in ,georgia who is anxious to know more1 how to make his life more valuable1 who wants inspiration and is ready to read1 and not furnish it to him4 ,education is the chief concern of the ,american people1 and the states that have done most for their education have been the most prosperous4 ,it is the concern of the richest as to what should be done for the poorest2 you should provide free schools and free libraries1 or the failure to do so will react in your own lives4 ,if you say that this ideal is too high1 that the library has important functions1 but it does not take its place as the equal of the schools1 it is because you have not studied this question in all its details4 ,when you do1 you will be forced to the conclusion that while we must say that this is the inspiration of a dreamer1 remember that it is the devotion of noble minds that never falters1 but endures and waits for all it can find1 and what it cannot find1 creates4 ,,the ,,public ,,library ,,in ,,american ,,life ,as the last of this particular group of papers we reproduce a view of our public library system by a foreigner who had lived in this country long enough to appreciate it and who was yet able to contrast it with the library systems of ,european countries--,prof4 ,munsterberg of ,harvard4 ,hugo ,munsterberg was born in ,danzig1 ,germany1 ,june #a1 #ahfc1 educated at ,leipzig and ,heidelberg1 and after serving as assistant professor at the ,university of ,freiburg1 became professor of psychology at ,harvard in #ahib1 where he served until his death on ,dec4 #af1 #aiaf4 ,the subjoined extract is from his book ,the ,americans 7,new ,york1 #aijd74 ,the ,american's fondness for reading finds clearest expression in the growth of libraries1 and in few matters of civilization is ,america so well fitted to teach the ,old ,world a lesson4 ,europe has many large and ancient collections of books1 and ,germany more than all the rest2 but they serve only one single purpose--that of scientific investigation2 they are the laboratories of research4 ,they are chiefly lodged with the great universities1 and even the large municipal libraries are mostly used by those who need material for productive labors1 or wish to become conversant with special topics4 ,exactly the same type of large library has grown up in ,america2 and here1 too1 it is chiefly the universities whose stock of books is at the service of the scientific world4 ,besides these1 there are special libraries belonging to learned societies1 state law libraries1 special libraries of government bureaus and of museums1 and largest of all the ,library of ,congress4 ,the collection of such scientific books began at the earliest colonial period1 and at first under theological auspices4 ,the ,calvinist ,church1 more than any other1 inclined to the study of books4 ,as early as #agij the catalog of ,harvard ,college contained #cej pages1 of which #aej were taken up by theological works4 ,harvard has to-day almost a million books1 mostly in the department of literature1 philology1 history1 philosophy1 and jurisprudence4 ,there are1 moreover1 in ,boston the state library of law1 with over a hundred thousand volumes2 the ,athenaeum1 with more than two hundred thousand books2 the large scientific library of the ,institute of ,technology1 and many others4 ,similarly1 in other large cities1 the university libraries are the nucleus for scientific labors1 and are surrounded by admirable special libraries1 particularly in ,new ,york1 ,chicago1 and ,philadelphia4 ,then1 too1 the small academic towns1 like ,princeton1 ,ithaca1 ,new ,haven1 and others1 have valuable collections of books1 which in special subjects are often unique4 ,for many years the ,american university libraries have been the chief purchasers of the special collections left by deceased ,european professors4 ,and it often happens1 especially through the gift of grateful alumni1 that collections of the greatest scientific value1 which could not be duplicated1 come into the possession even of lesser institutions4 ,in many departments of investigation1 ,washington takes the lead with the large collection of the various scientific1 economic1 and technical bureaus of the government4 ,the best known of these is the unique medical library of the ,war ,department4 ,then there is the ,library of ,congress1 with many more than a million volumes1 which today has an official right to one copy of every book published in the ,united ,states1 and so may claim to be a national library4 ,it is still not comparable to the many-sided and complete collection of the ,british ,museum2 the national library is one-sided1 or at least shows striking gaps4 ,having started as the ,library of ,congress1 it has1 aside from its one copy of every ,american book and the books on natural science belonging to the ,smithsonian ,institution1 few books except those on politics1 history1 political economy1 and law4 ,the lack of space for books1 which existed until a few years ago1 made it seem inexpedient to spend money for purposes other than the convenience of congressmen4 ,but the ,american people1 in its love for books1 has now erected such a building as the world had never before seen devoted to the storing of books4 ,the new ,congressional ,library was opened in #ahig1 and since the stacks have still room for several million volumes1 the library will soon grow to an all-round completeness like that at ,london4 ,this ,library has a specially valuable collection of manuscripts and correspondences4 ,all the collections of books which we have so far mentioned are virtually like those of ,germany4 ,but since they mostly date from the nineteenth century1 the ,american libraries are more modern1 and contain less dead weight in the way of unused folios4 ,much more important is their greatly superior accessibility4 ,their reading-rooms are more comfortable and better lighted1 their catalogs more convenient1 library hours longer1 and1 above all1 books are more easily and quickly delivered4 ,brooks ,adams said recently1 about the library at ,washington as a place for work1 that this building is well-nigh perfect2 it is large1 light1 convenient1 and well provided with attendants4 ,in ,paris and ,london1 one works in dusty1 forbidding1 and overcrowded rooms1 while here the reading-rooms are numerous1 attractive1 and comfortable4 ,in the ,national ,library at ,paris1 one has to wait an hour for a book2 in the ,british ,museum1 half an hour1 and in ,washington1 five minutes4 ,this rapid service1 which makes such a great difference to the student1 is found everywhere in ,america2 and everywhere the books are housed in buildings which are palatial1 although perhaps not so beautiful as the ,washington ,library4 ,still1 all these differences are unessential2 in principle the academic libraries are alike in the ,new and ,old ,worlds4 ,the great difference between ,europe and ,america begins with the libraries which are not learned1 but which are designed to serve popular education4 ,the ,american public library which is not for science1 but for education1 is to the ,european counterpart as the ,pullman express train to the village post-chaise4 ,the scientific libraries of ,boston1 including that of ,harvard ,university1 contain nearly two million printed works2 but the largest library of all is distinct from these4 ,it is housed on ,copley ,square1 in a renaissance palace by the side of the ,art ,museum1 and opposite the most beautiful church in ,america4 ,the staircase of yellow marble1 the wonderful wall-paintings1 the fascinating arcade on the inner court and the sunlit halls are indeed beautiful4 ,and in and out1 from early morning till late evening1 week-day and ,sunday1 move the people of ,boston4 ,the stream of men divides in the lower vestibule4 ,some go to the newspaper room1 where several hundred daily newspapers1 a dozen of them ,german1 hang on racks4 ,others wander to the magazine rooms1 where the weekly and monthly papers of the world are waiting to be read4 ,others ascend to the upper stories1 where ,sargent's famous pictures of the ,prophets allure the lover of art1 in order to look over more valuable special editions and the art magazines1 geographical charts1 and musical works4 ,the largest stream of all goes to the second floor1 partly into the huge quiet reading-room1 partly into the rotunda1 which contains the catalog1 partly into the hall containing the famous frescoes of the ,holy ,grail1 where the books are given out4 ,here a million and a half books are delivered every year to be taken home and read4 ,and no one has to wait2 an apparatus carries the applicant's card with wonderful speed to the stacks1 and the desired book is sent back in automatic cars4 ,little children meanwhile wander into the juvenile room1 where they find the best books for children4 ,and everything invites even the least patient reader to sit down quietly with some sort of a volume--everything is so tempting1 so convenient and comfortable1 and so surpassingly beautiful4 ,and all this is free to the humblest working-man4 ,and still1 if the citizen of ,massachusetts were to be asked of what feature of the public libraries he is most proud1 he would probably not mention this magnificent palace in ,boston1 the capital of the state1 but rather the #cej free public libraries scattered through the smaller cities and towns of this state1 which is after all only one-third as large as ,bavaria4 ,it is these many libraries which do the broadest work for the people4 ,each little collection1 wherever it is1 is the center of intellectual and moral enlightenment1 and plants and nourishes the desire for self-perfection4 ,of course1 ,massachusetts has done more in this respect than any other ward in this respect4 ,but there is no longer any city of moderate size which has not a large public library1 and there is no state which does encourage in every possible way the establishment of public libraries in every small community1 giving financial aid if it is necessary4 ,public libraries have become the favorite ,christmas present of philanthropists1 and while the hospitals1 universities1 and museums1 have still no reason for complaint1 the churches now find the superfluous millions are less apt to go to gay church windows than to well chosen book collections4 ,in the year #aijj there existed more than #echc public libraries having over a thousand volumes2 of these #add had more than fifty thousand1 and #ed had more than a hundred thousand volumes4 ,all together contained1 according to the statistics of #aijj more than forty-four million volumes and more than seven million pamphlets2 and the average growth was over #h per cent4 ,there are probably to-day1 therefore1 fifteen million volumes more on the shelves4 ,the many thousand libraries which have fewer than #iii books are over and above all this4 ,the make-up of such public libraries may be seen from the sample catalog gotten out by the ,library ,association a few years since1 as a typical collection of five thousand books4 ,this catalog1 which1 with the exception of the most important foreign classics1 contains only books in ,english1 including1 however1 many translations1 contains #bbg general reference books1 #gef books on history1 #fce on biography1 #dac on travel1 #cee on natural science1 #fid on belles-lettres1 #hji novels1 #bbe on art1 #bbj on religion1 #dbd on social science1 #bfh on technical subjects1 etc4 ,the cost of this sample collection is #ab1jjj4 ,the proportions between the several divisions are about the same in larger collections4 ,in smaller collections1 belles-lettres have a somewhat greater share4 ,the general interest taken by the nation in this matter is shown by the fact that the first edition of #bj1jjj copies of this sample catalog1 of #fjj pages1 was soon exhausted4 ,the many-sidedness of this catalog points also to the manifold functions of the public library4 ,it is meant to raise the educational level of the people1 and this can be done in three ways3 first1 interest may be stimulated along new lines2 second1 those who wish to perfect themselves in their own subjects or in whatsoever special topics1 may be provided with technical literature2 and third1 the general desire for literary entertainment may be satisfied by books of the best or at least not of the worst sort4 ,the directors of libraries see their duties to lie in all three directions4 ,the libraries guide the tastes and interests of the general public1 and try to replace the ordinary servant-girl's novel with the best romance of the day and shallow literature with works that are truly instructive4 ,and no community is quite content until its public library has become a sort of general meeting-place and substitute for the saloon and the club4 ,america is the working-man's paradise1 and attractive enough to the rich man2 but the ordinary man of the middle classes1 who in ,germany finds his chief comfort in the ,bierhalle would find little comfort in ,america if it were not for the public library1 which offers him a home4 ,thus the public library has come to be a recognized instrument of culture along with the public school2 and in all ,american outposts the school teacher and librarian are among the pioneers4 ,the learned library cannot do this4 ,to be sure1 the university library can help to spread information1 and conversely the public library makes room for thousands of volumes on all sorts of scientific topics4 ,but the emphasis is laid very differently in the two cases1 and if it were not so neither library would best fulfil its purpose4 ,the extreme quiet of the reference library and the bustle and stir of the public library do not go together4 ,in the one direction ,america has followed the dignified traditions of ,europe2 in the other1 it has opened new paths and travelled on at a rapid pace4 ,every year discovers new ideas and plans1 new schemes for equipment and the selection of books1 for cataloging1 and for otherwise gaining in utility4 ,when1 for instance1 the library in ,providence commenced to post a complete list of books and writings pertaining to the subject of every lecture that was given in the city1 it was the initiation of a great movement4 ,the juvenile departments are the product of recent years1 and are constantly increasing in popularity4 ,there are even1 in some cases1 departments for blind readers4 ,the state commissions are new1 and so also the travelling libraries1 which are carried from one village to another4 ,the great schools for librarians are also new4 ,the ,german librarian is mostly a scholar2 but the ,american believes that he has improved on the ,european library systems1 not so much by his ample financial resources as by having broken with the academic custom1 and having secured librarians with a special library training4 ,and since there are such officials in many thousand libraries1 and the great institutions create a constant demand for such persons1 the library schools1 which offer generally a three years' course1 having been found very successful4 ,admittedly1 all this technical apparatus is expensive2 the ,boston library expends every year a quarter of a million dollars for administrative expenses4 ,but the ,american taxpayer supports this more gladly than any other burden1 knowing that the public library is the best weapon against alcoholism and crime1 against corruption and discontent1 and that the democratic country can flourish only when the instinct of self-perfection as it exists in every ,american is thoroughly satisfied4 ,,books ,,and ,,the ,,public ,,library ,this paper and the two that follow it relate specifically to reading as fostered by the public library and yet not sufficiently to the provision of books to the public as a definite library service to warrant postponing them to the section relating to that branch of community service4 ,they have a somewhat academic or literary flavor1 and yet are permeated not with the idea of books for scholars but with that of books for people--the idea of reading as a universal function--duty1 pleasure and inspiration in one--which is distinctly that of a socialized library4 ,the first paper is an address made by ,lowell at the opening of the new public library building at ,chelsea1 ,mass41 ,dec4 #bb1 #ahhe4 ,james ,russell ,lowell was born in ,cambridge1 ,mass41 ,feb4 #bb1 #ahai1 and graduated at ,harvard in #ahch1 succeeding ,longfellow as professor of ,literature there in #ahee4 ,he edited ,the ,north ,american ,review in #ahfc-gb1 served as ,u4,s4 minister to ,spain in #ahgg-hj and to ,great ,britain in #ahhj-he4 ,he died in ,cambridge1 ,aug4 #ab1 #ahia4 ,a few years ago my friend1 ,mr4 ,alexander ,ireland1 published a very interesting volume which he called ,the book-lover's euchiridion1 the handbook1 that is to say1 of those who love books4 ,it was made up of extracts from the writings of a great variety of distinguished men1 ancient and modern1 in praise of books4 ,it was a chorus of many voices in many tongues1 a hymn of gratitude and praise1 full of such piety and fervor as can be parelleled only in songs dedicated to the supreme power1 the supreme wisdom and the supreme love4 ,nay1 there is a glow of enthusiasm and sincerity in it which is often painfully wanting in those other too commonly mechanical compositions4 ,we feel at once that here it is out of the fulness of the heart1 yes1 and of the head1 too1 that the mouth speaketh4 ,here was none of that compulsory commonplace which is wont to characterize those 'testimonials of celebrated authors1' by means of which publishers sometimes strive to linger out the passages of a hopeless book toward its requiescat in oblivion4 ,these utterances which ,mr4 ,ireland has gathered lovingly together are stamped with that spontaneousness which is the mint mark of all sterling speech4 ,it is true that they are mostly1 as is only natural1 the utterances of literary men1 and there is a well-founded proverbial distrust of herring that bear only the brand of the packer1 and not that of the sworn inspector4 ,but to this objection a cynic might answer with the question1 ',are authors so prone1 then1 to praise the works of other people that we are to doubt them when they do it un-asked8' ,perhaps the wisest thing ,i could have done to-night would have been to put upon the stand some of the more weighty of this cloud of witnesses4 ,but since your invitation implied that ,i should myself say something1 ,i will endeavor to set before you a few of the commonplaces of the occasion1 as they may be modified by passing through my own mind1 or by having made themselves felt in my own experience4 ,the greater part of ,mr4 ,ireland's witnesses testify to the comfort and consolation they owe to books1 to the refuge they have found in them from sorrow or misfortune1 to their friendship1 never estranged and outliving all others4 ,this testimony they volunteered4 ,had they been asked1 they would have borne evidence as willingly to the higher and more general uses of books in their service to the commonwealth1 as well as to the individual man4 ,consider1 for example1 how a single page of ,burke may emancipate the young student of politics from narrow views and merely contemporaneous judgments4 ,our ,english ancestors1 with that common-sense which is one of the most useful1 though not one of the most engaging1 properties of the race1 made a rhyming proverb1 which says that3 ,when land and goods are gone and spent1 ,then learning is most excellent2 and this is true1 so far as it goes1 though it goes1 perhaps1 hardly far enough4 ,the law also calls only the earth and what is immovably attached to it real property1 but ,i am of opinion that those only are real possessions which abide with a man after he has been stripped of those others falsely so called1 and which alone save him from seeming and from being the miserable forked radish to which the bitter scorn of ,lear degraded every child of ,adam4 ,the riches of scholarship1 the benignities of literature1 defy fortune and outlive calamity4 ,they are beyond the reach of thief or moth or rust4 ,as they cannot be inherited1 so they cannot be alienated4 ,but they may be shared1 they may be distributed1 and it is the object and office of a free public library to perform these beneficial functions4 ,books1 says ,wordsworth1 are a real world1 and he was thinking1 doubtless1 of such books as are not merely the triumphs of pure intellect1 however supreme1 but of those in which intellect infused with the sense of beauty aims rather to produce delight than conviction1 or1 if conviction1 then through intuition rather than formal logic1 and1 leaving what ,donne wisely calls ,unconscious things1 matters of fact1 to science and the understanding1 seeks to give ideal expression to the abiding realities of the spiritual world for which the outward and visible world serves at best but as the husk and symbol4 ,am ,i wrong in using the word realities8--wrong in insisting on the distinction between the real and the actual8 in assuming for the ideal an existence as absolute and self-subsistent as that which appeals to our senses--nay1 so often cheats them in the matter of fact8 ,how very small a part of the world we truly live in is represented by what speaks to us through the senses when compared with that vast realm of the mind which is peopled by memory and imagination1 and with such shining inhabitants6 ,these walls1 these faces1 what are they in comparison with the countless images1 the innumerable population which every one of us can summon up to the tiny show-box of the brain1 in material breadth scarce a span1 yet infinite as space and time8 ,and in what1 ,i pray1 are those we gravely call historical characters1 of which each new historian strains his neck to get a new and different view1 in any sense more real than the personages of fiction8 ,do not serious and earnest men discuss ,hamlet as they would ,cromwell or ,lincoln8 ,does ,caesar1 does ,alaric1 hold existence by any other or stronger tenure than the ,christian of ,bunyan or the ,don ,quixote of ,cervantes or the ,antigone of ,sophocles8 ,is not the history which is luminous because of an indwelling and perennial truth to nature1 because of that light which never was on land or sea1 really more true1 in the highest sense1 than many a weary chronicle with names1 date1 and place in which an ,amurath to ,amurath succeeds8 ,do we know as much of any authentic ,danish prince as of ,hamlet8 ,but to come back a little nearer to ,chelsea and the occasion that has called us together4 ,the founders of ,new ,england1 if sometimes1 when they found it needful1 an impracticable1 were always a practical people4 ,their first care1 no doubt1 was for an adequate supply of powder1 and they encouraged the manufacture of musket bullets by enacting that they should pass as currency at a farthing each--a coinage nearer to its nominal value1 and not heavier than some with which we are familiar4 ,their second care was that good learning should not perish from among us1 and to this end they at once established the ,latin ,school in ,boston1 and soon after the college at ,cambridge4 ,the nucleus of this was1 as you all know1 the bequest in money by ,john ,harvard4 ,hardly less important1 however1 was the legacy of his library1 a collection of good books1 inconsiderable measured by the standard of to-day1 but very considerable then as the possession of a private person4 ,from that little acorn what an oak has sprung1 and from its acorn again what a vocal forest1 as old ,howell would have called it--old ,howell1 whom ,i love to cite1 because his name gave their title to the ',essays of ,elia1' and is borne with slight variation by one of the most delightful of modern authors6 ,it was1 in my judgment1 those two foundations1 more than anything else1 which gave to ,new ,england character its bent and to ,boston that literary supremacy which1 ,i am told1 she is in danger of losing1 but which she will not lose till she and all the world lose ,holmes4 ,the opening of a free public library1 then1 is a most important event in the history of any town4 ,a college training is an excellent thing2 but1 after all1 the better part of every man's education is that which he gives himself1 and it is for this that a good library should furnish the opportunity and the means4 ,i have sometimes thought that our public schools undertook to teach too much1 and that the older system1 which taught merely the three ,r's1 and taught them well1 leaving natural selection to decide who should go farther1 was the better4 ,however this may be1 all that is primarily needful in order to use a library is the ability to read4 ,i say primarily1 for there must also be the inclination1 and1 after that1 some guidance in reading well4 ,formerly the duty of a librarian was considered too much that of a watchdog to keep people as much as possible away from the books1 and to hand these over to his successor as little worn by use as he could4 ,librarians now1 it is pleasant to see1 have a different notion of their trust1 and are in the habit of preparing for the direction of the inexperienced lists of such books as they think best worth reading4 ,cataloging has also1 thanks in great measure to ,american librarians1 become a science1 and catalogs1 ceasing to be labyrinths without a clew1 are furnished with finger-posts at every turn4 ,subject catalogs again save the beginner a vast deal of time and trouble1 by supplying him for nothing with one at least of the results of thorough scholarship1 the knowing where to look for what he wants4 ,i do not mean by this that there is or can be any short-cut to learning1 but that there may be1 and is1 such a short-cut to information that will make learning more easily accessible4 ,but have you ever rightly considered what the mere ability to read means8 ,that it is the key that admits us to the whole world of thought and fancy and imagination2 to the company of saint and sage1 of the wisest and the wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moment8 ,that it enables us to see with the keenest eyes1 hear with the finest ears1 and listen to the sweetest voices of all time8 ,more than that1 it annihilates time and space for us2 it revives for us without a miracle the ,age of ,wonder1 endowing us with the shoes of swiftness and the cap of darkness1 so that we walk invisible like fern seed and witness unharmed the plague at ,athens or ,florence or ,london1 accompanying ,caesar on his marches1 or look in on ,catiline in council with his fellow-conspirators1 or ,guy ,fawkes in the cellar of ,st4 ,stephen's4 ,we often hear of people who will descend to any servility1 submit to any insult1 for the sake of getting themselves or their children into what is euphemistically called good society4 ,did it ever occur to them that there is a select society of all the centuries to which they and theirs can be admitted for the asking--a society1 too1 which will not involve them in ruinous expense and still more ruinous waste of time and health and faculties8 ,southey tells us that1 in his walk1 one stormy day1 he met an old woman1 to whom1 by way of greeting1 he made the rather obvious remark that it was dreadful weather4 ,she answered1 philosophically1 that1 in her opinion1 'any weather was better than none6' ,i should be half inclined to say that any reading was better than none1 allaying the crudeness of the statement by the ,yankee proverb1 which tells us that1 though 'all deacons are good1 there's odds in deacons4' ,among books1 certainly there is much variety of company1 ranging from the best to the worst1 from ,plato to ,zola1 and the first lesson in reading well is that which teaches us to distinguish between literature and merely printed matter4 ,the choice lies wholly with ourselves4 ,we have the key put into our hands2 shall we unlock the pantry or the oratory8 ,there is a ,wallachian legend which1 like most of the figments of popular fancy1 has a moral in it4 ,one ,bakala1 a good-for-nothing kind of fellow in his way1 having had the luck to offer a sacrifice especially well pleasing to ,god1 is taken up into heaven4 ,he finds the ,almighty sitting in something like the best room of a ,wallachian peasant's cottage--there is always something profoundly pathetic in the homeliness of the popular imagination1 forced1 like the princess in the fairy tale1 to weave its semblance of gold tissue out of straw4 ,on being asked what reward he desires for the good service he has done1 ,bakala1 who had always passionately longed to be the owner of a bagpipe1 seeing a half wornout one lying among some rubbish in a corner of the room1 begs eagerly that it may be bestowed on him4 ,the ,lord1 with a smile of pity at the meanness of his choice1 grants him his boon1 and ,bakala goes back to earth delighted with his prize4 ,with an infinite possibility within his reach1 with the choice of wisdom1 of power1 of beauty at his tongue's end1 he asked according to his kind1 and his sordid wish is answered with a gift as sordid4 ,yes1 there is a choice in books as in friends1 and the mind sinks or rises to the level of its habitual society1 is subdued1 as ,shakespeare says of the dyer's hand1 to what it works in4 ,cato's advice1 cum bonis ambula1 consort with the good1 is quite as true if we extend it to books1 for they1 too1 insensibly give away their own nature to the mind that converses with them4 ,they either beckon upward or drag down4 ,and it is certainly true that the material of thought reacts upon the thought itself4 ,shakespeare himself would have been commonplace had he been paddocked in a thinly shaven vocabulary1 and ,phidias1 had he worked in wax1 only a more inspired ,mrs4 ,jarley4 ,a man is known1 says the proverb1 by the company he keeps1 and not only so1 but made by it4 ,milton makes his fallen angels grow small to enter the infernal council room1 but the soul1 which ,god meant to be the spacious chamber where high thoughts and generous aspirations might commune together1 shrinks and narrows itself to the measure of the meaner company that is wont to gather there1 hatching conspiracies against our better selves4 ,we are apt to wonder at the scholarship of the men of three centuries ago and at a certain dignity of phrase that characterizes them4 ,they were scholars because they did not read so many things as we4 ,they had fewer books1 but these were of the best4 ,their speech was noble1 because they lunched with ,plutarch and supped with ,plato4 ,we spend as much time over print as they did1 but instead of communing with the choice thoughts of choice spirits1 and unconsciously acquiring the grand manner of that supreme society1 we diligently inform ourselves and cover the continent with a network of speaking wires to inform us of such inspiring facts as that a horse belonging to ,mr4 ,smith ran away on ,wednesday1 seriously damaging a valuable carryall2 that a son of ,mr4 ,brown swallowed a hickory nut on ,thursday2 and that a gravel bank caved in and buried ,mr4 ,robinson alive on ,friday4 ,alas6 it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under this avalanche of earthy impertinences4 ,it is we who1 while we might each in his humble way be helping our fellows into the right path1 or adding one block to the climbing spire of a fine soul1 are willing to become mere sponges saturated from the stagnant goosepond of village gossip4 ,one is sometimes asked by young people to recommend a course of reading4 ,my advice would be that they should confine themselves to the supreme books in whatever literature1 or still better to choose some one great author1 and make themselves thoroughly familiar with him4 ,for1 as all roads lead to ,rome1 so do they likewise lead away from it1 and you will find that1 in order to understand perfectly and weigh exactly any vital piece of literature1 you will be gradually and pleasantly persuaded to excursions and explorations of which you little dreamed when you began1 and will find yourselves scholars before you are aware4 ,for remember that there is nothing less profitable than scholarship for the mere sake of scholarship1 nor anything more wearisome in the attainment4 ,but the moment you have a definite aim attention is quickened1 the mother of memory1 and all that you acquire groups and arranges itself in an order that is lucid1 because everywhere and always it is in intelligent relation to a central object of constant and growing interest4 ,this method also forces upon us the necessity of thinking1 which is1 after all1 the highest result of all education4 ,for what we want is not learning1 but knowledge--that is1 the power to make learning answer its true end as a quickener of intelligence and a widener of our intellectual sympathies4 ,i do not mean to say that every one is fitted by nature or inclination for a definite course of study1 or indeed for serious study in any sense4 ,i am quite willing that these should 'browse in a library1' as ,dr4 ,johnson called it1 'to their hearts' content4 ,it is1 perhaps1 the only way in which time may be profitably wasted4 ,but desultory reading will not make a full man1 as ,bacon understood it1 of one who has not ,johnson's memory1 his power of assimilation1 and1 above all1 his comprehensive view of the relations of things4 ,read not1 says ,lord ,bacon1 in his ,essay of ,studies1 to contradict and confute2 nor to believe and take for granted2 nor to find talk and discourse2 but to weigh and consider4 ,some books are to be tasted1 others to be swallowed1 and some few to be chewed and digested--that is1 some books are to be read only in parts2 others to be read1 but not curiously 7carefully71 and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention4 ,some books also may be read by deputy4 ,this is weighty and well said1 and ,i would call your attention especially to the wise words with which the passage closes4 ,i have been speaking of such books as should be chosen for profitable reading4 ,a public library1 of course1 must be far wider in its scope4 ,it should contain something for all tastes1 as well as the material for a thorough grounding in all branches of knowledge4 ,it should be rich in books of reference1 in encyclopaedias1 where one may learn without cost of research what things are generally known4 ,for it is far more useful to know these than to know those that are not generally known4 ,not to know them is the defect of those half trained and therefore hasty men who find a mare's nest on every branch of the tree of knowledge4 ,a library should contain ample stores of history1 which1 if it do not always deserve the pompous title which ,bolingbroke gave it1 of philosophy teaching by example1 certainly teaches many things profitable for us to know and lay to heart2 teaches among other things how much of the present is still held in mortmain by the past2 teaches that1 if there be no controlling purpose1 there is1 at least1 a sternly logical sequence in human affairs1 and that chance has but a trifling dominion over them2 teaches why things are and must be so and not otherwise2 teaches1 perhaps1 more than anything else1 the value of personal character as a chief factor in what used to be called destiny1 for that cause is strong which has not a multitude but one strong man behind it4 ,history is indeed mainly the biography of a few imperial men1 and forces home upon us the useful lesson how infinitesimally important our own private affairs are to the universe in general4 ,history is clarified experience1 and yet how little do men profit by it--nay1 how should we expect it of those who so seldom are taught anything by their own6 ,delusions1 especially economical delusions1 seem the only things that have any chance of an earthly immortality4 ,i would have plenty of biography4 ,it is no insignificant fact that eminent men have always loved their ,plutarch1 since example1 whether for emulation or avoidance1 is never so poignant as when presented to us in a striking personality4 ,autobiographies are also instructive reading to the student of human nature1 though generally written by men who were more interesting to themselves than to their fellow-men4 ,i have been told that ,emerson and ,george ,eliot agreed in thinking ,rousseau's ,confessions the most interesting book they had ever read4 ,a public library should also have many and full shelves of political economy1 for the dismal science1 as ,carlyle called it1 if it prove nothing else1 will go far toward proving that theory is the bird in the bush1 though she sing more sweetly than the nightingale1 and that the millennium will not hasten its coming in deference to the most convincing string of resolutions that were ever unanimously adopted in public meeting4 ,it likewise induces in us a profound distrust of social panaceas4 ,i would have a public library abundant in translations of the best books in all languages2 for though no work of genius can be adequately translated1 because every word of it is permeated with what ,milton calls 'the precious life blood of a master spirit1' which cannot be transfused into the veins of the best translation1 yet some acquaintance with foreign and ancient literatures has the liberalizing effect of foreign travel4 ,he who travels by translation travels more hastily and superficially1 but brings home something that is worth having1 nevertheless4 ,translations properly used1 by shortening the labor of acquisition1 add as many years to our lives as they subtract from the processes of our education4 ,in such a library the sciences should be fully represented1 that men may at least learn to know in what a marvellous museum they live1 what a wonder worker is giving them an exhibition daily for nothing4 ,nor let art be forgotten in all its many forms1 not as the antithesis of science1 but as her elder or fairer sister1 whom we love all the more that her usefulness cannot be demonstrated in dollars and cents4 ,i should be thankful if an every day laborer among us could have his mind illumined1 as those of ,athens and of ,florence had1 with some image of what is best in architecture1 painting and sculpture to train his crude perceptions and perhaps call out latent faculties4 ,i should like to see the works of ,ruskin within the reach of every artisan among us4 ,for ,i hope some day that the delicacy of touch and accuracy of eye that have made our mechanics in some departments the best in the world may give us the same supremacy in works of wider range and more purely ideal scope4 ,voyages and travels ,i would also have1 good store1 especially the earlier1 when the world was fresh and unhackneyed and men saw things invisible to the modern eye4 ,they are fast sailing ships to waft away from present trouble to the ,fortunate ,isles4 ,to wash down the dryer morsels that every library must necessarily offer at its board1 let there be plenty of imaginative literature1 and let its range be not too narrow to stretch from ,dante to the elder ,dumas4 ,the world of the imagination is not the world of abstraction and nonentity1 as some conceive1 but a world formed out of chaos by the sense of the beauty that is in man and the earth on which he dwells4 ,it is the realm of might be1 our heaven of refuge from the shortcomings and disillusions of life4 ,it is1 to quote ,spenser1 who knew it well1 ,the world's sweet inn from care and wearisome turmoil4 ,do we believe1 then1 that ,god gave us in mockery this splendid faculty of sympathy with things that are a joy forever8 ,for my part1 ,i believe that the love and study of works of imagination is of practical utility in a country so profoundly material in its leading tendencies as ours4 ,the hunger after purely intellectual delights1 the content with ideal possessions1 cannot but be good for us in maintaining a wholesome balance of the character and of the faculties4 ,i for one shall never be persuaded1 that ,shakespeare left a less useful legacy to his countrymen than ,watt4 ,we hold all the deepest1 all the highest satisfactions of life as tenants of imagination4 ,nature will keep up the supply of what are called hard-headed people without our help1 and1 if it come to that1 there are other as good uses for heads as at the end of battering rams4 ,i know that there are many excellent people who object to the reading of novels as a waste of time1 if not as otherwise harmful4 ,but ,i think they are trying to outwit nature1 who is sure to prove cunninger than they4 ,look at children4 ,one boy shall want a chest of tools and one a book1 and of those who want books one shall ask for a botany1 another for a romance4 ,they will be sure to get what they want1 and we are doing a grave wrong to their morals by driving them to do things on the sly1 to steal that food which their constitution craves and which is wholesome for them1 instead of having it freely and frankly given them as the wisest possible diet4 ,if we cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear1 so neither can we hope to succeed with the opposite experiment4 ,but we may spoil the silk for its legitimate uses4 ,i can conceive of no healthier reading for a boy1 or girl either1 than ,scott's novels or ,cooper's1 to speak only of the dead4 ,i have found them very good reading at least for one young man1 for one middle-aged man1 and for one who is growing old4 ,no1 no2 banish the ,antiquary1 banish ,leather ,stocking1 and banish all the world6 ,let us not go about to make life duller than it is4 ,but ,i must shut the doors of my imaginary library1 or ,i shall never end4 ,it is left for me to say a few words of fitting acknowledgment to ,mr4 ,fitz for his judicious and generous gift4 ,it is always a pleasure to me that ,i believe the custom of giving away money during their lifetime 7and there is nothing harder for most men to part with1 except prejudice7 is more common with ,americans than with any other people4 ,it is a still greater pleasure to see that the favorite direction of their beneficence is toward the founding of colleges and libraries4 ,my observation has led me to believe that there is no country in which wealth is so sensible of its obligations as our own4 ,and1 as most of our rich men have risen from the ranks1 may we not fairly attribute this sympathy with their kind to the benign influence of democracy rightly understood8 ,my dear and honored friend1 ,george ,william ,curtis1 told me that he was sitting in front of the late ,mr4 ,ezra ,cornell in a convention1 where one of the speakers made a ,latin quotation4 ,mr4 ,cornell leaned forward and asked for a translation of it1 which ,mr4 ,curtis gave him4 ,mr4 ,cornell thanked him1 and added3 ,if ,i can help it1 no young man shall grow up in ,new ,york hereafter without the chance1 at least1 of knowing what a ,latin quotation means when he hears it4 ,this was the germ of ,cornell ,university1 and it found food for its roots in that sympathy and thoughtfulness for others of which ,i just spoke4 ,this is the healthy side of that good nature which democracy tends to foster1 and which is so often harmful when it has its root in indolence or indifference2 especially harmful where our public affairs are concerned1 and where it is easiest1 because there we are giving away what belongs to other people4 ,in this country it is as laudably easy to procure signatures to a subscription paper as it is shamefully so to obtain them for certificates of character and recommendations to office4 ,and is not this public spirit a natural evolution from that frame of mind in which ,new ,england was colonized1 and which found expression in these grave words of ,robinson and ,brewster3 ,we are knit together as a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the ,lord1 of the violation of which we make great conscience1 and by virtue whereof we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care of each other's good1 and of the whole4 ,let us never forget the deep and solemn import of these words4 ,the problem before us is to make a whole of our many discordant parts1 many foreign elements1 and ,i know of no way in which this can better be done than by providing a common system of education and a common door of access to the best books by which that education may be continued1 broadened1 and made fruitful4 ,for it is certain that1 whatever we do or leave undone1 those discordant parts and foreign elements are to be1 whether we will or no1 members of that body which ,robinson and ,brewster had in mind1 bone of our bone1 and flesh of our flesh1 for good or ill4 ,there is no way in which a man can build so secure and lasting a monument for himself as in a public library4 ,upon that he may confidently allow ,resurgam to be carved1 for through his good deed he will rise again in the grateful remembrance and in the lifted and broadened minds and fortified characters of generation after generation4 ,the pyramids may forget their builders1 but memorials such as this have longer memories4 ,mr4 ,fitz has done his part in providing your library with a dwelling4 ,it will be for the citizens of ,chelsea to provide it with worthy habitants4 ,so shall they1 too1 have a share in the noble eulogy of the ancient wise man3 ,the teachers shall shine as the firmament1 and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever4 ,,the ,,influence ,,of ,,good ,,books ,the following paragraphs1 which are from an address delivered by ,rev4 ,dr4 ,collyer at the opening of the ,richard ,sugden ,library at ,spencer1 ,mass41 are taken from a report in ,the ,library ,journal 7,september1 #ahhi74 ,the autobiographical portions1 perhaps1 are little related to the progress of libraries here in the ,united ,states1 but their interest is so great that more of them have been included here than are strictly pertinent to our subject4 ,robert ,collyer was born in ,keighley1 ,yorkshire1 ,eng41 ,dec4 #h1 #ahbc4 ,he was apprenticed to a blacksmith as a boy of #ad1 came to ,shoemakertown1 ,pa41 with his parents in #ahej and followed there the trade of a hammermaker4 ,later he entered the ministry of the ,unitarian church and in #ahfj founded ,unity church in ,chicago4 ,in #ahgi he became pastor of the ,church of the ,messiah in ,new ,york ,city1 where he died in #aiab4 ,when ,richard ,sugden asked me to come to ,spencer and say some word which would fit this occasion1 ,i wrote him by the next mail that ,i should be ever so glad to come1 and felt that it was a great honor to receive such an invitation1 and a great pleasure4 ,nor was the trouble of much account--which touches us all who say ,aye to such an invitation on the impulse of the moment and then wonder how we shall make our promise good4 ,my old friend wanted me to come1 and not another and better man1 and to say the word which was in my heart to-day1 whatever this might be2 and this was enough1 because ,i had read in the papers--what he was far too modest to tell me1 beyond the merest mention--about the gift of ,richard ,sugden to his town1 and so ,i said it makes no great matter what any man may say1 the thing he has done tells its own story1 and tells it more nobly than ,i could ever hope to do1 more nobly and in this fashion which shames my speech4 ,for our words float away on the summer winds1 to be caught1 it may be1 and set in type and read by those who care for such things1 and then to die and be forgotten2 but this your friend and mine has done in ,spencer will be eloquent with the silence which is golden1 and still tell its tale when we are all dead and dust who gather here to-day4 ,it is a poor and scant manhood which does not long now and then to be remembered some little while after the grass grows green and the daisies bloom on the grave4 ,to have them speak of us at the fire-side and in the workshop and the market1 remembering what was worthy in us and forgetting what was base1 though there may be no more to tell by comparison than ,dr4 ,ripley told down in ,concord1 as he stood by the dust of a man in his own town1 and being sorely troubled to find some real worth in the man's life he could dwell on for a moment1 said1 ,he was the best man ,i ever knew at a fire4 ,i cannot even guess whether ,richard ,sugden ever thought of this as one of the rewards which must return to him for his gift to ,spencer1 and ,i love to think that to his generous heart the work was its own reward4 ,but ,i say1 as we stand here on this day of gift and dedication1 that if this had been his sole purpose1 to be held in grateful remembrance of his fellow-townsmen and their children through centuries of time1 then he has taken out an insurance that will stand good always and keep his memory green in the town of ,spencer4 ,and not here alone1 but far away across the sea in old ,yorkshire1 where his home was in the old time before he came to this new world to seek his fortune1 and1 far more and better than that1 to earn it honestly and well4 ,the story will be told there long after to-day and to-morrow1 how one of the ,sugdens who went out from among them gave this gift1 and then the kith and kin will hold up their heads and feel that the fine old name has won still another patent of nobility4 ,a poor youth he was in the narrow1 contracted1 dear old land1 where the poor were held by a cruel bit4 ,and a voice came to him1 saying1 ,get thee out from thy kindred and thy father's house unto a land that ,i will tell thee of2 and he followed the voice1 as ,i did also1 to the promised land2 carved out his fortune honest and fair1 ,i say1 but then could not be content to enrich his own family alone1 or1 as so many do1 to remember his town in his will4 ,he must build this noble structure1 please ,god1 in his own lifetime1 and convey it by free gift to you and yours forever2 and so the work is done1 and so well done1 to all seeming1 that if you care for the gift as your friend has cared for its creation1 we may say1 as old ,andrew ,fairservice said of the cathedral in ,glasgow1 ,keep airn and gunpooder aff it1 and it will stand to the crack o'doom4 ,my friend and yours is also an ,englishman and a ,yorkshireman1 as you know1 by birth and breeding1 as ,i am also1 and ,i am the more glad and proud of what he has done for that reason2 because ,i still love old ,england with a very tender love after these forty years of absence1 as ,i know he does also4 ,but ,i have had to notice how very many of us who came here from ,england to find a home in the ,american republic1 and it may be make their fortune1 can find nothing so good in this new world as that they left behind them1 and no matter how much wealth they may win1 they do nothing as a rule for the town they live in1 like this your friend has done in ,spencer4 ,he could not be content to be a mere exile from ,england1 he must be a citizen of the ,united ,states and blend his life with the life in this new world which has made him so much more of a man than he ever could have been had he stayed on that hill-side in old ,yorkshire4 ,this is the true home of his heart and life1 here he won his wealth and found ample room to grow to be the man you honor1 and here is one proof among many he has given in all these years1 that while he was born in ,england and is proud of it1 though he may not say so1 he was born again in ,america1 and does not love the old land less but the new land more1 as every man must who comes here to share your life1 if he is worth his salt4 ,you will pardon me1 ,i know1 as you receive the gift1 for this word in praise of the giver1 while he may find it hard to do so2 but for that ,i do not care1 because in asking me to come here and say the word that was in my heart he must run his risk and take it as it came to me1 and insisted on being said4 ,richard ,sugden falls into line with our home-born men far and wide1 but especially in ,massachusetts1 who have done or are ready to do some such thing as he has done now in ,spencer--building these public libraries in the towns where they live or from which they went away to seek their fortune2 public libraries1 which range with the schools and churches and the town halls2 which are the four-square defence of our life as citizens of the republic and of our intelligence and virtue1 when they are nobly maintained4 ,they can do no nobler thing4 ,they are sure of their reward1 also1 if they want one1 in the grateful remembrance of their towns and cities1 and open the way for others again who wonder what they can do to the finest purpose2 men who have made their fortune and have not been struck by what we may call the greenback paralysis1 through which the hand that gets takes all the strength from the hand that gives4 ,what can we do better1 they will say in such a case1 than this ,richard ,sugden has done for ,spencer1 and many another man far and wide8--see to it that our town also shall have a public library1 which shall be its pride and joy1 and make perfect so far as we can the defence from ignorance and vice and crime2 open a fountain from which the waters of life may flow forever for those who thirst for knowledge or whatever good books can give them8 ,and1 as ,i have had to notice up among the mountains this summer how ,i would not feel thirsty till ,i came to a clear1 cool spring1 but then would drink to my heart's content1 so such fountains as these will also create the thirst they can so nobly allay1 while still we keep on drinking in answer to their perpetual invitation1 as the years come and go4 ,and now shall ,i tell you a very simple story touching my own life1 which will help to make good my thought of the worth of this you are doing in ,spencer through your free public library1 and have been doing1 as ,i understand1 these #cj years1 which is in itself a great and singular honor to your town1 maintaining a free library and reading-room at your own proper charges1 for which your friend and fellow-citizen has built this noble edifice1 with some such feeling as he had in the old time who built the temple that the ark of the covenant and the rod which budded and the sacred books might have an abiding and splendid home4 ,it was my lot to be born as your friend was and mine1 in a poor and small home1 with this thirst in my nature1 as far back as ,i can remember1 for something to read4 ,and ,i mind very well the first book ,i ever bought with my own penny1 the delectable history of ,whittington and his ,cat1 which cast such a spell over my imagination that when ,i went up ,highgate ,hill over ,london the other summer1 and saw the stone on which poor ,dick sat down to hear the bells ringing far below1 which lured him back again to fame and fortune1 ,i found ,i was a small boy again reading my small wonder-book1 and the old stone divided the honors of a tender interest with the red granite shaft set above the grave of the woman of finest genius ,england has to her name1 ,george ,eliot1 which is a few minutes' walk away4 ,there were a few books in our small cottage of three rooms1 but these were among the best in the ,english tongue1 the ,bible and ,bunyan and ,goldsmith1 with a few more ,i do not now remember1 but these ,i read as you drink at clear1 cool springs4 ,then a man came along from over the moors and brought ,burns with him1 and another brought ,shakespeare4 ,my father borrowed these for me to read1 and the world grew great and wide and wonderful to me as ,i read them1 while to this day ,i notice that ,i care more for the history of ,england in ,shakespeare's grand dramas than ,i do for ,hume and ,froude and ,macaulay1 so great was the spell cast again over my life4 ,then an old farmer came along with a couple of volumes1 and said1 ,here1 lad1 ,i notice thou is fond o' good reading1 and ,i think thou will like to read these books4 ,it was ,irving's ,sketch-,book and it was ,christmas day1 and ,i was away from home then and lonesome1 wanting to be with my folks and to sit by the old fireside1 but the magic wand of ,irving touched me and stole away all my tears4 ,still1 as you may see1 this was only hand-to-mouth reading4 ,i had never seen a public library1 but had heard of them and longed to find one somewhere1 sometime1 as1 ,i fear1 ,i never had longed to find my way into heaven4 ,well1 ,i heard of one that had been started only three miles away1 and so ,i went with my heart in my mouth to see what ,i could find to read in the wonderful new library4 ,i can see the books now standing on the shelves in the small upper room1 and recall the old delight of my youth4 ,i go into the ,astor ,library now and then when ,i have time1 rich in the lore of all the ages1 and have wandered through some of the finest in the world beside1 but that small room in ,addingham is still the story of one's first love4 ,there were some #bjj volumes1 but here ,i was with all this wealth of books at my command at about the cost of three days' work in a year4 ,i cannot tell you the story of that first grand passion and the delight of it4 ,i had found a library4 ,i like that honest ,dutchman1 a fine old scholar says1 who told me that one page of ,plato did him more good than ten bumpers of wine1 and that was the way ,i felt about those #bjj volumes4 ,i had found out the unspeakable delight of drinking all my heart could desire1 and struck the matchless intoxication of noble and wholesome books1 that leave no headache or heartache when you are sober1 only it was a good while before ,i got sober4 ,then ,i came in due time to this new world and began to work again at the anvil in ,pennsylvania1 my own proper business ,i expected to follow all my life1 and presently heard of a library in the small town of ,hatboro1 six or seven miles away1 six one way and seven the other4 ,a fine old farmer had found a long while ago that this was the noblest use he could make of a good deal of his money1 to build up a library away among the rich green lands1 and so there it was waiting for me with its treasure of good books4 ,i see them again as they stand on the shelves1 and think ,i could walk right in and lay my hands on those that won me most potently and cast their spell again over my heart1 though it is five and thirty years since ,i was within the doors4 ,i may mention ,hawthorne among them all as the author ,i found there for the first time who won my heart for good and all1 as we may say1 and holds it still4 ,then ,i found a great treasure in no long time in ,philadelphia1 that ,i could no more exhaust than you can exhaust the spring we have been glancing at by drinking1 which dips down toward the deepness of the world4 ,i was still bound fast to the anvil1 for this was our living1 but there was my life1 so far as good books could make it1 rich for me and noble in the great library again seven miles away4 ,so what matter about the hard day's work at the anvil1 while there was some new volume to read when the day's work was done or old one to read with an ever new delight4 ,my new book or old one1 with the sweet green lane in the summer time where ,i could walk while the birds sang their mating song1 and the fragrance of the green things growing floated on the soft summer air1 and the fireside in winter with the good wife busy about the room1 and the little ones sleeping in their cribs1 ,i look back to those times still and wonder whether they were not the best ,i ever knew4 ,i was reading some lines the other day in an old ,english ballad written #cjj years ago1 and they told the story of those times3 ,o for a booke1 and a shadie nook1 eyther indoore1 or out1 ,with the green leaves whisp'ring overhede1 or the streete cries all about1 ,where ,i maie reade1 all at my ease1 both of the ,new and ,olde1 ,for a right good ,booke1 whereon to looke1 was better to me than ,golde4 ,and so ,i touch the story of my own life for some poor evidence of what good books can do for us and for the worth of what you have been doing in ,spencer all these years1 and are made glad to day by this library building which crowns the good endeavor2 a place that will not shame but will glorify your purpose and hold it to the noblest and best endeavors you can make in the time to come1 for such a shrine will be sure to draw books to it always1 worthy of its beauty and grace1 and there will be other men and women also to follow in the steps of ,richard ,sugden1 and bring to it costly works and rare and beautiful1 worthy to be in the palaces of kings while still you will see to it that the noble provision of books for the general reading rests directly as it has done so long on your own generous care4 ,you have made this noble boon of good books easy and opulent for the workingmen of ,spencer4 ,when ,i came to this new world and had not heard as yet of that library among the green lands1 but must have books on any terms1 and the terms were hard1 and the good wife watching not the dollars but the very cents because they must all be saved to furnish the little home1 ,i can well remember how ,i bought a book one day for half a dollar1 far too big to smuggle into the cottage1 and hid it in the bushes1 watched my chances the next day1 and got it in all safe and sound2 and some days after1 when she caught me reading1 and said1 ,where did you get that book1 my dear8 ,i answered1 ,why1 ,i have had it for some time2 and then she only said1 ,indeed6 for she was patient with me and good2 and then1 it was in what somebody calls our treacle moon4 ,the workingmen of ,spencer fall on happy times4 ,here are books easy to come at as the water you drink and the air you breathe and stores of them which can never be exhausted4 ,if it had come to pass thirty years ago that some man delving in your wild hills had struck gold1 and all the eager manhood of ,new ,england had gone crazy to delve for gold where ,spencer stands1 and had found it in mighty stores1 ,i wonder whether that would have been such a boon to ,spencer and the world as this you have done--establishing great industries and wholesome and good2 beckoning the working forces from far and wide to come here and take hold with you on such terms as we can find nowhere else outside this new world4 ,brother ,mc,glynn1 ,i remember1 as we rode together to the funeral of ,gen4 ,grant1 called out some half-dozen times1 ,god's world for the workingman6 ,you did this who were the pioneers of the strong and steadfast town1 and then you said1 ,we must have a free public library1 and pay the bills2 we have got our churches started1 and our schools1 and our place for town-meeting--the tap-root of the tree of liberty in ,new ,england1 a living tree1 and no mere liberty-pole1 and reaching down #bjj years--now we must complete the walls of the city1 which standeth four-square1 by a free public library1 and so do what men may to maintain a fair public virtue and intelligence within the lines of ,spencer2 these men we employ shall have books to read of every kind any man ought to read1 and the ought shall be large and free and fair2 and so the thing was done4 ,the thirty years have come and gone2 the free public library has done its noble and beautiful work4 ,it is a new departure we touch to-day in this ceremony of gift and acceptance4 ,this library will grow always more worthy the name your friend and neighbor has made for it from this time4 ,they say that in ,scotland once a man sent for his minister and said1 ,if ,i give ,l#bj1jjj to the church do you think it will be reckoned in my account when ,i get through down here8 ,and the minister said3 ,i do not feel sure about that2 but it is weel worth the experiment4 ,i do feel sure about this1 and the worth of what you can do1 to be placed to your credit1 not yonder but right here in the town of ,spencer4 ,there can be no nobler investment1 and but few as noble as this you have made these thirty years for all who have the hunger and thirst in them good books can satisfy2 while still with poor ,oliver in the story1 we ask for more2 and they are not dead things1 as ,milton says1 but contain a potency of life as active as the soul from which they sprang3 ,books are each a world2 and those we know ,are a substantial world both pure and good2 ,round these1 with tendrils strong as flesh and blood1 ,our pastime and our happiness will grow4 ,and books are yours ,within whose silent chambers treasure lies ,preserved from age to age2 more precious far ,than that accumulated store of gold ,and orient gems1 which for a day of need ,the ,sultans hide deep in ancestral vaults4 ,these stores of truth you can unlock at will4 ,,books ,,and ,,life ,the influence of books on the community has been used in this address by ,dean 7now ,president7 ,birge as a basis for discussing their reaction on special groups1 especially those differentiated by age and sex1 and how far the library should be guided by it and take advantage of it4 ,it is perhaps the best general treatment of the group features of socialized library work by a speaker of authority1 not a professional librarian4 ,edward ,asahel ,birge was born at ,troy1 ,n4,y41 ,sept4 #g1 #ahea1 graduated at ,williams in #ahgc and since #ahge has been a member of the ,university of ,wisconsin faculty1 serving successively as instructor in natural history1 professor of zoology1 dean of the college of arts and sciences1 acting president1 and finally in #aiai1 president of the ,university4 ,he has also served as a director of the ,free ,library at ,madison1 and in #aijf was president of the ,wisconsin ,library ,association1 before whom this address was delivered4 ,the aspect of the subject to which ,i would call your attention is the often observed fact of the extent to which modern life in all of its phases1 is becoming based upon books4 ,i say in all of its phases1 for we are concerned with the present extent of this relation between books and life with its rapid increase1 rather than with its existence4 ,ever since the beginning of human society men have based their actions on the teachings of experience4 ,part of these teachings each individual has directly derived from his environment1 and he has supplemented and enlarged them by means of those coming from the remembered experience of others1 often belonging to an older generation4 ,later in history there were added those teachings derived from books--from the recorded experience of others4 ,with that enlargement of the basis of human action which comes from the remembered experience of others we1 as librarians1 have nothing to do1 and1 indeed1 there is little to say about it now which could not have been said with equal propriety1 one1 two1 or twenty centuries ago4 ,with books the case is different4 ,the last century1 the last generation1 the last decade--each has seen the transfer of the basis of action from the oral to the printed word1 which could be paralleled by no other period of equal length in the history of civilization4 ,the story of this transfer from talk to print1 from rule of thumb to textbook1 from tradition to school1 from practise to science1 is long and intensely interesting4 ,i can touch only a few phases of it4 ,first consider the lengthening of the school period for children4 ,i do not think it is possible accurately to compare the present length of this period with that which existed a century or a half ago2 nor would such a comparison interest us4 ,it is enough for our purpose to know that years have been added to the school life of many thousands of the youth of all classes4 ,as a single illustration1 consider the effect of the high school1 whose development into a large and popular institution1 an institution affecting great masses of the people1 belongs almost wholly to the period within the life of the generation now on the stage4 ,a half century ago the public high school was almost unknown and the private academy reached very few persons4 ,only a generation ago the number of students in secondary schools was hardly one-tenth of the present number4 ,the attendance on institutions of secondary grade has thus increased five times as rapidly as the population4 ,within the past fifteen years the attendance in the high schools of ,milwaukee has more than trebled1 while only a little more than fifty per cent4 has been added to the population of the city4 ,in ,racine almost exactly the same ratio holds1 and so for many other cities of the ,united ,states1 the increase being least marked in ,new ,england cities1 and greatest in the cities of the ,west4 ,the formative influence of the high school youth are far more extensively and exclusively books than were those of his father or grandfather1 who probably began to learn his trade1 or his business1 at about the age when his boy enters the high school1 and who therefore1 during the period of adolescence1 received his training from action rather than from study1 from oral rather than from printed experience4 ,one may find to-day in the writings of many teachers jeremiads over the shortness of the average school life of children4 ,i would not contradict their statistics and would join in their regrets1 but the fact remains that the most striking phenomenon in the life of the children of the past thirty years is the extent to which their training has been committed to the use of books and the rapid growth of the use of books as the period has advanced4 ,few as the school years of the children now are1 those of any older generation have been fewer4 ,this aspect of the matter is the one that is of interest to us1 and the school life of the present1 instead of arousing our regrets by its brevity1 may well call out our astonishment by its length1 and demand the use of our best wits to see the changes which have been caused in the life of the present and to forecast those which in the future will flow from this fundamental change in education4 ,one of these correlated changes is already apparent--the extension of the period of book learning for many thousands of persons into the college and university course4 ,in #ahej the total attendance on colleges in the ,united ,states was about ten thousand4 ,half a century later1 when the population of the country had increased about three and one-third times1 the college students had increased in a tenfold ratio1 or more than three times as rapidly as the population4 ,even more significant is the growth of the number of college students in more recent years4 ,since #ahhi the number has more than doubled1 thus continuing in the latest years a ratio of growth with reference to population quite as great as in earlier years4 ,an equally significant1 and quite as conspicuous change1 is seen in the growth of technical education4 ,thirty years ago1 when ,i came to ,wisconsin1 the university was graduating from two or three and a half dozen engineers yearly1 and these could not all find occupation in this commonwealth1 with a population then of more than a million people4 ,now a hundred graduates go out at ,commencement1 while the population of the state has little more than doubled1 and while other engineering schools of high rank have multiplied all around it4 ,nowadays the man of books1 rather than the man of tradition is directing the work of the world4 ,in the copper mines of the north the old-fashioned mine captain1 who received his profession and his traditions from his father1 is disappearing and has almost vanished4 ,his place is taken by the graduate of a mining school1 who interprets what he sees1 not by the light of the experience of his elders1 communicated to him orally1 but by the far clearer light of the collective experience of men embodied in books4 ,when the capitalist now desires to explore for new iron mines he employs not the old-fashioned prospector1 but puts into the field a party of young men often fresh from the geological laboratory4 ,thus science1 organized knowledge1 book learning1 is driving out with increasing rapidity the picturesque figures of past times--times wholly past1 though only just behind us in years4 ,that bookish theoric1 so detested by ,iago1 is apparently firmly in control of affairs and has displaced its predecessors and rivals4 ,in countless other ways the same fact is shown4 ,half a century ago a youth who desired to become a lawyer or a doctor entered the office of a practitioner and learned his profession by practise and experience4 ,now he goes to the school of law or medicine and gains his entrance to his chosen calling by the way of books and laboratories4 ,even commerce and trade1 in which the rules of practical experience seem most firmly entrenched1 are shifting their basis to books1 and schools of commerce and trade schools are springing up on every hand to give youth a broader foundation of knowledge than can be gained from practise4 ,still more significant are the facts shown by the enormous development of agricultural experiment stations1 farmers' bulletins and farmers' institutes4 ,agriculture1 that calling which of all others is most ancient and most conservative1 is rapidly changing its basis from tradition to books4 ,perhaps ,i ought not to say most conservative1 for there is one calling which may better deserve the title--that of the domestic industries practised by women4 ,yet even here a beginning of the transfer1 although a small one1 has been made by schools of domestic science4 ,while this beginning is but small1 and while the traditional professions of women have not yet been greatly modified by books1 the life of no class of the community has been more profoundly affected by this general change than has that of women4 ,with the passing away of home industries and with the great increase of wealth which the past century1 or half century1 has seen1 have come vastly increased opportunities to women for leisure1 for release from domestic duties1 and for the prolongation of school life4 ,the statistics of high schools and colleges sufficiently show the use which they are making of this leisure4 ,other facts are equally obvious and significant as showing the transfer of the basis of woman's life from domestic experience to books4 ,the woman's club1 ,i suppose1 may be said fairly to take the place of the sewing circle of our mothers and grandmothers4 ,the contrast even in the name is significant1 as marking the transfer of interest from the circle of domestic experience to the wider domain of the recorded life of the world1 to the realm of books4 ,thus at whatever point we examine the life of the present1 we find it basing itself on books1 both for action and enjoyment1 and that in an ever-increasing degree4 ,this truth is peculiarly evident to you as librarians1 since the facts of your own profession and the rapid growth of libraries and library work afford one of the latest phases of this general movement4 ,from #ahge to #ahif the number of libraries in the ,united ,states just about doubled1 increasing steadily1 and adding1 during this period1 about #b1jjj libraries1 or a little less than #ajj per year4 ,from #ahif to #aijj1 #a1cej libraries were added1 or about #dej per year4 ,from #aijj to #aijc1 #a1ejj libraries were founded1 or #ejj per year4 ,in the past ten years the number of libraries must have doubled2 a ratio growth at least four times that of the population4444 ,it is plain that the adjustment of the library to this movement of men's minds towards books is the most important practical question for all of us4 ,questions of management1 of administration1 of methods are all of secondary importance beside this one--if1 indeed they may be called even secondary4 ,for this change of base is a revolutionary affair1 not a mere matter of readjustment of detail1 and it is no easy task for the library to find itself in such a movement4 ,libraries are so small a part of the national intellectual life1 so small1 in the mass1 for example1 in comparison to the great universities1 that their proper influence and work are easily overlooked4 ,there is sometimes danger that they may be swept into currents guided by other forces rather than find opportunity freely to contribute their own share to the movement4 ,let us turn then to the more practical side of the question1 and ask how the library is adjusting itself1 in this changed relation of men1 where it has best succeeded1 and where it still has most to do4 ,let us ask where experience seems to promise successful solution of problems1 and where the problems are in that stage in which only doubtful success can be expected from experiments1 and final solution still lies far before us4 ,the library began as a place to keep books1 permitting their use by the public1 but often under such restrictions as seem to indicate that this service was granted grudgingly and of necessity4 ,books and the high life were in some obscure way correlated in the mind of the librarian1 and he too often seemed to feel that these were treasures not to be shared by the many4 ,the first change which came1 therefore1 as the library was swept into the general intellectual current of time1 was the removal of restrictions on the use of books and their replacement by devices intended to encourage and extend that use4 ,a second step1 and a much more revolutionary one1 has been to teach the community directly the uses of books1 and thus not merely to afford easy conditions for the use of books on the part of those who want them1 but to add a positive force which will compel the books to go out in the community1 there to perform their present service and to create a demand for an increased service in the future4 ,this change marks a fundamental departure of the library from its old basis1 and one which will affect it greatly1 for good and perhaps for ill4 ,the movement toward freedom of administration was really concerned with small matters1 and left unaltered the central plan and purpose of the library4 ,but with the assumption of direct educational work for children1 for women1 for men1 the library has entered upon a new epoch in its evolution4 ,it has taken up duties whose performance will demand greatly enlarged resources--of space and of money1 of books and of working staff4 ,and what is of even greater importance1 the purpose1 the point of view1 of those who control the library1 and the temper of the administration1 will change1 and ought to change1 under the pressure of these new duties4 ,this positive and educational library work falls into two main types--that for children1 and that for adults--both men and women4 ,it is still in a tentative condition1 in a formative and experimental period4 ,the results are still so few and recent that they do not admit any exact formulation4 ,they permit only general and suggestive statement4 ,work for children is1 in some ways1 the easiest educational attempt of the library1 since it runs parallel to the work of the schools1 and those for whom the work is done are easily reached and easily guided4 ,its function is1 of course1 in part to supplement the school4 ,it would be1 however1 a great misfortune if it were looked upon merely as a supplement to the school1 as a means of providing reading which the school ought to buy1 but cannot afford4 ,its purpose is rather to begin in childhood1 both for pleasure and for profit1 a voluntary association with books which lie wholly outside of the school program4 ,it aims to begin the early formation of the habit of reading as distinguished from study--a habit which will be permanent1 instead of ending with the period of formal instruction4 ,it recognizes the fact that school life must soon end1 and that when the end comes1 the important feature of the child's intellectual condition is not so much the amount he has learned as the temper and habit of his mind toward books4 ,has he merely learned certain truths from books or are books open to him8 ,it is of fundamental importance to the community that the second alternative be secured4 ,the school libraries and children's librarians are1 therefore1 not to feel that their duty is to supplement the school4 ,that duty lies on a different1 and1 in a way1 a higher plane1 in a more spiritual region4 ,it is their part to make the child a citizen of the world of books1 and to naturalize him so thoroughly that he will always remain a citizen4 ,thus only can he share fully1 not only in the high and permanent pleasures that books afford1 but also in that great movement of life toward books which marks our time4 ,from remarks which ,i have heard on various occasions1 ,i believe this extension of library service and library duties to youth has often been misunderstood4 ,work with school children1 whether done by the library force as part of their duties1 or by assistants especially engaged1 has seemed to many to be a somewhat unnecessary extension of the library--something of a luxury4 ,these added duties have often been assumed by the libraries under special pleas1 and for reasons temporary in character4 ,but in that wider view which ,i am trying to present1 the truth is recognized that the library is a permanent storehouse of books for the community1 to which the citizen of every class and age must repair for knowledge not only interesting and useful but necessary to the conduct of life4 ,we recognize also that while the training of the schools soon ceases for every individual1 the service of the library extends throughout life4 ,we assert also that the possibilities of this service must be taught to the members of the community from childhood1 and that the efficiency of the books will largely depend on the efficiency with which this teaching is done4 ,especial care must be taken with children and youth toward the end of the ordinary school periods--in the upper grades and in the high school4 ,here it is that the transition to independent reading must come4 ,the children's room must not be merely an appendage to the kindergarten and primary school1 but the library must supply to youth of all ages not only books1 but inspiration in reading4 ,the questions which arise in work for children are many and often perplexing1 but if these general principles are accepted1 they are1 after all1 questions of detail rather than of principle4 ,the library's influence over women has been the greatest in extent and productive of the largest results2 so much so that1 in the opinion of many critics of the public library1 that institution is in danger of becoming feminized4 ,i shall not attempt to discuss so large a subject as that indicated by this fearful word1 but it may not be unprofitable to touch upon the causes which have given the work of the library for women at once so great an extension and so great a success1 as well as some obvious limitations4 ,i should place first among the causes1 both for the success and the limitation of this influence1 the recent acquisition by women of large opportunities for the intellectual life1 their natural conservatism1 and their greatly increased leisure as compared with men4 ,that women read books1 and read them in enormous numbers1 is granted1 indeed asserted4 ,that they read seriously ,i have heard questioned and have always wondered at the doubt4 ,it seems to me rather that they never read in any way except seriously4 ,how many women--reading women1 ,i mean--can put away an unfinished book without a sense of guilt8 ,how many can browse about in a library and enjoy doing so8 ,how many really like to read a dictionary or encyclopaedia without ulterior designs upon an article for the women's club1 or1 at least1 without wanting to know something8 ,these are all tests--unconscious1 but none the less excellent--of the real readers1 of those to whom books are alive and intimate friends4 ,while ,i have no statistics at hand1 ,i fear that many women most devoted to libraries would fail to reach this standard4 ,the field of the intellectual life has been widely opened to women so recently that they still feel a certain sense of duty along with the privilege which is granted them in entering it1 rather than a complete sense of being at home there4 ,the conservatism of women helps this tendency to read seriously and for general purposes4 ,the traditional use of books as a means of culture appeals to their more conservative mind as it does not to men4 ,they are more easily induced to read for reading's sake--they are willing to read the books one ought to read4 ,they are moved by considerations of mental improvement independent of any result beyond the improvement itself4 ,the library as a library attracts them4 ,then1 too1 the amount of their reading and its character is modified by the fact that women are so much more limited than men in means to pass their leisure4 ,jerome ,k4 ,jerome 7if correctly reported by newspapers7 recently pointed out that much so-called reading is no more an intellectual process than is smoking a cigar1 and that often we go to books just as to the cigar1 to pass the time and to prevent the intrusion of disagreeable thoughts4 ,of course this is1 and ought to be1 wholly true1 and since with us the cigar is a masculine privilege1 the woman must take to books as the man takes to smoking1 and even to drinking4 ,speaking seriously1 the library is to many women a relief from care--the only distraction from the monotony of routine4 ,it is a cheap and easy thing to sneer at this use of books1 but we who believe in the friendship of books know that here lies one of the greatest blessings they can give1 as it is one of the greatest blessings of true friendship4 ,nor do we wonder that the uncultivated1 or the half-cultivated1 often choose their book friends from a class not greatly above their own4 ,on the other hand1 women have hardly begun to use books on lines along which we are seeking to get men to read--in directions connected with their trade or profession4 ,domestic industries1 so far as they are in the hands of women1 are still most wholly dependent upon tradition4 ,they are not exposed to competition4 ,failure or inefficiency does not put the proprietor out of business4 ,their results are not measured in dollars and cents4 ,in a word1 the whole line of motives which is forcing masculine industries over to the basis of books is lacking in the chief feminine occupations4 ,we are now seeing only the feeble beginnings of the attempt thus to transfer them from tradition to science4 ,a long time must pass1 and social conditions greatly change1 before the transfer is made4 ,thus women are not forced from general to special lines of reading1 while they have greater motive for general reading than have men4 ,as a result1 women are becoming1 to a degree without example in the past1 the possessors and transmitters of the life of culture4 ,i do not believe that fewer men read good literature than formerly1 but the increase in masculine readers of this type has been so much less than the increase in women readers that in comparison the number of men seems to have shrunken greatly4 ,of course much of this reading by women for culture is desultory and aimless1 much is misdirected4 ,but after all deductions are made1 it remains true that the knowledge of books seems to be tending to become the possession of women rather than of men4 ,it has always belonged to a certain class of men--not a very large part of the community--and it is still theirs2 but its extension to other classes has been along female lines rather than male1 and its transmission to the next generation seems only too likely to depend in a large measure upon the female line4 ,college statistics at present show the same facts4 ,language1 literature1 and art are the chosen studies of women4 ,men turn rather to science1 economics1 or politics--subjects which1 they suppose1 bear directly on future plans for life4 ,these great subjects whose main purpose in education is the uplifting of the mind1 the widening of the mental horizon without direct reference to any specific line of life--these appeal far more strongly to women than to men1 and their influence1 in a rapidly increasing degree1 will reach the next generation through the mother rather than through the father4 ,it would be a pessimistic view which would say that modern society is coming to depend on the mothers for the accumulation and transmission of culture1 while retaining in the male line the function of accumulating and transmitting wealth1 though much could be said for the thesis and a very plausible argument could be constructed for it4 ,if all this is true1 it is inevitable that women should use libraries far more than men4 ,it is equally inevitable that in this large use much should be trivial1 much customary1 much misdirected and unwise4 ,nature has no means of reaching success except by the rule of natural selection--the old-fashioned plan of cut-and-try1 and this means much failure along the road of advance4 ,we who see the work of the library from our daily experience know how much it is contributing of culture1 how much of happiness1 to the life of women1 and through them to that of the community4 ,but men--why do they not use the library1 say the critics1 and what shall the library do to increase its use by men8 ,you have all read the vigorous article that the ,independent published on this subject last summer1 which1 with much of error1 contains a good deal of truth in a stimulating form4 ,it presents a subject which must have a somewhat larger treatment4 ,it ought first to be said that in this and other articles on the topic the terms women and men are by no means similarly used4 ,the writers are not concerned about men at large--the husbands and brothers of the women who are said to visit the library--the women of comparative leisure1 who are seeking information on art1 literature1 or ancestry1 who are trying to get up a paper for the club1 or who visit the library for recreation4 ,it is the plumber1 the machinist1 the grocer1 whose absence they deplore1 and to whom they think the library ought to give help4 ,not only so1 but it is the plumber1 rather than as a man1 whose presence is desired and who is to be aided4 ,the library1 says the ,independent in effect1 ought to teach the plumber how to plumb2 ought to furnish him with information which his boss is unable to give4 ,but this is a new function for libraries1 however useful it may be1 and a function which libraries do not attempt for women4 ,dressmakers do not 7,i speak under correction1 but ,i think ,i am right7 expect to secure at a library a knowledge of how to fit a difficult customer1 any more than do tailors4 ,yet this sort of thing1 we are told1 the library ought to do for men2 and we are told in a tone which implies that here is an obvious duty which only wilful ignorance can overlook4 ,it ought rather to be recognized that in undertaking this work the public library is entering a new and almost unexplored field of effort1 and also that it is trying to extend its influence to classes of the community which it has not hitherto reached1 and along lines of knowledge which it has never seriously attempted to follow4 ,in such a work there must be many experiments and many failures1 and the positive results will be small for a long time4444 ,the problem for the library1 as regards men1 is therefore twofold3 #a4 ,can men be induced to visit the library for general purposes1 to use it in ways similar to those for which women come to it8 #b4 ,how can the wage-earners and handicraftsmen be induced to visit the library and use its books for their practical advantage8 ,let us first consider the general question3 ,can we reach the men8 ,the women come to the libraries1 say the critics1 in shoals and droves1 for all sorts of intellectual purposes1 good and bad4 ,you catch the children1 they say1 in school1 when they cannot get away1 and indeed are glad of relief from lessons2 but the men--can you reach them and affect their lives8 ,in reply we must say at once and frankly that no such large volume of success with men is possible as has been the case with women4 ,the public library came to women at the precise moment when increased education disposed them to use it1 and increased leisure gave them the opportunity4 ,it fills a space in their lives which would be otherwise void4 ,but the present time is one of decreased leisure and increased intensity of work for all classes of men4 ,perhaps ,i ought to except from this statement the wage-earner1 who as eight hour laws and customs come into force will have more time for reading than the man of almost any other class in the community4 ,this movement toward lessened hours of labor is more effective where libraries are best organized and therefore presents an opportunity for the extension of library influence1 both general and special4 ,the opportunity must be improved1 yet neither the wage-earner nor the business man will be easy to reach2 neither has been among the active patrons of the library in the past4 ,their lives are already full1 both with business and pleasure1 and if the library is to reach them1 it must attract them on lines which appeal to them more strongly than business or present pleasure4 ,it must reach needs which they know and feel to be real4 ,i do not believe that men of the present generation will come to libraries in great numbers for the purposes that attract women4 ,we might as well admit that they will not substitute the novel for the cigar1 the printed story for the companionship of the club4 ,they will not read good books because they ought to do so1 and the number who will read them because they like to do so is unfortunately not great4 ,men have not thus acted since the world began1 and man-like1 they will not do so now1 even though such conduct on their part would help our library statistics very greatly4 ,nor will any great number of them read in order to enlarge the basis of life1 for1 in spite of the greatness of the movement toward books1 it affects at first hand only a few people in the community4 ,the mass of workmen1 now and always1 will get their knowledge from tradition or at second hand4 ,it will be the unusual man who will get his ideas from books at first hand and thus improve his work and that of his fellows4 ,the problem is then to reach these few1 and through them the community2 and this brings us to the second phase of the question4 ,i do not find that the problem has been solved2 perhaps it is too recent4 ,but libraries have been attempting its solution by various methods and with varying success4 ,the first and most successful attempt is that of the large libraries1 like that of ,pittsburgh and the ,pratt ,institute of ,brooklyn1 which maintain a technical library for the men--a library adequately housed in its own rooms and administered by a special librarian4 ,these technical libraries for working men succeed in their aim of reaching many of the class for which they are established4 ,they offer not merely an opportunity for reading1 but that guidance in the use of books which all classes of the community need1 if they are to use books for a serious purpose4 ,they show us that success in this line of effort may be reached if the library has an income sufficient to enable it to undertake the task on a large scale4 ,this condition is1 however1 not that of most of the libraries which are represented here4 ,our incomes are none too large for the work which we must necessarily do for the general public4 ,such libraries must ordinarily content themselves with offering to men opportunities for reading without special guidance in the use of books4 ,this work has been attempted in a good many of the smaller libraries4 ,they attempt to provide masculine conditions for reading and reading material which will appeal to men4 ,the first includes a well-furnished1 comfortable room for men1 where a man can come in his working clothes without feeling he is out of place2 smoking may be allowed or not--both plans are tried without great difference in apparent result4 ,the masculine reading comprises newspapers and magazines2 good books of literature which can be left in the room 7paper bound copies suggested72 most important of all are trade journals2 if possible1 files of the recent volumes of these journals1 selected according to the industries of each town2 and the most readable and most recent reference books on similar subjects4 ,in a word1 a room is furnished with reading which will appeal to the classes of men who do not ordinarily use libraries and who are not greatly interested in literature4 ,this plan is good one and ought to be tried1 but ,i believe the conditions are exceptional under which it will reach large numbers of men4 ,inertia and habit will keep most of them away from the library4 ,they will see the daily papers at their wonted places of resort1 and the room1 necessarily lacking in much of the freedom of the club1 will fail to attract very many of them4 ,they will not form the habit of visiting it1 even though they might enjoy it if the habit were formed4 ,it must also be remembered that increasing numbers of the manufacturing concerns are providing their employees with reading of this kind1 and thus limiting the use of the city library4 ,in some libraries the attempt to reach men has gone still further and has led to an inclusion of attractions which are ordinarily regarded as outside the work of a library4 ,they have attempted to combine to some degree the privileges of a club with that of the public library4 ,the ,stevens ,point ,library has a club room1 equipped with billiard tables1 cards1 etc41 as well as with technical journals and similar books4 ,this1 the librarian reports1 is very successful in attracting boys1 many of whom learn to use the library4 ,men1 however1 do not come in large numbers1 as they do not care to use a place frequented by boys1 and in which smoking is not permitted4 ,at ,wausaukee a special room with games and where lunch is served has been established at the library as a means of furnishing a sort of club room for lumber men who come to the village1 especially on ,sunday1 and who have no other place of resort1 except the saloon4 ,how far such methods are advisable as a part of library work is a question which will often be asked during the coming years and which only experience can answer4 ,at present such enterprises have not gone beyond the stage of early experiment4 ,summing up the result1 ,i would frankly confess that the reports which ,i have received are not numerous enough for a positive judgment1 yet it is my impression that where there is an income large enough to provide a special librarian and a public large enough to warrant the expense1 this movement for special libraries for men is likely to succeed4 ,it seems also to be true that where the library provides the men with the opportunity for reading only1 and does not furnish guidance for readers1 no very large use is made of technical books and there is no greatly increased use of the library in general4 ,how to guide the reading seems1 therefore1 to be the central factor in the solution of the problem4 ,in a small town a special librarian is impossible1 for financial reasons1 but there1 as well as in large cities1 lectures can be given which deal with practical subjects and the aid to their knowledge which the library affords4 ,many cities are giving such courses of lectures1 notably perhaps ,new ,york1 and with considerable effect on the use of the public library4 ,i have no statistics regarding such lectures from the various cities1 but undoubtedly this method offers the easiest plan for extending the use of the library in smaller cities and towns4 ,i say the easiest1 and it will not be difficult to secure good lectures on literature1 history1 or art1 but lectures on the practical subjects are much more difficult to obtain1 since it is hard to secure lecturers who know more about the trades than do the craftsmen who constitute the audience4 ,if these movements are to succeed1 they must not be attempted in an amateurish way4 ,they must be well planned and well executed--planned and executed with careful reference to the wants of the men of the community4 ,above all1 they must be persistently carried out with full vigor year after year1 even though results are apparently small4 ,their purpose must be steadfastly maintained and the methods of execution continually readjusted1 as success or failure indicates4 ,it is no light or easy thing to change the habits of half the adult members of the community--to cultivate the reading habit in those who have reached maturity without acquiring it--and the work which the library proposes for itself involves such a task4 ,if men are to be reached at all it must be on a business basis1 not on that of occasional effort4 ,nor must the missionary spirit prevail1 for men1 as a rule1 do not wish to be reformed or to be helped4 ,they must find in the library a place which appeals to their sense of comfort and which gives them things that they want1 or1 like other sensible people1 they will not use it4 ,one word in closing this topic1 and that in emphasis of what ,i have already said4 ,it is easier to keep a boy reading as he grows up than to catch him again as a man after the library has lost him4 ,take a lesson from the church4 ,the boy who graduates from ,sunday-school rarely returns for a post-graduate course4 ,in the wise administration of the work for children and youth lies the main hope not of reaching1 but keeping men in the library4 ,but it should be definitely understood that this enlargement of library work which the times are forcing upon us means increasing expense1 more room1 more books--which must be more frequently renewed--and a larger library staff4 ,it means the attempt to do efficiently several lines of intellectual work for the public instead of purveying literature for those who desire it4 ,this new work the library can readily accomplish1 but not with the staff which was sufficient for the old duties4 ,any library can provide1 for example1 the list of desiderata mentioned in the ,independent's article1 which could easily be extended4 ,they can all be furnished by the library as the public wants them and will pay for them4 ,they cannot be1 and ought not to be1 supplied by an already overworked library staff of two or three persons4 ,the library1 therefore1 should not enter upon these duties blindly or ignorantly4 ,it is a great task which is thus undertaken--to educate the community to use books and to guide it in that use4 ,although small beginnings are possible1 the work will inevitably grow on our hands just as that of the schools and colleges has done1 and for similar reasons4 ,but whatever difficulties lie in the way of their performance1 it is plain that the library must assume these new duties4 ,with many experiments1 with many failures1 with many partial successes1 the library will extend its teachings1 its conscious influences1 until they touch the life of the community at every point4 ,in this rambling talk ,i have discussed library work as it looks forward to new problems1 and have devoted only a word1 and that perhaps a rather disparaging one1 to the traditional use of the library4 ,i would not leave the subject in this way4 ,for the traditional use of books remains and will remain the center of library work and the main source of its best influences4 ,the problem of the library to-day1 looked at from within and not from without1 and in relation to other agencies1 is essentially that which confronts the university4 ,both institutions once stood for culture and for culture exclusively4 ,both are now challenged by the spirit of the newer time and are called upon to justify themselves as public utilities4 ,this they must do1 and that in full measure1 but there is a real danger that both1 in the multiplicity of the new duties thus forced upon them1 may forget the weighty words1 these ought ye to do and not leave the other undone4 ,for1 after all1 the highest public utility which the library offers1 or can offer1 is the opportunity to cultivate the friendship of books4 ,this utility is none the less precious because it is intangible4 ,indeed1 it is the unique privilege of the library among municipal enterprises that it can provide a service which aids the higher life of the citizen so directly and so purely4 ,in the spirituality of this function1 the library stands second only to the highest institutions of pure learning1 and to the church4 ,no new undertaking1 no extension of work1 no plea of necessity can warrant or justify any loss of power on this highest level4 ,the problem is not to discover how to sacrifice as little as possible of the old spirit to the new duties1 but to learn how through the new duties we may make more wide-spread and more potent for good that oldest and best inheritance from the past--the love of books4 ,the people's university1 the library has been called1 but it would be as great a pity if the librarian so understood this term as to believe that people came to the library only to learn1 as it would be if any went there who could not learn what they sought4 ,that university which is a place to study rather than a place to live is missing its best possibilities1 and in a similar way the library ought to be1 first and always1 a place to read rather than a place to study4 ,i would not go so far as to say that ,i want to find it a place to loaf1 though ,i might be provoked into saying so2 but certainly it must be a place where ,i can invite my soul--such a place as the world gives me elsewhere only in the church or in the silence of nature4 ,trade journals and technical works are of great use2 books for women's clubs are good things2 the children's room is a necessity2 but these of themselves no more make a library than a kitchen1 dining room and bedroom make a home4 ,out of such utilities as these you may get a boarding house1 but nothing better2 the family makes it a home4 ,those are wholly wrong who believe that standard books are so cheap that anyone can buy them1 and therefore the library could conceivably get on without them4 ,without the best literature you might get a very useful institution1 no doubt1 but not a library1 for in a library the great works of the great authors are the soul and theirs is the spirit which enables the library not merely to contribute to the advance of the community toward prosperity and intelligence1 but also1 in some degree1 to touch its higher life to finer issues4 ,,the ,,boston ,,public ,,library ,,an ,,address ,,at ,,its ,,dedication ,this and the four addresses that follow it have little in common except that all were delivered at the opening exercises of libraries4 ,everett's address at the opening of the ,boston ,public ,library appropriately heads the group4 ,the reader will look in it in vain for any reflection of the conservative opinions expressed in the letter to ,george ,ticknor printed on page #ec of this volume1 unless perhaps in the total absence of anything radical4 ,it is typical oratory of the day--ponderously graceful1 if that is not a contradiction in terms4 ,edward ,everett was born in ,dorchester1 ,mass41 ,april #aa1 #agid4 ,he graduated at ,harvard in #ahaa and served there as professor of ,greek in #ahai-be4 ,he was a member of ,congress in #ahbe-ce1 governor of ,massachusetts in #ahcf-dj1 minister to ,great ,britain in #ahda-de1 president of ,harvard1 #ahdf-di1 ,u4,s4 secretary of state in #aheb-ec1 and ,u4,s4 senator in #ahec-ed4 ,he died in ,boston1 ,jan4 #ae1 #ahfe4 ,his reputation as a scholarly orator was very high4 ,,mr4 ,,mayor3-- ,in behalf of the ,trustees of the ,city ,library1 ,i receive with extreme pleasure the keys which you have placed in my hands4 ,the completion of the noble building1 which the city government now confides to our care1 is an event to which the ,trustees have looked forward with the greatest interest1 and which they now contemplate with the highest satisfaction4 ,they deem themselves especially honored in their connection with an institution1 for whose use this stately and commodious edifice has been erected1 and which they doubt not is destined to be instrumental of the highest good to the community1 and to reflect lasting credit upon the liberality1 public and private1 with which it has been founded and endowed4 ,the city of ,boston1 owing to peculiar circumstances in its growth and history1 has been at all times1 as ,i think1 beyond most cities in the world1 the object of an affectionate attachment on the part of its inhabitants2 a feeling entitled to respect and productive of good1 even if it may sometimes seem to strangers over-partial in its manifestations4 ,it is not merely its commanding natural situation1 the triple hills on which it is enthroned1 its magnificent bay and harbor1 and the group of islands and islets that sparkle like emeralds on their surface2 not merely this most admirable common1 which opens before our windows1 delightful even at this season of the year1 and affording us in summer1 in its noble malls and shady walks1 all that the country can boast of cool and beautiful and salubrious1 transported to the heart of the city1 the poor man's pleasure-ground1 as it has been well called1 though a king might envy it2--nor the environs of our city of surpassing loveliness1 which enclose it on every side in kindly embrace2 it is not solely nor principally these natural attractions which endear ,boston to its citizens4 ,nor is it exclusively the proud and grateful memories of the past1--of the high-souled fathers and mothers of the land1 venerable in their self-denying virtues1 majestic in the austere simplicity of their manners1 conscientious in their errors1 who1 with amazing sacrifices and hardships never to be described1 sought out new homes in the wilderness1 and transmitted to us delights and blessings which it was not given to themselves to enjoy2--of those who in succeeding generations deserved well of their country1--the pioneers of the ,revolution1 the men of the stamp act age1 whose own words and acts are stamped on the pages of history1 in characters never to be effaced2--of those who1 when the decisive hour came1 stood forth in that immortal ,,hall1 the champions of their country's rights1 while it scarcely yet deserved the name of a country2 it is not exclusively these proud and grateful associations1 which attach the dutiful ,bostonian to the city of his birth or adoption4 ,no1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 it is not exclusively these1 much as they contribute to strengthen the sentiment4 ,it has its origin1 in no small degree1 in the personal relation in which ,boston places herself to her children2 in the parental interest which she cherishes in their welfare1 which leads her to take them by the hand almost from the cradle1--to train them up in the ascending series of her excellent free schools2 watching over them as a fond father watches over the objects of his love and hope2 in a word1 to confer upon them a first-rate school education at the public expense4 ,often have ,i attempted1 but with very partial success1 both in this country and in ,europe1 to persuade inquiring friends from the countries and places where no such well-organized system of public education prevails1 that our free schools do really afford to the entire population means of elementary education1 of which the wealthiest citizen is glad to avail himself4 ,and now1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 the enlightened counsels of the city government are about to give new strength to those ties of gratitude and affection1 which bind the hearts of the children of ,boston to their beloved city4 ,hitherto the system of public education1 excellent as it is and wisely supported by a princely expenditure1 does but commence the work of instruction and carry it to a certain point2 well advanced1 indeed1 but far short of the goal4 ,it prepares our young men for college1 for the counting-room1 for the office of the engineer1 the studio of the artist1 the shop of the artisan1 the laboratory of the chemist1 or whatever field of employment they may be destined to enter1 but there it leaves them1 without further provision for the culture of the mind4 ,it disciplines the faculties and forms a taste for the acquisition of knowledge1 on the part of our young men and women1 but it provides no means for their exercise and gratification4 ,it gives them the elementary education requisite for their future callings1 but withholds all facilities of access to those boundless stores of recorded knowledge1 in every department1 by which alone that elementary education can be completed and made effectual for the active duties of life4 ,but to-day our honored city carries on and perfects her work4 ,the trustees1 from their first annual report to the present time1 have never failed to recommend a first class public library1 such as that1 sir1 for whose accommodation you destine this noble building1 as the completion of the great system of public education4 ,its object is to give to the entire population1 not merely to the curious student1 but to the inquisitive member of either of the professions1 to the intelligent merchant1 mechanic1 machinist1 engineer1 artist or artisan1 in short1 to all of every age and of either sex1 who desire to investigate any subject1 either of utility or taste1 those advantages which1 without such an ample public collection1 must necessarily be monopolized by the proprietors of large private libraries1 or those who by courtesy have the use of them2 nay1 to put within the reach of the entire community advantages of this kind1 far beyond those which can be afforded by the largest and best provided private libraries4 ,the trustees are anxious that the institution1 whose prosperity they have so much at heart1 should continue to be viewed in this light2 as one more added to the school-houses of the city1 at which ,boston boys and girls1 when they have outgrown the other schools1 will come to carry on the education which has been there commenced2 where ,boston men and women1 children of a larger growth1 may come to acquire that additional knowledge which is requisite for the most successful discharge of the duties of the various callings of society1--which opens1 in its pursuit1 the purest sources of happiness1--and which1 without reference to utility1 contributes so materially to the grace and ornament of life4 ,i am aware that there is still floating about in the community a vague prejudice against what is called book-learning4 ,one sometimes hears doubts expressed of the utility of public libraries2 opinions that they are rather ornamental than necessary or useful2 and the fact that our time-honored city1 never indifferent to the mental improvement of her children1 has existed more than two centuries without one1 is a sufficient proof1 that1 until within a very few years1 their importance has not been practically felt4 ,there is perhaps even now a disposition to claim some superiority for what is called practical knowledge--knowledge gained by observation and experience 7which most certainly the trustees would not disparage71 and a kind of satisfaction felt in holding up the example of self-taught men1 in supposed contradistinction from those who have got their knowledge from books4 ,no name perhaps is so frequently mentioned for this purpose as that of ,franklin1 who1 because he had scarce any school education and never went to college1 has been hastily set down as a brilliant example to show the inutility of book-learning4 ,it has been quoted to me in this way1 and to show that libraries are of no use1 within three days4 ,now1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 ,i need not tell you that there never was a greater mistake in point of fact4 ,a thirst for books1 which he spared no pains to allay1 is the first marked trait disclosed in the character of ,franklin2 his success throughout the early period of his life can be directly traced to the use he made of them2 and his very first important movement for the benefit of his fellow-men was to found a public library1 which still flourishes2--one of the most considerable in the country4 ,franklin not a book-man6 whoever labors under that delusion1 shows that somebody else is not a book-man1 at least so far as concerns the biography of our illustrious townsman4 ,we happen to have a little information on that subject1 in a book written by ,franklin himself4 ,he there gives a very different account of himself1 and ,i would ask any one who entertains the idea to which ,i am alluding1 at what period of ,franklin's career he supposes this taste for books began to be manifested by him2 how soon he ceased to be a self-formed man8 ,perhaps after he had struggled through the years of his youthful poverty1 escaped to ,philadelphia1 set up in business as a printer1 and begun to have a little money in his pocket4 ,i need not tell you1 sir1 that it was earlier than that4 ,was it1 then1 while he was the clever apprentice to his brother1 the editor of a journal1 and wrote articles for its columns in a disguised hand1 and tucked them under the office door1 enjoying the exquisite delight of being ordered to set up his own anonymous articles2 was it then1 at the age of fifteen or sixteen1 that this fondness for reading1 under the stimulus of boyish authorship1 disclosed itself8 ,earlier than that4 ,well1 then1 at the grammar-school and ,master ,brownwell's writing-school1 which he attended from eight to ten 7for there are boys who show a fondness for reading1 even at that tender age72 was little ,benjamin's taste for books developed while yet at school8 ,earlier than that4 ,hear his own words1 which you will permit me to read from that exquisite piece of autobiography to which ,i have already alluded3 ,from my ,,infancy ,i was passionately fond of reading1 and all the money that came into my hands was laid out in purchasing books4 ,i was very fond of voyages4 ,my first acquisition was ,bunyan's works1 in separate little volumes4 ,i afterwards sold them to enable me to buy ,r4 ,burton's ,historical ,collections4 ,they were small chapman's books and cheap1 forty volumes in all4 ,my father's little library consisted chiefly of books in polemic divinity1 most of which ,i read4 ,i have often regretted and this is a sentence that might be inscribed on the lofty cornice of this noble hall that at a time when ,i had such a thirst for knowledge1 more proper books had not fallen in my way4444 ,there was among them ,plutarch's ,lives1 which ,i read abundantly1 and ,i still think that time spent to great advantage4 ,there was also a book of ,defoe's1 called an ,essay on ,projects1 and another of ,dr4 ,mather's1 called an ,essay to do ,good1 which--did what1 sir8 ,for ,i am now going to give you1 in ,franklin's own words 7they carry with them the justification of every dollar expended in raising these walls71 the original secret of his illustrious career--what was the effect produced by reading these two little books of ,defoe and ,cotton ,mather8 they perhaps gave me a turn of thinking1 which had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life4 ,yes1 sir1 in the reading of those books was the acorn that sprouted into that magnificent oak2 there was the fountain-drop which a fairy might have sipped from a buttercup1 from which has flowed the ,missouri and the ,mississippi1--the broad1 deep river of ,franklin's fame1 winding its way through the lapse of ages1 and destined to flow on1 till it shall be ingulfed in the ocean of eternity4 ,from his infancy1 sir1 passionately fond of reading1 nay1 with the appetite of a vulture1 with the digestion of an ostrich1 attacking the great folios of polemic divinity in his father's library4 ,not a dull boy1 either2 not a precocious little bookworm2 fond of play2 doesn't dislike a little mischief2 sometimes1 as he tells us1 led the other boys into scrapes2 but in his intervals of play1 in his leisure moments1 up in the lonely garret when the rest of the family were asleep1 holding converse in his childhood with the grave old non-conformists1 ,howe and ,owen and ,flavel and ,baxter1--communing with the austerest lords of thought2 the demigods of puritanism4 ,franklin not a book-man8 ,why1 he goes on to tell us that it was this bookish inclination which at length determined his father to make him a printer1 against his own inclination1 which was for the sea2 and when he had thus by constraint become a printer1 his great consolation was1 as he says1 that ,i now had access to better books4 ,an acquaintance with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small one1 which ,i was careful to return soon and clean4 ,often ,i sat up in my chamber reading the greatest part of the night1 when the book was borrowed in the evening and was to be returned in the morning1 lest it should be found missing4 ,then he made the acquaintance of ,mr4 ,matthew ,adams1 an ingenious1 sensible man1 who had a pretty collection of books4 ,he frequented the printing-office1 took notice of the bright little apprentice1 and very kindly proposed to lend me such books as ,i chose to read4 ,having taken to a vegetable diet at the age of sixteen1 he persuaded his brother to allow him in cash half the price of his board1--lived upon potatoes and hasty pudding1--soon found that he could save half even of that little allowance 7which could not have exceeded two-and-six-pence a week1 lawful money71 and this poor little economy was an additional fund for buying books4 ,what would the poor1 underfed boy1 who was glad to buy books on the savings of his potato diet1 have said could he have had free access to a hall like this1 stored as it soon will be with its priceless treasures8 ,further1 sir1 while working as a journeyman in ,england1 he says1 ,i made the acquaintance of one ,william ,wilcox1 a bookseller1 whose shop was next door4 ,he had an immense collection of second-hand books4--7,somewhat1 ,i suppose1 like our friend ,burnham1 in ,cornhill47--,circulating libraries were not then in use1 but we agreed that on certain reasonable terms1 which ,i have now forgotten1 ,i might take1 read1 and return any of his works4 ,this ,i esteemed a great advantage1 and ,i made as much use of it as ,i could4 ,finally1 sir1 as ,i have already said1 ,franklin's first important movement for the good of his fellow-men was the foundation of the public library in ,philadelphia4 ,at his instance1 the members of a little club to which he belonged1 tradesmen and mechanics of narrow means1 threw into common stock the few books which belonged to them4 ,a subscription was then obtained from fifty young men1 principally tradesmen1 of two pounds each1 and ten shillings per annum1 and with this little fund they began4 ,the books were imported1 the library was opened one day in the week for lending them to the subscribers1 on their promissory notes to pay double the value if not duly returned4 ,this was the mother1 says ,franklin1 of all the ,north ,american subscription libraries1 now so numerous4 ,it has become a great thing itself1 and continually goes on increasing4 ,these libraries have improved the general conversation of the ,americans1 made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries1 and1 perhaps1 have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout the colonies in defence of their privileges4 ,those are the words of ,franklin1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 which ,i read from his own book4 ,our excellent friend the ,president of the ,commissioners 7,hon4 ,r4,c4 ,winthrop7 has justly felicitated himself on having been the first person publicly to raise his voice in this noble hall4 ,he must be a happier man than ,i who can speak an earlier or an abler word than his on any occasion2 but ,i claim the credit of having read from the first book opened in this hall2--and what is more1 sir1 ,i mean to have the satisfaction of presenting the first volume given to the library1 since this building came into the care of the ,trustees4 ,in your presence1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 and that of this vast assembly on this first of ,january1 #aheh1 ,i offer this copy of ,franklin's ,autobiography in ,sparks's edition1 as a ,new ,year's gift to the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,nay1 sir1 ,i am going to do more1 and make the first1 and perhaps the last1 motion ever made in this hall2 and that is1 that every person present1 of his own accord1 if of age1--with the consent of parent or guardian1 if a minor1--man1 woman1 boy1 or girl1 be requested1 on going home1 to select one good book1 and in memory of the poor boy1 who half-fed himself to gratify his taste for reading1 present it as a ,new-,year's gift to the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,i make you that motion1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 and ,i call upon all present to give me their voices3 especially ,i ask the cooperation of the fairer and better part of creation4 ,if nowhere else1 woman's rights shall be respected in this hall1 while ,i have anything to do with it4 ,i pray you1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 put the question1 and then ,i'll finish my speech4 ,his ,honor the ,mayor then rose and stated the question1 which was seconded by ,mr4 ,winthrop4 ,the mayor particularly called on the ladies to vote1 and a unanimous and emphatic aye resounded through the vast hall4 ,the negative was then called and no response made4 ,his ,honor1 amidst great cheering and laughter1 pronounced it a unanimous vote4 ,mr4 ,everett resumed-- ,no1 sir1 if there is one lesson more than another directly deducible from the life of ,franklin1 it is the close connection of a thoroughly practical and useful life and career with books1 libraries1 and reading4 ,if there is a thing on earth which would have gladdened his heart could he have anticipated it1 it would be the knowledge that his native city1 in two generations after his death1 would found a library like this1 to give to the rising generation and to the lovers of knowledge of every age that access to books1 of which he so much felt the want4 ,and could it be granted to him1 even now1 to return to his native city1 which dwelt in his affections to the close of his life1 his first visit would be to the centre of the ancient burial-ground1 where in after-life he dutifully placed a marble slab on the graves of his parents2 his second visit would be to the spot in ,milk street where he was born2 his third to the corner of ,union street and ,hanover street1 where he passed his childhood1 in a house still standing2 his fourth visit would be to the site of the free grammar school-house1 where1 as he says in his will1 he received his first instruction in literature1 and which is now adorned with a statue which a grateful posterity has dedicated to his memory2 and his last and longest would be to this noble hall1 where you are making provision for an ample supply of that reading of which1 from his infancy he was passionately fond4 ,the trustees have done what they could to connect some reference to ,franklin with an institution which would have been the object of his warmest affections1 by providing that every ,franklin medal boy shall be entitled to its privileges2 and inasmuch as the accumulating fund which he bequeathed to the city1 and which now exceeds seventy thousand dollars1 has proved almost wholly unavailing for the primary object of the bequest1 it deserves consideration whether1 when it has reached a sufficient magnitude1 as it will before the end of this century1 the interest of the fund1 if it can be legally done1 might not advantageously be appropriated1 as a permanent endowment for the support of the library4 ,i have not proposed at this time1 sir1 on the part of the trustees1 to make a formal speech2 ,i have preferred to let ,benjamin ,franklin speak for us4 ,this day belongs of right to the commissioners for building the library1 ably represented as they are1 by our distinguished friend their president1 who has done such ample justice to the subject2 and to you1 ,mr4 ,mayor1 as the organ of the city government1 whom ,i cannot but congratulate on closing your official career1--in all respects so honorable to yourself and so acceptable to your fellow-citizens1--by an act1 ,i am sure1 most grateful to your own feelings and most auspicious of the public good4 ,it is not yet the time for the trustees to speak4 ,a more fitting opportunity may hereafter present itself1 when the books shall be placed on the shelves1 the catalogue printed1 and the library opened for public use4 ,occasion may then1 perhaps1 with propriety be taken1 to illustrate the importance and utility of such an institution2 to do justice to the liberality on the part of the city government and the individual benefactors by which it has been founded1 endowed1 and sustained2 and especially to the generosity of our greatest benefactor and esteemed fellow-countryman1 ,mr4 ,bates1 whose letters announcing his first munificent donation of fifty thousand dollars1 alluding to his own early want of access to books1 assign that as the moving cause which prompted his liberality4 ,it will be the pleasing duty of those who may then be intrusted with the administration of the library1 to pay a fitting tribute to so much public and private bounty4 ,in the mean time1 sir1 we must throw ourselves on the patience and considerateness of the city council and the community4 ,not much short of sixty thousand volumes are to be brought together from four different places of temporary deposit1 and assigned to their final resting-places in this hall and the circulating library below4 ,here they are to be arranged on the shelves1 the cards and slips which pertain to them1 far more numerous than the volumes themselves1 reduced to alphabetical order2 a separate catalogue of each alcove prepared2 and a comprehensive catalogue of the whole collection1 without which it will be little better than an unmanageable mass1 prepared and printed4 ,every thing which could be done beforehand1 has been anticipated2 but much of the work was of necessity reserved till the books should be placed on the shelves4 ,in the interval1 and while this labor is going on1 the library in ,mason street will be left in possession of the books most in request for daily circulation1 and will be closed at last only when it becomes absolutely necessary that they also should be removed to the new building4 ,but it is time for me to conclude4 ,the shades of evening are falling around us2 those cressets which lend us their mild and tasteful illumination will soon be extinguished2 and the first day of the ,new-,year1 rich in the happy prospects we now inaugurate1 will come to a close4 ,may the blessing of ,heaven give effect to its brightest anticipations4 ,a few more days1--a few more years1--will follow their appointed round1 and we1 who now exchange our congratulations on this magnificent ,new-,year's gift of our city fathers1 shall have passed from the scene2 but firm in the faith that the growth of knowledge is the growth of sound principles and pure morals1 let us not doubt1 that1 by the liberality of the city government and of our generous benefactors at home and abroad1 a light will be kindled and go forth from these walls1 now dedicated to the use of the ,,free ,,boston ,,public ,,library1 which will guide our children and our children's children in the path of intelligence and virtue1 till the sun himself shall fall from the heavens4 ,,the ,,new ,,york ,,free ,,circulating ,,library ,,address ,,in ,,its ,,favor ,,at ,a ,,public ,,meeting ,president ,cleveland made this address on ,march #f1 #ahij1 while a resident of ,new ,york ,city in the interval between his two presidential terms1 at a meeting1 at ,chickering ,hall1 called for the purpose of directing attention to the work of the struggling ,free ,circulating ,library and if possible to raise funds for its support1 which was only partially insured by the ,city4 ,owing to increase in both public and private contributions this library was enabled to make rapid growth in the years immediately following until in #aija1 when it was merged in the ,circulation ,department of the ,new ,york ,public ,library1 it was operating eleven branches with a circulation of over #fjj1jjj4 ,this institution was the pioneer of the popular1 as distinguished from the scholarly1 library idea in ,new ,york4 ,stephen ,grover ,cleveland was born in ,caldwell1 ,n4,j41 ,march #ah1 #ahcg1 the fifth son of a ,presbyterian clergyman4 ,he received a common-school education and after his father's death went in #ahee to live with an uncle in ,buffalo1 ,n4,y4 ,he was admitted to the bar there in #ahei1 was assistant district attorney in #ahfc-ff1 sheriff in #ahga-gd and mayor in #ahhb4 ,in the latter year he was elected ,governor of ,new ,york and in #ahhd ,president of the ,united ,states4 ,he was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in #ahhh1 but was elected again in #ahib4 ,he died in ,princeton1 ,n4,j41 where he had resided since his last presidential term1 on ,june #bd1 #aijh4 ,the words ,i shall speak on this occasion ,i intend rather as a pledge of my adherance to the cause in which you are enlisted than an attempt to say anything new or instructive4 ,i gladly join with the enthusiasm of a new convert in the felicitations of those who have done noble and effective work in the establishment and maintenance in our city of a free circulating library1 and it seems to me they have abundant cause for congratulation in review of the good which has already been accomplished through their efforts and in the contemplation of the further usefulness which awaits their continued endeavor4 ,in every enlightened country the value of popular education is fully recognized1 not only as a direct benefit to its recipients1 but as an element of strength and safety in organized society4 ,considered in these aspects it should nowhere be better appreciated than in this land of free institutions consecrated to the welfare and happiness of its citizens1 and deriving its sanction and its power from the people4 ,here the character of the people is inevitably impressed upon the government1 and here our public life can no more be higher and purer than the life of the people1 than a stream can rise above its fountain or be purer than the spring in which it has its source4 ,that we have not failed to realize these conditions is demonstrated by the establishment of free public schools on every side1 where children are not only invited but often obliged to submit themselves to such instruction as will better their situation in life and fit them to take part intelligently in the conduct of the government4 ,thus1 in our schools the young are taught to read1 and in this manner the seed is sown1 from which we expect a profitable return to the state1 when its beneficiaries shall repay the educational advances made to them by an intelligent and patriotic performance of their social and political duties4 ,and yet if we are to create good citizenship1 which is the object of popular education1 and if we are to insure to the country the full benefit of public instruction1 we can by no means consider the work as completely done in the schoolroom4 ,while the young gathered there are fitting themselves to assume in the future their political obligations1 there are others upon whom these obligations already rest1 and who now have the welfare and safety of the country in their keeping4 ,our work is badly done if these are neglected4 ,they have passed the school age1 and have perhaps availed themselves of free instruction2 but they1 as well as those still in the school1 should1 nevertheless1 have within their reach the means of further mental improvement and the opportunity of gaining that additional knowledge and information which can only be secured by access to useful and instructive books4 ,the husbandman who expects to gain a profitable return from his orchards1 not only carefully tends and cultivates the young trees in his nurseries as they grow to maturity but he generously enriches and cares for those in bearing and upon which he must rely for ripened fruit4 ,teaching the children of our land to read is but the first step in the scheme of creating good citizens by means of free instruction4 ,we teach the young to read so that both as children and as men and women they may read4 ,our teaching must lead to the habit and the desire of reading to be useful2 and only as this result is reached can the work in our free schools be logically supplemented and made valuable4 ,therefore1 the same wise policy and intent which open the doors of our free schools to our young1 also suggest the completion of the plan thus entered upon by placing books in the hands of those who in our schools have been taught to read4 ,a man or woman who never reads and is abandoned to unthinking torpor1 or who allows the entire mental life to be bounded by the narrow lines of the daily recurring routine of effort for mere existence1 cannot escape a condition of barrenness of mind1 which not only causes the decay of individual contentment and happiness1 but which fails to yield to the state its justly expected return of usefulness in valuable service and wholesome political action4 ,another branch of this question should not be overlooked4 ,it is not only of great importance that our youth and our men and women should have the ability1 the desire1 and the opportunity to read1 but the kind of books they read is no less important4 ,without guidance and without the invitation and encouragement to read publications which will improve as well as interest1 there is danger that our people will have in their hands books whose influence and tendency are of a negative sort1 if not positively bad and mischievous4 ,like other good things1 the ability and opportunity to read may be so used as to defeat their beneficient purposes4 ,the boy who greedily devours the vicious tales of imaginary daring and blood-curdling adventure which in these days are far too accessible to the young will have his brain filled with notions of life and standards of manliness which1 if they do not make him a menace to peace and good order1 will certainly not tend to make him a useful member of society4 ,the man who devotes himself to the flash literature now much too common will1 instead of increasing his value as a citizen1 almost surely degenerate in his ideas of public duty and grow dull in appreciation of the obligations he owes his country4 ,in both these cases there will be a loss to the state4 ,there is danger also that a positive and aggressive injury to the community will result1 and such readers will certainly suffer deprivation to the happiness and contentment which are the fruits of improving study and well-regulated thought4 ,so1 too1 the young woman who seeks recreation and entertainment in reading silly and frivolous books1 often of doubtful moral tendency1 is herself in the way of becoming frivolous and silly1 if not of weak morality4 ,if she escapes this latter condition1 she is certain to become utterly unfitted to bear patiently the burden of self-support or to assume the sacred duties of wife and mother4 ,contemplating these truths1 no one can doubt the importance of securing for those who read1 as far as it is in our power1 facilities for the study and reading of such books as will instruct and innocently entertain1 and which will at the same time improve and correct the tastes and habits4 ,there is another thought somewhat in advance of those already suggested1 which should not pass unnoticed4 ,as an outgrowth of the inventive and progressive spirit of our people1 we have among us legions of men1 and women1 too1 who restlessly desire to increase their knowledge of the new forces and agencies which at this time are being constantly dragged from their lurking-places and subjected to the use of man4 ,those earnest inquirers should all be given a chance and have put within their reach such books as will guide and inspire their efforts4 ,if by this means the country shall gain to itself a new inventor or be the patron of endeavor which shall add new elements to the sum of human happiness and comfort1 its intervention will be well repaid4 ,these considerations1 and the fact that many among us having the ability and inclination to read are unable to furnish themselves with profitable and wholesome books amply justify the beneficient mission of our ,free ,circulating ,library4 ,its plan and operation1 so exactly adjusted to meet a situation which cannot safely be ignored and to wants which ought not to be neglected1 establish its claim upon the encouragement and reasonable aid of the public authorities and commend it most fully to the support and generosity of private benefaction4 ,the development which this good work has already reached in our city has exhibited the broad field yet remaining untouched and the inadequacy of present operations4 ,it has brought to view also instances of noble individual philanthropy and disinterested private effort and contribution4 ,but it certainly seems that the time and money directed towards this object are confined to a circle of persons far too narrow1 and that the public encouragement and aid have been greatly disproportioned to private endeavor4 ,the city of ,new ,york has never shown herself willing to be behind other cities in such work as is done by our ,free ,circulating ,library1 and while her people are much engrossed in business activity and enterprise they have never yet turned away from a cause once demonstrated to them to be so worthy and useful as this4 ,the demonstration is at hand4 ,let it be pressed upon our fellow citizens1 and let them be shown the practical operation of the project you have in hand and the good it has accomplished1 and the further good of which it is capable through their increased liberality1 and it will be strange if they fail to respond generously to your appeal to put the city of ,new ,york in the front rank of the cities which have recognized the usefulness of the free circulating libraries4 ,,the ,,wadsworth ,,athenaeum ,,addresses ,,at ,,the ,,opening ,,of ,,its ,,library ,,in ,,hartford1 ,,conn41 ,,jan4 #b1 #ahic4 ,these addresses1 by ,charles ,dudley ,warner and ,charles ,h4 ,clark1 are reprinted from brief abstracts given in ,the ,library ,journal of ,january1 #ahic4 ,charles ,dudley ,warner was born in ,plainfield1 ,mass41 ,sept4 #ab1 #ahbi and graduated at ,hamilton ,college in #ahea4 ,he practised law in ,chicago in #ahef-fj and in #ahfa became managing editor of the ,hartford1 ,conn41 ,press4 ,in #ahfg on its consolidation with the ,courant1 he became co-editor4 ,he was made associate editor of ,harper's ,magazine in #ahhd1 and died at ,hartford1 ,oct4 #bj1 #aijj4 ,he was widely popular as an essayist1 first gaining favorable notice by his ,my ,summer in a ,garden4 ,this building and its contents are contributory to the excellence and enjoyment of life exactly as ,bushnall ,park is--not merely that it is a place of rest and recreation1 but it is a training in beauty1 in the appreciation of nobleness1 and in the public and private refinement4 ,culture is a plant of rather slow growth4 ,i suppose there never was such a change wrought1 almost instantaneously1 in a people as was wrought in the ,american people by the opening and exhibition of the ,philadelphia ,centennial of #ahgf4 ,its effect was at once apparent everywhere4 ,but knowledge precedes culture1 culture being1 after all1 but another name for educational taste4 ,now this institution is simply a means for the culture of the city of ,hartford1 in all ways1 because literature and art--not taken externally1 but absorbed as a part of our lives1 not only of knowledge1 but of experience--are the things that make life worth living4 ,no one can speak too highly of the offices of a great library4 ,it was one of our great essayists1 you remember1 who said that the monastery--speaking of it with reference to its books--was the ark that floated down over the tempest and darkness of the middle ages1 in order to carry classic learning to the fifteenth century4 ,they were repositories of learning4 ,that is the old idea4 ,and for a long time--almost to our day--that was the notion of the library4 ,it was a place to put something away4 ,it was not even like a market for the sale of provisions or eggs2 indeed1 if they were eggs the librarians thought it their duty to sit on them1 with the idea that they might hatch out other books4 ,that was a noble thing to do4 ,but much better than that is to scatter these books abroad among the people1 so that we shall not have reproduction--an egg for an egg--but that these books will so revivify the life that we shall have books new1 that express the actual conditions and that appeal to the human life as it is4 ,this is the modern idea of the library4 ,this great collection1 which is not to be secluded1 is to be carried and even forced upon the people1 so that it shall enter into and become a part of their daily lives4 ,you remember1 perhaps1 what ,milton says about the books1 in that noblest of noble defences of unlicensed printing1 that they are not dead things4 ,as good almost1 he says1 kill a man as you kill a good book4 ,who kills a man1 kills a reasonable being1 made in ,god's image4 ,who destroys a good book destroys reason itself1 kills the image of ,god as it were1 in the eye4 ,many a man1 he goes on to say1 lives a burden to the earth1 but a good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit1 embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life2 so that if we slay a good book we would slay immortality rather than a life4 ,charles ,hopkins ,clark1 who immediately followed ,mr4 ,warner1 was at this time editor in chief of ,the ,hartford ,courant1 of which ,mr4 ,warner was co-editor4 ,mr4 ,clark was born in ,hartford ,april #a1 #ahdh1 graduated at ,yale1 and joined the ,courant staff in #ahga1 becoming editor in #ahij4 ,one of the earliest sins of my youth1 or rather one of the earliest that is burnt into my memory1 was committed in the library of what was then the ,young ,men's ,institute4 ,i spoke out loud6 ,the rebuke that ,i received sent me down the stairs overwhelmed with a sense of the enormity of my crime1 yet more than sustained by joy to think that ,i had escaped the utter annihilation with which my reprimand was freighted4 ,and ,i can say that the awe with which ,i used to enter that chamber of silence1 and the fear with which ,i regarded the librarian were the common property of all the young people of that somewhat remote period4 ,but long since we found out that the old librarian was one of the gentlest and most inoffensive men1 and that we had misunderstood him as completely as he had misunderstood us4 ,but ,i have no such gloomy recollection1 nor to be honest1 have ,i any recollection at all of the ,wadsworth ,athenaeum gallery1 because1 like everybody else who then lived in ,hartford1 ,i never went in there4 ,the door was often open and the only sentinel on guard had no more formidable weapon than a pair of knitting-needles4 ,but no one ever crossed that threshold4 ,the simple legend1 traced on a placard at the door1 ,admission ,ten ,cents1 did the business1 or rather1 to be more elegant as well as accurate1 prevented any business being done4 ,the people who came up the stone steps read the notice and turned off to the left to the library or to the right to the ,historical ,society1 where entrance was free4 ,i say free1 but freedom must have its limits if we are to have safety1 so the tin sign on the outside of the door gave notice to the always unwelcome boy that he could not go in until he reached the mature age of twelve years4 ,that was one of the things that ,i wanted to grow to full manhood for4 ,and ,i well remember my first visit there4 ,as ,i walked slowly up the stairs ,i wondered what venerable monument of patriotic achievement1 what new inspiration to love for our noble ,state whose history is such a priceless treasure1 what vision of heroic self-sacrifice in her behalf would first burst upon my eager eyes when ,i should look around the hall4 ,i looked and lo6 there in a glass jar stood the chaste but familiar figure of ,charles ,hosmer's night-blooming cereus--the modest pioneer of the canned-fruit industry in this community4 ,i have made this brief review in order to suggest to you the state of innocuous desuetude in which for more or less time the various miscalled interests in this building had been lying for lack of any interest at all4 ,the library had a limited and dwindling clientage4 ,the ,athenaeum was deserted4 ,the ,historical ,society1 with no funds and few friends1 was exhibiting a collection of animal1 vegetable1 and mineral curiosities1 while its real treasures of history and truth were by lock and key shut off from the very public for whom they were collected and preserved4 ,look at that picture1 then look at this which greets us here to day4 ,in these elegant and spacious buildings the whole public of ,hartford is welcome1 without money and without price4 ,the circulating library will furnish every home with books1 and ,miss ,hewins1 who has devoted her life to this town1 is always ready to help the younger readers4 ,the ,library of ,reference1 monument alike to ,mr4 ,watkinson's liberality and ,dr4 ,trumbull's rare judgment and life-long devoted service as a librarian1 offers free to all students the authorities on every branch of knowledge4 ,the ,historical ,society1 with improved facilities1 has been able to adopt a more liberal policy1 and is widening its claim upon public interest1 and so increasing its usefulness1 and1 thanks largely to the women of ,hartford1 the ,art ,gallery and ,art ,school are ready to spread their refining and wholesome influence all through this community4 ,,libraries ,,as ,,leaven ,this address was delivered at the inauguration of the ,free ,public ,library1 ,madison1 ,wis41 by ,prof4 ,james ,d4 ,butler4 ,james ,davie ,butler was born in ,rutland1 ,vt41 ,march #ae1 #ahae1 and was graduated at ,middlebury ,college1 ,vt41 in #ahcf4 ,he entered the ,congregational ministry1 and held the chairs of ancient languages in ,wabash ,college1 #ahed-eh and the ,university of ,wisconsin1 #aheh-fg1 after which he devoted himself to lecturing and writing until his death in ,madison in #aije4 ,my subject is ,libraries as ,leaven1 or the relation of libraries to the increased diffusion of knowledge4 ,what is a ,library8 ,it is the knowledge of all brought within the reach of each one4 ,it is an expanded encyclopaedia1 or the books which are1 or ought to be1 consulted in compiling a perfect encyclopaedia4 ,human knowledge--and hence the books in which it is treasured up--is divided by some authors into forty departments4 ,i have their names here all written down--but ,i dare not read them4 ,you would give no more quarter to such a catalogue than the lover gave to the mercantile inventory of his sweetheart's charms1 when itemized as two lips indifferent red1 two gray eyes with lids to them1 and so on4 ,but all these forty classes of knowledge ought to be represented in a library1 and the more largely the better4 ,they should also mingle there in due proportion1 parts into parts reciprocally shot1 and all so forming a harmonious whole4 ,if the whole body were an eye1 where were the hearing8 ,i once lived in a town of a thousand families1 where1 through a legacy1 one copy of some single author was annually presented to each family4 ,but1 with the same money1 a thousand different works might have been every year purchased1 and all kept accessible by all the families4 ,the result would have been a feast as appetizing to all palates as the miraculous manna which the rabbins tell us tasted to each ,jew like that particular dainty which he loved best4 ,it is no objection to a library that no man will ever read it through4 ,no man will read through his dictionary1 and time is not long enough for a man to read all the words in the daily ,tribune4 ,nor will any customer exhaust a store4 ,yet he demands an assortment from which to select the little that he needs4 ,in every library most authors1 bound up in congenial calf1 sleep soundly in their own sheets4 ,yet the dust of dead men's bones1 at the touch of genius1 comes forth in a new life4 ,how much that is best in ,macaulay and in ,buckle is extracted from bibliothecal rubbish--or reading which had never been read4 ,hence even ,samson could not say to the jaw-bone of an ass3 ,i have no need of you4 ,the wise thank ,god for fools4 ,they get their living out of them1 and mostly out of the greatest fools4 ,in truth1 no library is large enough4 ,guizot and ,michelet complain of inability to consult certain books1 even in that ,parisian library1 where books are as plenty as water in the deluge1 and the shelves would reach from here to ,milwaukee4 ,a library should be a cosmos2 but it is a chaos till arrangement1 catalogues and librarians bring us at once the volume we desire1 and which1 without them1 would be as hard to fish up as the ,atlantic cable lost in mid-ocean4 ,thus warlike arms in magazines we place1 ,all ranged in order and disposed with grace3 ,not thus alone the curious eye to please1 ,but to be found1 when need requires1 with ease4 ,in some libraries1 however1 books are arranged on a system which seems borrowed from ,spanish hospitals1 where patients are arranged according to religious creeds1 rather than bodily complaints4 ,every library has more volumes than ,i can master2 but no library though it be the conflux of all civilizations1 has so many volumes as ,i may need to consult4 ,chief ,justice ,story used to assert that no ,american could test the accuracy of ,gibbon without crossing the ,atlantic4 ,such an assertion would now1 perhaps1 be extravagant1 yet many of ,gibbon's references are still hard to trace in ,america4 ,one instance may be worth notice4 ,our approaching national centenary leads us to curiosity in reference to the secular feasts of the ,romans4 ,in ,gibbon's account of the most famous among them1 a thousand years from the founding of ,rome1 the main authority quoted is ,zosimus4 ,but the history of ,zosimus you will seek in vain throughout ,madison libraries4 ,you will not find his name in the public collections of ,chicago1 or ,cincinnati1 or ,st4 ,louis1 or ,san ,francisco4 ,it is unlikely that any single copy of ,zosimus has yet penetrated west of our ,atlantic slope4 ,but how dare ,i thus speak about ,zosimus8 ,how is it possible for me to know whether his history can1 or cannot1 be discovered1 either on the ,pacific shore1 or in the ,mississippi valley8 ,i know it1 thanks to the ,library of ,our ,historical ,society1 and specifically to its goodly array of bibliothecal catalogues4 ,why will not our ,centenary ,women's ,club buy our ,free ,library a ,zosimus8 ,free libraries1 especially those maintained by public taxation1 were scarcely known before the last half of the nineteenth century4 ,if in an antiquarian mood1 ,i could indeed bring forth curious details concerning half a hundred in continental ,europe1 some of them running back several centuries1 but ,i forbear4 ,the earliest ,british library law1 similar to ours in ,wisconsin1 dates from #ahej4 ,the earliest in ,massachusetts--and ,i suppose in ,america--was approved ,may #bd1 #ahea4 ,the first library opened in consequence of this law was in ,new ,bedford1 ,march #c1 #ahec4 ,the grandest triumph under the ,massachusetts law is in ,boston4 ,the free library there stands to-day surpassed in volumes by only three or four ,american libraries--say the ,astor1 ,congress1 and ,harvard--while in arrangement1 architecture1 and equipment it is pronounced by the most enlightened foreigners unsurpassed by any library in the world4 ,our legislature in #ahgb empowered the mayors and councils in towns and cities to lay an annual tax of one mill on a dollar of the assessed valuation1 for establishing and maintaining free libraries4 ,this law will bear good fruit4 ,yet it is a step backward from the act of #ahei4 ,that act created a library fund by setting apart for that purpose one-tenth of the school-fund income1 and imposing a tax of one-tenth of a mill on all property4 ,the sum of #hh1ghd4gh had been thus accumulated when the war of #ahfa broke out1--and the money was used for military purposes4 ,it ought to be refunded by the ,state1 or ,united ,states1 and expended for its original object4 ,the great superiority of the law of #ahei lies in its extending to rural districts1--and so leaving no hamlet unvisited--while the maxim of the present law is1 ,coals to ,newcastle1 owls to ,athens1 apples to ,alcinous4 ,he that hath--to him shall be given4 ,it gives a library to ,madison1 where #dj1jjj volumes were already within reach1 but nothing at all to five and twenty other places in ,dane ,county1 whose need of books is ten times greater4 ,but libraries bring forth after their kind1 and free libraries1 we may hope1 will become co-extensive with free schools4 ,madison1 to-day1 in opening to all her sons and daughters a ,free ,library1 has outstripped every other municipality in the ,state4 ,it is a noble preeminence1 and will do her honor to the end of the world4 ,the ,madison ,free ,library1 it may be reasonably hoped1 will approximate to the bibliothecal ideal4 ,it starts with an inheritance of #c1cjh volumes1 accumulated during a score of years by the ,madison ,institute4 ,its revenue is considerable1 and it will grow in even pace with the growth of the city4 ,nothing but ,adam and ,minerva was ever born of full stature4 ,the tax now assessed for it would impoverish no man till after the lapse of thrice three thousand years4 ,it was limited to less than a third of what the law allows because we make the entering edge of a wedge thin1 and would learn wisdom from ,satan who never makes his temptations so bad at the beginning as at the end4 ,is is only the first step that costs4 ,the ,free ,library will be ready for windfalls1 and so surely as history repeats itself1 they will pour cornucopias into its lap4 ,of the million volumes in the ,british ,museum1 two out of every five were gifts4 ,no wonder4 ,book-gatherers abhor the breaking up of their collections as we do the dissolution of the ,union1 or as abolitionists did the snapping of family ties by slave-traders4 ,lest what they have joined together shall be put asunder1 they rejoice to lay up their treasures in an institution which shall never die4 ,accordingly1 in tracing the origin of one hundred and eighty libraries in continental ,europe1 it has been discovered that all of them1 except sixteen1 were presented to the municipalities by book-lovers4 ,experience this side the ,atlantic is thus far equally encouraging4 ,i will notice a single specimen4 ,the ,boston ,free ,library is mainly contributed by individuals4 ,one thousand volumes were given by ,everett2 #b1cjj by ,bowditch2 #aa1cfj by ,theodore ,parker2 #bf1jjj by ,joshua ,bates2 #aa1hii by the ,old ,south ,church1 and those of greater rarity than any other equal number of volumes4 ,then ,ticknor and ,prescott bestowed the best ,spanish library ever gathered by private men1 and ,wheelwright one scarcely inferior1 relating to ,south ,america4 ,of pecuniary benefactions1 ,i will only mention #aj1jjj from ,lawrence1 #cj1jjj from ,phillips1 and #ej1jjj from ,bates4 ,but legacies to the ,free ,library have become so common that we may confidently expect that1 if any ,bostonian shall die and bequeath it nothing1 the courts will decide the neglect of the ,library to be conclusive proof of insanity1 and so will nullify his will6 ,on the whole1 we cannot be too sanguine concerning the prospective progress of our book-feast for the million4 ,but a library1 however perfect1 and though freely open to all the world1 may be a light shining in a darkness which comprehendeth it not4 ,many years ago1 ,i was a student in such a library at ,rome4 ,it was larger than any one in ,america at that time1 and offered the best of all its stores daily to everybody1 and that without charge4 ,yet it was well-nigh a solitude4 ,the reason was obvious4 ,my walk thither was through a gauntlet of beggar-boys1 and ,i once took with me an ,italian primer1 and cried out that ,i would give something to any boy who could read4 ,i held it up before nineteen in succession1 but no one could spell out a line4 ,they had eschewed not only writing as tempting to forgery1 but reading also as a black art4 ,had they been giants they could1--like the barbarians who sacked ,rome1--ruin1 but not relish1 the nectared sweets of books4 ,to them the collective wisdom of the world was as sunshine to the blind1 or as smoke in the nursery riddle1--roomful1 houseful1 can't catch a handful6 ,or like gospel pearls which pigs neglect ,when pigs have that opportunity4 ,but in regard to our ,free ,library1 ,i have better hopes1 and beg your leave to show what use1 in my judgment1 will be made of it4 ,it will be resorted to for amusement4 ,some will flit through it in the spirit of the ,viennese1 who turn their central cathedral into a thoroughfare on promenades and business walks4 ,but such visitors will learn something in glancing at the backs of books4 ,books1 as well as men1 have a physiognomy4 ,here1 as elsewhere1 the admirers of ,shakespeare will take out his plays1 return them with the leaves uncut1 and then insist that booksellers be instructed if ,mr4 ,shakespeare writes any new book1 to forward it without further orders4 ,many will have no eyes except for the volumes of fiction1 and sometimes will rather run through these than read them4 ,novels are a sort of cake1 which1 if eaten alone1 is prone to make mental dyspeptics4 ,yet most novel-readers will gain some profit from our library4 ,some of them will here acquire a facility in reading which for lack of practice has hitherto been unknown to them4 ,no one has really learned to read1 until he has read to learn4 ,their interest in stories will beguile the toil of becoming ready readers1 and their range of reading will naturally widen4 ,but if it does not1 they may learn much4 ,every good fiction is true1 if not to particular fact yet to general principles1 to natural scenery1 to human nature1 to the ways of human life1 manners1 customs1 the very age and body of the time4 ,even ,tom ,moore declares that his chief work of fiction is founded on a long and labourious collection of facts4 ,again1 when worn out by work1 when care-crazed1 and nerves are unstrung1 who has not found in fiction--the balm of hurt minds--a recreation1 a city of refuge1 a restorative4 ,cups that cheer but not inebriate8 ,in this way our free library will be a new pleasure1 and the founder of it deserves the reward offered by the ,sicilian tyrant1 for such an invention4 ,work was never so monotonous as now2 accordingly1 play ought to be more than ever amusing4 ,the ,kilkenny cats1 who devoured each other all but the tails1 left one orphan kitten which began to eat up itself1 but catching sight of a mouse was diverted from suicide4 ,there is among us more than one disconsolate kitten now destroying himself1 who will in our free feast of fiction espy a mouse which will reconcile him to life1 and save him from himself4 ,the rationale of this solace is indicated after a forcible1 though rather a homely fashion1 in the ,chinese saying3 ,a dog chasing game does not mind the fleas which he barks at while he lies in his kennel4 ,the labour we delight in physics pain4 ,again1 in all great works of fiction the purpose is1 while not o'erstepping the modesty of nature1 to show virtue her own feature1 and scorn her own image4 ,who can count the admirers of ,scott and ,dickens that have learned from their portraitures moral lessons so well as never to forget them2--to loathe the mean and aspire to the noble2--to shun evil and cleave to good--in spite of temptations to one and from the other8 ,but1 after all1 our book-treasury will only now and then bestow its best gifts on those who resort to it merely for pleasure4 ,to most visitors of this class it must remain no more than a telescope to a child1 something to play with rather than to look through4 ,accordingly1 they no more exhaust the capacities of books than the ,irish made full proof of potatoes while they cooked only the balls and left the tubers to rot in the ground4 ,but the ,free ,library will be resorted to for instruction4 ,few will always hold the amusing button so close to their eyes that it will hide the instructive sun4 ,from the start it will be superior to every private collection in the city1 and its superiority will increase4 ,accordingly1 professional men will come thither to inform themselves either each in his own specialty1 or sallying on excursions from their home fields4 ,besides the time-honoured and traditional three professions1 editors and teachers will be there1 learning how to answer the hard questions of pupils and subscribers4 ,each of these professionals will more or less make known what he learns4 ,the bibliothecal odor will be as plain upon them as a certain other odor is upon those who emerge from the smoking-car or saloon4 ,dispensing native perfumes they whisper whence they stole those balmy spoils4 ,but the bibliothecal leaven will leaven the community more directly4 ,god has set geniuses as great lights in the firmament to give light and delight as well on the earth4 ,the circuit of such suns is unto the ends of the heaven1 and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof4 ,more and more pervasive is their influence1 like the spring-time1 which leaves no corner of the land untouched4 ,in a library every man will recognize some supreme author transfiguring whatever he touches1--crystallizing into diamonds by wit1 turning to gold with poetry1 and glorifying as with tongues of angels by eloquence1 and whom he hence worships as ,scotchmen do ,burns and as all the world does ,shakespeare4 ,less and less do men entertain angels unawares1 more and more are they ashamed to know the world's books only by name4 ,nobody now asks concerning ,paradise ,lost1 ,what does it prove8 ,moreover1 the ,free ,library will be patronized by the people in quest of answers to multitudinous questions4 ,newspapers1 whether in its reading-room or out of it1 will rouse in many directions a curiosity they cannot satisfy1 and so will urge to the library4 ,there is a story that an ,englishman in a ,london library1 after looking through an atlas1 said to a friend1 ,help me find ,umbrage on the map6 ,i read in my gazette that the ,french have taken ,umbrage4 ,what a good-for-nothing minister is ours--to leave ,umbrage so poorly defended that the ,french could take it4 ,that ,john ,bull discovered in the library either umbrage1 or what was better for him--his own ignorance and the way to remove it1 taking umbrage against himself4 ,his gazette probably brought the same earnest inquirer to the library for history as well as for geography4 ,a daily paper1 which is the history of the world for one day1 leads backward1 as a stream carries our thoughts to its fountain4 ,whoever repairs to a library with one historical query will be likely to repeat his visit1 since newspapers1 in the light of history1 will become more significant as the last chapter in a novel is more interesting to those who have read the previous chapters1 and so often leads one back to them4 ,again1 discussions are always arising1 not merely in formal debates1 but as we sit in the house and walk by the way4 ,some carry them on by assertions and counter-assertions--a strong will and a strong won't--equally positive and ignorant1 discussing and sometimes leaving off the dis1 till like ,milton's devils they find no end1 in wandering mazes lost4 ,too often ,it comes to pass that a terrible oath1 with a swaggering accent twanged off1 gives an opinion more approbation than ever proof itself would have earned it4 ,others back up their opinions by wagers1 in spite of a lurking feeling that ,bets are the blockhead's argument1-- ,the only logic he can vent1 ,his minor and his major4-- ',tis to confess your head a worse ,investigator than your purse1 ,to reason with a wager4 ,but where standard books are at hand1 investigation will often either take the place of disputation1 or bring strife to a speedy end4 ,let us hope those here seeking props for their arguments will never be those jealous lovers of books who cannot use them without using them up1 or who spirit them away for themselves alone4 ,such abductors have sometimes infested the libraries in the ,capitol4 ,their thefts can be justified only by that casuistry which holds stealing the relics of saints for a pious fraud4 ,but in truth the more holy the saint1 the more heinous the sacrilege of what ,hood calls ,book-aneering4 ,moreover1 every lecture delivered in the city will send some investigators to the library1 that they may confute1 or confirm1 or amplify its teachings4 ,a lecture that pops will not be as surely popular as formerly1 if the library shall evince that what is true in it is not new1 and that what is new is not true1 or that the speaker draws on imaginations for facts and on facts for imaginations4 ,every meeting of our ,women's ,centennial ,club will start inquiries which cannot be answered without recourse to the library4 ,it is certain that books of travel will here be largely consulted4 ,some of us purpose to go abroad4 ,such will read beforehand in order to add a precious seeing to their eyes4 ,they would dislike to have their experiences those of a lady who when asked what she saw in ,rome answered dirt1 or of the ,london barber who at the coronation of ,napoleon remembered nothing except that the ,emperor was well shaved1 or of the ,bostonian fresh from the ,west who1 when called on for his opinion of ,madison1 said it would be a pretty fair ,massachusetts village if it were not spoiled by so many fresh water ponds around it4 ,others among us have travelled already1 and we shall be studious in the library that we may ascertain what we ought to have seen--but did not1 or the meaning of what we did see1 but which was ,greek to us4 ,the ,shah of ,persia noted in his journal that of all the fine things in ,europe the finest to his mind was a show of wax work4 ,his library would teach him better1 and would not laugh at him1 as we do4 ,a ,vermont friend of mine1 after his trip to ,london1 when asked whether he saw ,westminster ,abbey1 confessed that he did not1 but added that ,westminster ,abbey was out of town at the time of his visit4 ,if he had free course in our library he would hardly excuse himself in that way again4 ,soon after crossing the ,mississippi at ,burlington1 ,i heard a ,new ,york merchant1 bound for ,california1 remarking3 ,how much geography one learns in travelling4 ,here is ,burlington4 ,i always thought it in ,illinois1 but now ,i find it is in ,missouri4 ,library-reading may by this time have added insight to his sight1 and convicted him of the blunder which ,i suffered to pass uncorrected1 though we chatted #ajj miles together4 ,there are others of us who1 on hearing a traveller's tales1 are curious to examine how far we1 like the old prophet1 should count the way-faring man a fool1 and how far he uses his license to lie4 ,hence they will read that they may make up their minds whether all ,,mark ,,twain',s caricatures have the ring of truth4 ,a ,german table d'hote of twenty courses will surfeit a careless diner before it is half over1 and yet fail to afford him either what he likes best or what he should like best4 ,hence it compels guests to a careful choice what they will partake of and what refuse of the blessing there is no room to receive in its fulness4 ,a similar influence will be exerted by the free library where we fall into the embarassment of riches4 ,we shall be driven to select from its bill of fare1 that is the catalogue1 that fraction which we can enjoy most and which will profit us most4 ,taste after taste upheld by kindliest change4 ,some persons1 when they survey a library and perceive that they can never read the hundredth part of its volumes1 will be attracted to those works which teach what to read1 or open a panoramic outlook on the diversified regions of the bookish world4 ,of all the best of man's best knowledges1 ,the contents1 indexes and title-pages1 ,through all past1 present1 and succeeding ages4 ,unless we thus liberalize our views we are likely to vegetate1 like the rhubarb pie plant1 under a barrel1 and see the world only through its bunghole4 ,ignorant of bibliographical guides and hence at a loss how to estimate books1 the steward of a ,british nobleman sold as rubbish all volumes in the library which lacked covers4 ,one of those thus disposed of1 and bought by a pedlar for nine pence1 proved to be the very earliest issue of the ,british press1 snapped up by the ,british museum for ,l#hj1 and could not now be bought for ten times that sum4 ,in regard to the intrinsic value of books blunders more egregious are daily made4 ,libraries were never so needful as now1 for libraries and life never lay so close to one another as now4 ,our familiar sights lead to interest in recondite knowledge4 ,photography1 gas1 the locomotive1 kerosene1 yes1 every match that lights it1 provokes questions in chemistry1 or philosophy1 which not every library can answer4 ,no one can gaze at the dome of our ,capitol without naturally falling into architectural inquiries which draw him through a world of books that expose the nakedness of his ignorance1 yet never put him to open shame4 ,but the truth is too palpable to dwell on that in our day life touches libraries at every point4 ,in all libraries there are readers whose emblem is dead fish who follow the stream1 but thanks to various accidents1 some of this class1 ceasing to be passive recipients1 begin to investigate as active seekers4 ,they at once rise to a higher mental plane4 ,the contrast between active seekers and passive recipients is analogous to that between the mountaineers and the maritime aborigines of ,california4 ,the mountaineers lived on grizzly bears--food which it was impossible to seize without tasking their energies to the utmost4 ,but tasking trains4 ,the maritimes lived on salmon1 which were so abundant and so tame that they could be caught by fishers who lay basking in the sun4 ,but basking enervates4 ,naturally enough no ,indians are superior to the mountaineers who are active seekers1 nor yet inferior to the maritimes1 who are passive recipients4 ,what investigators seek they will not find at once2 they may never find it4 ,but they are sure to discover something better1 so that they will say with ,,lessing1 in the library at ,wolfenbuttel1 ,were ,god to hold truth in one hand and search in the other1 and give me my choice1 ,i would say3 ,give me seeking without finding1 rather than finding without seeking6 ,all things that are1 ,are with more spirit chased than enjoyed4 ,courtship once over1 the novel ends4 ,in the library where ,,lessing was made librarian--not that he might serve the library1 but that the library might serve him--,i took in my hand with reverence the inkstand out of which he distilled the essence of a thousand books1 and reformed ,german literature as radically as ,,luther had reformed ,german religion4 ,all truths being inter-dependent1 every road will lead to the end of the world1 and so while studying one subject a man becomes interested in others1 and his range of inquiry expands4 ,when he kindles one dry stick1 many green ones will catch1 and his brightest blazes are lit up by unexpected sparks4 ,one quickly learns to love hunting1 and before working up many topics1 he forms an investigating habit which will perpetuate itself4 ,thus while seeking an oyster1 he finds a pearl1 like ,,saul who sought asses and found a kingdom4 ,henceforth he reads more by subjects1 each a cord to string pearls on1 than by volumes1 for he feels that1 ,unless to some particular end designed1 ,reading is but a specious trifling of the mind1 ,and then1 like ill-digested food1 ,to humors turns and not to blood4 ,but less and less of that sort is his reading1 though it range through all time1 and tax all the world4 ,such an inquirer will live longer than ,,methuselah1 for he will have more thoughts1 yet he will wish each of his minutes was a millenary4 ,he will read with an appetite growing as long as he lives2 indeed reading will help him to live longer4 ,a thousand such readers feel what one has spoken out1 saying3 ,in a library ,i was thrown1 instead of worse society1 into the company of poets1 philosophers and sages--to me good angels and ministers of grace4 ,from these silent instructors who often do more than fathers for our interests1 from these delightful associates ,i learned something of the divine and more of the human religion4 ,they were my interpreters in the ,house ,beautiful of ,god1 and my guides among the ,delectable ,mountains of ,nature1 ,blessing be with them and eternal praise1 ,who gave me nobler loves and nobler cares4 ,pre-eminently to the young will the myriad-minded library be an oracle in perplexities4 ,they have been better trained in public schools than we of the last generation were4 ,they have broken ground in more various studies1 and their curiosity has been stimulated concerning more questions4 ,each question1 each study puts in their hand a new key to the locks which shut up libraries4 ,singers love to sing1 and it is joy for the just to do justice1 so will our youth rejoice to use in the library the skill they have acquired in school as naturally as when they get jack knives they take to whittling4 ,the public schools then find in free libraries their fitting supplement1 and complement4 ,schools without libraries feed a prisoner with salted viands and then tantalize his thirst with pitchers and bottles1 all empty4 ,the free school and the free library will join hands like husband and wife in a well-matched marriage4 ,he is the half-part of a blessed man1 ,left to be finished by such as she2 ,and she a fair divided excellence1 ,whose fulness of perfection lies in him2 ,but two such silver currents when they join1 ,do glorify the banks that bind them in4 ,each befits the other1 as ,,alexander said concerning the finest poem and the most costly casket in the world when he enshrined the ,iliad in the ,persian box of gold and gems4 ,both are lotteries where tickets cost nothing and everybody may draw all the prizes4 ,in addition to this1 the free library will be to some nothing less than an inspiration4 ,to some--,i wish ,i could say to all1 but alas1 it is only an elect few whom the library can inspire4 ,spectacles are invaluable1--but only to those who have eyes4 ,one ,sultan never wore a shirt that had not every word of the ,koran written on it yet absorbed little piety4 ,,aaron',s excuse for making only a golden calf was1 that the ,jews did not bring him gold enough to make an ox4 ,the cherubim who know most can never equal the seraphim who love most4 ,an ugly and stupid man1 walking with a lady on each arm1 boasts that he is between wit and beauty1 but may not imbibe one particle of either4 ,to some1 however1 a free library will make up for the lack of a liberal education4 ,more than that4 ,it will furnish such an education every jot and tittle of it1 and that1 in some sense1 better than was ever bestowed in a college1 because acquired in the face of greater difficulties4 ,libraries have often vouchsafed this priceless boon4 ,that in ,salem did to ,,bowditch1 the mathematician1 in the last century1 and to ,,whipple1 the essayist1 in this4 ,the ,edinburgh library made ,,hume an historian4 ,another was inspiration to ,,cobbett4 ,so was that of the ,erfurt convent to ,,luther4 ,it had purchased1 says his biographer1 at heavy cost1 several ,latin ,bibles just printed for the first time in the neighboring city of ,mainz4 ,when he first opened one of these tomes his eyes fell on the story of ,,hannah and ,,samuel4 ,o1 ,god1 he murmured1 could ,i have one of these books ,i would seek no other worldly treasure4 ,a great revolution then took place in his soul4 ,his happiest hours were in the library4 ,concerning such a scholar-- ,we cannot say3 '',tis pity ,he lacks instructions1' for he seems a master ,to most that teach4 ,the influence of ancient ,libraries on classical writers is manifest from their quotations4 ,,plutarch',s have been traced to #bej authors4 ,,pliny',s to #b1jjj works4 ,classical ,libraries preserved in ,constantinople1 so long as studied1 made there a ,goshen of light in the ,dark ,ages1 and when carried to ,italy proved a ,promethean spark to kindle occidental culture anew4 ,it is well known that inventions are oftenest struck out in the ,patent ,office1 the grand store-house of inventions4 ,in the world of mind1 as well as of matter1 new ideas are suggested where old ideas most congregate1 or are most communed with4 ,according to ,,chaucer1 ,out of old fields1 as man saith1 ,cometh all the new corn from year to year1 ,and out of old books1 in good faith1 ,cometh all the new science that men lear4 ,the idea of writing the ,life of ,,columbus first darted into the mind of ,,irving1 when1 in ,madrid1 he found himself surrounded by an unrivaled magazine of materials made ready to his hand1 and for which the world had been ransacked4 ,thus the sight of means to make good books makes good books made4 ,not only those volumes which compose the body of literature1 but those finer essences which form its soul1--the literature of power1--stamped in ,nature's mint of ecstasy--are marked all over with proofs of familiarity with the best that had been achieved1--each in its own department4 ,nobody has hesitated thus to affirm concerning ,,virgil1 ,,dante1 ,,tasso1 ,,milton4 ,but it is commonly said that ,,shakespeare was ignorant4 ,the truth is that no ignorant man1 no ordinary1 scholar can understand his allusions1 historical1 romantic1 classical1 or those to art1 science1 nationalities1 customs--or even his words4 ,he could get more from a ,library in a day than most men in a life-time1 but he needed it still4 ,in speaking of ,,shakespeare1 ,i mean the man who wrote the ,plays reputed his1 no matter whether that author was ,,bacon1 or ,,john ,,smith1 or even our townsman ,,george ,b4 ,we ought to say that ,,shakespeare was a universal man1--because he was heir of all ages1--and his was universal knowledge1 a knowledge which neither can we fathom nor could he find without a library4 ,his peculiarity was ability to discern the immortal part of books1 or to stamp what were otherwise perishable with his own immortality4 ,whoever can do much without tools1 can do more with them4 ,accordingly men do their broken weapons rather use than their bare hands4 ,whoever can do much without a library1 can do more with a library4 ,,david did much with a sling1 but more with better arms1 and builded an armory on which there hung a thousand bucklers1 all shields of mighty men4 ,if then there be among us any one person endued with any spark of ,shakespearian or other genius he will find it kindling to a flame through contact in this library with similar celestial fires4 ,to such a meeting soul6 as ,,milton calls it1--the library will prove a better bonanza than has been prospected in our ,states of silver and gold4 ,though having nothing he shall possess all things1--infinite riches in a little room4 ,thus our ,free ,library will amuse1 and instruct1 and inspire4 ,over its entrance ,i seem to read as on the front of the oldest in the world1 the inscription1 ,the healing of the soul1 or the words of ,,franklin to his namesake town1 ,i give you books instead of a bell1 sense rather than sound4 ,let it have free course for a generation1 calling to culture as ceaselessly as a standing army calls to war1 and this community will say with ,,seneca1 ,leisure without books and letters is mental death and burial4 ,the first public library in ,ohio--just two years younger than the ,state--was founded in ,ames4 ,it was bought by hunters who threw together a lot of raccoon skins1 sent them in a sleigh by one of their number to ,boston and there bartered them for books4 ,they soon hunted ,greek as zealously as game1 and while ,ames remained a hamlet ten of them1 or their children1 were among the early graduates of the ,state ,university4 ,the influences of a library are cumulative1 and sometimes become manifest only after a long lapse of ages4 ,the cuniform library of ,assyrian bricks1 dating from pre-historic periods1 burned up1 buried and forgotten just now emerges from its grave speaking in a voice heard round the world1 and no less authoritative than a second book of ,genesis4 ,from its shelves more centuries look down upon us than upon ,,napoleon at the ,pyramids4 ,libraries are hemmed in by no lines of ,state1 nation1 race1 language1 religion or century4 ,their field is the world4 ,but ours is the cosmopolitan age1 and we are pre-eminently the cosmopolitan people4 ,more than any other people1 then must we feel the need of libraries1 which are1 of all institutions1 the most cosmopolitan4 ,hence they will benefit us most4 ,considerations like these demonstrate that free libraries tend to equality and fraternity4 ,they are free lunches1 crying to all3 ,cut1 and come again6 ,as we all have equal rights at the polls and in court1 so have we in the free library4 ,in church we each secure a blessing in proportion to our capacity2 so can we in the library4 ,in both blessed are they who hunger and thirst1 for they shall be filled4 ,in public schools all can enjoy the best of teaching without money and without price2 so can they in the free library4 ,free libraries will create an aristocracy--one open to talent and toil1 but to nothing else2 the aristocracy of knowledge4 ,where street cars have been introduced1 half the private carriages are soon given up1 so the establishment of free libraries will lead many to refrain from large domestic collections as superfluous1 and to the transfer of many a private library to the public shelves1 where they will not only do more good1 but will be better cared for1 better arranged1 and more accessible than they now are even to their owners4 ,one millionaire as we walked into his library1 said with a sigh3 ,see how many gaps there are in my shelves6 ,five hundred of my books are missing1 lent and lost4 ,lost6 cried ,i1 half in joke1 say rather found6 lost to you1 but found each by some one who will make the most of them4 ,would to heaven these #e1jjj were lost in the same way1 lost by you who have no time nor care for them1 found by those who have both4 ,nobody could steal them from you1 but at most only from moths and worms1 dust and mould4 ,rich men who have bought libraries as luxuries will learn that the way to save them is to lose them1 and that their books serve them best when deposited in free libraries4 ,many varieties of sham equality result from outside pressure4 ,in ,venetian gondolas all awnings are required to be black that no one may outshine his neighbor4 ,under the first republic the ,french proscribed all titles but citizen1 and citizeness1 which they gave to everybody4 ,communists would make all men's shares in property equal4 ,endeavors of this sort not only fail1 but prove suicidal like the impetuous ,irishman1 insisting that one man is as good as another1 and a great dey better too4 ,the influence of ,free ,libraries1 however is toward genuine and not merely visible equality4 ,thanks to them the most expensive luxury of the rich becomes the daily food of the poor1 and the tree of knowledge no more bears forbidden fruit4 ,a volume which ,i can draw out of a library at will is worth as much to me as if ,i owned it4 ,in fact1 though my private library is not small1 the books ,i read are more often borrowed than my own4 ,if ,i take out books from a library1 ,i am doubly spurred to to make their contents my own1 because those books must be returned more promptly than to the friend who neither exacts fines nor yet even notes in a book what book we borrow4 ,,franklin tells us that he often sat up reading1 the greater part of the night1 when a book borrowed 7he means stolen7 from booksellers in the evening1 was to be returned in the morning lest it should be found missing4 ,in proportion as men make full proof of books1 they become alike inside1 in real communion with great authors1 in information1 taste1 mental capacity1 mastery of speech1--accomplishments which cannot be lost1 and which render each one more equal and congenial with his fellows4 ,men will still differ by ,god1 not by man4 ,what then is the ,free ,library less than the key stone in our ,republican arch8 ,when we would show attention to strangers1 it has been a ,madison custom to take them into our cemetery4 ,that grave yard is well worth showing4 ,but in time to come ,i trust we shall rather exhibit our ,libraries1 and say2 ,these are our jewels4 ,not tombs1 but living shrines that on the living still work miracles1--the shrines where all the relics of the saints full of true virtue are preserved1 where the dead live and the dumb speak--the dead sceptered sovereigns who still rule our spirits from their urns4 ,this sun of our intellectual worlds is ,made porous to receive ,and drink the liquid light1 firm to retain ,its gathered beams1 great palace now of light1 ,hither as to a fountain countless stars ,repairing in their golden urns draw light4 ,let us rejoice in it all glorious within1 even as our ,capitol and ,university parks are without4 ,a library1--the assembled souls of all men deem most wise1 the only men who speak loud enough for posterity to hear2--reminds me of that fresco by ,,raphael1 which ,i admired most of all his ,vatican masterpieces1 popularly styled ,the ,school of ,athens1 and which ,i hope to see hung up as the genius of our library hall1 as ,i have seen it in many4 ,in some one of the fifty-two figures glowing with life in that picture1 every variety of culture has a representative4 ,you see there the practical man1 like ,,franklin',s ,poor ,richard1 in ,diogenes rough and ready by his tub4 ,archimedes is drawing a diagram in the sand4 ,on the broad steps of a temple stand ,ptolemy1 with the terrestrial and ,hipparchus with the celestial globe4 ,no sage is without a docile retinue4 ,,socrates1 with sly humor1 is humbling the self-sufficient ,,alcibiades that he may rouse him to loftier aspirations4 ,,pythagoras is writing among disciples1 one of whom holds his musical scale1 while above all1 and in the midst of the temple1 appear ,,aristotle1 father of natural philosophy1 pointing down to the earth1 and ,,plato1 the father of spiritual philosophy with hand uplifted toward heaven1 man as it were feeling for ,god4 ,the culture proffered in such a ,school of ,athens1 as ,,raphael painted--and as an ideal free library is to my mind1 has its fittest emblem in the miracle of architecture1 the dome1--which is well said to unite clustered arches and pillars and radiate in equal expansion towards every quarter of the earth1 while with every convergent curve it soars heavenward1 buried in air1 and looking to the stars4 ,simple1 erect1 severe1 austere1 sublime4 ,,the ,,free ,,public ,,library ,this section1 devoted to the general relations of the library and society1 which opened with a historical account by ,prof4 ,moses ,coit ,tyler1 may appropriately close with another of similar tenor1 contributed eleven years later to ,the ,american ,magazine of ,civics 7,new ,york1 ,may1 #ahie7 by ,prof4 ,henry ,h4 ,barber4 ,it covers some of the same ground but gives results to a later date1 while it is still only introductory to the social development of more recent years4 ,henry ,hervey ,barber was born in ,warwick1 ,mass41 ,dec4 #cj1 #ahce1 graduated at ,meadville ,theological ,seminary in #ahfa and after holding several ,unitarian pastorates was professor of philosophy and theology there from #ahhd to #aijd4 ,he was also editor of the ,unitarian ,review from #ahge to #ahhd4 ,he died about #aiae4 ,no public institution has made greater progress during the last few years or grown more rapidly in public interest and favor than the free public library4 ,the building of a magnificent structure in ,chicago1 together with the excellent ,newberry free reference library1 and in cooperation with the fast growing library of the ,chicago ,university1 will make perhaps the most superb public provision for free literary culture ever furnished by any municipality4 ,boston has lately transferred its more than half a million volumes to the new and noble public library building on the ,back ,bay4 ,the newspapers of this last week tell us that in ,new ,york ,mr4 ,tilden is after all not to be finally counted out2 but that the two millions rescued from his estate by the high sense of honor of one of his heirs is to be joined with the invaluable ,astor ,library1 and the choice ,lennox ,reference ,library1 and all made free and available to the public--a property valued in the aggregate at eight million dollars4 ,these events1 together with the recent founding of the ,carnegie free libraries in ,pittsburg and ,allegheny1 the not very remote establishment of the ,enoch ,pratt ,free ,library in ,baltimore1 and the addition by ,mr4 ,henry ,c4 ,lea to the splendid ,ridgway foundation in ,philadelphia1 constitute a series of brilliant triumphs for the free public library1 unparalleled in the history of educational institutions1 and seldom equalled1 ,i must think1 in the intellectual progress of civilization4 ,nor do these metropolitan successes indicate1 after all1 the most essential advance4 ,the frequency with which private beneficence is coming to the aid of public enterprise in smaller cities and country towns1 for the establishment and increase of these libraries2 the recent notable instances of stimulative auxiliary legislation2 and the growth of intelligent interest in new and widely scattered sections of the civilized world1 are equally significant1 and perhaps even more widely beneficent4 ,it is the era of the free public library2 and it is of special interest to us to see that our community and our commonwealth are moving in accord with this tide of new feeling and enterprise concerning it4 ,of special interest1 ,i say1 to us as ,pennsylvanians2 for we are glad to remember that it is here that the first impulse was given to the foundation of the system of circulating libraries1 the development of which is the free public library in ,england and ,america4 ,benjamin ,franklin1 after considerable effort1 founded in #agcb the ,philadelphia ,library ,company1 the mother1 as he himself calls it1 of all the subscription libraries in ,north ,america4 ,this library which ,franklin started for the advantage of himself and his fifty young business associates1 in the early time1 when1 as he says1 there was not a good bookseller's shop in any of the colonies to the southward of ,boston1 and when most of the books had to be imported from ,england1 was followed soon by the establishment of more ambitious similar libraries in ,newport 7#agdg7 and ,hartford 7#aggd72 and later in many other places in ,england and this country4 ,these were called public libraries1 though books could only be taken out by subscribers4 ,probably1 however1 as in ,philadelphia1 the librarian could permit any civil gentlemen to peruse the books of the library in the library room4 ,but it was in the formation of many so-called ,social ,libraries in the smaller cities and country towns of ,new ,england and the ,middle ,states1 early in the present century1 that the foundations of the free municipal library were laid4 ,these subscription libraries1 in their growth and in their decay1 no less than in the appetite for books they developed1 created a demand and at length a necessity for public provision for what had come to be one of the prime intellectual needs of many communities4 ,meantime in ,scotland1 in #ahaf1 ,samuel ,brown of ,haddington1 following in part the methods of ,london booksellers1 established a system of free itinerating libraries1 loaning without cost selections of fifty books in each package to villages and neighborhoods that would engage to circulate and take proper care of them4 ,at the end of two years each loan was called in1 and another of different works sent in its place4 ,this scheme was for many years highly successful1 and doubtless highly useful2 but seems to have failed soon after the death of its projector and inspirer in #ahci4 ,the system had the earnest sanction of ,lord ,brougham1 and about #ahbe was taken up in some parts of ,england2 and1 in a modified form1 has had a great success in ,melbourne and its neighborhood1 in ,australia4 ,stanley ,jevons1 whose article on the rationale of free public libraries in his ,methods of ,social ,reform is one of the most interesting and valuable contributions to the literature of this subject1 commends it as the best form of extending free public libraries in the rural portions of ,great ,britain1 and he estimates that there ought to be three thousand such literary itinerants in ,england and ,wales4 ,this system was copied in this country in the ,school ,district ,libraries which were started in the state of ,new ,york in #ahce1 and a few years afterward were in successful operation in ,massachusetts and other ,new ,england states1 and in ,michigan and ,ohio at least1 among states further west4 ,at first every school district raising thirty dollars the first year and ten dollars thereafter1 by tax or subscription1 was assisted by the state--,i cite the ,massachusetts statute--to a like sum2 and a small but choice selection of books sent to it for free circulation within the district4 ,a little later ,massachusetts1 at least1 removed this condition2 and supplied every school district with such a library4 ,these libraries after remaining in use for a while1 and generally being thoroughly read1 were exchanged among the districts4 ,new books were thus continually coming to new readers4 ,this movement was earnestly forwarded by that pioneer among ,american educators1 ,horace ,mann1 and during the period of my boyhood was a godsend to the young people of ,new ,england4 ,i want to bless the memory of ,samuel ,brown1 ,father ,page 7a pioneer of the system in ,new ,york71 and ,horace ,mann for the gleams of literary light thus cast across the bookless darkness of ,new ,england rural homes forty to fifty years ago4 ,this highly economical missionary agency of general intelligence passed away in ,new ,england with the incoming of the more satisfactory town system of free libraries4 ,the cause of its decadence elsewhere is not clear1 but it has lately had a remarkable resurrection in ,new ,york1 as we soon shall see4 ,the first free town library in ,america1 or the world1 supported by municipal taxation1 was established by the efforts of ,abiel ,abbot1 ,d4,d41 in ,peterboro1 ,new ,hampshire1 in #ahcc4 ,a decayed social library and an operatives' library1 and perhaps some other small collections1 were thus gathered under the shelter of the town2 and took on new life from its fostering care1 and the small annual appropriation for new books which is the breath of life to all libraries4 ,here1 as always1 it was a man that inspired the advance movement and carried it on to successful fulfilment4 ,in #ahdi1 ,new ,hampshire passed a general law enabling towns and cities to maintain free libraries by taxation2 and in #ahea ,massachusetts1 which had granted ,boston in #ahdg the right to establish such a library1 passed a similar general enabling act4 ,several other states followed almost immediately1 and nearly every northern and northwestern state1 except ,pennsylvania1 has since adopted the measure4 ,in #ahic1 twenty states had enacted similar statutes2 and1 in all1 more than seven hundred free libraries have been established under them4 ,they have increased--as might naturally have been expected--most rapidly in the portions of the country where other library agencies1 and where an efficient public school system1 have been longest and most efficiently at work4 ,thus1 of the seven hundred libraries1 more than three hundred are in ,massachusetts 7according to the returns of the ,public ,library ,commission for #ahid71 or #a1bcc volumes for every thousand of population2 in ,new ,hampshire something over one hundred 7in #ahid71 or #dfd volumes per thousand of inhabitants4 ,great ,britain has kept nearly equal pace with our foremost states in free library legislation4 ,a general enabling act to establish and support free libraries for the people from municipal rates was passed by ,parliament in #ahej1 and accepted with great energy and enthusiasm by many of the northern towns and cities4 ,eighty-six free libraries1 not including branches1 had been opened before #ahhj2 but1 as in this country1 the conservatism of the southern portions of the country has prevented their general establishment4 ,for similar reasons only the province of ,ontario has made any considerable movement in this direction in the ,dominion of ,canada4 ,this hasty historical sketch would be very incomplete without some account of the recent legislation1 in several states1 for the assistance of the smaller towns and villages in the establishment and increase of public libraries4 ,this legislation has already had marvelous results4 ,massachusetts1 in #ahij1 appropriated one hundred dollars to any town that would raise by taxation1 or appropriate from the dog tax1 or otherwise raise1 at least fifty dollars 7or if its valuation was less than one million dollars it should raise twenty-five dollars1 or if less than #bej1jjj it should raise at least fifteen dollars72 and should agree to take care of the books1 and furnish the agency of distribution4 ,the sums granted by the state are in the hands of a board of commissioners appointed by the governor 7with the advice and consent of the council72 and so far these commissioners--librarians and others--have been eminent citizens1 serving without salaries1 and having only #ejj in their hands annually for clerk hire and traveling expenses4 ,the commission is also required to give advice and information to librarians and others concerning selection of books1 cataloguing1 and administration2 and to select and forward the books granted by the state4 ,now for results4 ,the commission has thus aided in establishing1 in four years1 more than sixty free public libraries in small towns 7out of one hundred and four not thus supplied7 and its action has shamed a few larger towns into establishing them2 so that now only two and three fourths per cent of the population of the state1 in forty-four small towns1 were in ,january1 #ahid1 without their advantages4 ,and this has been accomplished with an entire expense to the commonwealth of less than ten thousand dollars4 ,per contra1 more than half a million dollars were given by individuals in a single year for similar purposes within the state4 ,certainly1 this has been a most economical and effective public outlay2 free1 too1 from all suspicion of any one's fattening by political jobbery4 ,the record of ,new ,hampshire is even more remarkable4 ,this state passed a law in #ahia1 similar to the one outlined above1 and over eighty towns accepted its provisions1 and established free libraries within a twelvemonth after it came in force4 ,we are glad to read that the states of ,maine1 ,connecticut1 and ,pennsylvania are moving in the direction of a measure that has proved so effective in its operation1 and that must be so widely beneficent4 ,the state of ,new ,york has adopted another system to stimulate the development of the free library4 ,her enabling act of many years ago produced1 as we have seen1 comparatively small results2 and in #ahib a law was passed authorizing the ,regents of the ,university of ,new ,york to lend for a limited time--usually six months--selections of books from the duplicate department of the state library1 or from books purchased for the purpose1 to any public library in the state2 or1 where none exists1 to twenty-five petitioners in any town or village of the state4 ,a fee of five dollars is required1 to cover cost of transportation1 catalogue1 etc41 for a loan of one hundred volumes1 and a smaller sum 7three dollars7 for a loan of fifty volumes4 ,this plan1 it will be seen1 is a revival of the old school district method2 and of that instituted by ,samuel ,brown in ,scotland1 and the later one found successful in ,australia4 ,the antipodes have a fashion lately of suggesting valuable object-lessons for social legislation4 ,in small communities it has the advantage of making books do manifold duty1 and of meeting the wants of varied communities and occupations4 ,by judicious and varied selection1 clubs1 classes1 schools1 and reading circles may be aided in special courses and investigations4 ,at the end of twenty months one hundred and twenty-five of these free loan libraries had been sent out by the ,new ,york ,board of ,regents2 of which nearly one half 7#dd7 went to communities without public libraries1 the remainder going to libraries already established 7#bb71 to university extension centers 7#ah71 and to academy libraries open to the public 7#bb74 ,eleven thousand nine hundred volumes were thus made accessible to the public1 with a total circulation of not far from #be1jjj volumes and #i1jjj readers4 ,this system1 which seems even more economical than the ,massachusetts one1 has greatly promoted interest in good reading1 and led to the establishment of several local public libraries4 ,the system is very elastic and is easily adapted to the rapidly growing demands for its privileges4 ,as a pioneer method1 or as auxiliary to municipal libraries1 it promises excellent results4 ,after this historical survey it would hardly seem necessary to dwell upon the arguments in behalf of the free public library4 ,there is probably no mode of expending public money1 says ,stanley ,jevons1 which gives a more extraordinary and immediate return in utility and innocent enjoyment4 ,he affirms that in ,manchester1 ,birmingham1 ,liverpool1 and some other great towns in ,england1 as in similar communities in this country1 where such libraries have existed for years1 there is but one opinion about them4 ,they are classed with town-halls1 police courts1 prisons1 and poorhouses as necessary adjuncts of our stage of civilization4 ,a more natural1 and certainly more cheerful1 collocation would class them with free schools1 museums1 and public parks1 as ,jevons himself afterwards suggests4 ,the main raison d'etre of free public libraries1 as indeed of public museums1 art galleries1 parks1 halls1 public clocks1 and many other kinds of public works1 is the enormous increase of utility which is thereby acquired for the community at a trifling cost4 ,he proceeds to illustrate by several instances what he calls the remarkable multiplication of utility in the case of free lending libraries by several instances4 ,every book1 in the first year of the ,birmingham ,free ,library1 was issued on an average seventeen times1 and the periodical literature turned over fifty times4 ,in ,leeds1 every book was used eighteen times4 ,in larger libraries and in later use1 of course1 the figures are less1 averaging from three to ten times1 the whole cost of each issue averaging only from two to five cents4 ,similar statistics may be found in the ,forum article already referred to in regard to the manifold use of books furnished in ,new ,york4 ,the comfort and moral economy of a cheerful1 well-lighted reading-room1 too1 is overwhelmingly illustrated4 ,mr4 ,jevons found that in ,manchester all persons of suitable age visited the free libraries on an average thirteen times a year1 of whom three fourths came to read in the reading-rooms4 ,such a refuge from the perils of the saloon and the street is an immense benefaction in any neighborhood4 ,the relative cheapness of securing this means of general culture and enjoyment1 this efficient antidote to vice and ignorance1 is strikingly shown by comparing its cost with other items of governmental expenditure1 and the statistics of national luxuries and vices4 ,the eighty-six free libraries in the large cities of ,great ,britain cost not more than half a million dollars per year--one fifth the cost of a first class ironclad4 ,the statistics ,i have given show that the cost of the two war vessels just voted by ,congress might be abundantly sufficient to insure the organization on the ,massachusetts plan of a free library in every village and country town of the ,united ,states1 not now accessible to such a library4 ,the expenditure for drink1 for horse-racing1 or even for tobacco1 for a single year1 would royally equip and endow a public library for every thousand people now without such privileges4 ,as post-office savings banks are1 wherever established1 a mighty engine for teaching thrift1 as public parks are an incalculable source of health and enjoyment in our cities1 so the public library1 the free literary park1 as ,jevons calls it1 is a most effective agency for the promotion of culture and civilization4 ,in the year #ahea1 ,george ,ticknor1 the distinguished author of the ,history of ,spanish ,literature and a benefactor of the ,boston ,public ,library1 wrote to ,edward ,everett3 ,i would establish a library which differs from all free libraries yet attempted2 ,i mean one in which any popular books tending to moral and intellectual improvement shall be furnished in such numbers that many persons can be reading the same book at the same time2 in short1 that not only the best books of all sorts1 but the pleasant literature of the day1 shall be made accessible to the whole people when they most care for it--that is1 when it is fresh and new4 ,i would thus by following the popular taste--unless it should demand something injurious--create a real appetite for healthy reading4 ,this appetite once formed will take care of itself4 ,it will in a great majority of cases demand better and better books4 ,mr4 ,everett's conservatism doubted the wisdom of these principles for the foundation of a library3 but they are essentially those which have proved sound in the free library system of ,england and ,new ,england1 of ,australia and the ,northwestern cities4 ,in the light of fifty years' experience1 indeed1 ,everett's skepticism reads like ,governor ,berkeley's report on education in ,virginia1 in which he thanked ,god that there were no free schools in ,virginia and hoped that there would be none for a hundred years4 ,the communities in which libraries1 approaching ,george ,ticknor's ideal1 have been longest established1 would do without paved streets or electric lights sooner than without these libraries1 and they support them by taxation as cheerfully as the public schools4 ,indeed1 the free library in not a few communities is reckoned an invaluable and indispensable adjunct of the public school1 the very crown of the system of popular education4 ,such librarians as ,green of ,worcester1 ,massachusetts1 and ,whitney of ,watertown1 and ,hosmer of ,minneapolis1 keep in touch with the work of the schools1 and apprize the various classes of pupils of new books especially valuable for their work4 ,more than this1 they have regard to the needs of the various clubs1 trades1 and professions1 and keep their members aware of valuable books in their special departments4 ,but perhaps the most helpful service of all is rendered by capable librarians in the constant advice given to inexperienced readers1 and the frequent bulletins sent out to stimulate the interest and instruct the intelligence of the community4 ,it is of special interest to note that the demand for good reading has been greatly increased wherever the public library has been administered in this way4 ,indeed1 booksellers and proprietary libraries have come to favor the opening of the free library as largely increasing the demand for their books4 ,it is not strange that with this large and various capacity of social service1 the free library should be rapidly growing in public favor2 nor that private munificence should frequently come to the municipal provision4 ,there is no public object for which so generous gifts are often made4 ,in the year #ahic1 for instance1 five hundred thousand dollars were contributed to public libraries and the erection of library buildings in ,massachusetts alone4 ,there has been ready perception1 says ,fletcher in his ,public ,libraries in ,america1 of the truth that one's memory cannot better be perpetuated than by association with an institution so popular and at the same time so elevating and refining as the public library4 ,memorial libraries are therefore very abundant1 and as expense has not been spared in the erection of such memorials1 many of our towns1 even the smaller ones1 are ornamented by library buildings which are gems of architecture4444 ,the fact remains1 with all its significance1 that about the public library cluster naturally the affections and the interest of the community4 ,in its endowment1 on the one hand by private beneficence1 and on the other by public taxation1 is illustrated that collaboration of the rich and the poor in the pursuit of the highest ends which has in it the promise1 and perhaps the potency1 of the solution of vexing social questions4 ,the remembrance that these statements are only locally accepted1 and that large portions of ,england and the ,united ,states have hardly moved toward the establishment of public libraries1 may prompt a consideration of certain objections which are still sometimes urged4 ,civilization accepts its most benignant and effective agencies of progress only under protest2 and it is not1 therefore1 wholly inexplicable that fifty years of unmixed and increasing success should have left some excellent and otherwise intelligent people unconvinced of the beneficence of the free public library4 ,a friend of mine was enthusiastically setting forth the advantages of such libraries1 and their rapid multiplication and growing service in ,new ,england1 at the dinner table of one of the most distinguished1 philosophic1 and progressive of contemporary ,englishmen2 and was not a little surprised to be cut short with the decided comment1 ,i do not believe in it4 ,the ,englishman's fastidious preference for high fences and compartment railway carriages pervades all his intellectual conceptions also2 and makes him impervious even to ,stanley ,jevons's overwhelming demonstration of the moral1 social1 and economic utility of the free public library2 impervious even to the appeal that ignorance and narrow intellectual opportunity must be supposed to make upon enlightened philanthropy4 ,mr4 ,herbert ,spencer and the individualists oppose to the public library1 supported by taxation1 their wellworn declamation about the injustice of making one man pay for another man's culture and amusement2 and urge the dictum of laissez faire in civilization and government4 ,but as the post-office and the public school have survived their onslaughts we may not feel compelled to surrender the advantages of the free library4 ,for1 as with the school1 it is easy to show that mental health and light are as primary interests of the community as material2 and that it is precisely because those most deficient are least sensible of their defect that society must seek to remedy it4 ,mr4 ,spencer's analogy between hunger for food and hunger for knowledge is utterly fallacious4 ,the physical appetite may be trusted to seek vigorously its own supply2 the intellectual appetite has most to be aroused where intellectual starvation is most imminent2 and it grows only by what it feeds on4 ,men usually value most1 indeed1 what they work or pay for2 but it is precisely those who do not value good books at all who need to be tempted and trained to their appreciation4 ,and it is just the children of those whose parents will not1 or cannot1 provide them wholesome reading1 that society cannot afford to let go wholly unprovided4 ,the smallest fee here proves an effective bar1 as the experience of all subscription libraries proves4 ,when the ,springfield 7,mass47 library was made free1 its circulation was trebled the first year--though the fee had been only one dollar--and in a few years rose six or seven fold4 ,the ,mercantile ,library of ,peoria1 ,ill41 says ,mr4 ,crunden1 turned over to the city and made free1 notes an increase in ten years1 of members from two hundred and seventy-five to four thousand five hundred1 and of issues from fifteen thousand to ninety thousand4 ,so always4 ,if the dollar fee were removed from the circulation of the books of our ,meadville ,city ,library1 for instance1 within five years they would go into fifteen hundred families instead of less than three hundred1 as now2 and the added twelve hundred families would be the very ones where the books would be of highest service4 ,and1 perhaps1 more beneficent still would be the influence upon the vastly larger number who would frequent the library1 and grow intelligent through the multiplied use of its reading facilities1 and the help of its valuable reference department4 ,the reaction upon the general intelligence of the community would make itself felt in the increasing intelligence of its working men and the higher standard of life this would bring among them4 ,in short1 it would insure economic progress4 ,besides the economic advantages1 and much more important1 the influence of a well-furnished free library would tell in the training of citizens4 ,the discussion of economic and social questions1 eager and often bitter as it is1 would become less crude and partisan in the knowledge of the best books and magazine articles upon the topics involved4 ,the reading of history1 biography1 and travels would exert a broadening1 enlightening1 and often inspiring influence4 ,to make wholesome literature more accessible than dime novels would save many boys and girls from ruin1 rouse many dormant intellects to higher life1 and supply effective rivals to the saloons and other low resorts4 ,philanthropy and religion alike demand the wide opening of such an effectual door to the opportunities of the higher life4 ,it is sometimes objected that the records of all public libraries show that the lightest literature is most read1 that fiction constitutes one half or three fourths of the books circulated4 ,but besides the obvious consideration that only wholesome fiction finds place in all well-appointed public libraries1 ,horace ,greeley's view has much to commend it1 viz43 that all pure reading1 however light1 tends to develop a taste for more vigorous and instructive literature4 ,besides1 it may well be urged that fiction is not only the current form of literary art1 but also the effective vehicle of current social theories1 philanthropies1 and reforms2 and that much of the most earnest thinking and serious moral purpose of this age is embodied in it4 ,under such intelligent and careful selection as the public opinion of the community may provide for1 the public library will furnish a healthful substitute and corrective for the unappointed and vagrant reading of that large section of young people most in need of guidance4 ,i have left myself but a moment to suggest one or two practical questions that may need consideration in the establishment of a new system of free public libraries in communities or a commonwealth4 ,next to thorough discussion of their proved beneficence1 an efficient enabling act is certainly the first desideratum1 in any state still without it1 so that towns and cities may tax themselves for this purpose4 ,and it is most important that this act be not so narrowly limited that communities shall be unable to attempt anything worth while4 ,better wait five years1 or ten years1 more for the statute that will enable our communities to put themselves in line with the most advanced in the country in this respect1 than to enact a starveling and ineffective statute that shall ,keep the word of promise in our ear1 ,and break it to our hope1 as has already sometimes happened4 ,the public appropriation is so limited by penny-wise legislation in a number of states as to discourage all action1 and kill all interest in the matter4 ,in the same way1 it is to be hoped that these states will accompany their enabling acts by auxiliary legislation similar to that in ,massachusetts and ,new ,hampshire2 or1 perhaps still better1 patterned upon that of ,new ,york4 ,it is difficult to decide upon the comparative advantages of these two systems4 ,that of ,massachusetts seems to me better for permanent results2 but that of ,new ,york seems likely to be more immediately effective in stirring the sluggish interest of indifferent communities4 ,both are wonderfully economical in money1 and both have great effectiveness when worked by the intelligent interest of even a few enthusiastic friends of the free library movement in any community4 ,it would seem that even a governor who thinks five million people cannot afford #be1jjj for the ,birds of ,pennsylvania might consent to spend a fifth of that sum per year to begin a work that would not end1 if once well begun1 without putting a new and most effective agency of social culture and even economic progress within the reach of every boy and girl in the state4 ,the machinery through which to plan and begin this great and hopeful experiment should be carefully considered4 ,massachusetts's unsalaried commission of eminent citizens1 ,new ,york's ,board of ,university ,regents1 alike insure that in those commonwealths the work will be carried on under the most hopeful and efficient conditions4 ,some such unpartisan and public-spirited agency is absolutely demanded for the success of the movement in a state that has to begin it de novo2 and the personnel of the agency is the most important point in any legislation initiating it4 ,there is also a difference of opinion as to whether school boards1 or boards specially constituted for the purpose1 should have charge of public libraries4 ,my opinion is decidedly in favor of the latter2 for while school boards would bring the library1 as is most desirable1 into closer relation with the public schools1 an independent board1 chosen1 perhaps1 by the school board in connection with the city council1 as sometimes in ,massachusetts1 would be likely to bring more ability1 independence1 and careful consideration to the affairs of the library1 and to separate it more completely from injurious partisan and personal politics4 ,,the ,,community',s ,,service ,,to ,,the ,,library ,the ,public ,library1 like the ,public ,school1 is the creature of the community1 which owes it provision for keeping it in condition to render the service for which it was created4 ,this duty of course1 includes adequate financial support but does not end here4 ,among the most important adjuncts to such support are the aid that can be given by enlightened public opinion and by organized groups in the maintenance of liberal and helpful policies1 and the appointment of a governing board equally conscious of its responsibilities and its limitations4 ,,the ,,relation ,,of ,,the ,,state ,,to ,,the ,,public ,,library ,this statement of first principles was made by ,melvil ,dewey at the ,second ,international ,library ,conference1 held in ,london1 ,july #ac-af1 #ahig1 and is reprinted from the ,transactions and ,proceedings of the ,conference 7,london1 #ahih74 ,in reading this address1 it must be kept in mind that it was made to ,englishmen1 whose conception of the functions of a public library were then1 as now1 much more conservative than ours4 ,a sketch of ,dr4 ,dewey will be found in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,we have been listening to an admirable account of the development of the library movement from earliest times to the present day1 and ,i venture to believe that when the history of the age in which we live is written1 and is looked back upon by those who shall come after1 it will be known distinctively as the ,library ,age4 ,libraries of one sort or another have existed from the beginning of human history1 and we are now well into the fifth century since the invention of printing2 so that it would seem as if there had been abundant time for library development4 ,but so great an institution as the modern library is of slow growth4 ,it has taken a thousand years to develop our school system from university down to kindergarten4 ,the public library is much more rapidly going through corresponding stages in order to come to its own4 ,the original library was a reservoir1 getting in and keeping safely1 a storehouse for posterity4 ,that was and is a great function1 for which ,i have profound respect4 ,then1 after many centuries1 came another library epoch1 for which we all feel still greater respect4 ,the cistern was made a fountain2 giving out was seen to be more important than getting in4 ,the library is no longer merely a passive receptacle1 but becomes an aggressive educational force in every community4 ,the reservoir will not become a stagnant pool1 for1 in its branches and deliveries1 the public library has mains and pipes laid through every street1 and reaching almost to the door of every householder4 ,and we live now not in the age of the reservoir1 but in the age of the fountain4 ,in our zeal and admiration1 however1 we are apt to forget that there is yet another and even more important stage to reach4 ,in my own city1 some time ago1 we spent half a million dollars in providing an ample supply of water4 ,but we found that we had really opened convenient communication with the cemetery by water1 for the quality of the new and abundant beverage was such that our death-rate steadily rose4 ,the burning question became qualitative1 not quantitative1 and we are now spending our money on efficient filtration4 ,of course no library intends to circulate injurious books1 but equally no town intends to distribute harmful water4 ,we are concerned more with the results than with the intention4 ,the mortality tables make plain the physical defect1 but alas6 science has as yet devised no instruments delicate enough to record the greater danger to the individual and the ,state from poison in the great current1 which has come to be a mighty flood1 of modern reading matter4 ,the most hopeful1 and perhaps the only practicable1 method of guarding against this serious danger is through the public library1 which must now in the last days of this eventful century recognise the gravity of the new responsibility which it cannot shirk4 ,before another audience ,i might dwell at length on what this problem of selection means1 but the representative librarians of the world will understand my claim that1 wonderful as was the development from the cistern to the fountain1 its importance is overshadowed by this great question of excluding the pernicious1 which ,i sum up in the word filtration4 ,this is the great problem of the modern library1 and its solution must depend largely on the ,state4 ,it is often said that the modern periodicals and newspapers are our greatest danger2 but this1 of course1 is true only of the sensational and other objectionable types4 ,i yield to none in my high appreciation of what the best kind of newspaper may do in its capacity as the strongest ally of the public library and of the public school4 ,i am confident that early in the next century such journals will be recognised as a distinct part of our educational machinery1 but ,i am equally clear that the worst journals1 conducted merely as money-making enterprises1 and catering to the worst instead of to the best elements of both society and individuals1 are the most potent factors for evil1 and the greatest enemy which the ideal librarian has to combat in carrying forward his best work4 ,they leave their habitual readers with neither time nor taste for anything above their own low plane4 ,the mind will inevitably rise or fall to the level of its habitual reading1 and we apostles and missionaries of the book have no more disheartening outlook than on the readers whose literary atmosphere is limited to the modern sensational newspapers4 ,but the apologists for such reading say that the history of their own times is of more importance to them than any other history2 should they not1 therefore1 become as familiar as possible with it8 ,but when a man1 on account of pressure of business1 never looks inside any good book1 yet has time to read everything in the newspapers1 he is--well1 specialising too much in history4 ,how many men and women there are1 who1 from year's end to year's end1 read nothing but the so-called history of their own times1 and who can tell you nothing better than which dog won the last fight6 ,it is a good thing to know the history of our own times2 so is a pinch of salt a good thing on one's breakfast potato1 but it is not necessary to drink a barrel of sea water each morning in order to get it4 ,it is highly desirable that ,i should know the geology and topography of my own ,state1 but ,i can learn all that is worth knowing without creeping on hands and knees with nose close to the ground over the barnyards and dump heaps of our commonwealth1 under the vain delusion that ,i am exhaustively studying its geology4 ,we must join this battle squarely4 ,the eternal conflict of good and the best with bad and the worst is on4 ,the librarian must be the librarian militant before he can be the librarian triumphant4 ,at the end of another century1 when a conference like this is held1 our descendants will look back with wonder to find that we have so long been satisfied to leave the control of the all-pervading1 all-influencing newspaper in the hands of people who have behind them no motive better than the almighty dollar4 ,the solution of our difficulties lies in recognition by the ,state that public libraries are not only good things1 but that they are an absolutely necessary part of our educational system4 ,we started with the university1 but found that we had to put under it the college4 ,then we went a step further1 and had the academy and high school to prepare for the college2 the primary and grammar schools to prepare for the high school2 and now we have the kindergarten under the primary school4 ,i am not giving a chronology1 but simply pointing out that during these centuries educators have constantly been facing the question of adequate provision for meeting completely the public wants4 ,we have at last reached step by step from the university to the nursery1 and have provided a series of schools covering the entire field4 ,yet1 with all this1 we have not attained the full system of education that we ought to attain1 and every thoughtful person is now asking1 ,what next8 ,huxley has well said that a system of education which in the early years trains boys and girls to read and then makes no provision for what they shall read during all the rest of their lives1 would be as senseless as to teach our children the expert use of the knife1 fork1 and spoon1 and then make no provision for their daily food4 ,the whole history of education has been a series of broadening conceptions4 ,i can recall no case in which the ideal has narrowed1 but step by step we have come to a general recognition that education is for poor as well as rich1 for plebeian as well as prince1 for black and white1 for native and foreigner1 for brilliant or backward1 for women as well as men1 for deaf1 dumb1 and blind1 and all defectives and delinquents1 who in the old conception were left without the pale4 ,it is almost within our memory that we have come to substantial agreement that the ,state owes an elementary education to every boy and girl born within its limits1 not alone as a right to the child1 but as a matter of safety and practical wisdom on the part of the ,state2 and this broader conception is followed closely by a second and still broader one1 that every boy and girl is entitled not only to an elementary1 but to something also of higher education4 ,i have met no competent student of this subject who dares deny that hereafter the ,state must recognize that education is not alone for the young1 for limited courses1 in schools which take all the time of their pupils1 but that it must regard adults as well2 and not alone for short courses1 but all through life--not in our recognised teaching institutions alone1 but in that study outside of office or working hours that may be carried on at home4 ,i may sum it up in the one sentence1 ,higher education1 for adults1 at home1 through life4 ,in this home education1 which must hereafter be recognised side by side with school education1 the library is the great central agent round which study clubs1 reading circles1 extension teaching1 museums1 and the other allied agencies must cluster4 ,a statesman solicitous for the future welfare of his country will find his most fruitful field in protecting and guiding the reading of the people4 ,it is what a man reads that shapes his future1 which depends1 not at once upon the rostrum and the pulpit1 but on the book and the newspaper4 ,in education we recognise that the supreme end is the building of character1 but many of us have never thought clearly how directly this character-building rests upon the public library4 ,it is reading that begets reflection1 reflection begets motive1 motive begets action1 and action begets habit1 and habit begets character2 and who here dares question this1 that it is not the air nor the water1 nor yet the roast beef of ,old ,england1 not its history nor traditions nor laws nor geographic location1 but character1 that has made the ,anglo-,saxons1 ,england and her daughters across the seas1 the most wonderful people of the earth4 ,it is not brawn1 but brain4 ,the dogs and horses might have the physical qualities1 but it is the mind and soul1 and those elements of true greatness which can best be instilled into a people through the reading of good and great books1 that have made a race of which we are justly all so proud4 ,one of the wisest of ,frenchmen said of the ,franco-,prussian ,war1 when the needle-gun was suggested as the explanation of ,german victory1 ,no2 it was not the needle-gun1 nor the ,german soldier who held it1 nor yet the ,german schoolmaster who trained the soldier1 but it was the ,german university that made the schoolmaster4 ,knowledge is power1 and it is knowledge that has made ,england and ,america great4 ,think of the men who read the poorest newspapers1 but know nothing of our best books4 ,can the ,state afford to make other things free1 and not make free true and useful knowledge as preserved in books8 ,can the ,state recognize the necessity for free schools1 and fail to provide free access to the best reading in all realms of knowledge8 ,free as air1 was the old-time strongest expression4 ,then men learned how absolutely essential to physical well-being was abundance of water1 and our language records in its favourite expression1 free as water1 the meaning of the untold millions that civilization has spent to supply all people freely with this essential4 ,we are learning the greater lesson about the necessity of free knowledge more slowly1 because intellectual and spiritual things are not so readily discerned by our mortal eyes1 and it takes more time to read even those messages that ,god has written very large for those who have eyes to see2 but the time is not far distant1 mark my words1 when our speech will again record the general acceptance of a great truth in the common phrase1 as free as knowledge4 ,we should make the public understand the relation of the school system to the library system2 that the library is not merely a collection of books1 or a storehouse1 but an aggressive and active source of education1 side by side with the free schools4 ,if the issue came--but1 thank ,god1 it never will--between giving up either the library or the free school1 ,i am not sure that ,i would not choose for the welfare of the country the public library rather than the school4 ,this may sound strange from one who has given his life to education1 but ,i believe that even without our schools nearly every boy and girl would somehow learn to read2 and when ,i soberly consider the influence on lives and characters and on the ,state1 it seems probable that1 infinitely valuable as is the work of our free schools1 it would be exceeded by what could be done by a system of free public libraries1 reaching every boy and girl and man and woman in the community1 and so administered as to provide each freely from childhood to the grave with the best reading in every field of interest and activity4 ,the ,state1 whatever it may or may not do1 should recognise the library as being as essential to public welfare as is the school1 and it should give it as careful protection from dangers without and within as it gives to institutions like banks and insurance companies4 ,the ,state should protect the library against unjust laws1 improper interference1 or pernicious influence of any kind from without4 ,it should guard it also against misconduct1 incapacity1 or neglect on the part of its trustees1 officers1 or employees4 ,beside the direct appropriations for its support1 it should grant the most liberal powers for holding property given by individuals for the public benefit1 and1 above all1 should grant entire exemption from taxation4 ,to tax a free public library for doing its beneficent work is theorising gone mad4 ,it is as absurd as for a missionary to refuse admission to his preaching1 or for the manager of a theatre in which a fire has just started to shut out every fireman till he had presented the conventional coupon for a reserved seat4 ,the example first set by my own ,state 7,new ,york7 in the statute which ,i had the honour of drawing ought to be followed universally4 ,we created a public libraries department1 to devote its entire attention to advancing the best interests of public libraries4 ,it would take the entire morning to sketch to you the various forms of beneficent work which we have found practicable4 ,we help to establish new libraries1 reorganise old ones1 revise methods1 select books1 lend single books or entire libraries1 grant books or money up to #bjj yearly to any library raising an equal sum from local sources1 and1 by means of correspondence1 personal inspection1 and steady work in a dozen directions1 help every community to get the greatest practical good from the labour and money given to its free library4 ,we have now about five hundred travelling libraries moving about in all parts of the ,state4 ,the public library is rapidly becoming universal4 ,for the ,government not to recognise it in its own organisation is as absurd as it would be to have a standing army and no war department1 or schools dotted all about the state and no department of education4 ,time forbids more than the mere naming of what is needed1 but the first great step in summing up the relation of the ,state to public libraries is the establishment of a public libraries department1 in charge of a strong man who appreciates the almost limitless opportunities for usefulness which this new field affords4 ,our discussions this morning took such a turn that you could almost hear behind them1 like the recurring motive of one of ,wagner's operas1 the question1 ,who shall be greatest among librarians8 ,in our ,state ,library ,school ,i give each year a course of five lectures on the qualifications of a librarian1 and point out under a half-hundred different heads the things we should demand in an ideal librarian2 but when we have covered the whole field of scholarship and technical knowledge and training1 we must confess that overshadowing all are the qualities of the man4 ,to my thinking1 a great librarian must have a clear head1 a strong hand1 and1 above all1 a great heart4 ,he must have a head as clear as the master in diplomacy2 a hand as strong as he who quells the raging mob1 or leads great armies on to victory2 and a heart as great as he who1 to save others1 will1 if need be1 lay down his life4 ,such shall be greatest among librarians2 and1 when ,i look into the future1 ,i am inclined to think that most of the men who will achieve this greatness will be women4 ,it is well to hold up high ideals1 but it would be a sad mistake to underrate the services of the noble men and women who in some1 perhaps many1 respects fall far short of the standards we lay down1 and yet who have done1 and are doing well1 much of the world's best work4 ,let us dwell on what has been well done1 not on what has been omitted or on what might have been done by other men in other circumstances4 ,i remember1 some twenty-five years ago1 reading in ,george ,eliot's ,romola these words1 which we should remember when thinking of any great librarian who of necessity fails in some respects to meet all our ideals3 ,it was the fashion of old1 when an ox was led out for sacrifice to ,jupiter1 to chalk the dark spots and give the offering a false show of unblemished whiteness4 ,let us fling away the chalk1 and boldly say the victim was spotted2 but it was not therefore in vain that his mighty heart was laid on the altar of men's highest hopes4 ,,methods ,,of ,,securing ,,the ,,interest ,,of ,a ,,community ,this paper by ,wm4 ,e4 ,foster1 ,librarian of the ,providence ,library1 appears in the double number of ,the ,library ,journal for ,september-,october1 #ahhj4 ,written forty years ago it is more advanced from the standpoint of socialization1 especially as regards group-action1 than some pronouncements that one might hear to-day4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,foster appears in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,this mainly resolves itself into a consideration of direct and indirect methods4 ,the one attempts only to supply the public with what it wants2 the other1 striving after the truest improvement of the readers1 in time secures1 with the growth of intelligent appreciation1 an interest even more active1 and vastly more permanent1 than the other4 ,no library may safely disregard either class of methods1 and their proper adjustment is a point which may very profitably engage much of the librarian's attention4 ,it is true that the first of these is not likely to escape his attention4 ,what the public wants is a consideration which will meet him frequently1 from one end of the year to the other4 ,no one needs to be told1 for instance1 that the public wants to be amused4 ,doubtless the class of books described as humorous would constitute1 to a large body of readers in any one of our cities1 the true ideal of a collection of books4 ,the taste for imaginative literature begins early and lasts long1 with a large number of readers4 ,something new is a phrase whose attractiveness is not far from universal4 ,still further1 if it is a question between a true account1 which deals with stirring adventures1 and another true account1 whose pages are devoted to an impassive statement of scientific facts1 there is not much question which will find the most readers among the general public4 ,what the public wants1 then1 as regards the choice of books1 while it certainly does not indicate a high degree of enlightenment1 has perhaps the merit of being true to nature4 ,there are certain points of administration1 also1 in which the interest of the public is concerned4 ,it is in favor of having the library as near its place of residence as possible2 and here1 unfortunately1 the public is a plural personage which cannot all be suited at once4 ,it is in favor of that method of obtaining the privileges of the library which requires the least trouble and inconvenience on its part1 and seldom sees the need of a careful verification of the applicant's identity4 ,it is in favor of the fewest restrictions on access to the books1 and on the time for keeping them4 ,it is in favor1 decidedly1 of that charging system which will deliver the book soonest4 ,it is in favor of finding the library open on all days and at all hours1 sometimes even not regarding the specified hours announced as worthy of consideration4 ,in short1 while it is by no means difficult to persuade the public of the reasonableness of a particular restriction1 yet its first thought is undeniably largely influenced by selfish considerations4 ,nor is the larger part of the public any more fond of bestowing deep and painstaking thought upon the books which it reads1 and of carrying the mind systematically through a complicated mental process4 ,it is not improbable that some readers would be glad of some method of using books which should save them the trouble of any mental process4 ,and1 while these readers are so much averse to any troublesome efforts toward improvement on their own part1 it would be scarcely reasonable to look for any very intelligent supervision by them of the reading of their children1 or of the pupils in the schools4 ,here1 again1 what the public wants is the royal road--some short and easy method4 ,that library1 then1 which would awaken and develop a lively interest among its readers in the miscellaneous public1 cannot certainly complain of a lack of methods by which to secure such interest4 ,it may include in its selection of books a suitable percentage of fiction1 and humorous works4 ,it may infuse new blood into the library by frequent and regular purchase of the latest publications4 ,it may add largely to the department of voyages and travels1 of books copiously illustrated1--of popular literature1 in short4 ,it may place its main building in the center of population1 and establish branches for the accommodation of outlying localities4 ,it may recognize the desirableness of the least red tape in registering readers1 of open book-shelves1 of expeditious serving of readers1 and long periods of time for the use of the library and the retention of books4 ,it may furnish its readers with explanations and directions for obtaining and using the books which shall require the least difficulty in understanding and applying them4 ,it may1 and it should1 recognize the value of all these principles1 and the library which fails to act on them does so at its peril4 ,yet these points do not comprise all that demand attention2 and the effectiveness of even these is due to the limits which are set to them4 ,a certain amount of fiction is well enough1 but to enlarge this department at the expense of all others would clearly defeat the library's purpose4 ,diminution of restrictions in the use of books is certainly agreeable to the public1 but the removal of all restrictions would result in such a loss of books as would soon work its own cure4 ,the question1 ,what does the public want8 is not the only1 nor1 in fact1 the chief question to be borne in mind in the conduct of a library4 ,one has only to keep his eyes open to see how suggestive as to methods is this other question3 ,of what service may the library be8 ,and it is safe to say that one who has not given the subject attention will be surprised to find at how many points a collection of books1 and the thought there contained1 touch human life4 ,here is a machine-shop with its hundred or more workmen1 many of whom are anxious to study some mechanical work4 ,the library has such works1 and is glad to supply them4 ,here again is a society of natural history1 whose members are systematically studying some department of natural science4 ,to them1 also1 the library willingly offers its resources in that department4 ,with no less willingness it offers its cooperation to those who are following a course of public lectures on some topic of political science or of art1 to a college class studying topically some epoch of history or period of literature2 or to a public-school teacher1 with a class in geography2 or a parent desiring some suitable reading for a child4 ,or1 with no specified class of persons in view1 it seeks to make its collection generally available1 by regular references to its resources on matters of current and universal interest4 ,much more effective1 however1 than the best of such attempts at reaching classes of readers will be the aid rendered to individual readers4 ,not general and indefinite1 but specific and direct assistance1 is here given1 and1 although at first this kind of work might seem to be impracticable in a large library1 yet one who tries it will be interested to see how far such individual methods may be introduced4 ,the librarian almost mechanically learns to pigeon-hole in his mind the peculiar tastes and lines of reading of single readers1 and1 when the occasion presents itself1 can bring to their notice books and articles which they are glad to obtain4 ,more than one librarian makes it a regular practice1 in adding new books to the library or in collecting material bearing upon some one topic1 to drop a postal to this and that reader who1 he knows1 will be glad of just this information4 ,the more the conducting of a library can be made an individual matter1 bringing particular books to the notice of particular readers1 the more effective it becomes4 ,it remains to consider what may be called the general effect of such individual efforts1 continued from one year to another4 ,they will certainly result in giving the public a large amount of assistance4 ,being exerted in connection with the whole community1 they cannot fail to leave an influence1 like the school1 the church1 or the newspaper1--an influence moreover1 which1 if wisely directed1 and intelligently shaped1 will make the public library idea appreciably felt in the civilization of the country4 ,nor can it fail to have a reflex influence in securing the interest of the public4 ,if methods of the former class were able1 by their direct agency1 to accomplish practical results1 even more significant and more permanent are those reached indirectly by this method4 ,no class of people will be so truly attached to the institution1 by active interest1 as those who feel that they have been personally aided and improved through its agency4 ,the former methods are directly adapted to secure popularity1 the latter to win gratitude2 and if it should ever become necessary to choose one of these1 at the expense of the other1 there can be little room for hesitation4 ,the growth of public sentiment in communities like ,boston and ,worcester1 where public libraries have been administered on these principles1 and with these ends in view1 for a series of years1 is very instructive4 ,public sentiment1 like confidence1 is a plant of slow growth2 but experience shows that when the conviction has once thoroughly penetrated a community that an institution like this is sincerely aiming to serve the public1 a hold on its sympathy and interest has been acquired not easily to be shaken4 ,it should be the aim of each librarian to make the usefulness of his institution so manifest that the public will as soon think of dispensing with the post-office as with the library4 ,,financial ,,support ,the justification for taxing the members of a community to support a ,public ,library1 although rarely questioned to-day was argued with heat in former times4 ,earlier1 there was the same difference of opinion with regard to the public schools4 ,in order to obtain the argument in opposition1 in its best form1 we have had to draw from a ,british source1 which we consider it proper to quote here because it elicited a reply from an ,american librarian which will immediately follow3 ,,free ,,libraries 7,,an ,,argument ,,against ,,public ,,support7 ,this paper1 by ,m4,d4 ,o',brien1 forms ,chapter ,,ix of the compilation of essays entitled ,a ,plea for ,liberty edited by ,thomas ,mackay 7#crd ed4 ,london1 #ahid74 ,the sub-title of the book1 an argument against socialism and socialistic legislation1 gives its viewpoint4 ,there is a formidable introduction by ,herbert ,spencer in which he condemns even the extremely limited state support given at that time to general education in ,england as a tyrannical system tamely submitted to by people who fancy themselves free4 ,mr4 ,spencer ends by asserting that the end1 if this sort of thing is to go on1 must be a society like that of ancient ,peru1 dreadful to contemplate1 in which the mass of the people1 elaborately regimented in groups1 444 were superintended in their private lives as well as in their industries and toiled hopelessly for the support of the governmental organization4 ,a ,free ,library may be defined as the socialists' continuation school4 ,while ,state education is manufacturing readers for books1 ,state-supported libraries are providing books for readers4 ,the two functions are logically related4 ,if you may take your education out of your neighbour's earnings1 surely you may get your literature in the same manner4 ,literary dependency has the same justification as educational dependency2 and1 no doubt1 habituation to the one helps to develop a strong desire for the other4 ,a portion of our population has by legislation acquired the right to supply itself with necessaries and luxuries at the cost of the rates4 ,the art of earning such things for themselves has been rendered superfluous4 ,progress therefore halts because this all-important instinct has fallen into disuse4 ,at a point the rates will bear no more1 and those who depend on them for their pleasures are doomed to disappointment4 ,the identity of principle exemplified alike by compulsory education and compulsory libraries1 logically involves the justification or condemnation of both2 and1 let us disguise the unpleasant truth in as many sounding phrases as we please1 the fact remains that the carrying out of this socialistic principle means pauperism pure and simple4 ,have we forgotten the evils that resulted from the application of this principle under the old poor law8 or do we imagine that when an evil changes its outward appearance it changes its inner essence also8 ,the harm done to the national character by a policy of this nature varies in intensity in proportion to the necessity of the want supplied4 ,if the thing supplied at public cost is really necessary and eagerly accepted by the people1 it becomes more readily a potent cause of dependency1 and a heavy and at length an insupportable charge on the ratepayers4 ,this was the experience of the old poor law4 ,the cost of national education is fast approaching to the same state of things1 and the problem will one day have to be faced3 ',how is the burden of the cost of education to be returned to the shoulders of those who are responsible for it8' ,in this paper we are concerned with a smaller question4 ,a very inconsiderable section of the people really want the ,free ,library2 the question at the polls is generally treated with apathy1 and only a very small proportion of the ratepayers record their votes one way or the other4 ,as a matter of fact the ,free ,library is forced upon the public by a number of doctrinaire believers in the superhuman value of a mere literary education4 ,it is not a popular want4 ,the vast majority of people have still a greater faith in the training which results from practical contact with the real facts of life1 and still only regard book-learning as a useful supplement1 easily obtainable by those who really desire it and are likely to profit by it4 ,the history of the ,education ,acts is very analogous4 ,the literary classes became alarmed at the ignorance of the poor1 and instead of allowing the efforts of philanthropists1 aided by the growing appreciation of education amongst the labouring class--already giving great promise of providing a true and voluntary remedy for the supposed evil--to work out a system of education on natural and healthy lines of spontaneous evolution1 a course which would have added dignity and stability to the domestic life of the parents and given a real and technical system of education to the children--instead of this1 the hasty politician rushed forward crying4 ',the people do not want education1 so we must compel them4' ,the compulsory and demoralizing character of the means reacts on the otherwise advantageous nature of the end1 and the result is a mind-destroying system of cram for the children2 summons1 fines1 and police for the parents4 ,this is how the politician makes education a lovely and desirable thing4 ,it is almost impossible to over-estimate the evils resulting from the ,state not allowing teachers and parents to adjust the educational arrangements so as to meet the felt requirements of the case4 ,this communal despotism strikes at the very foundation of personal virtue1 viz4 the home1 the instrument by which nature lifts human character above the non-moral sensuousness of the animal world4 ,let us never forget that the human mind is made up of lower and higher elements1 and that the removal of personal duties--the practice-ground of the virtues--favours the development of the lower factors of character at the expense of the higher1 of weeds at the expense of flowers4 ,what else can possibly result from the carrying out of a principle which means the public feeding1 clothing1 and lodging of children under official superintendence and control8 ,will it be contended that ,state officers can know better than parents what is really needed for children8 ,yet this is what our ,free ,educationalists are leading us to4 ,the system which robs the parent of one of the noblest motives to effort--the desire to give a good education to his children--which weakens the sense of duty and takes away a wholesome stimulus to the mental and moral faculties1 is only the beginning of an evil that menaces civilization and threatens to swallow up all natural distinctions and relationships in a low and promiscuous communism4 ,this bribe of parental irresponsibility--this patent method of shirking duties--which the politician offers us in exchange for our manhood1 is a scheme for encouraging the race to cast itself forth into the moral darkness of a world where the parents are all childless and the children all orphans4 ,the ,free ,library1 however1 has not yet reached the same degree of compulsion as the ,free ,school4 ,a majority of the local public must vote for it before it can be established2 or rather1 we should say1 there must be a majority favourable to it amongst those who do take the trouble to record their votes3 usually only a very small proportion of the electorate think it worth while to cross the street in order to pay a visit to the poll4 ,when the ,library is established1 its real popularity is to be measured by the fact that its books are borrowed by only about one per cent4 of the population4 ,we make bold to say that if it ever becomes popular1 it will be an extremely mischievous institution4 ,as yet it is merely a plaything for a number of well-meaning busybodies1 and an occasional convenience to a few middle-class readers4 ,the limited amount generally spent upon it prevents it from doing anything more than minister to the sensational indulgences of a very limited section of the reading public4 ,if the working classes of the country ever really become students1 it will be impossible to supply them with adequate store of books from the rates3 if this is attempted1 it can only be at a time when books will be but a small item in the expenditure which a dominant ,state ,socialism seeks to lay on the public purse4 ,on the one hand will stand a class whose only plan for satisfying their wants is the imposition of a new tax1 and on the other a harried remnant of ratepayers1 both soon to be overwhelmed by the near approach of national bankruptcy4 ,want is the spring of human effort4 ,self-discipline1 self-control1 self-reliance1 are the habits which grow in men who are allowed to act for themselves4 ,the meddlesome forestalling of individual effort1 which is being carried into mischievous excess1 is going far to bind our poorer classes for another century of dependence4 ,let us run1 as rapidly as possible1 through a few of the pleas set up by the advocates of this form of municipal socialism4 ,good books1 it is said1 are out of the reach of the working man4 ,whether this is true as regards books we shall see1 but obviously it would be easy to make out a much stronger case for many other forms of amusement which are far more popular with the million than books2 yet no one seriously proposes that the amusements of the poorer classes can all be supported by the rates4 ,but a glance down the lists of some of our publishers will show any one that the statement is not true--is the very reverse of truth4 ,when books like ',pilgrim's ,progress1' ',the ,vicar of ,wakefield1' ',rasselas1' ',paul and ,virginia1' ,byron's ',childe ,harold1' ',lady of the ,lake1' ',marmion1' and others1 can be purchased from ,messrs4 ,dicks at twopence each2 when all ,scott's novels can be obtained from the same publishers for threepence per story2 when1 from the same source1 any of ,shakespere's plays can be got for a penny each1 it will not do to say that the best kind of literature is unpurchasable by a class that spends millions a year on alcohol1 as well as thousands on tobacco and other luxuries4 ,three or four pence1 which even comparatively poor people think nothing now-a-days of spending on an ounce of tobacco or a pipe1 will buy enough of the best literature to last an ordinary reader at least a week or a fortnight4 ,and when the book is read1 there is the pleasure to be derived from lending or giving it to a friend1 and of accepting the loan or gift of his in return2 a custom that largely obtains in country districts where no socialistic collection of unjustly gotten books exists to hinder the development of personal thrift or poison the springs of spontaneous generosity4 ,lying on the table where this is written is a list of the works published in ,cassell's ,national ,library4 ,how some of the old book-lovers who are gone--who lived in the days when the purchase of a good book involved some personal sacrifice--would have appreciated this valuable library6 ,here are #bjh of the world's best books1 each one of which contains some #bjj pages of clear readable type4 ,the published price is threepence each2 but a discount of twenty-five per cent4 is allowed when four or five or more are purchased4 ,it would be a waste of space to give the entire list2 but a few typical examples may be taken4 ,here are the ,essays of ,lord ,macaulay2 here are works by ,plutarch1 ,herodotus1 ,plato1 ,xenophon1 ,lucian1 ,fenelon1 ,voltaire1 ,boccaccio1 ,gothe1 and ,lessing--in ,english1 of course4 ,here is ,walton's ',complete ,angler1' ,goldsmith's ',plays1' ,bacon's ',wisdom of the ,ancients' and ',essays4' ,here are works by ,burke1 ,swift1 ,steele and ,addison1 ,milton1 ,johnson1 ,pope1 ,sydney ,smith1 ,coleridge1 ,dickens1 ,landor1 ,fielding1 ,keats1 ,shelley1 ,defoe1 ,dryden1 ,carlyle1 ,locke1 ,bolingbroke1 ,shakespere1 and many others4 ,all ,shakespere's plays are here complete1 and each play is accompanied by the poem1 story1 or previous play on which it is founded4 ,here1 for example1 is the last of the series as yet published1 ',all's ,well that ,ends ,well'2 it contains a translation of the story of ,giletta of ,narbona from ,painter's ',palace of ,pleasure'2 it is worth threepence to a student1 if only for showing the difference between raw material and finished product4 ,hundreds of new novels1 including some of those of ,thackeray1 ,kingsley1 ,dickens1 ,lytton1 and other well-known authors1 are to be obtained in most places for #d-a_/b;d41 and their secondhand price is less still4 ,considering the marvellous cheapness of good books1 it is difficult to understand how any one can either blackmail his neighbour for them1 or encourage working-men to do so4 ,if a man will not deduct a few coppers now and then from his outlay in other luxuries to purchase literature1 he cannot want literature very badly2 if he does not value books sufficiently well to buy them with his own earnings he does not deserve to have them bought for him with other people's earnings4 ,that poor women and others1 who are often the sole support of a large family of children1 should have their hard earnings confiscated to maintain readers--many of them well-to-do--in gratuitous literature1 is an injustice not to be palliated by all the hollow cant about culture and education so freely indulged in at the present time4 ,some time ago there was a discussion on 'the sacrifice of education to examination4' ,there is another question quite as serious--the sacrifice of justice to so-called education4 ,let us next consider the educational value of this institution4 ,it is hardly necessary for us to say that we have no objection1 either for ourselves or for our neighbours1 to novel-reading4 ,on the contrary1 we regard it as a legitimate form of recreation4 ,all we argue is that it is not a luxury which should be paid for out of the rates4 ,now1 to listen to the advocates of ,free ,libraries one would imagine that these institutions were only frequented by students1 and that the books borrowed were for the most part of a profound and scholarly character4 ,but the very reverse of this is the case4 ,the committee of the ,blackpool ,free ,library1 in their ,report for the year #ahhg-h1 say3--',works of fiction and light literature enjoy the greatest degree of popularity1 each book circulating eleven times in the year1 while the more instructive books in the other classes circulate only once during the same period4' ,according to this ,report1 out of a total average daily issue of #aej volumes1 #acg are works of fiction and light literature4 ,the average issue of history1 which is the next largest item1 is only #i per diem4 ,no wonder is it1 after such results as this1 that the ,committee should express the opinion 'that the rich stores of biography1 history1 travels1 and works of science and art which have been added in recent years are deserving of greater attention than has hitherto been given to them4' ,although the nominal and frequently exceeded limit is now one penny in the pound1 there is no knowing how soon it may be raised4 ,already one of the members of the ,library ,association of the ,united ,kingdom1 a body composed to a considerable extent of librarians whose bureaucratic instincts naturally impel them to push their business by all possible means1 has awarded a prize of ten guineas for a draft ,library ,bill1 which1 among other things1 permits a twopenny instead of a penny rate4 ',but1' says the ,daily ,news of ,oct4 #dth1 #ahhi1 'the feeling appeared to be unanimous that it would be unwise to put this forward as a part of the ,association's programme1 as it would enormously increase the opposition to the adoption of the ,act in new localities4' ,no regard for the ratepayers' pockets holds them back2 but only a fear of injuring business by frightening the bird whose feathers are to be plucked4 ,were it not for this the ,bill would be pushed forward1 and those ratepayers who have voted for the adoption of the ,act in the belief that no more than one penny can be levied1 would have the rate suddenly doubled over their heads without knowing it4 ,perhaps1 after all1 it would serve them right4 ,the intervention of this ,association in the conduct of the agitation for ,free ,libraries is instructive1 and points to the fact that if we admit the principle that the wants of the poorer classes generally are to be supplied from the rates1 it is not the poorer classes themselves who are allowed to say what form the gift shall take4 ,on the contrary the law is manipulated by a number of amiable enthusiasts who succeed in foisting their own fad on the public charges4 ,if the working classes were allowed to choose the application of #a;d4 or #b;d4 in the pound it would not go to ,free ,libraries4 ,the enormous amount of light reading indulged in by the frequenters of ,free ,libraries leads us to expect that these places are largely used by well-to-do and other idlers4 ,and this is exactly what we find4 ,free ,libraries are perfect 'god-sends' to the town loafer1 who finds himself housed and amused at the public expense1 and may lounge away his time among the intellectual luxuries which his neighbours are taxed to provide for him4 ,says ,mr4 ,mullins1 the ,birmingham librarian1 ',no delicacy seemed to deter the poor tramp from using1 not only the news-room1 but the best seats in the reference library for a snooze4 ,already the ,committee had to complain of the use of the room for betting1 and for the transaction of various businesses1 and the exhibition of samples1 writing out of orders1 and other pursuits more suited to the commercial room of an hotel4' ,and referring to another ,free ,library1 the same authority continues3--',in the ,picton ,room of the ,liverpool ,library1 alcoves were once provided with small tables1 on which were pens1 ink1 c41 but it was found that pupils were received in them by tutors1 and much private letter-writing was done therein2 so that when a respectable thief took away ,l#bj worth of books they were closed4 ,after the nonsense usually indulged in by the officials of literary pauperism such candour as this is positively refreshing4 ,it is seldom the high priest allows us to look behind the curtain in this fashion4 ,as a rule1 the admission is much less direct1 and can only be gathered from a careful analysis of the statistics4 ,according to the ,bristol ,report for last year1 there were #daf1dah borrowers during the twelve months preceding ,december #ca1 #ahhi3 of these #adh1iib are described as having 'no occupation4' ,the ,report of the ,atkinson ,free ,library of ,southport informs us that out of the #abhc new borrowers who joined the library last year1 #ecf are written down as of 'no occupation4' ,at the same town1 in the years #ahhg-h1 there were #fda who1 according to the report1 were without any occupation1 out of a total of #adha4 ,according to the annual ,report of the ,leamington ,free ,public ,library for #ahhh-i1 #ahg made a return 'no occupation1' out of a total of #bhb applicants4 ,in the ,yarmouth ,report for the same year1 out of a total of #cjhe new borrowers1 #ajdd are described as of 'no occupation'2 the report for the previous year states the proportion as follows3--,total of borrowers1 #bhac2 'no occupation1' #ajgh2 in the year before that the total was--#cdja2 'no occupation1' #acfh4 ,some reports give a fuller analysis of the different classes of people who use the libraries to which they refer4 ,in the ,wigan ,report for last year we are told that #ac1ccf people made use of the reference library in that town during #ahhh-i4 ,the largest items of this amount are given as follows3--,solicitors1 #abad2 clergy1 #ijc2 clerks and book-keepers1 #aeba2 colliers1 #ifa2 schoolmasters and teachers1 #hja2 architects and surveyors1 #dah2 engineers1 #dij2 enginemen1 #dch4 ,at ,newcastle-on-,tyne1 last year1 there were #aa1fbj persons used the reference library1 and only #cidi of these were of 'no occupation4' ,yet1 notwithstanding the numerical weakness of the latter1 they managed to consult nearly half the books that were consulted during that year4 ,the total number consulted was #cf1ajj2 and #af1hjj were used by people who had 'no occupation4' ,and this is legislation for the ,working ,classes6 ,there is little doubt that at least forty-nine out of every fifty working-men have no interest whatever in these institutions4 ,for one penny they can buy their favourite newspaper1 which can be carried in the pocket and read at any time2 whereas if they wanted to see a paper at a ,free ,library they would generally have to wait half an hour or an hour in a stuffy room1 without being allowed to speak during the time4 ,the following sensible remarks are from the pen of one who has risen to an honourable position from a very humble beginning without the aid of either ,free ,libraries or ,free ,schools3-- ,not long ago a conference of working men was held at ,salford to consider the question of rational amusement1 when1 in reply to a series of questions1 it was stated that ,free ,libraries were not the places for poor1 hard-working men1 who had social wants which such libraries could not gratify4 ,it was argued that people who went to work from six in the morning till six at night did not want to travel a mile or so to a ,free ,library4 ,music1 gymnastics1 smoking and conversation rooms1 and other things were suggested1 but in summing up the majority of replies1 it appeared that amusement rather than intellectual improvement1 or even reading1 was what was most wanted by men after a hard day's toil4 ,this appears to have been realised in the erection1 according to ,mr4 ,besant's conception1 of the ,palace of ,delight in the east end of ,london4 ,the truth is that a ,free ,library favours one special section of the community--the book-readers--at the expense of all the rest4 ,the injustice of such an institution is conspicuously apparent when it is remembered that temperaments and tastes are as various as faces4 ,if one man may have his hobby paid for by his neighbours1 why not all8 ,are theatre-goers1 lovers of cricket1 bicyclists1 amateurs of music1 and others to have their earnings confiscated1 and their capacities for indulging in their own special hobbies curtailed1 merely to satisfy gluttons of gratuitous novel-reading8 ,a love of books is a great source of pleasure to many1 but it is a crazy fancy to suppose that it should be so to all4 ,if logic had anything to do with the matter we might expect to hear proposals for compelling the attendance of working men at the ,free ,library4 ,but surely in this nineteenth century men might be trusted to choose their own amusements1 and might mutually refrain from charging the cost thereof to their neighbours' account4 ,this pandering to selfishness is bad for all parties1 and doubly so to the class it is specially intended to benefit4 ,the following imaginary dialogue will perhaps serve to show the inherent injustice of literary socialism4 ,a and ,b earn #as4 each by carrying luggage4 ,says ,a to ,b3 ',i am in favour of circulating books by means of a subscription library2 from this #as4 ,i therefore propose to deduct #a;d4 in order to compass my desire4 ,there is my friend ,c1 who is of the same opinion as myself1 and he is willing to subscribe his quota to the scheme4 ,we hope you will be willing to subscribe your mite1 but if not1 we intend to force you to do so1 for1 as you know1 all private interests must give way to the public good4' ',perhaps so1' replies ,b1'but then1 you see1 ,i have my own opinions on the subject1 and ,i do not believe that your method of supplying literature is the best method4 ,of course ,i may be wrong1 but then ,i am logically entitled to the same freedom of thought and action as you yourself are4 ,if you are entitled to have your views about a ,free ,library and to act upon them1 ,i am equally entitled to the same liberty1 so long as ,i don't interfere with you4 ,i don't compel you to pay for my church1 my theatre1 or my club2 why should you compel me to pay for your library8 ,for my own part ,i don't want other people to keep me in literature1 and ,i don't want to keep other people4 ,i refuse therefore to pay the subscription4' ',very well1' rejoins ,a1 'if that is the case ,i shall proceed to make you pay2 and as ,i happen to represent a numerical majority the task will be an easy one4' ',but are we not man and man1' says ,b1'and have not ,i the same right to spend my earnings in my own way as you have to spend yours in your way8 ,why should ,i be compelled to spend as you spend8 ,don't you see that you are claiming more for yourself than you are allowing to me1 and are supplementing your own liberty by robbing me of mine8 ,is this the way you promote the public good8 ,is this your boasted free library8 ,i tell you it is founded upon theft and upon the violation of the most sacred thing in this world--the liberty of your fellow man4 ,it is the embodiment of a gross injustice1 and only realises the selfish purpose of a cowardly and dishonest majority4' ',we have heard all this before1' replies ,a1 'but such considerations must all give way before the public good4 ,we are stronger than you are1 and we have decided once and for all that you shall pay for a ,free ,library2 don't make unnecessary resistance1 or we shall have to proceed to extremities4' ,and1 after all1 the so-called ,free ,library is not really free--only so in name4 ,if the penny or twopenny rate gave even the shabbiest accommodation to anything like a fair proportion of its compulsory subscribers1 there would not be standing room1 and the ordinary subscription libraries would disappear4 ,according to ,mr4 ,thos4 ,greenwood1 who in his book on ',free ,libraries' has given a table of the daily average number of visitors at the different ,free ,libraries distributed up and down the country1 there is only one per cent41 on an average1 of visitors per day of the population of the town to which the library belongs accommodated for a rate of one penny in the pound1--sometimes more1 sometimes less2--but the general proportion is about one per cent4 ,now what do these facts mean8 ,if it costs one penny in the pound to acommodate so few1 what would it cost for a fair proportion to receive anything like a share that would be worth having8 ,even now it is a frequent occurrence for a reader to wait for months before he can get the novel he wants4 ,says ,mr4 ,george ,easter1 the ,norwich librarian3--',novels most read are those by ,ainsworth1 ,ballantyne1 ,besant1 ,braddon1 ,collins1 ,craik1 ,dickens1 ,fenn1 ,grant1 ,haggard1 ,henty1 ,c4 ,kingsley1 ,kingston1 ,edna ,lyall1 ,macdonald1 ,marryat1 ,oliphant1 ,payn1 ,reade1 ,reid1 ,verne1 ,warner1 ,wood1 ,worboise1 and ,young2 of those underlined 7in italics7 the works are nearly always out4' ,the fact is1 the ,free ,library means that the many shall work and pay and the few lounge and enjoy2 theoretically it is free to all1 but practically it can only be used by a few4 ,while there is such a run on novels1 solid works are at a discount4 ,at ,newcastle-on-,tyne during #ahhj-ha we find that #bajj volumes of ,miss ,braddon's novels were issued 7of course some would be issued many times over1 as the whole set comprised only thirty-six volumes71 while ,bain's ',mental and ,moral ,science' was lent out only twelve times in the year4 ,there were #acbj volumes issued of ,grant's novels1 and fifteen issues of ,butler's ',analogy of ,religion'2 #djef volumes of ,lever's novels were issued1 while ,kant's ',critique of ,pure ,reason' circulated four times2 #dija volumes of ,lytton's novels were issued1 while ,locke ',on the ,understanding' went eight times4 ,mill's ',logic' stands at fourteen issues as against ,scott's novels1 #ccjj2 ,spencer's ',synthetic ,philosophy' 7#h vols47 had forty-three issues of separate volumes2 ,dickens' novels had #fhaj2 ,macaulay's ',history of ,england' 7#aj vols47 had sixty-four issues of separate volumes4 ,ouida's novels had #ajbj2 ,darwin's ',origin of ,species' 7#b vols47 had thirty-six issues2 ,wood's novels1 #adha4 ,mill's ',political ,economy' had eleven issues2 ,worboise's novels1 #aifd4 ,smith's ',wealth of ,nations' 7#b vols47 had fourteen issues2 ,collins' novels1 #acfh4 ',no worse than in other libraries1' it may be said2 'knowledge is at a discount3 sensation at a premium everywhere6' ,perfectly true2 but are people to be taxed to give facilities for this8 ,novel reading in moderation is good3 the endowment of novel reading by the rates is bad--that is our contention4 ,and when it is remembered that any book requiring serious study cannot be galloped through1 like a novel1 in the week or fourteen days allowed for use1 it becomes at once evident that this gratuitous lending system is only adapted for the circulation of sensation1 and not for the acquirement of real knowledge4 ,and this is the sort of thing people allow themselves to be rated and taxed for6 ,this is progressive legislation1 and its opponents are backward and illiberal6 ,free ,libraries are typical examples of the compulsory cooperation everywhere gaining ground in this country4 ,like all ,state socialism they are the negation of that liberty which is the goal of human progress4 ,every successful opposition to them is therefore a stroke for human advancement4 ,this mendacious appeal to the numerical majority to force a demoralising and pauperising institution upon the minority1 is an attempt to revive1 in municipal legislation1 a form of coercion we have outgrown in religious matters4 ,at the present time there is a majority of ,protestants in this country who1 if they wished1 could use their numerical strength to compel forced subscription from a minority of ,catholics1 for the support of those religious institutions which are regarded by their advocates as of quite equal importance to a ,free ,library4 ,yet this is not done2 and why8 ,because in matters of religion we have learnt that liberty is better than force4 ,in political and social questions this terrible lesson has yet to be learned4 ,we deceive ourselves when we imagine that the struggle for personal liberty is over--probably the fiercest part has yet to arise4 ,the tyranny of the few over the many is past1 that of the many over the few is to come4 ,the temptation for power--whether of one man or a million men--to take the short cut1 and attempt by recourse to a forcing process to produce that which can only come as the result of the slow and steady growth of ages of free action1 is so great that probably centuries will elapse before experience will have made men proof against it4 ,but1 however long the conflict1 the ultimate issue cannot be doubted4 ,that indispensable condition of all human progress--liberty--cannot be permanently suppressed by the arbitrary dictates of majorities1 however potent4 ,when the socialistic legislation of to-day has been tried1 it will be found1 in the bitter experience of the future1 that for a few temporary1 often imaginary1 advantages we have sacrificed that personal freedom and initiative without which even the longest life is but a stale and empty mockery4 ,,arguments ,,for ,,public ,,support ,,of ,,public ,,libraries ,a rejoinder to the preceding paper was made by ,william ,e4 ,foster1 of the ,providence ,public ,library1 before the ,american ,library ,association at its conference held in ,san ,francisco1 ,cal41 in #ahia4 ,it may be considered as giving the normal ,american view as contrasted with the ultra-conservative attitude of ,mr4 ,o',brien4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,foster appears in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,the rise of the public library system both in this country and ,great ,britain1 during the past half-century1 has been almost coincident with the very noteworthy reexamination of every phase of social economy now so powerfully influencing the thought of the world4 ,in this discussion the contributions of ,kaufmann1 of ,fawcett1 of ,graham1 of ,jevons1 and above all1 of ,herbert ,spencer1 have been more than influential--they have been almost epoch-making--and whatever view one may hold in regard to the social question1 in its various phases1 one cannot fail to acknowledge the deep debt which we owe to these profound thinkers4 ,no book1 from ,mr4 ,spencer's point of view1 which has appeared within recent years1 is worthy of a wider reading than the volume entitled ,a plea for liberty2 an argument against socialism and socialistic legislation1 which appeared about the beginning of the present year4 ,in it thirteen writers1 whose point of view is very nearly identical1 have discussed in successive chapters such topics as postal communications1 electric communication1 investment1 improvement of workingmen's homes1 free libraries1 education1 and other subjects1 in their relation to the question1 ,what action shall the ,state take in regard to them8 ,the underlying purpose of the book is thus expressed in the words of ,mr4 ,mackay1 the editor of the volume3--,if the view set out in this volume is at all correct1 it is very necessary that men should abandon the policy of indifference1 and that they should do something to enlarge the atmosphere of liberty4 ,this is to be accomplished not by reckless and revolutionary methods1 but rather by a resolute resistance to new encroachment and by patient and statesmanlike endeavor to remove wherever practicable the restraints of regulation1 and to give full play over a larger area to the creative forces of liberty1 for liberty is the condition precedent to all solution of human difficulty4 ,surely this is a statement of the case which must powerfully appeal to all thinking men1 and lead them to reexamine1 at least1 the principles on which ,state support of the various institutions referred to is based4 ,in such a spirit1 a reexamination of the argument for public support of public libraries must be regarded as entirely germane to the objects which the ,american ,library ,association has at heart4 ,in such a spirit the present paper proposes to weigh once more the principles which underlie our ,american library system1 and the considerations brought forward by ,mr4 ,o',brien in the chapter devoted to ,free libraries in the volume referred to4 ,the half-century of discussion of socialism and socialistic legislation already referred to has made few things so clear as the fact that the arguments employed on any subject--social subjects in particular--are weakened in almost the exact ratio in which they are allowed to be tinged by passion and excited feeling4 ,it must therefore be regarded as unfortunate that ,mr4 ,o',brien's chapter suffers most emphatically from comparison with the generally high level of calm and unimpassioned argument1 characterizing the larger portion of the book4 ,whether this is to be explained on the basis of the apocryphal legal maxim1 ,when you have no case1 abuse your opponent1 or whether ,mr4 ,o',brien entered the lists fresh from some too recent participation in a personal contest over the question1 we do not undertake to inquire4 ,the fact remains that not only do the writers of the other chapters of the book appear from a careful reading to state their arguments more effectively1 but that the reader is also impressed with the fact that they have a case which admits of more effective argument4 ,let us glance in succession at the points which ,mr4 ,o',brien has aimed to make4 ,they may be grouped in general under two heads2 first1 those which relate to the injury 7in ,mr4 ,o',brien's view7 inflicted on the individual user of a free library from having it aided by public support1 and second1 those which relate to the tax-payer's grievance 7in ,mr4 ,o',brien's view7 in helping to support it4 ,the former is of course the side of the question most germane to the general purpose of the book1 and it is therefore an occasion for surprise to notice that in ,mr4 ,o',brien's enumeration of arguments those coming under the other class outnumber it in the ratio of six to one4 ,first of all1 to use ,mr4 ,o',brien's own language the argument that if readers were left to pay for their own books1 not only would books be more valued1 but the moral discipline involved in the small personal sacrifice incurred by saving for such a purpose would do infinitely more good than any amount of culture obtained at other people's expense4 ,and he takes occasion to suggest that possibly the advocates of literary pauperism will see little force in this argument4 ,possibly2 we are not familiar with the train of reasoning which leads to an advocacy of literary pauperism4 ,for ourselves1 we have been accustomed1 long before the appearance of ,mr4 ,o',brien's chapter1 to attach exceptional importance to the principle which he has here indicated1 somewhat awkwardly1 to be sure4 ,there can be no doubt that the appreciation of any object is in almost the exact ratio of the effort expended to procure it4 ,this is why teachers and librarians--in ,american communities1 at least--have so often had occasion to rejoice at seeing a taste not only for reading1 but for owning books inspired in a young man or woman by access to a noble collection of books for the use of the public4 ,for owning books1 we say2 but the limits of a collection so owned are too soon reached in the case of even the best-endowed pockets of individual readers4 ,were the intelligent teacher who takes an interest in the reading and intellectual growth of the pupils1 from the various walks in life represented in our schools1 to find a pupil whose interest in pursuing further some lines of thought therein suggested1 extended no further than to the books at home on his own book-shelf1 we cannot doubt that it would give occasion to question the efficacy of the teaching imparted4 ,mr4 ,o',brien's objection to the enjoyment of these reservoirs of enlightenment1 by a portion of the community1 where the community as a whole is responsible for their support1 is as if a man should be told that he would do well not to walk abroad at night by the light of the public street lamps1 but rather enjoy the light kindled in his own house4 ,the latter is certainly important1 but not even ,mr4 ,o',brien's reasoning is likely to persuade us that it precludes the former4 ,mr4 ,o',brien1 in the second place1 deeply feels for the reader who1 in being brought in contact with the benefits of the library1 is1 he thinks1 subjected to a wrong system of education4 ,to quote his language3 ,just at the time when a child is beginning to form his tastes1 just at the period when the daily habituation to the simple duties of farm life would lay the foundation both of sound health and practical knowledge1 he is taken out of the parent's control1 and subjected to a mind-destroying1 cramming process1 which excludes practical knowledge and creates a dislike for all serious study4 ,one is compelled on reading this extraordinary deliverance to cast one's eye to the heading at the top of the page1 ,free ,libraries1 and ask what this formidable indictment--not one count in which has any bearing on libraries--can mean in this connection4 ,the only conclusion possible is that it was written with a view to appearing in some other chapter of the book4 ,but ,mr4 ,o',brien's concern is manifested also for the taxpayer1 who unites in the public support of the library4 ,if we understand him correctly1 his contention is that the enormity of this tax consists largely in the reprehensible nature--as represented in his pages--of the institution itself4 ,for from this short chapter one gradually frames a picture of the free library as a place which tramps frequent for sleeping off the effects of dissipation2 as a place used by commercial travellers for exhibiting their samples2 as a place from which in one instance a respectable thief took away ,l#bj worth of books2 as a place used in an almost exclusive degree for reading fiction2 as a place where the time prescribed for keeping books makes 'serious study' impossible2 and1 more serious than all the rest1 as a place which1 he says1 favors one special section of the community at the expense of all the rest4 ,let us do ,mr4 ,o',brien the justice to add that for the first three of these counts he gives chapter and verse for his charges1 quoting1 namely1 from various 7,english7 library reports4 ,no one will therefore wish to dispute his well-fortified statement that in such and such an instance an unseemly incident occurred4 ,but even a child can assuredly see the difference between a statement of an isolated occurrence and an inference that it is a necessarily characteristic and inherent quality of the institution in question4 ,were this latter true1 then we might well cry out for abolishing our churches1 sidewalks1 and railway stations1 for in them these very same three things respectively are known at some time to have been done4 ,in the last three of these counts1 however1 we have only ,mr4 ,o',brien's assertions as the basis1 and we are obliged to add also that even these are found to be conflicting4 ,on one page his language shows that he is pained that a certain percentage of readers in the libraries named should prefer to call for works of fiction4 ,can it be that he has forgotten this1 when on another page he cites it as a grievance that it is a frequent occurrence for a reader to wait for months before he can get the novel he wants6 ,on page #ccc1 after quoting1 from the annual report of one of the ,english libraries1 the statement as to the use of works of fiction1 nothing but a resort to italics can sufficiently emphasize his lamentation that the more instructive books in the other classes circulate only once during the same period4 ,mr4 ,o',brien is not the only observer who has failed always to observe1 when commenting upon percentages of fiction1 that any book requiring serious study cannot be galloped through1 like a novel1 in the week or fourteen days allowed for use1 yet who would have believed that out of his own mouth would he be so completely answered1 for this remark1 as well as the one which it answers1 is found in his decidedly interesting chapter 7p4 #cdh74 ,but here it is evident that the bearing of the two upon each other was not in his mind in writing it1 for his purpose in the sentence last quoted was plainly to make it appear that the customary regulations of public libraries were such as to render serious study impossible4 ,the limitation of a week or fourteen days for a book of the kind which he here indicates--he instances by name ,kant's ,critique of pure reason and ,smith's ,wealth of nations--is practically unknown in ,american public libraries4 ,in most of those known to the present writer a book of this kind can be charged in the first instance for fourteen days and then renewed1 making twenty-eight days in all1 and in still others for a longer period4 ,it can then1 after being returned to the library--to give any other reader who may need it a chance at it--be taken out again after remaining on the shelves twenty-four hours1 for another twenty-eight days' use by the same reader4 ,the annual report of an ,american library which lies before us contains a case in point4 ,speaking of ,bryce's ,american ,commonwealth1 it states3 ,of this1 seven copies were added in succession4 ,it names #aja as the total of the issues of this work during the year2 but considering the truth expressed in ,mr4 ,o',brien's own very just words1 that any book requiring serious study cannot be galloped through1 like a novel1 the statement is added that such a record1 for a book like this1 constantly in the hands of readers1 may be contrasted with the more than ten times greater number of times that some work of fiction might be read through1 returned and taken out again1 requiring but a part of a day's attention4 ,in fact1 #aja is very likely to be the total number of issues possible in the case of seven copies of this book1 while #gjj would probably fall far short of the total possible issues of the same number of copies of a story like ,the ,wreck of the ,grosvenor4 ,again1 ,mr4 ,o',brien not only tells us that a free library favors one special section of the community at the expense of all the rest1 but throughout his chapter recurs again and again to the case of the workingman4 ,on page #ccj1 for instance1 we are solemnly told3 ,if the workingman cannot come by his books honestly1 let him wait until he can4 ,this is indeed somewhat summary1 particularly when1 being interpreted1 it is found to mean1 ,let there be no free libraries supported by the public4 ,and yet1 on page #cdd1 with no less certainty1 we are assured that there is little doubt that at least forty-nine out of every fifty workingmen have no interest whatever in these institutions4 ,where the deliverances from one and the same source are so contradictory1 the impartial inquirer will doubtless feel like looking for some other source of information4 ,from the materials accessible to the present writer in regard to ,american libraries--and the new edition of ,mr4 ,greenwood's ,public libraries appears to tell the same tale in regard to ,great ,britain--the interest of workingmen in the opportunities afforded by public libraries is everywhere emphatically shown2 but he who sets out with the purpose of showing that there is any one exclusive class to whom the public library is of service and to no other--be that class workingmen1 or students1 or manufacturers1 or scientists--will find the facts singularly obstinate and unresponsive to his purpose4 ,the truth is--,mr4 ,o',brien's confident assertion to the contrary--that there is no more universal and non-partisan institution than a public library4 ,this is undoubtedly the highest among its several claims to public support4 ,few among the objects to which the public funds have been appropriated1 in ,american cities1 have met with so hearty and unquestioning approval as the public parks1 and it is right that it should be so4 ,yet there are whole classes in every community who not only never do enjoy the public parks1 but never care to enjoy them4 ,even the public schools are for a certain fraction of the population only--the younger portion4 ,in contrast with both of these1 the public library extends its resources to the children and the adults alike4 ,perhaps1 however1 the fundamentally important question of universality1 in the sense of non-partisanship1 is one which is seldom appreciated in its full force1 as applied to a public library4 ,an independent position1 one entirely free from bias1 a non-partisan attitude1 in fact1 is an ideal repeatedly set before the conductors of a school or a newspaper4 ,in both these cases1 however1 there is too often an element of practical difficulty in carrying these praiseworthy intentions into practice1 which is almost completely wanting in the case of a public library4 ,the policy of the latter1 is1 in its very essence1 catholic4 ,it places on its shelves the volumes which represent1 not one side1 but both1 or rather all sides of any subject on which the sentiment of the public divides2 and thus1 whether the user be ,democrat or ,republican1 protectionist or freetrader1 ,catholic or ,protestant1 the aspect which this collection of books presents to him is no less free and uncircumscribed than the illimitable aid4 ,again1 it is important that the relation of a public library to the question of entertainment should be clearly understood4 ,entertainment is not an element totally foreign to the purposes of a public library--the same kind of public benefit accrues in this case as in the case of public parks--but in the light of the infinitely more important functions which it renders1 this must of necessity occupy a subordinate place4 ,the primary function of a library is to render a service1 to supply a need1 to respond to a demand4 ,in this respect its value to the community is of the same description as the postal system1 the bank at which one may cash a check1 or the reservoir from which one may turn on a supply of water4 ,one of the points which ,mr4 ,o',brien aims to make1 and which proceeds from a manifest confusion of thought1 can be appropriately noticed here4 ,his contention is that a public library is for the class who may be designated book-readers1 that these form but a small percentage of any community1 and that therefore it is obviously wrong that the library should receive public support4 ,this is ingenious1 as is also his eloquent1 though somewhat contemptuous setting of their supposed special needs over against those of others4 ,are theatre-goers1 lovers of cricket1 bicyclists1 amateurs of music1 and others to have their earnings confiscated1 merely that the book-reader may gratify his peculiar craving8 ,like many other ingenious theories1 however1 it leaves out of account certain fundamentally important bearings of the subject4 ,there can be no doubt that in any community the book-reader is not synonymous with the entire population4 ,some of the population are children in arms2 some have never learned to read2 the sight of some who have learned has failed2 others again are too fully occupied to find time for it2 others find their inclination drawn more strongly in other directions2 others still have more or less to do with reading1 yet are not1 in the strict sense1 book-readers4 ,yet we shall err very widely if we lose sight of the fact that even those who do not personally perform the role of the book-reader do nevertheless benefit by the existence of the library1 by proxy4 ,the young child is read to1 by his mother2 or is cared for by her1 by methods learned through her use of books4 ,the busy captain of industry1 whose large profits are due to a skillful application of scientific principles1 may find his own time so closely occupied by details of administration that1 personally1 he seldom opens the treatises which bear upon the subject1 but he expects to keep abreast of the ever unfolding science1 by the consultation not only of such works as private ownership may provide1 but the more nearly complete collection in a great public library4 ,this principle of community of interest and interdependence has an even wider bearing2 for it applies not only to the family and the business firm1 but to the community as a whole4 ,a public library report now before the writer contains several instances of this kind4 ,speaking of the systematic efforts made to build up an approximately complete collection of works on industrial and decorative subjects1 the report states that in this way the library is gradually becoming the possessor of a scientifically selected set of volumes and plates which cannot fail to leave a distinct impress on the character of the work done in the various industries of the city4 ,another portion of the same report illustrates the direct service rendered by such an institution to the interests of the municipality4 ,to quote the language there used1 ,instances of the last named1 both striking and tangible1 are of by no means exceptional occurrence1 sometimes an application of this kind being presented from more than one city official on the same day1 the foregoing having reference to the city in question4 ,a well-authenticated instance1 it continues1 in one of the largest cities of the country1 of the saving of a sum of many thousand dollars1 in the matter of a contract1 due to the opportunity for consulting the requisite data comprised in works of authority in the public library of that city1 is but an indication of the possibilities of a public library4 ,it is fitting that where funds are to be appropriated1 collected by taxes levied on the tax-paying population1 there should be possible so tangible a presentation as the above1 of the direct relation of the institution supported1 to the question of profit and loss1 as affecting those who are taxed4 ,and yet it is well to remember that it is as true now as twenty centuries ago1 that man does not live by bread alone2 and that the public support of the institutions referred to can be justified by other arguments than that of the material interests just cited4 ,no aspect of the library's operation is more full of interest than that which takes account of its uplifting influence4 ,the analogy between its service and that of the postal system has been noticed2 but it has a no less real analogy to the work of the school1 the pulpit1 or the press--yet without the propagandist principle which so often attaches to these latter--namely1 in the principle of growth or advance4 ,in the earlier portion of this paper a little space was devoted to showing that in the nature of the case the number of copies of any work of fiction used in the course of a year would immensely out-number those which could possibly be read in the more solid departments of reading4 ,even were the constituency of the library confined to a selected few1 to whose minds the higher class of reading was congenial1 this would be the case4 ,nor should we forget that the ground of distinction between a public library and any other1 as the library of a scientific society1 a debating society1 a theological school or a teachers' club1 is that its constituency is not thus limited to a selected class but is broad as humanity itself1 with all its enormous inequalities of condition1 taste1 and mental growth4 ,like a mirror1 therefore1 the recorded classified circulation reflects this variety4 ,even with this apparently almost unmanageable unevenness1 appreciable improvement in standards of reading is by no means an unknown experience4 ,there lies before the writer1 for instance1 a library report which is able to make such a statement as this3 ,the fiction percentages of the seven successive years1 beginning with #ahhc and ending with #ahhi1 show an uninterrupted decline1 as follows3 #gj1 #ff1 #fb1 #fa1 #eh1 #ef4 ,but it must be remembered also that figures such as these1 though they may tell a part1 and a very gratifying part1 of the advances which individual readers have been helped to make1 fall very far short of expressing the whole4 ,it would be entirely possible for individual after individual thus to advance from good to better1 and from better to best1 and yet the figures which express the aggregate use of the year remain stationary 7or even retrograde71 because the constituency of a public library 7particularly in a large city7 is all the time being reenforced by new readers4 ,and these new readers comprise both those who are children in age and those who are children in mental growth1 who begin at the foot4 ,when1 therefore1 there is anything more than a preserving of a uniform level--as in the noteworthy figures above quoted--it stands for a very striking advance indeed1 on the part of a very large portion of the community4 ,probably every librarian in charge of a public library in a large city has had an opportunity of observing these advances in innumerable individual instances4 ,and this class of results1 while distinctly following the order of nature1 does not by any means come about through a view of library administration which regards either books1 readers1 or librarian as inert masses4 ,much of it is the result of individual interest expressed by the librarian in some reader1 whose mind receives an awakening impulse4 ,more than one well authenticated instance exists of an individual beginning life as a newsboy or an elevator-boy1 and through his use of a public library finding his intellectual powers unfolding until he has entered one of the learned professions4 ,the relation of the library system to the school system opens an almost boundless field of thought1 and it is a fact of deep significance that the profound principle involved in it1 after having engaged the attention of ,english and ,american libraries for years1 has been recognized in the educational steps recently taken by the government of ,japan1 where the two systems are placed on a plane of equality4 ,in the experience of one of the ,american libraries already referred to1 almost the chief hope of the library for the future is placed upon a class of readers1 every year largely increasing in numbers1 who comprise the graduates from the various institutions of learning in the city1 and whose lines of study and reading may be characterized as a carrying forward of those impulses in the direction of right reading which were received in school and college4 ,the library has a no less direct relation to the needs and ambitions of those who have received the invaluable training of the practical duties of the world1 to use ,mr4 ,o',brien's phrase1 and it responds with equal readiness to these4 ,there is concentrated in the contemptuous phrase1 book-learning1 a popular judgment of condemnation which is for the most part just1 on the spurious variety of knowledge which knows the expression of certain principles in books1 but knows nothing of their practical embodiment in the life and work of this world4 ,we are glad to observe that ,mr4 ,o',brien's antipathy to this pseudo-knowledge is almost as profound as our own1 but his expression of it seems singularly out of place in a philippic against public libraries2 for one will seek far before finding an institution more perfectly suited to be a corrective of such a tendency than the modern public library4 ,does any one claim that the public school system sometimes has an unfortunate tendency to repress individuality and turn out a set of pupils of uniform mould8 ,if so1 the public library supplies a means of supplementing and complementing this uniformity by its infinite variety and universality1 and it is continually doing this1 indeed4 ,does any one regret that the school system at its best reaches but a fraction of the population and that fraction for but a few short years of their life1 and that in too many instances there is a tendency on the part of even these few1 educated in the schools1 to conceive of their education as finished1 and allow the fabric to become hopelessly ravelled8 ,if so1 the public library stands to these members of the community in an almost ideal relation1 not only fulfilling very perfectly ,mr4 ,carlyle's characterization of a collection of books as the people's university1 but in the peculiarly wide range shown in the demands made upon it1 almost as properly rendering it the people's workshop1 or laboratory4 ,the same library report which has several times been cited printed several years since a record of the inquiries made on specific subjects during a single month1 which throws significant light upon this subject4 ,another report of the same library declares that few can adequately conceive to what extent the inquiries made at the library have become specialized1 and require trained facility and research on the part of the library staff4 ,the library thus becomes a laboratory1 in which the reader gains not only the specific information1 but the method4 ,an observation of popular movements in their relation to political or economic principles reveals few facts so plainly as that an almost insuperable narrowness of view is1 in much the greater number of instances1 the barrier to advance in those questions decided mainly by the popular voice4 ,why then should any one wish to perpetuate the conditions which make this possible8 ,in ,mr4 ,o',brien's view the workingman1--and we ought not to forget how large a percentage of the community this word workingman represents1 both in ,england and ,america1--will be a fortunate man when the contents of free libraries are no longer rendered everywhere accessible to him by public support1 for then the workingmen for one 'penny' can buy their favorite newspaper1 which can be carried in the pocket and read at any time6 ,it is well nigh incredible that an ideal such as this should be looked forward to by thinking men4 ,whatever may be the fact in regard to the workingmen of ,great ,britain1--and ,mr4 ,o',brien of course knows them better than we do1--it may confidently be asserted that the ,american workingman would strike no such false note4 ,mr4 ,lowell in one of his admirable orations quotes from a ,wallachian legend of a peasant who was taken up into heaven and offered his choice among the objects to be seen there4 ,he chose a half worn-out bagpipe1 and with this returned to the earth4 ,with an infinite possibility within his reach1 with the choice of wisdom1 of power1 of beauty1 at his tongue's end1 he asked according to his kind1 and his sordid wish is answered with a gift as sordid4 ,the newspaper is well enough in its way1--even a penny newspaper1--but to condemn whole masses of the population to limit themselves to this1 is to incur the condemnation of ,mr4 ,lowell's fine scorn when1 in another portion of the oration just referred to1 he says3 ,it is we who1 while we might each in his humble way be helping our fellows into the right path1 or adding one block to the climbing spire of a fine soul1 are willing to become mere sponges saturated from the stagnant goose-pond of village gossip4 ,it is more4 ,it is to help develop a community from whom in the end every spark of uplifting influence shall have vanished4 ,does any one say that this is a result impossible of attainment by any people8 ,the scientifically true1 yet brutally summary record given by the distinguished ,european savant1 ,elisee ,reclus1 of a certain ,european stock which has found and occupied virgin soil in the ,south of ,africa1 is a sufficient answer4 ,in general1 he says1 the ,boers despise everything that does not contribute directly to the material prosperity of the family group4 ,they ignore music1 the arts1 literature1 all refining influence1 and find little pleasure in anything1 except solid amassing of wealth4 ,a few additional points remain to be noted4 ,it is an entirely pertinent question whether every public library in ,england and ,america improves its high privilege1 uses to the full the peculiar opportunities open to it1 places itself in close communication with the public school system1 with the university extension movement1 and with the influences continually at work in industrial and artistic development4 ,and we need not hesitate to answer in the negative4 ,yet the significant fact is1 that everywhere the tendency is in this direction with a stronger and stronger momentum4 ,the advance made in this country1 within the last decade even1 in this direction1 is among the most striking phenomena of the time2 and no less striking is the almost overwhelming percentage of the body of librarians in this country whose entrance upon the work from a deep-seated love for it1 rather than as furnishing a means of livelihood1 supplies one of the strongest guarantees against the invasion of the perfunctory spirit in the future4 ,again1 it is equally pertinent to ask whether1 granted that the benefits of such an institution as the public library are unquestioned1 dependence may not be placed on funds entirely unconnected with those of the public1 for its support4 ,it would ill become the citizen of a country where private munificence has accomplished so much in channels of public spirit1 to overlook these noble memorials of enlightened private action4 ,yet it remains true1 nevertheless1 that were dependence to be placed on these alone1 a map of the country on which public libraries should be dotted down would show as partial and inadequate a supply furnished to the community1 as the very instructive annual rainfall map published by the government shows in the matter of rain4 ,what we are accustomed1 in the eastern portion of this country1 to consider the rain--in its universal beneficent service and in its indispensableness--that also is to be associated with the reservoirs comprised in these public collections of books4 ,for1 after all1 valuable as are the books themselves1 even in their material aspect1 as pieces of handiwork1 still more in the specific items of information and admonition contained in them1 yet in the deeper view these are but symbols of their real significance and service4 ,to place one's self in communication with them as contained in these libraries1 is to bring ourselves in contact with the stored-up thought of the world thus far4 ,we have just adverted to the fundamental bearing which this has upon the deeper or spiritual side of man's life4 ,but the two-sided character of these collections of books follows us even here1 for their indispensableness in the material point of view is almost as striking1 and this1 not only whether we consider the statesman planning measures of public weal1 while neglecting to inform himself of the recorded conditions which necessarily must determine such measures2 or whether it be the inventor spending long years of his too brief life in perfecting a machine which his consultation of the recorded patent would have shown him some one else had anticipated him in thinking out2 or whether it be the day laborer submitting without an effort to violations of his rights1 which a single glance at the recorded statutes would have shown him he had a remedy for4 ,how like all this is to the supposed state of things which one of the most suggestive writers of our day has thus expressed3 ,our early voyagers are dead3 not a plank remains of the old ships that first essayed unknown waters2 the sea retains no track2 and were it not for the history of these voyages contained in charts1 in chronicles1 in hoarded lore of all kinds1 each voyager1 though he were to start with all the aids of advanced civilization1 would be in the helpless position of the earliest voyager4 ,once more1 each reader of the strongly written book which we have been considering should ask the question for himself1 whether all of the various propositions maintained therein necessarily stand or fall together4 ,because the compiler has chosen to bracket together two such headings as ,free libraries and ,the state and electrical distribution1 it certainly does not follow that the argument which carries conviction in the one case must in the other also4 ,we shall not be suspected of having our judgment in this regard swayed by the natural weakness with which1 to use ,mr4 ,o',brien's illustration1 the shoemaker is inclined to think that there is nothing like leather1 if we suggest1 what the public at large in this country is very plainly persuaded of1 that1 for one person who has appreciated the need for public action in the latter case there are thousands in the former4 ,the writer lives in a city in which for more than eleven years the public library was administered by funds not in the least degree derived from municipal appropriations4 ,yet the character of its service to the public had so widely impressed itself upon the community that1 largely from sources outside of the library board1 a movement arose for recognizing the closeness of the relation1 by public support4 ,a report by a committee of the city government1 recommending this course1 significantly declares3 ,your committee are unanimously of the opinion that this public library1 already existing in the city1 is a useful and a necessary adjunct to the educational system sustained by the city in its public schools1 and properly appeals to the treasury for an appropriation towards its support4 ,after eleven years' opportunity for observation and comparison1 such a judgment as this has the merit of deliberation and conviction4 ,it is true that by far the greater part of the considerations which lead the present writer to find ,mr4 ,o',brien's view untenable are drawn from observation and experience of conditions existing in this country4 ,yet it is to be noted that his position is also contested1 so far as ,great ,britain is concerned1 by an article in the ,march number of ,the ,library 7of ,london71 which shows1 not only that our ,english cousins are fully able to take care of themselves1 but also that on many of the questions of fact1 about which his arguments turn1 he is painfully wide of the mark4 ,few students of social conditions have left so noteworthy an impress on contemporary thought as the late ,william ,stanley ,jevons4 ,of the free public library he held a view radically opposed to that of ,mr4 ,o',brien1 believing it to be an engine for operating upon the community1 in ways at once protective and ennobling4 ,as to the universality of its beneficent service1 he was equally convinced1 declaring not only that free libraries are engines for creating the habit and power of enjoying high-class literature1 and thus carrying forward the work of civilization which is commenced in the primary school1 but also that they are classed with town halls1 police courts1 prisons1 and poor-houses1 as necessary adjuncts of our stage of civilization4 ,the experience of one community or one nation is repeatedly serviceable to another2 but1 after all1 it is the local conditions which must finally determine in any case4 ,even if a different conclusion were to be reached in this matter in ,great ,britain1 it would still remain true that for us in ,america it is one of the highest duties of self-preservation to keep alive the uplifting influences represented in the public support of these institutions4 ,the future of this country1 even more than its past1 will be irrevocably committed to the democratic principle in government4 ,as is the people--in the widest sense of the word--so will be the national life and character4 ,in the future1 even more than in the past1 crudity1 narrowness1 well-meaning ignorance1 and low standards of taste and ethics will1 unless met with corrective tendencies1 color our national life4 ,the public school and the public library--instruments equal in power to the ,dionysiac theatre1 and vastly greater in their range of power1 to quote the language of one of the most thoughtful of our men of letters--will stand more and more1 in our ,american communities1 as such corrective tendencies4 ,,public ,,libraries ,,and ,,the ,,public ,one of the first clear statements of the ,public ,library as a business enterprise1 involving certain amounts invested by a city with the expectation of certain definite returns4 ,the paper refers particularly to the ,san ,francisco ,public ,library1 of which the author1 ,frederic ,beecher ,perkins1 was then librarian but its conclusions are general1 and hold good to-day4 ,it was read at the ,lake ,george ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association1 in ,september1 #ahhe4 ,frederic ,beecher ,perkins was born in ,hartford1 ,conn41 ,sept4 #bg1 #ahbh1 a grandson of ,lyman ,beecher4 ,he left ,yale in sophomore year to study law and was admitted to the bar in #ahea1 but graduated at the ,state ,normal ,school in #aheb and devoted himself to literary and educational work4 ,in #ahhj-hg he was librarian of the ,san ,francisco ,public ,library4 ,he died in ,morristown1 ,n4,j41 ,jan4 #bg1 #ahii4 ,he was the father of ,charlotte ,perkins ,gilman4 ,there are in the ,united ,states about #e1jjj public libraries of #cjj volumes or more4 ,returns of their present conditions are very imperfect1 and must therefore be summed in the following crude way3-- ,annual cost much more than #a1ejj1jjj ,the books in them are many more than #ac1jjj1jjj ,books added yearly are many more than #ejj1jjj ,books used yearly are many more than #aj1jjj1jjj ,these institutions1 therefore1 represent a large money investment1 and a very extensive and active educational agency4 ,not all of them by any means are free public libraries1--i4e41 libraries supported by taxes or endowments for the use of all4 ,but a considerable portion of them are4 ,it may now be justly said that no town of importance is respectably complete without a free public library any more than any town whatever without a school4 ,the ,san ,francisco ,free ,public ,library was founded in #ahgi1 and was advancing with creditable speed towards a size and usefulness corresponding to the position of ,san ,francisco1 among ,american cities1 until the present city government suddenly cut down its annual appropriation to bare running expenses1 leaving no allowance for buying new books1 or even for replacing old ones worn out4 ,this library is not a collection of mummies of deceased learning1 which will be no drier in a thousand years than they are now4 ,it has thus far consisted of live books for live people4 ,but a library of this practically useful kind1 if it stops buying new books1 quickly becomes dead stock1--unattractive1 obsolete1 useless4 ,in belles-lettres1 literature1 history1 mechanic arts1 engineering1 applied science1 all alike1 it is equally indispensable to have the new books4 ,the photographer1 the druggist1 the electrician1 the machinist1 the manufacturing chemist1 as much as or more than the reader of novels1 poetry1 travels1 or history1 want this year's discoveries1 for last year's are already obsolete4 ,next year it will not be ,mr4 ,blaine's book that will be most called for1--that will be a year old1--but ,general ,grant's book4 ,but a thousand examples would not make the case clearer4 ,this prohibition of new books1 perhaps on pretence of economy1 would be the natural first step of shrewd opponents intending to close the library entirely as soon as the books are dead enough4 ,it is girdling the tree now1 so as to destroy it more early next year4 ,it is understood that at least two prominent members of the present city government 7,supervisor ,pond and ,auditor ,strother7 are distinctly opposed to the library1 and to free public libraries1 on principle4 ,it is not known that any member of it is a particularly energetic friend of the institution4 ,the library staff is small in number 7seven boys and eight adults72 the salaries 7omitting the librarian's7 exceptionally scanty1 and even this small patronage and expenditure is wholly controlled by the ,board of ,trustees1 and wholly out of reach of the ,board of ,supervisors4 ,when this is remembered it is easy to understand both the probable firmness of any opposition1 and the probable lukewarmness of any friendship to the library in the latter body4 ,this is perfectly natural4 ,all governing bodies try to keep and increase their authority over persons and payments4 ,they never let go of them when they can help it4 ,and1 accordingly1 the ,supervisors insisted on controlling all the expenditure and management of the library1 until a decision of the ,supreme ,court of the ,state forced the control out of their hands4 ,whether the actual closing of the library is intended or not1 the obvious first step towards it has been taken1 and its closing will follow in due season1 if the policy is continued4 ,if the voters of ,san ,francisco choose to have it so1 there is no more to be said1 for it is their library4 ,probably they could lawfully divide up the books among themselves1 and so close out the enterprise4 ,the dividend1 now1 would be not far from one volume to each household in the city4 ,but1 if they wish the library to continue1 this early notice is due them4 ,further3 the custom here1 in respect to the contents of municipal public documents1 prevents such discussions of library questions as are usual in the annual reports of other city libraries2 so that1 if a view of principles and practices in and about such institutions as a class1 and of their application in this instance1 is to be laid before the public at all1 it must be submitted1 as in this paper1 unofficially4 ,the following table shows the financial1 and some of the literary1 relations between public libraries and cities in ,san ,francisco1 in four other large cities1 and in six small cities4 ,the cases were taken promiscuously as they came to hand1 of the latest dates available1 but all are within a few years4 ,new ,york has no free public library2 movements to establish one there have repeatedly been contemplated1 but have been abandoned1 because the men who could have set up the library would not encounter the practical certainty of its becoming one more corruptionist engine in the hands of the city rulers4 ,philadelphia has none1 for reasons not known to the present writer1 but1 very likely1 the same as in ,new ,york4 ,st4 ,louis has none now1 although its excellent ,public ,school ,library may1 very likely1 become one4 ,new ,orleans has none1 apparently1 because it doesn't want any4 ,louisville has none1 because the devil cannot set up a true church2 the enormous lottery swindle which was worked off there a few years ago was ostensibly to establish and endow one1 but where did the money go8 ,assessed ,being1 ,population ,value in ,whole ,gives its of ,cities 7#ahhj7 ,millions ,city ,library whole 7#ahhj7 ,tax tax ,boston #cfb1jjj #fac #g1bfa1gda #abj1jjj #a_/fj ,chicago #ejc1jjj #aah #c1ggf1dea #ed1ccj #a_/ge ,cincinnati #bee1aci #afi #a_/c #d1jgj1bbe #di1jaf #a_/hb ,lynn #ch1bgd #bb #a_/b #ccb1dha #e1gcj #a_/eh ,milwaukee #aae1ehg #ee #c_/d #ijb1ecg #ag1fig #a_/ea ,new ,bedford #bf1hge #be #c_/d #cij1bjh #e1adh #a_/gf ,newburyport #ac1ecg #g #a_/b #aje1fhf #a1ffa #a_/fd ,springfield1 ,mass4 #cc1cdj #bi #a_/b #cjg1dcd #h1bca #a_/cg ,taunton #ba1bac #ae #c_/d #bac1iab #e1aie #a_/da ,worcester #eh1bia #ci #a_/b #eeg1aic #ad1hfj #a_/ch ,san ,francisco #bcc1iei #bbe #b1beb1jjj #ah1jjj #a_/abe ,vols4 ,being ,and per ,vols4 per ,circulation per #a4jj ,volumes ,cities in soul per year soul of added ,library 7about7 7about7 salaries yearly ,boston #dch1eid #a #a_/e #a1jef1ijf #c #ad #af1dgh ,chicago #aaa1fba #a_/e #ffd1hfg #a #a_/c #bc #a_/d #e1bhj ,cincinnati #aec1hgj #c_/e #gcj1edd #c #bf #a_/f #d1abj ,lynn #cb1jjf #d_/e #ij1ccj #b #a_/c #cf #a1bfd ,milwaukee #bd1dha #a_/e #hc1jeb #c_/d #af #b1ggh ,new ,bedford #de1jjj #a #d_/e #ga1gih #c 444 #b1ddh ,newburyport #ag1hbh #a #a_/c 444 444 444 #dda ,springfield1 ,mass4 #dh1hcb #a #a_/b #eg1aeb #a #c_/d #ad #c_/d #a1gig ,taunton #ba1aig #a #eh1ibj #b #i_/aj #ca #a_/b #a1iga ,worcester #fa1bjd #a #aid1cba #c #a_/c #bf #f_/g #c1aje ,san ,francisco #fb1fdg #a_/d #cbf1jjj #a #a_/d #cf #cc1hhc ,,tn3 ,table split for text version #c ,next year ,,none except gifts4 ,the six small cities tabulated are all in ,massachusetts1 because the latest and fullest reports came to hand from them4 ,of various comparisons which could be formulated from the above figures1 the following are the most pertinent now3-- 7#a7 ,of the five large cities listed1 ,boston1 ,chicago1 ,cincinnati1 and ,milwaukee give from one fifty-first part to one eighty-second part of their tax levies for their libraries2 ,san ,francisco1 one one-hundred and twenty-fifth part4 7#b7 ,of the actual sums so set apart by these cities1 ,boston1 with half as many more people1 gives nearly seven times as much2 ,chicago1 with twice as many1 gives three times as much2 ,cincinnati1 with one-tenth more gives two and two-thirds times as much2 ,milwaukee1 with one-half as many1 gives nearly as much 7#cjj less74 7#c7 ,accordingly1 ,san ,francisco would expend every year for its library1 if it were as liberal as ,boston1 about #hd1jjj2 if as liberal as ,chicago1 #bg1jjj2 and so on4 7#d7 ,the actual comparative size of their libraries is3 ,boston seven times as large as ,san ,francisco2 ,chicago nearly twice2 ,cincinnati twice and a half2 ,milwaukee only is smaller1 being somewhat more than one-third as large4 7#e7 ,the rate of increase is3 from #af1dgh volumes a year at ,boston1 to #b1ggh at ,milwaukee2 and in ,san ,francisco1 for the coming year none 7for the loss in worn-out volumes will more than equal any probable total of gifts71 none at all4 7#f7 ,the number of volumes circulated in a year for each dollar of salaries paid is in ,san ,francisco more than twice as great as in ,boston or ,milwaukee1 and decidedly larger than in ,chicago or ,cincinnati4 ,it may be added1 although the figures are not in this table1 that a much more striking evidence of the stringent economy of the library administration here is the fact that there is paid at the ,boston ,public ,library in salaries1 in the cataloging department alone1 without allowing anything for printing1 nearly as much as the whole of this year's library appropriation by the city of ,san ,francisco4 7#g7 ,similar comparisons with the six smaller cities listed would give results generally similar1 but showing a still more liberal rate per head and dollar of expenditure for libraries4 ,in addition to this exposition of comparative parsimony a feature of it should be remembered which might easily escape notice3 that1 while the money for running expenses is all gone at the end of the year1 nearly all of the allowance above running expenses remains represented by valuable property4 ,thus1 if the year's allowance for this library had been #bh1jjj1 instead of #ah1jjj1 it would not have cost a cent more to run the library and at the year's end about #aj1jjj worth of books would remain added to the permanent property of the city4 ,another result of this policy is to prevent printing any catalogue of the recent additions to the library2 so that there is practically no access1 and there will1 for the present1 continue to be none1 even for the public who own the books1 to all additions to this library since ,june1 #ahhd1 being several thousand titles4 ,it is needless to point out that if there were to be the hypothesis of an unfriendly purpose entertained against the library1 that purpose would be served as directly by suppressing the names of books in the library as by preventing the addition of new ones1 or by the replacing of those worn out4 ,these brief statements sufficiently show what our city is doing1 and what other cities are doing1 for or against public libraries4 ,it is not within the scope of this paper to inquire after the real reason for the stop put to the progress of the ,san ,francisco ,free ,public ,library4 ,one hypothesis is1 that1 instead of any unfriendly intention against the library itself1 the step was taken to help in persuading the public that the dollar limit to the rate of city taxation is too low1 and that our citizens must submit to a higher rate4 ,as the money saved is only #f1jjj1 the economy is not great in itself1 being about one four-hundredth part of the city tax levy4 ,if the proposed effect was expected to be produced by continuously annoying and dissatisfying the citizens there is more reason in the scheme2 for the library is frequented by more than a thousand persons daily2 between #bf1jjj and #bg1jjj cards have been issued to authorize the home use of books2 and there are always at any given moment from #e1ijj to #f1jjj volumes from the library in use in as many homes all over the city4 ,to inconvenience and disoblige so large a constituency as this may naturally produce some effect4 ,this paper need not attempt to decide whether that effect would naturally be approval or disapproval of the treatment of the library1 enthusiasm in favor of1 or against1 the proposed increase of taxation1 unpopularity or popularity of the institution itself1 or of those whose action so effectually cripples its usefulness4 ,nor will it discuss the still larger question of the dollar limit itself1#d however decisively important all these inquiries are for the future of the library1 and however interesting and clear the arguments and conclusions on those subjects may be4 ,but what it may properly do is1 to state1 without any pretence of novelty1 but simply in order to refresh the public memory1 the chief heads of a doctrine of her public libraries from a practical point of view4 ,first 7to limit the discussion74 ,what a free public library is not for4 ,it is not for a nursery2 a lunch-room2 a bed-room2 a place for meeting a girl in a corner and talking to her2 a conversation-room of any kind2 a free dispensary of stationery1 envelopes1 and letter-writing2 a free range for loiterers2 a campaigning field for mendicants1 or for displaying advertisements2 a haunt for loafers and criminals4 ,indeed1 not to specify with inelegant distinctness1 a free public library1 like any other similarly commodious place of free public resort1 would1 if permitted1 be used for any purpose whatever1 no matter how private or how vicious1 which could be served there more conveniently than by going to one's own home1 or than by having any home at all4 ,it would be so used systematically1 constantly1 and to a degree of intolerable nuisance2 and its purification from such uses1 if they have been set up1 will be met with clamor1 abuse1 and with any degree and kind of even violent resistance which may be thought safe1 or likely to succeed4 ,let it not be supposed that this is an imaginary picture4 ,it is in every point taken from actual and numerous instances1 and could be illustrated by a sufficiently ridiculous series of single adventures1 by any librarian of large experience4 ,open public premises for some of the purposes above specified might conceivably be properly supplied by the public4 ,what is here affirmed is1 that public libraries are not at present proper for them4 #d ,san ,francisco is at present taxed on a precise scale of one dollar to the hundred dollars of value1 and on an annual total valuation of #bjj1jjj1jjj1 which is1 however1 in practice somewhat1 but not largely1 exceeded4 ,second4 ,what such a library is for4 ,its first object is to supply books to persons wishing to improve their knowledge of their occupations4 ,such books as ,nicholson's1 ,burns'1 ,riddell's1 ,tredgold's1 ,dwyer's1 ,waring's1 ,holly's1 and others1 on practical architecture1 building1 or departments of them2 the numerous collections of plans and details of domestic and other architecture2 ,masury's house-painting2 ,kittredge's metal-worker's pattern-book2 ,percy's1 ,phillips'1 and other books on metallurgy and mining2 ,dussance1 ,piesse1 and others on soap-making1 perfumery1 and other branches of applied chemistry2 ,lock on sugar-refining2 many manuals of brewing and distilling2 ,noad1 ,hospitalier1 ,preece1 etc41 on applications of electricity2 ,burgh's1 ,roper's1 and other hand-books and more advanced works on steam engineering generally1 locomotives1 marine engines1 etc42 ,gaskell's1 ,hill's1 and other business manuals2 hand-books of correspondence1 book-keeping1 phonography2 in short1 text-books1 both elementary and advanced1 in all sorts of commercial and industrial occupations1 are of the first importance in a free public library1 and are constantly and eagerly used in this one4 ,the study of such books puts money directly into the student's pocket1 promotes his success in life1 and the prosperity of the city4 ,a good and active public library raises the value of every piece of real estate in the city1 by thus making the city more profitable 7in dollars7 to live in2 because it enables the intelligent and studious to earn more4 ,second in importance is the supply of books to those who wish to acquire or pursue an education1 or to complete or continue a knowledge of general literature2 and1 third1 the accommodation of students working out special lines of research4 ,fourth4 ,such is the more solid usefulness of a public library4 ,the rest of its distributing work1 whatever its intrinsic usefulness1 is at least as indispensable1 and is always numerically the most popular4 ,this is the supply of light literature to readers for rest or amusement4 ,whether books of this class constitute one-half the library or 7as in this one7 one-tenth of it1 it may be depended on that from one-half to four-fifths of all the reading done will be done from that part4 ,the justification of the supply of such books by a free public library is1 that it is important also1 if not likewise1 to afford mental relaxation1 as it is to feed mental effort2 that even light reading is a very important improvement over and safe-guard from street life and saloon life2 that such books introduce to a more useful class of books by forming the habit of reading2 and that the public1 who pay for the library1 choose to have books of this sort as much as1 if not even rather more than1 the more useful sort4 ,fifth4 ,there is another department of usefulness for public libraries1 quite unknown until within a few years1 which makes them actual and vital members of the public-school system1 and additionally justifies the term ,people's ,universities1 which has often been applied to them4 ,this is the arrangement at the library of courses of illustrative study and reading for teachers or pupils1 or both4 ,a series of such books as relate to one or another part of the school course is laid out at the library2 the teachers1 and perhaps sometimes one of the higher classes1 examine them along with the librarian1 and such information as they afford is used to fill out and illustrate the outline in the school-book for the fuller information of the pupils4 ,this practice is perhaps easiest in history and geography4 ,it is easy to see how a capable teacher could intensify the interest and enrich the minds of a class about the geography of the ,east ,indian archipelago1 by introducing them to the vivid narrative and abundant illustrations of ,wallace's most entertaining and instructive book on that region4 ,how1 for instance1 ,palgrave's ,year in ,arabia1 ,palmer's ,desert of the ,exodus1 ,lady ,duff ,gordon's ,letters from ,egypt1 ,o',donovan's ,merv ,oasis1 ,atkinson's and ,kennan's books on ,siberia1 ,huc's ,travels in ,tartary and in ,china1 and hundreds of other books1 each for its locality1 all over the world1 could be used to give a child clear notions and strong impressions of savage or civilized landscapes and people4 ,it is not too much to say that the study of geography in the public schools of ,san ,francisco1 illustrated as it could easily be from books of travel now in the public library1 could be made from beginning to end as fascinating as any romance1 while it would store the children's minds with a kind and quantity of distinct knowledge about the earth and its people as much beyond the results of ordinary geographical study as gold is better than mud4 ,it would be easy to furnish similar specifications for the study of history1 of natural science1 and other branches4 ,this is no mere speculation4 ,this system of instruction is regularly practised by ,mr4 ,green1 of the ,worcester ,free ,library 7the originator and pioneer in it72 by ,mr4 ,poole at ,chicago1 and elsewhere1 and with complete success4 ,besides its immediate result in vivifying and enriching the pupil's minds1 this method affords a training in habits of reading of the very best kind1 by teaching research1 the habit of selecting books1 and the practice of comparative thinking4 ,to sum up3 ,a free public library-- #a4 ,as to manners--is a parlor1 not a bar-room2 a place where not only working men and business men1 but ladies and young girls can safely and conveniently come and abide4 ,while not expressly a school of manners and morals1 it is much and closely concerned in maintaining a high standard in both4 #b4 ,as to objects--is to furnish good books1 not bad ones2 to satisfy within this limit all demands on it as far as may be2 and in particular to be progressive2 that is1 to supply for intelligent readers what they most require1--the new good books4 #c4 ,as to method--should keep the books in the best possible condition for the longest possible term of use1 and should not allow them to be scattered1 lost1 abused1 mutilated1 or stolen4 ,lastly4 ,it is needless to add1 under these heads1 any of the numerous technical details which crowd the work of an active library2 but this exposition would be inexcusably imperfect without a reference to the absolute indispensableness of proper quarters in order to successful library administration4 ,only the merest reference need now be made to the professional immorality of notorious localities close around this library in its present place4 ,something more may be said of the unbusinesslike payment by the city of a heavy insurance on #ej1jjj worth of its property1 which must be paid1 because the library is in the same building with a theatre4 ,theatres burn down on an average once in seventeen years2 and a theatre risk1 although not absolutely uninsurable like a gunpowder mill1 is what insurance men call extra hazardous2 so that not only is the insurance rate high1 but the destruction by fire of the library 7in its present location7 may be looked upon as certain1 the only question being1 ,how soon8 ,a difficulty less obvious and less dangerous1 but still a source of constant friction and annoyance1 is the present arrangement of the library as one collection1 with but one place for delivering books4 ,in a small library1 with a small business1 this difficulty becomes nothing2 but in one as large and as energetically active as this it is a serious disadvantage4 ,such a library imperatively requires division into two libraries or sections1 one to contain all books deliverable without discrimination2 the other1 all books calling for special care and precaution of any kind4 ,the receipt and delivery desks of these two sections should be separate1 and before and behind them there should be plenty of room4 ,in the present library1 which is in one large undivided hall1 the space is insufficient1 both for the public and for the library staff2 and books of the two classes above described are intermingled all over the shelves4 ,the result is1 crowding1 interruption1 delay1 error1 confusion1 and dissatisfaction4 ,very many books might be trusted with a studious mechanic or a literary student which it would be a folly to deliver into the hands of a small boy or girl4 ,many other extremely desirable objects would be gained by the occupancy of properly arranged library quarters2 but of these only two need be mentioned here2 separate quarters could be provided for students who need special facilities and assistance1 and there could be such arrangements that ladies using the library need not crowd and struggle about among impatient children and miscellaneous masculine strangers4 ,,the ,,levy ,,of ,,library ,,tribute ,the above title was constructed by the editor from a sentence in the presidential address of ,henry ,m4 ,utley before the ,american ,library ,association at its ,denver conference of #ahie4 ,president ,utley himself gave it no title1 but it is an examination of the claims of the library to public support1 with a conclusion that those claims are justified only by regarding the library as an educational institution1 using this term in its broadest sense4 ,henry ,munson ,utley was born at ,plymouth1 ,mich41 ,aug4 #e1 #ahcf4 ,he served on the staff of the ,detroit ,free ,press in #ahfa-ff1 was city editor of the ,post and ,post-,tribune until #ahha1 and then1 after holding the secretaryship of the ,detroit ,board of ,education1 became in #ahhe librarian of the ,public ,library1 in which post he served until his death on ,feb4 #af1 #aiag1 becoming librarian emeritus in #aiac4 ,we are met for the seventeenth ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association in the ,capital city of the ,centennial ,state4 ,it is a pleasing co-incidence that the ,association and the ,state celebrate the same natal year4 ,within the memory of some of us the whole region of which this city is now the metropolis was a wilderness4 ,the century was fairly begun when ,lieut4 ,pike led his little band to the sources of the ,arkansas and made his futile attempt to scale the lofty peak which now bears his name4 ,forty years later came the explorations of ,fremont1 and then fifteen years elapsed before the tide of immigration set in4 ,the desert of that day has been converted into prosperous farms4 ,thriving towns have sprung up in the mountain fastnesses1 at the gateway to which sits this ,queen ,city of the plains1 displaying all the evidences of wealth1 culture1 and refinement to be found in the proud cities to the eastward4 ,this rapid and wonderful transformation has been the work of human hands guided by intelligent brains and an indomitable spirit of pluck and perseverance4 ,we are accustomed to think of this combination as purely ,american4 ,in many of its characteristics it certainly is so4 ,and in no respect more distinctively so than in the cause in which we are most interested4 ,not all the older commonwealths1 even on this side of the ,atlantic1 have yet accepted the theory that the education of the citizen is the concern of the state4 ,but in all this newer portion of our country this doctrine has been incorporated into the fundamental law4 ,the ordinance of #aghg for the government of the territory northwest of the ,ohio river declared that for obvious reasons schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged4 ,the twenty states now organized within this and the subsequently acquired territory to the westward have all accepted to the fullest extent the doctrine of the ordinance4 ,they have not only carried it into practical effect by general laws providing for free public schools for children1 for universities and institutions of higher learning for the education of youth1 but have also provided for the establishment and maintenance of free public libraries at the general expense and for the common use of all the people4 ,let us consider very briefly the theory upon which the state assumes to levy tribute upon the property of individuals to provide means for maintaining libraries4 ,by what right does the state tax the man of wealth to put miscellaneous books into the hands of the man who pays no tax8 ,so far as primary education is concerned1 the basis seems clear4 ,the free state which depends for its very existence upon the intelligence of the masses of its citizens must1 as a measure of self-defense1 provide the facilities by which all may become intelligent4 ,self-preservation is the supremest natural law4 ,whatever has a right to exist has a right to do that which is necessary to preserve its existence4 ,the free state which rests on the suffrage of its citizens is bound in duty to itself to see to it that popular education1 which is essential to its perpetuity1 is universal4 ,ignorant men are not competent to take care of themselves and their households1 still less to direct the destinies of an empire4 ,the state has1 therefore1 the right1 not only to provide the means of education1 but to compel education4 ,laws are in force which require certain attendance upon the schools4 ,these rest on the theory that the interest of the state in the education of the individual surpasses that of the individual1 and therefore1 the state cannot1 in justice to itself1 treat education purely as a matter of individual concern4 ,it is a notorious fact that the average person does not perceive the importance of self-cultivation4 ,as the vineyard left to itself is soon choked out with weeds and chapparall1 so man if left to himself lapses naturally into his primitive condition4 ,the state cannot leave him to himself1 but must interpose to make it certain that he acquires the best degree of information which his natural abilities and the time not necessary to his self-support shall permit4 ,neither can the state leave the matter of providing facilities and inducements to education to private enterprise1 nor to the church1 which has been the foremost of all organizations to appreciate its importance4 ,while the state recognizes these agencies and accepts them as satisfactory1 so far as they go1 it nevertheless fully equips schools of its own1 in pursuance of its inherent right and duty1 which cannot be relinquished to any other agency4 ,the extent to which the state shall go in the matter of educating its citizens has been the subject of much discussion4 ,there are those who maintain that as the education of the individual proceeds his concern in his own development increases1 until finally1 if his education proceeds far enough1 his concern in his own development surpasses that of the state1 and he must thenceforth be left to equip himself entirely at his own expense4 ,if that point is marked by the line between primary and secondary1 or between secondary and higher education1 there is where the state is in duty bound to stop4 ,the extent of the interest of the community as compared with that of the individual is held to grow less and less and finally to disappear as he advances4 ,but the better judgment of our time repudiates this theory1 and holds apparently that there is no limit to the concern of the state in the mental progress of the individual4 ,ian ,maclaren in his touching story of ,domsie quotes ,john ,knox as saying3 ,ilka scholar is something added to the riches of the commonwealth4 ,it can probably be demonstrated by the rules of accounts that as a business investment the state is wisely spending money in the education of the people4 ,the cost is more than returned to it in the material development which an enlightened citizenship ensures4 ,if we contrast our own country1 where education is free1 with some older countries where it is yet held to be a matter of minor concern1 or if we contrast some of the states of this republic with others of corresponding age1 we shall see at a glance a wide difference in material resources and prosperity4 ,in one the industrial arts are far advanced1 there is intellectual activity1 the average citizen is well clothed1 well housed1 and enjoys many luxuries2 in the other1 the methods and life of a past century prevail and poverty and ill-living are the rule4 ,this1 if not the highest motive1 is an incidental one of considerable importance for doing at the common expense that which is for the common good4 ,but the maintenance of the public library is not based on the communistic idea4 ,a former president of this association1 speaking at the ,lake ,george ,conference1 said3 ,the socialists and communists are all friends of the library1 for we give them the books they want1 and they hold that it is not only the duty of the government to educate the people1 but to furnish them with reading4 ,if the library ever shall have enemies they will be the rich1 who do not enjoy being taxed for the benefit of the public1 and have libraries of their own4 ,its defenders will be men of broad views1 scholarly people1 and behind them1 with votes1 the middle and poorer classes4 ,while it may be true1 in a certain sense1 that socialists and communists approve the public library because it appears to give them something which they desire at the public cost1 that scheme1 on its true ground1 is as far removed as possible from any such theory of maintenance by the state4 ,the essential principle of communism is that the members of the community shall hold their property in common for the common use and benefit4 ,this principle flourished in the village community in which each individual was allotted his certain proportion of the lands owned in common4 ,there are at this day a sporadic few who advocate government ownership of railroads1 and some would even include all the great instrumentalities of commerce and production4 ,but the rational majority hold that the state of society is best which makes the individual a free and independent member of the community4 ,his ambitions and energies are best stimulated by his opportunities to prosper for himself4 ,civilization and enlightenment are advanced by the efforts of the master spirits of the race4 ,the only demand which the individual can justly make on the community1 with its government as the common agent of all1 is that it shall not merely protect him in his rights as a free and independent citizen1 but that it shall assure him the opportunities for the fullest exercise of his talents1 and shall also1 as a measure of common interest1 provide the facilities for his very highest mental equipment4 ,in this latter service of the state there is nothing whatever of the communistic idea4 ,the public library is not a public charity4 ,there may be some who regard it as in the nature of a free soup-house which caters to the appetite for mental pabulum more or less wholesome4 ,most communities make some provision for those who are mentally or physically unfitted to care for themselves and who have no estate nor natural relations upon whom they can rely for support4 ,so the state builds and maintains hospitals and almshouses4 ,this it does simply as a duty of humanity4 ,the instincts of the race and the teachings of an enlightened civilization assure us that a universal brotherhood makes all human creatures kin4 ,as individuals we owe a certain duty to all other individuals1 and as organized society we must see to it that the welfare of all is conserved4 ,but there is no duty of kindness or good-will which requires the furnishing of reading matter for the use of the whole community4 ,the public library is not provided for the mere intellectual enjoyment of the citizens4 ,the municipal corporation uses public funds to buy and beautify parks and boulevards4 ,the purpose of these is to promote the public health and comfort1 and incidentally to cultivate the aesthetic sense4 ,the state has a direct interest in the health of its citizens4 ,it must rely on their physical strength for defense in time of peril or invasion4 ,therefore it must have a care that their physical welfare is promoted4 ,wholesome food1 gentle exercise1 a cheerful and contented mind1 have much to do with soundness of body1 and so food-inspection and open-air recreation are justified at the common expense4 ,art-museums and public concerts are sometimes maintained out of the general treasury4 ,the only basis on which this expense can be justified is that their purpose is educational4 ,the welfare of the state depends not alone on the ability of its citizens to merely read and write and solve problems in simple arithmetic4 ,our nature is many-sided and its full and perfect development must be sought in many directions4 ,the aesthetic is not less real than the practical4 ,the finer qualities of the mind have weightly influence upon national progress and destiny4 ,the state has a right to do for its citizens the things which will best serve its ultimate interests4 ,universities and higher institutions of learning maintained at public cost now train those who have the means and opportunities to take advantage of their curricula for the most advanced degrees1 and through their post-graduate courses offer facilities for spending the good part of a lifetime in the immediate pursuit of knowledge4 ,but in the nature of things the number of those who can give time to these higher courses is limited4 ,the argument has sometimes been employed against high schools and universities that they are maintained at great cost for the use of a comparatively trifling portion of the community4 ,statistics are quoted to show that of the whole number of children in the primary grades less than #be per cent4 go through the grammar grades1 and that of the small number who enter the high school grades hardly one in ten finishes them1 while of these but an infinitesimal number go on to and through the university4 ,it is not due to lack of capacity wholly1 or lack of interest1 that so many students fall by the wayside1 but mainly to the fact that their services are necessary in the productive channels of business4 ,yet1 in spite of the comparatively few who are able to take advantage of them1 the state considers it a duty to foster1 and the community cheerfully bears the burden of maintaining1 the higher institutions of learning1 because the benefits which they confer are easily recognized4 ,to compensate in some degree those who are not able to pursue in organized institutions studies untimely stopped by the necessities of active life1 the community provides the free library4 ,this is the people's university1 close to the door of every citizen1 in which all who have the inclination and energy to do so may pursue through their whole lives the studies which most interest them4 ,the function of the public library is purely and wholly educational4 ,in this case the term is to be construed in its most comprehensive sense4 ,it does not merely include development of the intellect2 it involves all the varied human relations4 ,we owe duties to our ,maker1 to ourselves1 to those who are dependent upon us1 to our neighbors1 to society1 and to the state4 ,in all these delicate and intricate relations we must be taught1 and as the world advances1 our civilization becomes more complex and our relations more involved1 the character and quality of our education becomes the more important4 ,the school and the college have merely laid the foundation4 ,if they have done their full duty they have done little more than set the student on the high road4 ,the sequel rests with himself4 ,the public library puts into his hands books1 which contain the combined wisdom and experience of all who have gone before1 and wherein are preserved the best thoughts of the best men and women of all time4 ,they who pass judgment upon what shall and what shall not be admitted to the shelves of a public library must bear in mind that1 strictly construing the function of the library to be educational1 there is yet very wide latitude in respect to the things which people may safely and wisely learn4 ,in this aspect of the case1 those who are charged with the management and control of libraries have imposed upon them a very grave responsibility4 ,they are not merely the custodians of the books which the public purse has bought2 they are commissioned to guide in the path of highest progress4 ,in this light1 the function of the librarian assumes the halo of a holy office4 ,he who discharges it earnestly and faithfully may do much to help forward the enlightenment of his generation4 ,the sum of the whole statement1 briefly1 is this3 ,there is no limit to the concern of the free state in the education of its citizens4 ,it is as much bound to provide libraries in which the adult may continue his studies as it is to maintain schools in which as a child he may begin them4 ,the day is not distant when this duly will be universally recognized in this country4 ,in most of the states compulsory education laws prevail4 ,in at least one1 every town is required by law to establish and maintain a free public library4 ,in this respect1 ,new ,hampshire is only leading the way in which others will shortly follow4 ,then organized society can truthfully say to the individual1 in the language of ,professor ,hoffman in his ,sphere of the ,state3 ,we have done what we could to develop and strengthen all your powers4 ,we have taught you to the best of our ability to know yourself and to understand your relations to your fellows4 ,now1 so long as you conduct yourself as a child of the day and not of the night1 all the rights and privileges of the brotherhood are yours4 ,but if you choose to walk in the darkness rather than in the light1 if you trample under foot our laws1 if you raise your hand against every man1 let the curse of your wrong doing fall upon your own head1 not on ours4 ,,alternatives ,,to ,,tax-,,support ,in the case of a public library1 that is1 of one intended to be used by all the members of the community1 as distinguished from a subscription library1 alternatives to public support have usually been in the nature of expedients to tide matters over until the library could be turned over to the municipality4 ,the next two papers are early discussions of some of these alternatives4 ,,if ,,not ,a ,,tax-,,supported ,,library1 ,,what8 ,the following paper contributed anonymously to ,the ,iowa ,library ,quarterly 7,des ,moines1 ,april1 #aijc7 tells how local library associations have been formed in that state1 in small towns where public support1 for the moment1 has been deemed impossible or inadvisable4 ,the fact that a majority of the states of the ,union have by legal enactment provided for free public libraries supported by tax indicates the general acceptance of the belief that such an institution is for the public good and its support as an educational institution is as desirable as the support of the public schools4 ,more and more has it come to be recognized that if the ideals and aspirations of youth are to be aroused and directed early in life by the reading of inspiring books1 the state may well foster this institution which provides such literature4 ,the ,code of ,iowa provides that towns and cities shall have power to provide for the foundation and maintenance of a free public library by voting upon the question1 ,shall a free public library be established at a general or special election1 and further providing that a tax not exceeding two mills on the dollar of the taxable valuation of such city or town may be levied for its support4 ,this places the library on a firm footing as a public educational institution1 even though its income from the tax may be small4 ,there are1 however1 some towns in the state that find it impossible or unwise at present to secure this support of the library by a tax and hence they ask1 ,if not a free public library supported by tax1 what shall we attempt8 ,this inquiry is practical4 ,the desire is earnest in many places to support a library by some other means than a tax until such time as sentiment will be strong enough to vote favorably upon it1 hence the best method of conducting it needs to be considered4 ,the beginning of such a work must be made by a few1 earnest people who thoroughly believe in the need of a public collection of books1 not alone for the value it will be to them personally1 but what it may do for the many who are unable to own books for themselves4 ,club women are often the most active factors in inaugurating such a movement and sometimes the ,woman's ,club alone espouses the cause of the library and provides for the purchase of books and the running expenses of the library4 ,it would seem1 however1 after observation of various efforts1 more or less successful1 along this line1 that it is much better to secure the cooperation of all clubs and other organizations in the town1 thus disarming any outside criticism or antagonism from those outside the one club4 ,a library association1 which includes all persons in the town who are desirous of having a public library1 seems to be the better form for the organization to take1 though a city federation of clubs has proven a successful agency in many towns4 ,the difficulty of providing funds for conducting such a library on an absolutely free basis is evident1 but to make membership in the association1 with the payment of an annual membership fee1 the condition of borrowing is to bar from the use of the books the people who need them most4 ,in organizing a library association it will be necessary to decide what the policy is to be in this respect4 ,shall the library be solely for those who join the association and pay this fee1 or shall this be an altruistic movement for the betterment of the town1 making the use of the books free to all8 ,if the latter plan is decided upon it will be necessary to provide by subscription of citizens or by entertainments and otherwise1 a larger fund for the support of the library1 and such an undertaking should be well considered for it often becomes burdensome4 ,if an association is formed with an annual membership fee which entitles the member to the use of the books1 those who feel unable to pay this annual fee may be loaned books upon the payment of a small fee for the loan of a single book4 ,the reading room feature is of great importance and whatever plan may be adopted regarding the loan of the books for home use there is no reason why the use of the reading room1 the periodicals and the books in the room should not be absolutely free to all who will come there to use them4 ,to make the reading room the brightest and most attractive spot in town for the boys who are inclined to be on the street of evenings is a possibility for any library association1 if a few earnest women will give time and effort toward this end4 ,the actual expenses incurred in such a venture are room rent1 furniture1 heat1 light1 services of a librarian and the purchase of books and periodicals1 but a systematic effort to interest the people of the town often results in the donation of the use of a room and the other necessities4 ,it is not desirable to solicit donation of books4 ,the random inclination of people to pass on to the public library books they do not care for on their own library shelves is damaging to the library receiving them4 ,in another column the report of the ,audubon ,club mentions this point4 ,the books should be selected with the greatest care4 ,the most important feature of such an enterprise is to have some one in charge of the room who shall be suited to the work1--a woman of culture and character1 of pleasing manners and one who loves children and delights in aiding readers4 ,such a librarian gives an atmosphere to the whole undertaking4 ,in many towns club women and others who are interested have volunteered to serve as librarians1 without compensation1 and if a head librarian is selected to whom these volunteer workers shall report and who is responsible for the work1 this arrangement seems a good one until such time as funds will permit of the employment of a paid librarian4 ,at ,audubon1 ,exira1 ,glenwood1 ,guthrie ,center1 ,laurens1 ,leon1 ,tama and other places in the state1 the women are most courageously carrying on this work1 with the hope that the town will eventually take the responsibility off their shoulders by voting a tax to support the library4 ,if any attempt has been made to vote a municipal tax and it has failed1 or if there seems to be little sentiment in favor of the measure1 there is no need to feel disheartened4 ,a beginning may be made by securing a travelling library of #ej volumes from the ,library ,commission at ,des ,moines1 without other cost than transportation1 and these books1 may be exchanged for a similar collection every #c months1 thus making #bjj volumes accessible during the year4 ,this collection with the few books the local association is able to buy and a few good magazines should make it possible to open the room for reading and the issue of books two afternoons and evenings each week--preferably ,wednesday and ,saturday4 ,the small beginning will gather to itself strength if the workers are persistent2 the collection of books will increase1 sentiment will grow more favorable and eventually the movement will be popular4 ,in making such a beginning the ,iowa ,library ,commission should be called upon for the use of the traveling library1 form of constitution and by-laws1 book lists and other printed matter1 and the secretary will be glad to render any assistance possible in forwarding such an enterprise in any town in the state4 ,,co-,,operation ,,between ,,library ,,and ,,community ,a paper that originally appeared in ,the ,springfield ,republican1 ,dec4 #a1 #ahii1 and was reprinted in ,home ,education ,bulletin ,no4 #ca of the ,university of the ,state of ,new ,york4 ,the author1 ,miss ,m4 ,anna ,tarbell of ,brimfield1 ,mass4 ,the use of the word cooperation in connection with the public library implies that the library is not simply a collection of books1 that it is not a passive institution1 a repository of treasure1 but an active institution reaching out to bestow benefits4 ,the library spirit means not only cooperating with all uplifting forces in the community1 but creating and stimulating such forces4 ,the library spirit seeks to carry brightness into gray and toilworn lives1 to give broad vision in place of the narrow and distorted view1 to awaken generous sympathies and noble thoughts in place of sordid desires and petty interests4 ,imbued with this spirit1 the librarian will be a lover of humankind1 sympathetic1 earnest1 self-sacrificing1 a true missionary1 enthusiastic withal and eager to seize upon ways and means by which the library may more and more be made to enrich human life4 ,but however abundant in resources the library1 and however zealous and efficient the librarian1 there is a limit to the work that can be accomplished on the library side for the promotion of intellectual life and general culture4 ,there needs to be a larger and more intelligent demand on the community side for the supply which the library offers4 ,to stimulate this demand there is needed the cooperation of those people and those institutions in the community that possess special opportunities for increasing the use and influence of the library1 or in any way making human life wiser1 better and happier4 ,this cooperation may be both direct and indirect1 since all culture influences are by nature cooperative with that of the library4 ,i shall dwell specially on the need of stimulating cooperation on the side of the community1 for the reason that the library has already taken the initiative1 and because library privileges are so abundant in ,massachusetts1 so freely offered and eagerly extended1 without a proportionate response to these privileges on the part of the public4 ,while dwelling most upon the importance of its educational influences1 ,i would not underrate the province of the library in providing entertainment and recreation1 which have their culture value4 ,but the following are impressive words from the editor of the ,new ,england magazine in its current number3 ,education in a democracy is so fundamental that education may almost be looked upon as another way of spelling democracy4 ,we are to consider more carefully the educational function of everything which affects the mind of the people3 the church1 the newspaper1 the library1 the platform4 ,considering cooperation with the library on the part of individuals1 we naturally think first of those who are connected with the library by virtue of their office1 namely1 the library trustees4 ,the trustees have special opportunities for increasing the use and usefulness of the library on account of their acquaintance with1 and influence upon1 the library on one hand1 and their daily intercourse with the public on the other4 ,there has so far come to my notice such assistance by the trustees as inviting people1 specially newcomers1 to the library1 carrying books to outlying schools1 personal assistance in the library and collecting historical material for preservation in the library4 ,it is true that the literal requirements of the office of library trustee are only those of a conservative nature1 just as the duties of the librarian were formerly considered to be those of the careful custodian1 but as the library spirit gains ground and the conception of the library as an active mission grows1 we may look forward to the day when every town will be sure of having six or nine persons1 as the case may be1 not only engaged in improving the character of the library1 but in promoting its increased and more effective use1 a standing committee for the culture interests of the town4 ,this cooperation will be promoted by trustees attending the meetings of library clubs1 joining the clubs and assisting them1 as well as by giving the librarian every encouragement to do so1 such as granting leave of absence and possibly paying expenses4 ,the ,library journal and ,public libraries should be on the subscription list of every library1 and trustees as well as librarian need to keep informed of progress in the library world4 ,there are other people in every town who would be willing to assist in the work of the library1 or help people to get books or encourage more and better reading if asked to do so by the librarian4 ,to seek out such persons1 then1 is the duty and opportunity of the librarian in this work of cooperation4 ,suggestions regarding ,volunteer aids in library work are admirably given in the report of the state library commission for this year in the bound volume1 ,public libraries of ,massachusetts1 and should be read by librarians and trustees and shown to all patrons of the library who are available for assistance4 ,surely the home should cooperate with the library by the example of the reading habit1 and by the direction of the reading of the children2 while it would be an excellent thing for parents to pursue lines of reading that would keep them in touch with the children's studies4 ,as it is1 ,i fear librarians will bear out the recent statement of a school supervisor that ,the home is not even inclined to supervise the children's reading1 and1 the selection of books being left largely to themselves1 many boys and girls read books not proper for them to read4 ,the church1 the school and the library are institutions which naturally constitute a triple alliance4 ,cooperation between the library and the schools1 which has received so much consideration and is being so rapidly developed1 ,i need not dwell upon4 ,but there is need for increased cooperation between the church and the library4 ,this cooperation should be both direct and indirect4 ,ministers should feel a responsibility for the intellectual1 as well as spiritual1 welfare of the people4 ,they should show that intelligence and breadth of mind make a better and more efficient ,christian1 and that the church will become a greater power if its members read and think4 ,the minister has had special privileges for his own culture1 and he has peculiar opportunities for recommending books1 guiding library taste1 and directly increasing the use of the library4 ,there should be some kind of study club connected with every church1 and those young people who have finished their school course should be taught their moral obligation to cultivate their ,god-given mental powers and grow in intelligence and wisdom4 ,to advance the special interests of the church along intellectual lines1 the library should be provided with books that will improve ,sunday school work1 aid in the study of the ,bible1 and the growth of intelligence on religious subjects4 ,it should be provided with up to date histories of ,bible times in the light of archeological discoveries1 with works of modern reverent scholarship concerning the ,bible1 and books which record the development of religious thought4 ,much excellent study is being done by members of the women's missionary societies4 ,it is very desirable that these women cooperate with the librarian in the selection of standard works revealing conditions in the countries studied4 ,among organizations1 women's clubs have probably done the most to assist library interests4 ,this is especially true in some of the western states1 notably in ,wisconsin4 ,literary and other study clubs which prevail in ,new ,england are certainly in their nature cooperative with the library1 while they might be of more direct assistance to it4 ,the library1 of course1 should give these societies all possible encouragement and help4 ,the clubs will react favorably on the library in creating a demand for books which will improve the character of the accessions to the library4 ,where a study club does not exist1 the librarian should help to form one4 ,it is possible that there is a tendency to exclusiveness in women's literary clubs4 ,if the number limit keeps out those desirous of joining1 or those who need encouragement in literary interest1 a branch club for their benefit should be formed4 ,besides working for their own improvement1 the members of study clubs should have a missionary spirit and should feel a responsibility for the intellectual welfare of the town4 ,a woman's literary club is capable of being a strong ally of the public library4 ,the newly developing local history societies and the public library are naturally allied1 and promise to be of increasing mutual benefit4 ,the library should buy town histories and books needed by the historical society1 while the latter will contribute to the library records1 maps and published memorials4 ,further1 the historical society1 by sustaining lectures in which the principles of colonial development are illustrated by local annals1 should develop a perception and interest which will be manifested in a demand for volumes of history now lying dusty on the library shelves4 ,the grange is another organization whose objects affiliate it with the library1 since the grange movement is an important culture movement4 ,there is opportunity for more active cooperation between the library and the grange4 ,the grange1 and also the farmers' clubs1 should be asked to recommend the best works upon agriculture1 while the lecturer of the grange and the committee of the farmers' clubs should confer in advance with the librarian as to material needed in carrying out their literary programs4 ,more than one other organization might be mentioned which would help the library and be helped by it through increased cooperation1 thereby extending the influence of both4 ,it is the sense of obligation and responsibility that needs to grow4 ,the public press is an agency which certainly ought to be a firm ally of the public library1 cooperating with it directly and indirectly4 ,newspapers should be ever ready to give space to any matter that will bring the library to the attention of the public1 and they should also keep the public informed of progress in library interests4 ,deeper than this1 the press should constantly exemplify and teach culture ideals1 the true mission of journalism4 ,the hope of stimulating greater cooperation between the community and the public library seems to me to lie largely in the library club or1 better1 library association1 movement4 ,first1 local library clubs should increase in number1 becoming more truly local1 thus exerting a stronger influence upon the libraries in the section represented and coming into closer relation with the community4 ,the membership should include people who are neither librarians nor trustees1 but whose sense of responsibility will be awakened as their interest is increased4 ,the district represented should not be so large as to prevent meetings being frequently held in the same vicinity4 ,these local clubs should be in close relation with the state club or association1 and the state library commission4 ,the local clubs will do the actual close work1 while having the support1 advice and assistance of the state club and state commission4 ,the local clubs will give information as to conditions and needs1 and will be agencies for the application of progressive ideas4 ,the study of conditions1 of what may be called the environment of libraries1 comes within the province of library-club work4 ,the study of the conditions and needs of the small towns and rural communities is of leading importance4 ,from what other source except from the library movement with a greater development of its possibilities is help for those towns to come8 ,the initiative in personal effort to give advantages for want of which some of the small towns are suffering has been taken by the women's education association in the loan of their traveling libraries accompanied by personal visits and the study of conditions and needs4 ,but there is another want besides that of books in the small villages and towns4 ,there is needed not only the printed page1 but the speaking voice1 the influence of personality through lectures4 ,a story from experience will illustrate this need4 ,a few years ago there was held in our town an exhibition of antiquities which awakened intense interest on the part of old and young4 ,this interest made a good opportunity for the study of colonial history1 which a few of us carried on4 ,certain books not in our library were needed1 although the library is a good one and well equipped in ,american history4 ,our want came to the knowledge of ,miss ,chandler1 chairman of the library committee of the woman's education association1 and out of this grew1 another year1 a special library lent to us upon ,american history which formed a valuable supplement to the works contained in our library in that department4 ,at both times1 when we had the exhibition and when we received the traveling library 7which we still possess1 having bought the books7 ,i realized the opportunity and need of lectures4 ,what a strong combination the group would have made--the exhibition1 the working library1 a lecture course4 ,this would have been in reality an adaptation of the idea of university extension1 which ,i believe could be developed by the library club movement4 ,each town would have its standing library committee composed of members of the local library club1 and several towns in the district represented by the club would form a convenient circuit4 ,but if this scheme1 which ,i believe to be feasible1 can not be immediately developed or applied1 there should be no delay on the part of those interested in library work in ,massachusetts in considering some plan of promoting popular education1 the leading object today of library work1 through lectures of some kind1 if not sustained courses having continuity of subject4 ,two difficulties meet this need of lectures in the smaller and poorer towns and in many villages1 that of the expense of securing the best talent 7and nothing short of excellent ability will serve71 and that of knowing where to find available speakers4 ,the last difficulty can be met by organizing a committee who will search out those who can be secured to speak under the auspices of the libraries of the small towns4 ,a plan for bringing the expense within the means of the people of those towns might also be developed4 ,one source of help might be found in the increase of the powers of the state library commission4 ,in ,wisconsin the efficiency and powers of the state commission have been extended by the passage of a bill through the legislature increasing the appropriation awarded the commission and adding to its duties4 ,the commission is empowered to hold library institutes in various parts of the state1 and to encourage the growth of study clubs connected with the traveling libraries4 ,to carry out the duties of the commission1 among which is mentioned to aid in building up a better system of popular education1 the additional sum of #cejj is awarded to the commission4 ,why should not ,massachusetts aid in building up a better system of popular education by helping to provide speakers for the smaller villages and towns where needed1 thus supplementing and aiding the work of the public libraries8 ,it is possible that a beginning could be made through the establishment of library institutes4 ,if it should be considered wise to establish library institutes in this state1 as important a feature of them as instruction in library matters would be lectures for the public on literary and educational subjects of a popular nature4 ,the first step to be taken is for a committee representing the three existing library clubs and the ,massachusetts library commission to consider what plans are most feasible1 not only for the improvement of library work1 but also for increasing the intelligent and effective use of the library by creating new ideals of popular education in the community1 and thus bring about cooperation in its deepest sense4 ,,boards ,,of ,,trustees ,a board of trustees1 or of directors or commissioners1 is the representative of the community in its control of the library and in the formal service rendered by the community to the library4 ,the relationship was familiar in other public institutions at the time that public libraries began to be established1 and its duties1 responsibilities and limitations in this instance were regarded as being the same as in others4 ,they were therefore not widely discussed1 and the work of library trusteeship is still too little systematized4 ,the ,trustees' ,section of the ,a4,l4,a41 founded in order that ,library trustees might gather yearly to discuss their peculiar problems1 has always been scantily attended4 ,the ,indiana ,trustees ,association is the only prosperous body of the kind in the ,united ,states1 but its success might well prove suggestive to library trustees in other states4 ,the three following papers were all read at a single library conference in #ahij1 which may show that there was then some degree of awakening to the necessity for discussing this phase of library administration4 ,,library ,,work ,,from ,,the ,,trustees' ,,standpoint ,a few first principles by the president of the ,board of what was at that time the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,school ,library1 since #ahic the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,learned read this paper at the ,fabyan's ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association1 in #ahij4 ,john ,calvin ,learned was born in ,dublin1 ,n4,h41 ,aug4 #g1 #ahcd4 ,he engaged in teaching1 went to ,missouri in #ahef and in #ahei entered ,harvard ,divinity ,school4 ,after graduation he was pastor of a ,unitarian church in ,exeter1 ,n4,h41 and in #ahgj took charge of the newly-organized ,church of the ,unity in ,st4 ,louis where he remained until his death1 ,dec4 #h1 #ahic4 ,he was a member of the ,board of ,managers of the ,public ,school ,library from #ahhd to #ahib and its president for half that period4 ,an old play has it that trustees are not to be trifled with and1 as they are not only allowed but invited to come among the librarians to assert their rights and their authority1 why should they not do it vigorously8 ,did they not originate the librarian8 ,shall the thing formed say to him that formed it1 ',why hast thou made me thus8' ,yet to assume such creative power must load us down with responsibilities--greater1 ,i fear1 than some of us have joyfully accepted4 ,in fact1 do not trustees incline1 as a rule1 to throw too much of the burden of library administration upon the librarian8 ,if the incumbent of this office is fairly willing and capable1 is he not suffered to do pretty much as he pleases1 except it may be with regard to such large measures as the construction of buildings and the management of investments8 ,proportioned to the authority of trustees1 however1 is their responsibility4 ,to whom much is given1 of them much is required4 ,and the position of the better sort of trustee valuable to the best work of the librarian1 is not that sinecure seat sometimes depicted4 ,he must constantly stand as the able and ready advisor of the librarian1 and for the honor and defence of the library4 ,he will be made the court of ultimate appeal in many matters1 both practical and curious4 ,he will receive letters from all sorts of people1 some with gifts in their hands1 and some with complaints on their lips2 some seeking favors1 possible and impossible4 ,col4 ,higginson's humorous way1 recently1 of introducing ,phillips ,brooks as the man whom nobody in the ,cambridge library could find out the height of1 until at last the inquiry was brought to him as trustee to answer1 may illustrate the point4 ,lately an article in one of the ,english reviews treats of the ,perils of ,trustees4 ,and while no statute makes us responsible1--as innocent parties were held to be under ,british law1 in the failure of the ,glasgow ,bank1--yet the library trustee carries risks1 both moral and financial1 and the place should be offered to none who will not give it a bonafide service4 ,there is no room for a mere figure-head or ornamental name on a working library board4 ,every member of a directory1 rightly organized1 should take his share in the administration1 and have some knowledge of what goes on in the library world4 ,it is true there have been instances where some ambitious and irrepressible spirit has exceeded his official duties and privileges2 has been disposed to dictate the whole policy of the library1 reducing the librarian's office to that of a mere secretary4 ,i knew a director in a large library who resigned because he could not buy the books and write all the reports4 ,he hungered for more to do4 ,but ,i have known more than one to keep himself as far away from the board as possible1 after one or two sessions of three or four hours each1 in the necessary deliberations of the book committee4 ,edward ,everett ,hale says that the great essential for the directors or trustees of any institution is1 that they keep their end in sight1 as ,dr4 ,watt's hymn reads4 ,if it is an institution to help old women1 or save poor children1 or find situations for the idle1 does it really do it8 ,or is it so taken up with the mechanism of the concern1 so absorbed and happy over methods and details1 that it loses sight of the object8 ,this is especially to be considered in the management of a public library4 ,what is the library for8 ,is it accomplishing its work8 ,is it doing its utmost to promote the virtue1 refinement1 and intelligence of the community8 ,a library may be likened to a bank where literary reserves are kept4 ,it is organized to promote the circulation of a sound literary currency4 ,the directors must see to it that1 though there may be counterfeit and worthless money in the vaults1 the cashier or librarian must pay over the counter for general circulation such only as will maintain the institution's standard of credit and confidence in the community4 ,the gold basis must be maintained1 and no wild-cat bills pass out through the window4 ,it grows increasingly evident that very few libraries in the world can indulge in the luxury or licence of buying all books written4 ,the ambition to supply any man with any work he calls for must therefore be held in check4 ,thus it becomes increasingly important that much care and deliberation be exercised in the choice of books to be bought1 whether to complete deficient departments or for the daily circulation4 ,the purchase of poor books makes a market for poor authorship4 ,hereafter1 less than ever should libraries be the dumping place for indiscreet publishers1 for questionable or incompetent authors4 ,the public library exists for civilization1 that is1 for moral ends4 ,it is the record and history of civilization1 as well as the ally of progress4 ,it is the friend and helper of all those who seek to live in the spirit4 ,for this reason1 therefore1 the character of the books in a library is of more importance than mere numbers2 and the value of a library to the community may be imperfectly shown by the statistics of circulation4 ,no aim can be higher1 however1 than having a good library1 to make its resources known1 and to multiply readers in the remotest and obscurest parts of our towns and cities4 ,trustees of ,free ,public ,libraries ,in introducing this topic1 ,mr4 ,c4,c4 ,soule1 who spoke as a trustee of the ,brookline ,public ,library1 said that he had found little or nothing about it in existing library literature1 and that his paper had been shown to a considerable number of both trustees and librarians and modified in accordance with their views4 ,his analysis of the subject is somewhat closer than ,president ,learned's4 ,charles ,carroll ,soule was born in ,boston ,june #be1 #ahdb and graduated at ,harvard in #ahfb4 ,after serving in the ,civil ,war1 which he left as a captain of ,massachusetts volunteers he became a publisher and after #ahhi was president of the ,boston ,book ,co4 ,he was an active member of the ,american ,library ,association4 ,he died at his home in ,brookline1 ,jan4 #g1 #aiac ,this paper considers the constitution of elective boards of trustees of free public libraries1 intrusted with the appointment of librarians and full control of their libraries4 ,the subject can be naturally treated under the following heads3 ,size of the board2 term of office2 qualifications for the position2 duties2 individual and collective2 organization2 and relations with the librarian4 #a4 ,,size ,,of ,,the ,,board ,the weight of opinion seems to be in favor of small boards2 and in small towns1 where the duties are light1 three trustees will usually work more harmoniously and effectively than a larger number4 ,but in large towns and cities a more numerous board has two advantages--there is more chance of securing among its members one or two men who are exceptionally active1 intelligent1 judicious1 and interested in library science2 and the board may be more thoroughly representative of different sections of the town and different elements in the population4 #b4 ,,term ,,of ,,office ,the usual and undoubtedly the best composition of a board of library trustees is to divide it into groups1 one group going out of office each year4 ,this provision secures stability by preventing sudden changes of the whole board by intrigue or popular caprice1 and is intended to allow opportunity for gradual change whenever it is needed4 ,but does this provision alone insure sufficient change to prevent stagnation8 ,the position of trustee of a library is so pleasant and honorable1 that the incumbent may wish to retain it indefinitely4 ,the men selected as trustees may be personally so worthy and popular that their townsmen are reluctant to retire them compulsorily1 even when the feeling is prevalent that others might serve more acceptably4 ,to effect a change under such circumstances requires an effort approaching revolution1 with danger of that discord and bad feeling which are so unfortunate in library management4 ,would it not be wise1 in view of this possible danger1 to follow the example of the graduates of ,harvard ,college in electing overseers1 and provide by law that no trustee shall hold office for more than 7say7 three successive terms of three years1 or nine years in all8 ,while a library might thus lose occasionally an active and efficient trustee 7who could still be reelected after being only a year out of office71 would it not gain much more than it could lose1 in keeping that close contact with popular needs and with new ideas1 which is so healthy and stimulating in the management of all public institutions8 #c4 ,,qualifications ,,for ,,the ,,position ,the ideal qualifications for a trustee of a public library 7a fair education and love of books being taken for granted7 might be summarized somewhat thus3-- ,sound character2 good judgement and common-sense2 public spirit2 capacity for work2 literary taste2 representative fitness4 ,men of character and position in the community are usually selected as trustees2 but it may be assumed somewhat too confidently that1 because a man has been prominent in political or business or social circles1 he will make a good trustee4 ,it is a mistake to put in such a position any man who has outlived his public spirit and energy4 ,library taste is placed low on this list of qualifications1 because in any administrative position1 even in connection with a library1 capacity and willingness to work1 united with common-sense and a fair education1 are much more useful than a taste for literature without the practical qualities4 ,and of the different grades of literary taste1 general culture and a wide range of reading are generally more serviceable to a public library than the knowledge of the scholar or the specialist4 ,in selecting men of prominence for trustees1 there is danger of excluding too rigidly the younger men who might contribute to the strength and efficiency of the board4 ,there is so much activity and progress in the library work of this generation1 that the adage ,old men for counsel1 young men for action is not wholly inapplicable to the choice of trustees1 whose work requires counsel and action in nearly equal degrees4 ,with a large board it would seem wise to select members with some reference to representation of different sections of the town1 and different occupations1 interests1 or nationalities among the inhabitants4 ,this tends to prevent dissatisfaction1 and to adapt the purchase of books and the general policy of the library to the needs of the whole community1 rather than to the wishes of special classes4 ,neither politics nor religious opinion should of course enter into the choice of library trustees1 except so far as it is unwise to constitute a board exclusively from one party or one denomination4 #d4 ,,duties1 ,,individual ,,and ,,collective ,as an individual1 the trustee of a public library ought to realize that he holds a high and sacred trust from the people2 that he has been elected to preserve and extend the privileges and benefits afforded by the library in its modern development as ,the ,people's ,university2 that library science is not to be comprehended by intuition1 but can be learned only by intelligent observation and study2 and that he has no right to accept or hold the position unless he can take a lively interest in the library1 be constant in attendance at meetings and diligent in committee work1 keep himself informed of the current library ideas by reading every number of the ,library journal1 and1 if possible1 by visiting other libraries than his own1 and watch keenly the tastes and requirements of the constituency he represents4 ,the collective duties of the board includes the care of investments and funds1 the careful and economical supervision of expenditures1 the determination of the policy of the library toward the public and in its interior administration1 the general direction of the choice and purchase of books1 the selection of the librarian and his assistants1 constant and critical observation of their work1 occasional reckoning up of work done and progress made1 comparison of results with those reached in other libraries1 as a confirmation of merits and a corrective for errors1 and such active work of detail as will assist the librarian in performing his duties4 #e4 ,,organization ,a large board ordinarily transacts business through a chairman1 a secretary1 a treasurer1 and one or more committees4 ,the chairman has few active duties1 but the position requires judgment in appointing committees1 and tact in conducting meetings4 ,the place is perhaps the highest public honor in small towns1 and is usually and properly given to some trustee eminent for character and public services4 ,in ,mr4 ,perkins's article1 ,how to make ,town ,libraries ,successful1 in the ,government ,report of #ahgf on ,public ,libraries1 it is suggested that the librarian should act as secretary to the board of trustees2 but1 aside from the fact he usually has more than enough work to do in his own department1 is it not at least doubtful whether an official1 whose conduct may at any time be a proper subject for confidential discussion before the board1 should serve as their secretary1 and so be obliged to be present throughout all meetings8 ,the duties of a secretary may properly provide occupation for some member of the board4 ,the treasurer1 if he holds funds in his hands1 should always be put under bond4 ,no matter how trustworthy he may be1 it is a sound principal that no official should handle public money without giving bond4 ,his successor may not be so careful or so honest1 and1 unless the precedent is established while the danger of loss seems small1 it will be difficult and invidious to insist upon a bond when occasion may require it4 ,if no trustee is willing to accept the position of treasurer with bond1 it is usually possible to leave the library funds in the hands of the already bonded town treasurer1 and draw on them as needed to pay bills4 ,as to committees1 it is better to have as many as can actively be employed1 in order to enlist the cooperation or advice of every trustee4 ,in large boards1 even with small libraries1 four standing committees can find occupation2 namely1 executive1 book1 finance1 and progress4 ,the executive committee can take charge of the daily work of the library1 of purchases1 and of the care of the building4 ,they should be efficient men1 with prompt business habits1 with an active interest in the library1 with leisure to attend to their duties during library hours1 and with sufficient discretion to sift and formulate business to be presented at the meetings of the trustees4 ,while discharging their executive duties promptly and thoroughly1 they ought to be careful not to assume too much of the power and responsibility which properly belong to the full board1 whose will they are appointed to execute4 ,in very large libraries1 these duties of an executive committee are sometimes subdivided among additional committees on building and grounds1 on purchase of supplies1 on reading-room and so on1 as different departments increase in importance4 ,inasmuch as the range of reading1 the literary taste1 and the critical faculty1 which qualify a man to select books for popular use1 are not necessarily united with executive ability1 it will often be best to intrust the choice of books to a book committee1 selected for that purpose alone4 ,this is a sufficiently important duty to occupy all the spare time of a committee1 even where the initiative is taken by the librarian1 and appeal on doubtful points is made to the full board4 ,the duties of a finance committee are often confined to a perfunctory and occasional examination of accounts1 but they may be made very important4 ,to make and watch investments1 to provide that money on deposit shall always draw the best interest1 to see that purchases of books and supplies are made on the most favorable terms1 to keep close watch on all the controllable expenditures1 to examine and verify bills1 and to audit carefully the treasurer's accounts1 will give full employment to a good committee of business men4 ,in addition to these obviously useful committees1 there is another1--a ,committee on ,library ,progress--which often serves to increase the activity and efficiency of the library4 ,constituted from among the younger or more active men1 and from those trustees who can find opportunity for visiting other libraries1 such a committee can do good work in watching the experiments made elsewhere2 in placing before the board information in regard to improved methods of library work2 in comparing the library with other libraries similarly situated2 and in encouraging their own librarian1 if he be progressive1 or in stimulating him1 if too conservative4 ,in short such a committee1 if both active and wise1 could keep even the smallest town library in the full tide of modern progress4 ,it will be best not to leave too much discretion or power permanently to any committee1 but to require all committees to report their acts and plans frequently for the approval or criticism of the full board4 #f4 ,,relations ,,with ,,the ,,librarian ,the relations of the trustees with the librarian will vary greatly according to circumstances4 ,some general principals may be suggested1 subject always to the exceptions which prove the rule4 ,first of all1 it should be borne in mind that the trustees are the responsible managers of the library1 and that so far as they chose to act1 the librarian is only their agent1 bound in honor to carry out their wishes promptly1 thoroughly1 and cheerfully4 ,if they are fortunate enough1 however1 to have a first-class librarian1 with superior ability1 training1 knowledge1 energy1 wisdom1 and tact1 the trustees ought to leave the management of the library practically to him1 working only to lighten his labors and strengthen his hands4 ,but if--as sometimes may happen--the librarian has human limitations1 and while strong in some directions is weak in others1 it is the part of the trustees to try to supplement1 without impeding1 his abilities4 ,if1 after ascertaining his limitations1 they decide that he is the best librarian that they can get1 under the circumstances of the case they should note in what lines he needs help1 and select for committees the trustees best fitted to do the part of library work which he cannot satisfactorily perform4 ,if1 however1 the librarian has executive ability1 it will be wise for the trustees to let him control the selection1 management1 and dismissal of all his assistants2 if he has good judgement and what may be called the librarian's faculty1 it will be wise to let him arrange the methods and details of library work2 if he has literary taste1 it will be especially wise to allow him at least the initiative in the choice and purchase of books1 for he has 7or ought to have7 constant contact with the public and an intelligent knowledge of their wants4 ,although it may not be considered best for the librarian to act as their secretary1 the trustees should take him into their confidence1 consult him freely1 and invite his presence during some part of each board meeting and of all committee meetings where his advice might be of service4 ,the librarian can properly reciprocate by allowing the board and the committees frequent opportunities for private conference and executive session1 unembarrassed by his presence4 ,in brief1 while the trustees cannot forget that they control both library and librarian1 they should remember that the librarian is chosen to be their expert advisor and their executive officer1 and1 so long as he fills these positions satisfactorily1 they ought not to hamper or interfere with1 so much as to assist and sustain him by their actions4 ,the relations of an active librarian with an active board of trustees demand discretion and consideration on both sides4 ,but if the librarian is sensible1 and not too sensitive1 and the trustees are reasonably harmonious and judicious1 the cooperation herein outlined may be carried out with success4 ,,the ,,duties ,,of ,,trustees ,,and ,,their ,,relations ,,to ,,librarians ,although ,mr4 ,s4,s4 ,green says that he has prepared this paper from the standpoint of a librarian1 he is competent to speak from that of a trustee also1 for he served as both1 having been a trustee of the ,worcester ,public ,library for some time when he was chosen its librarian4 ,a sketch of ,samuel ,swett ,green will be found in ,vol ,i4 of this series4 ,in the symposium in which we are now engaged1 ,i understand that ,i am to consider the subject which we are talking about from the standpoint of a librarian4 ,the position can be stated in a few words4 ,a librarian should be regarded as holding relations to his trustees similar to those held by the agent of a factory or the cashier of a bank to the governing board of the factory or bank4 ,some cashiers and some agents have more power than others4 ,the power conferred depends upon the knowledge1 training1 experience1 industry1 enterprise1 good judgment1 and ability of persons holding such positions4 ,if the board of trustees of a library is more competent to manage its affairs than the librarian1 and if it is ready to give the time that is necessary to the discharge of the duties of management1 it has a perfect right to do so1 and the librarian need then only be a clerk4 ,so1 too1 if on any board of directors there is one man of leisure who has especial qualifications for conducting the affairs of a library1 the board may delegate to him the performance of the more intellectual portions of the work of the librarian4 ,even1 however1 in such cases as those the individuality of the librarian should be considered1 because1 although his position may be very humble1 yet he can do better work if allowed to work in his own way1 rather than in accordance with the provisions of rules laid down by others which he is required to strictly observe4 ,when a librarian is accomplished1 it will be found wise for a board of trustees or directors to ascertain his views on most subjects before acting1 and it will generally appear manifest that it is well to give very careful consideration to those views4 ,a board which encourages its librarian to initiate measures1 will administer its trust more satisfactorily than it can if it reduces him to the position of a mere executive officer1 who is only to carry out the plans which it has formed4 ,i should say that the wisest course for a board of trustees to pursue is to let a good librarian do pretty much as he thinks best1 only keeping a watchful eye on him for the purpose of seeing that things are not going wrong under his conduct of affairs4 ,it is better1 generally speaking1 for a board to change its librarian than to undertake to manage matters1 unless its members are willing to give much time and thought on the subject4 ,mr4 ,greenough1 at that time the ,president of the ,board of ,trustees of the ,boston ,public ,library1 said to me1 just after ,mr4 ,windsor gave up his position of ,superintendent of that library1 that he wished in his successor the qualities of a librarian 7using that designation in a restricted sense7 and not those of a superintendent1 and that the title of the new officer would be librarian and not superintendent4 ,mr4 ,greenough had had a long connection with the ,boston ,public ,library as a trustee and as ,president of the ,board of ,trustees1 and felt that he knew1 better than any person whose services the library was likely to secure1 how to conduct its affairs4 ,judge ,chamberlain1 ,mr4 ,windsor's successor1 accepted the situation and stated in an early report1 in substance1 that the duty of a librarian is merely to carry out the wishes of the board of trustees4 ,but ,mr4 ,greenough became disabled after a while1 and ,judge ,chamberlain gained experience2 and ,i venture to say1 during the latter portion of the short time which he was connected with the ,boston ,public ,library1 he found that in the long run a librarian must take upon himself the lion's share in the entire management of a library4 ,now that ,judge ,chamberlain has resigned his place1 the ,trustees of the ,boston ,public ,library are understood to be looking around for an accomplished superintendent4 ,the ideal executive head of a large public library--let me say it emphatically--should have the qualifications of both librarian and superintendent4 ,perhaps1 in the case of some of the largest libraries1 it is well to have both a superintendent and a librarian2 but when such a distribution of duties becomes desirable1 it is certain that the superintendent should have something of the spirit of a librarian1 and as much of his technical knowledge as possible1 and that the librarian should be often consulted in regard to questions of management1 and have1 himself1 no mean qualifications as an executive officer4 ,a good librarian should be allowed to make experiments 7observing1 of course1 reasonable limits71 without consulting the board of trustees1 with the purpose of satisfying himself as to the desirability and feasibility of adopting new methods1 and of obtaining evidence that will enable the board to form intelligent opinions in regard to the value of changes recommended by him4 ,experiments may often be undertaken1 with good prospect of success1 by persons familiar with kinds of work which a board of trustees1 acquainted with such kinds of work1 would not care to try1 but which1 nevertheless1 it is very important should be tried4 ,a librarian should have the appointment of his assistants in his own hands1 and should himself consult heads of departments in the choice of persons to serve under them4 ,he should be allowed to buy such books as are needed between meetings of library committees and boards of trustees1 just as a trusted cashier is permitted to loan money to a bank's customer between meetings of its board of directors4 ,both the librarian and the cashier should1 of course1 give an account of such proceedings to the committee or board over him at the meeting next after the transactions4 ,generally speaking1 a competent librarian should be allowed large freedom1 and held responsible for wisdom in management4 ,on the other hand1 the board of trustees should insist upon the observance by the librarian of such forms as have been adopted as safe-guards4 ,while it should allow much liberty to its executive officer1 it should also see to it that he keeps the machinery1 by which work is done1 in order2 so that1 if in the exercise of a careful oversight1 it shall become advisable at any time for it to resume the power conferred on the librarian1 it may be able to do it promptly4 ,trustees and directors may render services of the greatest value to libraries and librarians4 ,not long ago ,i had upon my board of directors an influential member1 who used to say regularly at the first meeting1 after new men came on it1 ,gentlemen1 our only duty is to support the librarian4 ,that is saying too much1 certainly4 ,it is1 however1 the duty of a board of trustees to second heartily a librarian in his efforts to make his administration energetic1 useful1 and progressive1 and to do all that it can to secure patient and generous consideration by town and city governments1 and by citizens1 of all wise measures which he may adopt4 ,trustees are very influential in working individually to obtain for a library the support in money which is needed4 ,they can be of great service in showing their appreciation of good work done by the librarian1 by word and act4 ,it is almost too much to expect of a board of trustees that it should look out to see to it that a librarian receive a proper salary1 and that his compensation be increased as his services grow in value1 without being reminded that the remuneration is inadequate by a communication from that officer4 ,still it is very desirable that1 when a communication is made1 it should be sympathetically considered1 and that members of the board should point out to one another the excellence of the services rendered by the librarian instead of expecting him to enlarge upon their value himself4 ,it should be understood1 also1 that it is a librarian's duty to state fully the worth of the services of his assistants1 and seek adequate compensation for them4 ,a board of trustees can do much1 and should always do as much as possible1 to keep the interests of a library and of a librarian from being sacrificed to supposed exigencies of politics4 ,in some portions of the country the appointment and removal of librarians for political reasons has become a scandal4 ,a board of trustees owes it to its librarian to protect him from the vagaries of impracticable men who may by some chance become members of the board4 ,for example1 it should quietly vote down unwise propositions1 as they are made by fussy or narrow men2 by those persons who1 while they are self-confident1 are also ignorant2 by men who are so constituted as always to oppose or hold back1 or go ahead recklessly2 and by such persons as wish to have a hand in doing everything which it is the duty of the librarian to do1 and yet are unwilling to give any time or thought to the conduct of affairs4 ,there is a tendency in many boards of trustees1 when a single member is urgent in opposition to some measure proposed by a librarian1 and the other members have no positive opinions regarding the matter1 to yield to the objector4 ,such oppositions may afford a proper excuse for the delay1 but should not be allowed to become permanently efficacious in preventing the execution of a project1 without the librarian has been given ample opportunities1 for explaining the grounds of his recommendation4 ,the librarian should always be treated as a cooperator1 and not as an unintelligent servant4 ,it would always be unwise in him to press the adoption of measures until their wisdom is generally recognized by the trustees4 ,still his reasons for advising action should be ascertained and duly considered4 ,a board of trustees will always do well to have the librarian present at its regular meetings4 ,his knowledge and experience will be found of value4 ,his plans will be the better understood4 ,he1 too1 by being present will not only comprehend better than in any other way the wishes of the board of trustees 7and its members71 but1 that which is of great importance will catch the spirit which animates it1 and become aware of the general principles which it desires should underlie the administration of the institution4 ,trustees should bear in mind that unnecessary delays are to be avoided1 and that1 in order to keep the members of a community in a contented frame of mind1 their wants must not only be supplied1 but supplied promptly4 ,trustees should remember that it is important to give librarians and some of their assistants time in which to aid users of libraries1 instead of keeping every attendant constantly employed about routine work4 ,trustees should guard themselves against the notion that library work is easy1 and that it is only the occupations which they are usually engaged in1 in which employment is wearing and hard4 ,it must not be supposed1 from anything which ,i have said1 that the position of a director or trustee of a library is1 in the opinion of librarians1 a sinecure4 ,our idea is far from this1 as will be seen if the remarks already made are carefully considered4 ,it should be said in conclusion1 that one of the most important duties of trustees is to look around among libraries in different towns and cities1 to read library reports and accounts of meetings of librarians1 with the purpose of finding out whether they are getting as much and as good service from librarians in the communities whose interests they have to look after1 as citizens are obtaining in places where libraries and their management have attained a high standard of excellence4 ,with the same end in view1 they should see to it that librarians are provided with the current issues of the best library journals and with a collection of the best bibliographical works4 ,they should also put themselves1 and insist upon librarians putting themselves1 into vital relations with other libraries1 and with the whole body of librarians4 ,librarians should never forget that the real authority in a library rests with the board of trustees1 or fail to render immediate and cordial submission to its directions4 ,they should also seek and accept with gratitude all practical suggestions that may be made to them by trustees or other persons4 ,when any members of the board of trustees are specialists1 they should be urged to give the library the benefit of their special knowledge1 by proposing for purchase lists of books known to them to be of particular value4 ,i wish to add to what ,i have written1 the statement that ,i have always been very fortunate in having over me a body of directors of unusually good judgment1 and of the kindest disposition toward me4 ,in fact1 the remarks which ,i have made regarding the duties of trustees have been suggested to me by observation of the happy results which have followed the administration of the affairs of my own library1 by a board of directors who have governed themselves by rules almost identical with those which ,i have recommended for use by boards of trustees and directors generally4 ,,the ,,library',s ,,service ,,to ,,the ,,community ,this division of the subject is that which has been most discussed1 and its subject matter is that in which most progress has been made4 ,it is creditable to libraries that what they do for the public has extended and developed to a marvelously greater degree than what the public does for them4 ,whether it is equally creditable to the public is another story4 ,the first seven papers reproduced bear on the subject of library service in a somewhat general manner and are arranged chronologically4 ,,some ,,popular ,,objections ,,to ,,public ,,libraries ,this is probably the first treatment of the subject in this country1 and is the leading article in the second number of ,the ,american ,library ,journal1 as it was then called4 ,the writer1 ,william ,f4 ,poole was at the time librarian of the ,chicago ,public ,library4 ,he mentioned objections only to explain them away4 ,it will be noted that none of them would be described at present as popular1 and that only the third is now much heard4 ,william ,frederick ,poole was born in ,salem1 ,mass41 #ahba1 and graduated at ,yale in #ahdi1 where as librarian of the ,linonian and ,brothers ,library he founded ,poole's ,index to ,periodical ,literature1 by which his name is chiefly remembered4 ,he was librarian of the ,chicago ,public ,library in #ahgc-hg1 and at his death1 ,march #a1 #ahid1 he was librarian of the ,newberry ,library1 ,chicago1 whose building he designed on the departmental system1 of which he was an earnest advocate4 ,he was the second president of the ,american ,library ,association1 serving in #ahhe-hg4 ,in this paper ,i shall use the term public libraries as meaning free municipal libraries organized under ,state laws and supported by general taxation4 ,this definition will exclude from our notice a large number of libraries established on other foundations1 some of them richly endowed and partially accessible to the public4 ,the rapid increase in the number and importance of public libraries1 both in this country and in ,england1 is perhaps the most marked feature of educational development during the past twenty-five years2 for within that brief period the first of them was opened to the public4 ,my subject1 as announced in the programme1 requires me to speak of popular objections2 yet ,i must confess that popular appreciation of these institutions1 where they have been established1 would have furnished a more attractive theme4 ,as their foundation involves taxation1 that prolific source of political controversy1 it is somewhat remarkable that in the eleven ,states of our ,union where public-library statutes have been enacted1 so little public discussion has occurred1 and so few objections have been offered4 ,i have heard of no instance where such a bill was proposed in a ,state legislature and was defeated4 ,that all the ,northern ,states1 where general education and the common-school system are established1 have not by legislation provided also for the public library--the natural ally and supplement of that system--is doubtless owing to the fact that the people have not asked for such legislation4 ,the unanimity of the vote by which towns have accepted taxation for the support of public libraries is significant4 ,the ,commissioner of ,education at ,washington recently made inquiries on this point1 and received replies from #cg towns and cities4 ,in #cb of these the vote was unanimous2 in #e there was a divided sentiment1 but the vote was #agcj in favor to #eae against taxation4 ,the vote of the rate-payers in some ,english towns and cities where free libraries have been established was as follows3 ,ayes4 ,noes4 ,manchester #cifb #dj ,winchester #ccg #ac ,bolton #ffb #ee ,cambridge #hgc #gh ,oxford #eif #gb ,sheffield #hch #bcb ,kidderminster #ajh #aa ,blackburn #agjj #b ,dundee1 no dissentient4 ,by the latest statistics of the ,bureau of ,education1 it appears that there are #ahh public libraries in eleven of the ,united ,states4 ,of these five are ,eastern ,states--,maine1 ,new ,hampshire1 ,vermont1 ,massachusetts and ,connecticut2 five are ,western ,states--,ohio1 ,indiana1 ,illinois1 ,wisconsin1 and ,iowa3 and one is a ,southern ,state--,texas4 ,eight of these ,states have passed public-library statutes within the past ten years4 ,in the number of libraries the ,states rank as follows3 ,massachusetts1 #abg2 ,illinois1 #ad2 ,new ,hampshire1 #ac2 ,ohio1 #i2 ,maine1 #h2 ,vermont1 ,connecticut1 and ,wisconsin1 #d each2 ,indiana1 #c2 ,iowa and ,texas1 #a each4 ,in the number of volumes they rank as follows 7in round numbers73 ,massachusetts1 #ibj1jjj2 ,ohio1 #add1jjj2 ,illinois1 #gg1jjj2 ,new ,hampshire1 #eb1jjj2 ,maine1 #cd1jjj2 ,indiana1 #bf1jjj2 ,vermont1 #af1jjj2 ,connecticut1 #ae1jjj2 ,texas1 #aj1jjj2 ,wisconsin1 #fjjj2 ,iowa1 #ajjj4 ,the aggregate number of volumes in these libraries is #a1cjj1jjj1 and their annual aggregate circulation is #d1gce1jjj volumes4 ,it is noticeable that no one of these libraries is in ,new ,york1 ,pennsylvania1 or any of the ,middle ,states4 ,the representatives from those ,states in this ,conference may be able to account for this hiatus in the statistics of the ,bureau of ,education4 ,in this brief sketch of the statistics of our ,american public libraries we have not found much evidence of popular objections to their inception and organization4 ,in ,england1 however1 where the questions of national schools1 secular schools1 and parochial schools are still mooted1 the idea of levying a general tax for the support of a library free to all1 and furnished with books adapted to the capacities of all classes1 was not in harmony with the traditions and public policy of that people4 ,in #ahdh1 the same year that the ,legislature of ,massachusetts1 at the suggestion of ,josiah ,quincy1 ,mayor of ,boston1 passed an act authorizing the city of ,boston to maintain a public library1 ,mr4 ,william ,ewart1 member of ,parliament1 moved in the ,house of ,commons for a committee of inquiry respecting libraries4 ,such a committee was raised1 and ,mr4 ,ewart was appointed chairman4 ,much evidence was taken2 a report was made2 and in ,february1 #ahej1 a bill was introduced into the ,house of ,commons enabling town councils to establish public libraries and museums4 ,our younger brethren1 the people of the ,united ,states1 says the report1 have already anticipated us in the formation of libraries entirely open to the public4 ,the bill proposed limited the rate of taxation to one halfpenny in the pound2 required the affirmative vote of two thirds of the rate-payers2 restricted its operation to towns which had at least ten thousand inhabitants2 and provided that the money so raised should be expended only in building and contingent expenses4 ,this bill1 meagre indeed compared with the later enactments of ,parliament1 met persistent opposition from the conservative benches4 ,an ex-,chancellor of the ,exchequer objected because it did not give sufficient powers to form a library2 and he should object to it more strongly if it did4 ,who was to select the books8 ,was every publication that issued from the press to be procured8 or was there to be a censorship introduced8 ,another member claimed that the bill would enable a few persons to tax the general body of rate-payers for their own benefit1 and the library would degenerate into a political club4 ,col4 ,sibthorp thought that1 however excellent food for the mind might be1 food for the body was more needed by the people4 ,i do not like reading at all1 he said1 and hated it when ,i was at ,oxford4 ,lord ,john ,manners said he could not support the bill1 because it would impose an additional tax upon the agricultural interest4 ,mr4 ,spooner feared these institutions might be converted into normal schools of agitation4 ,sir ,roundell ,palmer--since the ,lord ,chancellor of ,england--was most apprehensive that the moment the compulsory principle was introduced1 a positive check would be imposed upon the voluntary1 self-supporting desire which existed among the people4 ,a division being taken on the bill1 there were #aah ayes and #aja noes4 ,the bill passed the ,house of ,commons in ,july1 and the ,house of ,lords1 without opposition1 in ,august1 #ahej4 ,the ,manchester1 ,liverpool1 and ,bolton free libraries were immediately organized under this act1 the cost of the books being defrayed by public subscription4 ,in #ahec similar legislation was extended to ,scotland and ,ireland4 ,in ,july1 #ahee1 the new libraries having gone into operation with the most encouraging results1 a new and more liberal library act was passed1 by a vote of three to one1 which raised the rate of taxation from a halfpenny to a penny in the pound1 and allowed the income to be expended for books4 ,its provisions were made to include towns1 boroughs1 parishes1 and districts having a population of #ejjj inhabitants1 and permitted two adjoining parishes1 having an aggregate population of five thousand1 to unite in the establishment of a library4 ,in #ahff the library act was again improved by removing the limit of population required1 and reducing the two-thirds vote on the acceptance of the library tax to a bare majority vote4 ,provision was also made for cases in which the overseers of parishes refused or neglected to call a meeting of the rate-payers to vote on the question4 ,any ten rate-payers could secure the calling of such a meeting1 and the vote there taken was made binding and legal4 ,the ,english free-library system is now so firmly established that it will not be changed except to expand and enlarge it4 ,its chief supporters are the middle classes1 and artisans and laborers1 who1 with their families1 are its most numerous patrons4 ,the recent extension of suffrage in ,england has strengthened the system4 ,no candidate for official position who opposed it could hope for success4 ,it has been found that free libraries have not degenerated into political clubs and schools of agitation4 ,no trouble has arisen in the selection of books1 and no censorship of the press was required4 ,it was at first supposed that all books relating to religion and politics--the subjects on which people quarrel most--must be excluded4 ,the experiment of including these books was tried in the ,manchester and ,liverpool libraries1 where the books were purchased by private subscription1 and no controversy arising therefrom1 all apprehension of evil from this cause was allayed4 ,parliament doubled the rate of taxation1 and permitted the purchase of books from the public funds4 ,the adoption of the compulsory system has not imposed a check on the voluntary and self-supporting desire of possessing books which existed among the people4 ,it has strengthened that desire2 and ample proof of this statement could be furnished if the prescribed limits of this paper would permit4 ,it is singular that objections to public libraries have come mainly from men--as we have seen from the debate in the ,british ,parliament--who are educated1 and in general matters of public welfare are intelligent above their fellows4 ,these objections1 however1 were uttered before the persons making them had given the subject any attention1 and hence they were disqualified from entertaining an opinion4 ,nearly all the objections to public libraries which have been expressed in this country--and these appear more frequently in private conversation than in the public prints--may be classed under three heads3 #a4 ,the universal dread of taxation4 ,libraries cost money4 ,in every city and town of the land there is a feeling that the present rate of taxation is all that the property and business of the place will bear4 ,this feeling existed before the taxes were one half their present rates4 ,there is a generous rivalry among our cities and towns in the maintenance of good schools2 and localities which furnish the best facilities for education are regarded as the most desirable places for residence4 ,viewed simply as a matter of public economy1 no city can afford to dispense with its educational system1 or to permit it to degenerate4 ,the public library also should be maintained as the supplement of the public school1 carrying forward the education of the people from the point where the public school leaves it4 #b4 ,there are certain theoretical objections offered to the establishment and maintenance of public libraries4 ,one is that the library tax bears unequally upon the people4 ,some persons do not care to read books1 and others prefer to pay for their own reading4 ,the same objection is quite as valid against any system of public education4 ,to lay the burden of education uniformly upon property1 and to tax the owner who has no children1 or1 having children1 prefers to educate them at private schools1 is another glaring instance of inequality4 ,no taxation for the maintenance of public health1 the introduction of water and gas1 the construction of roads1 bridges1 and sewers1 bears equally upon every member of the community4 ,if perfect equality in the distribution of these burdens were a necessity1 an organized municipality would be an impossibility4 ,perhaps the most popular objection to public libraries is the one urged by the few disciples of ,herbert ,spencer--that government has no legitimate function except the protection of person and property1 as the original compact of society is simply for the purpose of protection4 ,all else is paternal1 pertains to the commune1 and tends to perpetual antagonism4 ,the government may support a police1 courts of justice1 prisons1 penitentiaries1 and similar institutions1 and can do nothing else4 ,how are the people under this theory to be educated8 ,the reply is explicit3 ,unless they will educate themselves1 they are not to be educated4 ,how is the public health to be maintained8 ,it is not to be maintained by any interference of government4 ,who is to build bridges and sewers and lay out public parks8 ,nobody4 ,imagine1 if it be possible1 a community where such a ,utopian theory was carried out4 ,such a government fortunately does not1 and never did1 exist on the face of the globe4 ,the general welfare--which includes protection--is expressly stated in the preamble of the national constitution to be the purpose of our government1 and the same expression is found in nearly all the state constitutions4 ,what ever the people desire1 and whatever will1 in their judgment1 conduce to the general welfare1 is a legitimate subject for governmental action4 ,the only orthodox object of the institution of government1 says ,mr4 ,jefferson1 is to secure the greatest degree of happiness possible to the general mass of those associated under it4 ,herbert ,spencer wrote his ,social ,statics before the ,british ,parliament passed an act for the support of public libraries4 ,mr4 ,ewart's bill was then before ,parliament2 and ,mr4 ,spencer1 in that work1 took occasion to fling a sneer at it4 ,in the preface of his ,american edition1 written in #ahfd1 he states1 without remodelling the text1 that the work does not accurately represent his present opinions4 #c4 ,the third and last class of objections to public libraries to which ,i shall direct your attention relates to the kind and quality of books circulated4 ,these objections1 which are usually made by educated and scholarly persons1 are based on an entire misconception of the facts in the case4 ,the objectors do not divest themselves of the old idea that libraries are established for the exclusive benefit of scholars2 whereas the purpose of these is to furnish reading for all classes in the community4 ,on no other principle would a general tax for their support be justifiable4 ,the masses of a community have very little of literary and scholarly culture4 ,they need more of this culture1 and the purpose of the library is to develop and increase it4 ,this is done by placing in their hands such books as they can read with pleasure and appreciate1 and by stimulating them to acquire the habit of reading4 ,we must first interest the reader before we can educate him2 and1 to this end1 must commence at his own standard of intelligence4 ,the scholar1 in his pride of intellect1 forgets the progressive steps he took in his own mental development--the stories read to him in the nursery1 the boy's book of adventure in which he revelled with delight1 and the sentimental novel over which he shed tears in his youth4 ,our objector supposes that the masses will read books of his standard if they were not supplied with the books to which he objects2 but he is mistaken4 ,shut up to this choice1 they will read no books4 ,when the habit of reading is once acquired1 the reader's taste1 and hence the quality of his reading1 progressively improve4 ,the standard histories1 technical works of science1 and even ,shakespeare's plays and ,milton's ,paradise ,lost1 are sealed books to a larger portion of every community than are willing to acknowledge the fact4 ,when a ,boy1 said ,john ,quincy ,adams1 ,i attempted ten times to read ,milton's ',paradise ,lost4' ,i was mortified1 even to the shedding of tears1 that ,i could not conceive what it was that my father and mother so much admired in that book4 ,i smoked tobacco and read ,milton at the same time1 and for the same motive3 to find out what was the recondite charm in them that gave my father so much pleasure4 ,after making myself sick four or five times with smoking1 ,i mastered that accomplishment2 but ,i did not master ,milton4 ,i was nearly thirty years of age when ,i first read ',paradise ,lost' with delight and astonishment4 ,if our objectors mourn over the standard of books which are read by the public1 they may be consoled by the fact that1 as a rule1 people read books better than themselves1 and hence are benefited by reading4 ,a book of a lower intellectual or moral standard than the reader's is thrown aside in disgust1 to be picked up and read by a person still lower in the scale of mental and moral development4 ,i do not lament1 or join in the clamor sometimes raised1 over the statistics of prose fiction circulated at public libraries4 ,why this lamentation over one specific form of fiction8 ,the writers of such prose fiction as is found in our libraries were as eminent and worthy men and women as the writers of poetical fiction1 dramatic fiction1 or1 ,i might add1 the fiction which passes in the world as history and biography4 ,history professes to relate actual events1 biography to describe actual lives1 and science to unfold and explain natural laws and physical phenomena4 ,fiction treats these and other subjects1 mental1 moral1 sentimental1 and divine1 from an ideal or artistic standpoint2 and the great mass of readers prefer to take their knowledge in this form4 ,more is known to-day of the history and traditions of ,scotland1 and of the social customs of ,london1 from the novels of ,sir ,walter ,scott and ,charles ,dickens than from all the histories of those localities4 ,fiction is the art element in literature1 and the most enduring monuments of genius in the literature of any people are works of the imagination4 ,it is said that there is much poor fiction1 and the statement is true4 ,so there are many poor pictures and poor statues1 wretched chromos and more wretched plaster casts4 ,that these productions find purchasers is evidence that there are persons whose ideal standard of excellence is even below these feeble efforts1 and they are educated thereby4 ,but there are novels1 we are told1 which are immoral and positively debasing4 ,so there are immoral paintings and indecent plastic objects4 ,the act of photography1 ,i am told1 is debased to the lowest purposes4 ,nobody would think of objecting to art because it can be and is degraded4 ,the librarian who should allow an immoral novel in his library for circulation would be as culpable as the manager of a picture gallery who should hang an indecent picture on his walls4 ,young people1 again1 we are told1 read too many novels4 ,so they eat too much1 play too much1 go too often to the lake to bathe1 remain too long in the water1 and do too much of everything in which they take special delight4 ,the remedy is not to deprive children of these pleasures1 but that parents and guardians should regulate them4 ,i have never met a person of much literary culture who would not confess that at some period in his life1 usually in his youth1 he had read novels excessively4 ,his special interest in them suddenly ceased4 ,he found himself with a confirmed habit of reading1 an awakened imagination1 a full vocabulary1 and a taste for other and higher classes of literature4 ,a novel was read occasionally in later life1 as recreation in the midst of professional or technical studies4 ,my observation addressed to this point1 and extending over a library experience of thirty years1 has confirmed me in the belief that there is in the mental development of every person who later attains to literary culture a limited period when he craves novel-reading1 and perhaps reads novels to excess2 but from which1 if the desire be gratified1 he passes safely out into broader fields of study1 and this craving never returns to him in its original form4 ,again1 and finally1 we are told that the reading of fiction should be discouraged because it is not true4 ,what department of literature is true8 ,is it history8 ,whose history of the ,united ,states1 for instance1 is the true history8 ,is it ,bancroft's8 ,mr4 ,bancroft for forty years has been changing the plates of his work to an extent that in pages we can scarcely recognize the original text1 and lately he has revised the whole in the new ,centennial edition4 ,the accurate student of specialties in ,american history will talk to you by the hour of mis-statements and errors found in this new issue4 ,whose history of the reigns of ,henry ,,viii4 and of ,queen ,elizabeth is the true one8 ,is it ,hume's1 ,turner's1 ,lingard's1 or ,froude's8 ,do not read to me history1 said a sick monarch1 that ,i know is a lie4 ,read to me something that is true4 ,is biography true8 ,which of the score of lives of ,mary ,queen of ,scots is the true biography8 ,is theology true8 ,whose is the true body of divinity8 ,is science true8 ,why was it necessary to rewrite all the science in the eighth edition of the ,encyclopaedia ,britannica1 for the ninth edition8 ,homer's ,iliad1 ,dante's ,divine ,comedy1 ,shakespeare's ,hamlet and ,othello1 do not require to be rewritten every ten or twenty years4 ,the ,vicar of ,wakefield1 ,ivanhoe1 and ,robinson ,crusoe have held and will hold their own from generation to generation without revision1 because they are ideally true pictures of human life and human nature4 ,shall we say that in literature and science there is nothing true but fiction and the pure mathematics8 ,in the public libraries which are growing up in our land1 fully four fifths of the money appropriated for books is spent in works adapted to the wants of scholars4 ,in the larger libraries the proportion is even greater4 ,it is hardly becoming for scholars1 who enjoy the lion's share1 to object to the small proportional expenditure for books adapted to the wants of the masses who bear the burden of taxation4 ,mr4 ,edward ,edwards1 of the ,manchester ,library1 speaking1 in #ahei1 of novels and romances--which he circulated more freely than is done in any ,american library--remarked as follows3 ,it may be truthfully said that at no previous period in the history of ,english literature has prose fiction been made1 in so great a degree as of late years1 the vehicle of the best thoughts of some of the best thinkers4 ,nor1 taking it as a whole1 was it ever before characterized by so much general purity of tone or loftiness of purpose4 ,,how ,,to ,,use ,a ,,library ,the substance of two addresses made at ,pittsfield1 ,mass41 and printed in ,the ,library ,journal for ,february1 #ahhd4 ,mr4 ,hubbard's advice with regard to children's reading was followed long ago by specialization in work with children4 ,that with regard to adult fiction remains unheeded4 ,some day1 possibly we shall have adults' librarians and training for work with adults4 ,james ,mascarene ,hubbard was born in ,boston in #ahcf4 ,he was made assistant librarian of the ,boston ,public ,library in #ahhd and also reorganized the ,berkshire ,athenaeum of ,pittsfield1 ,mass41 in the same year4 ,among all the pictures of ,abraham ,lincoln none perhaps are more interesting than two which represent scenes at the beginning and at the end of his life4 ,in the first1 a lad of thirteen or fourteen1 he is reading by the light of a fire in his father's log hut4 ,in the second1 he is reading the ,bible to his sons in a room in the ,white ,house4 ,this ,bible1 which lies before the ,president in the latter picture1 with a catechism and a spelling-book1 were the only books in that frontier cabin when he learned to read4 ,though his father could neither read nor write1 yet he took the greatest interest in getting books for his son1 so that when he was eighteen his library consisted of the ,bible1 ,pilgrim's ,progress1 ,aesop's ,fables1 ,weem's and ,ramsay's ,lives of ,washington1 a ,life of ,clay1 the ,autobiography of ,franklin1 and a copy of ,plutarch4 ,it is note-worthy that the one which influenced him the most strongly1 after the ,bible1 was the ,life of ,washington4 ,at the very crisis of his career1 when on his way to the national capital to take the leading part in crushing out the rebellion1 he reverted to those early days1 and recalled the burning thoughts which filled his mind while reading of the sufferings and sacrifices endured for the sake of freedom by the great patriot leader and his followers4 ,lincoln's experience was1 of course1 no solitary one1 but it doubtless had a great effect when it became generally known4 ,it filled many men's imaginations with pictures of obscure lads with latent powers for noble deeds in danger of being stunted or wholly destroyed for want of proper nourishment1 and they gave freely and generously that these village ,hampdens1 these hearts pregnant with sacred fire1 might not live useless and ignoble lives for want of books alone4 ,hence to-day a large section of our country is dotted over with libraries1 in which the collective wisdom and experience of the world1 as it were1 are gathered for the use especially of the youth of the nation4 ,but1 as is inevitable with the blessing of abundance1 has come its danger also4 ,lincoln's naturally great intellectual powers were strengthened by their being at first exercised upon a few subjects4 ,the possession of a book being an era in his early life from its rarity1 he read and re-read each one which he got1 so as almost to learn it by heart before he read another4 ,so the vivid impressions received from the lives of ,washington and the other great heroes of history ran no risk of being dissipated before they could have their full effect upon his mind and heart4 ,this1 however1 is our danger in this day of public libraries and cheap literature1 that the mental strength of our youth will be weakened through the too much reading of a multitude of books4 ,as the waters of a brook when confined to a narrow channel may have power enough to set in motion a thousand spindles1 but if suffered to spread over the ground are not able to turn a child's toy wheel1 so with the powers of the mind4 ,when directed to a few objects they may be capable of the greatest and most beneficent results1 but when allowed to exhaust themselves upon a multitude they are in danger of becoming sterile and unfruitful4 ,with ,lincoln then1 and with many a frontier and backwoods boy now1 the question was and is1 ,how shall ,i get a book8 ,with a greater number to-day1 however1 the more important question is1 ,which book shall ,i choose8 ,before attempting to aid any one to answer this question for himself1 let me briefly advert to the fact that there are two kinds of reading for each of us1 and two corresponding uses1 therefore1 of the library--the reading for amusement and the reading for profit4 ,in regard to the former1 ,i can say but a word1 as it is a subject by itself4 ,and that word is1 let this reading be the best possible1 and do not let it occupy too much of your spare time4 ,books read simply for amusement have on most a greater power to elevate or degrade than any others1 and more care should be taken in selecting them than in the choice of those to be read for instruction4 ,read then1 and put into the hands of the young the best fiction1 and shun those writers1 whatever their power or their popularity1 who reproduce in their books the slang and vulgar speech of the streets and paint realistic scenes of vice and crime4 ,the answer to the question1 ,how or what shall ,i read8 must necessarily be as varied as the tastes1 the talents1 and the circumstances of readers vary4 ,the general aim1 however1 should be the same in all4 ,we should read in order to do well whatever we have to do in life4 ,now this implies something more than the reading simply to increase one's knowledge--certainly a worthy aim1 but not the highest4 ,the field of knowledge is so broad and the time for reading so short that we must necessarily choose those subjects1 the knowledge of which will make us better fitted for our work in life4 ,and the mere seeking for knowledge1 which is the sole end of much reading1 does not imply1 but may even prevent the attaining that higher end1 the cultivation of our nobler powers1 as the imagination and the sympathies1 and the gaining the power of appreciating what is highest and best in literature and life4 ,for instance1 one may be conscious of a total lack of a love for any great writer4 ,to him ,homer1 ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 ,milton1 and their peers are but names4 ,now it may be that the best use to which such an one can put a library is to make at least the attempt to understand and enjoy some great author4 ,it will be no easy task1 but one needing and worthy the hardest study4 ,to take1 as an illustration of one method1 a lesser poet1 read carefully and thoughtfully ,matthew ,arnold's introduction to his edition of the selected poems of ,wordsworth4 ,whenever he refers to a poem1 read it before going farther and re-read it until the thought of the poet as indicated by the commentator is reasonably clear4 ,then read in the same manner what ,coleridge1 ,shairp1 ,f4,w4 ,robertson1 or any other good critic has written upon ,wordsworth4 ,and1 above all1 sometimes read the poems as nearly as possible in the same circumstances under which they were written--in the forest1 by the brook-side1 in the solitudes of the mountains1 or on a bridge in the heart of a great city4 ,if this fail to awaken an interest in ,wordsworth1 try some other author in a similar way1 and it is impossible that of all who have stirred men's hearts through the ages1 no one can be found to arouse your sympathies4 ,and when the right author is at length found1 you live on a higher plane than before4 ,this great poet1 philosopher1 or dramatist has become your friend and familiar companion--a gain far greater than the acquirement of any mere book knowledge4 ,the greater part of another person's life may be spent in sordid surroundings1 with companions and in an occupation tending to depress and degrade the better nature4 ,i can easily conceive that it might be the highest duty of such an one to remain ignorant of much useful knowledge in order to quicken the imagination1 to enlarge the tastes1 and heighten the enjoyments4 ,so that when the day's work is done1 he may exchange the sordid companions1 suggestive only of mean thoughts and low aims1 for intercourse with men of purest and noblest nature--men1 too1 it may be1 who have lived1 thought1 and written under circumstances as depressing as those in which he lives and works4 ,so there may be some one who regretfully feels that in ,nature there is nothing which gives to him1 as to others1 the keenest pleasure1 refreshing him when wearied1 encouraging him when downcast4 ,who sees nothing in the skies save signs of the coming storm1 nothing in the trees or flowers1 the rivers or the hills1 save something relating to his material comfort or discomfort4 ,the best use to which this man could put a library and his reading hours might be to study the works of the great interpreters of nature1 as ,white of ,selborne1 ,ruskin1 or ,emerson4 ,and if they should open his eyes so that he can look through ,nature up to ,nature's ,god1 his gain is immeasurable4 ,now1 in neither of these instances is the increase of knowledge the aim set before the reader1 but the development of some dwarfed faculty whose growth is necessary to the leading of a noble life4 ,but where the increase of knowledge is the direct end sought1 the value of the knowledge in itself must not be that alone which decides one in the choice of books1 or incites him to reading1 but the use to which it can and ought to be put4 ,an employer of labor1 for instance1 one who is immediately responsible for the welfare of a large number of workmen1 cannot1 with any true conception of his duty as a master1 devote his time for reading to acquiring a knowledge of history1 science1 or literature1 if he know nothing of the principles underlying the relations of capital to labor1 if he is ignorant of the dangers1 the temptations1 the needs and rights of his workpeople4 ,however well-informed on other subjects1 he has read to far less advantage than if his books had been chosen with a direct purpose to fit him to do his duty as a master4 ,so many a parent ought1 for a time at least1 to read with a view wholly to prepare himself for the wise moral and mental training of his children4 ,and on the other hand a man should read the history of his country1 not merely that he may not blush from conscious ignorance of it1 but that1 knowing what his heritage of freedom cost to obtain1 he may also come to the conviction that it is not his to enjoy simply1 but it is a sacred trust to be accounted for1 however humble his position4 ,it could not be more humble than ,lincoln's1 and yet none can doubt that to the spirit in which he read ,american history was largely due his future fitness for the great work which ,god gave him to do4 ,to what highest and most profitable use can ,i put my reading8 is the question then which each one should ask himself1 and according as the answer is1 so should the choice be made4 ,it may be that one will read that he may understand better his duties and privileges as a citizen2 another1 that he may be a just master1 or an intelligent and faithful workman2 still another1 that she may be a wise parent2 while a fourth may have the strong conviction that everything else should be laid aside for the study of one of the masterpieces of the world's literature1 that he may develop his higher faculties and become a man thinking lofty thoughts and capable of noble deeds4 ,but there is a very large class of readers1 especially of a public library1 to whom what ,i have just said will be of but little use4 ,and as it is upon them that the choice of books has the greatest influence for good or evil1 it is to speak of their interests that ,i turn with the deepest solicitude4 ,this class may be subdivided into two classes--the children of intelligent parents who are capable of directing their reading1 and those children who have none to guide them in their choice4 ,as regards the former1 one of the greatest dangers of the public library1 in my opinion1 is that many parents throw off all responsibility as to the books their children read upon those who have charge of the library4 ,a generation ago1 all the books1 as a rule1 which the young read were bought especially for them by their parents or friends1 with more or less care in the selection4 ,of course under these circumstances they had a general knowledge of what their children read4 ,now a great many parents neither know1 nor do they apparently seem to care to know1 what books fall into their children's hands1 so long as they are from the public library1 which is supposed to be a guarantee for their fitness for young readers4 ,without entering here upon the important question as to what books should or should not be put in a public library1 it is enough to say that no intelligent parent1 with a right idea of his duty toward his children1 can properly lay this responsibility upon persons1 however carefully chosen or however faithful in the discharge of their duties4 ,the capacity of children for receiving good or bad impressions from books differs1 as their features and forms vary4 ,the same story might prove harmless to one boy and give a moral twist to another's mind from which he might never recover4 ,one girl might receive from a book a hundred evil suggestions1 hopelessly depraving her imagination1 while upon another it might not leave a single evil trace4 ,now1 it is not possible for the most scrupulous librarian to discriminate between these two1 and refuse the book to the one and freely give it to the other4 ,and therefore no library with a large and miscellaneous collection of stories and novels can be safe for children freely to use except under the careful supervision of their parents4 ,the only safeguard of which ,i know is for parents to read much with their children1 to interest themselves in their books1 and to talk with them about them4 ,those stories1 for instance1 against which there has been such an outcry of late years1 would have but small power to hurt that boy to whom a father had taken the pains to point out the absurdities1 the unrealities1 the false ideas and aims of which they are accused4 ,but in our cities and large towns there can be no doubt that the greater number of the younger readers of a public library belong to the second of the two classes referred to--those who have none to guide them in the choice of their books4 ,the most of these come1 of course1 simply for amusement1 without a thought of any better use of the library4 ,but a few come with other and higher aims4 ,some1 with no specially strong tastes or more than ordinary capacities1 merely wish to read that which will cultivate their minds and increase their knowledge1 or will be profitable to them in their work4 ,a very few there are1 however1 in every large town1 with intellects of no mean order and strong ambitions1 who turn to the library instinctively for that which will satisfy the cravings of their intellects and the promptings of their ambitions4 ,a youth with the instincts of a ,lincoln or a ,webster comes to read the history of his country4 ,another1 with the latent powers of a ,nasmyth1 a ,stevenson1 or an ,arkwright1 wants the books which will give full play to his inventive faculties4 ,another finds a strange and irresistible attraction in natural phenomena1 in the habits of plants and animals1 in the formation of the rocks and the hills1 in the aspects of the skies and the movements of the stars4 ,now1 it will depend very much upon the first choice of their books1 and the subsequent direction of their reading1 whether they will become men useful to the communities in which they live and add substantial material to the sum of human knowledge1 as statesmen1 inventors1 naturalists1 or astronomers4 ,the danger is that1 for lack of proper guidance and restraint1 they will dissipate their mental energies and lose sight of all high aims by too much and too vague reading4 ,if the public library is to be in fact1 what it is in theory1 an educating power second only to the church and the school1 and supplementing the work of both1 there must be some method devised by which such readers as these may be helped to choose the right books4 ,without such aid1 given continually and systematically1 the library fails in the principal end for which it was founded--the elevation and instruction of the people4 ,we might as well turn our children into a school-house1 fully furnished with books and apparatus1 but with only a janitor to see that no injury is done to them1 and expect the children to make a wise use of their opportunities1 to take up and pursue the proper studies without the aid of a master1 as to give children the free range of a great library and expect them undirected to make a wise use of its advantages as a means of education4 ,it is1 therefore1 in my opinion1 a most pernicious error to encourage young people1 of the lower classes especially1 to come to a library1 and to give them poor stories in the mistaken belief that1 the taste for reading being developed1 they will naturally and surely rise from these to better books4 ,such a belief is contrary to all our experience of human nature4 ,with careful guidance and restraint a boy may be brought from the ,dime novel to read ,scott and ,macaulay4 ,but without this restraint and guidance1 where one will rise1 a hundred1 a thousand rather1 will remain at the level from which they started1 or more naturally sink to still lower depths4 ,the question is1 ,can anything be done to help the young who throng our public libraries to read well and wisely8 ,shall these boys and girls1 with their unknown powers both for good and evil1 be left to grope helplessly amid these treasures of wisdom and knowledge which our libraries contain1 or shall the attempt at least be made to give them a kindly and intelligent guidance8 ,this work1 of such incalculable importance1 ,i hasten to say1 is already well done to a certain extent by a few librarians in the country4 ,but it is a work which requires time1 patience1 tact1 an insight into character1 and a very varied and extensive knowledge4 ,it is evident that the librarians who combine these requisites are few in number4 ,it is a work which cannot be done by them as a class4 ,nor can it be done by the ordinary catalogues1 however skilfully prepared4 ,for it is evident that there needs to be some personal knowledge of each reader's capacities in order to help him intelligently and profitably4 ,nor is it something which the school-teachers1 willing though many of them are1 can do1 except in a limited degree1 as many of those who need help are not school-children4 ,there are1 however1 a few persons in every town fitted by their education and their circumstances in life for this work1 and it is to them we must finally appeal4 ,the most practical plan1 presenting on the whole the fewest difficulties1 seems to be the following3 ,let those persons who are willing to make the attempt to give this instruction in reading choose each a subject1 as general ,history1 the ,history of the ,united ,states1 ,science1 ,travels1 ,biography1 ,fiction1 or ,children's stories1 and see what their public library contains on these subjects4 ,in due time notice could be given that all persons wishing help in the choice of books in any of these subjects could be aided by applying to the librarian4 ,he would refer the inquirer to that person who has chosen this subject1 who will naturally endeavor to find out something of the character1 circumstances1 and abilities of the applicant before selecting the books best fitted in his or her opinion for him to read4 ,no doubt1 at first1 there would be few to apply1 and mistakes would be made from lack of experience4 ,but1 if only one reader was substantially aided1 if only one bright youth was rescued from the danger of dissipating his energies by aimless or depraving reading1 all the labor would be amply rewarded1 to say nothing of the benefit which the guide himself1 in preparing for his work1 would receive4 ,i do not believe1 however1 that the applicants for guidance would be few1 when it was known among the work-people of our mills1 our shops and stores1 among the poor1 that every one coming to the library asking for aid would find some one ready1 as it were1 to take him by the hand1 and lead him from book to book1 so long as he needed help4 ,i am confident that it would be an invaluable service if some one or two persons should take the pains to become acquainted with the character of the books for the children and the novels contained in a library4 ,there are many parents who feel instinctively the truth of the words of ,f4,w4 ,robertson1 that a man's character and mind are moulded for good or evil far more by the forms of imagination which surround his childhood than by any subsequent scientific training4 ,many an anxious but ignorant parent who sees in her boys and girls a craving for books1 at which she rejoices with trembling1 would turn with heart-felt gratitude--,i speak with the fullest confidence1 because ,i speak from experience--to one who would give them advice as to the books which their children might safely read and those which they should shun4 ,it is only by some such means as this that the public library can be made a real educating power for the masses4 ,in far too many places1 now1 it is simply a place where children can get story-books at the public expense4 ,this cannot long continue1 and ,i believe that the greater part of the libraries which continue to do this work without an effort to fulfil their higher mission1 will surely and inevitably die1 as the ,district ,school and ,agricultural libraries died fifty years ago4 ,the responsibility rests with the people of each place where there is a public library1 as to which of two ends shall be reached4 ,it may be merely a means for furnishing amusement for an hour1 or it may be a central beacon from whence the rays of light shall stream into every house4 ,,adaptation ,,of ,,libraries ,,to ,,constituencies ,prepared by ,samuel ,s4 ,green1 then librarian of the ,worcester1 ,mass4 ,public ,library and a member of the ,state ,library ,commission1 for the ,world's ,library ,congress held at the ,columbian ,exposition 7,chicago1 #ahic7 and printed in the government report thereon4 ,the adaptation favored by ,mr4 ,green consists in weeding out unfitting books4 ,melvil ,dewey1 as editor of this volume of papers1 tells us in a foot-note that in the discussion of ,mr4 ,green's paper1 this process was not generally approved except as the first step in a transfer to other libraries4 ,president ,eliot's suggestion of reservoir libraries for storage is a later stage1 in the same line of thought4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,green appears in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,,note4--,with this paper should be read those pages of the ,chicago discussions in which it was pointed out by leading librarians that to weed out safely would require much costly expert service2 that the most hurtful criticism would be attacks after inevitable cases where some one would greatly wish a book that had been withdrawn as useless2 that the printed catalogs already circulated would be made untrustworthy by parting with any volume included2 that what one wise and learned man would throw out as trash1 another equally wise and learned would consider specially valuable because of differing personal equations4 ,in short1 that however excellent in theory1 it was perhaps the most difficult thing in librarianship to put successfully in practice4 ,while few favored weeding out simply to gain room by getting rid of books little wanted1 many believe in transferring to other libraries which have a distinctly greater need of them4--,m4,d4 ,a resident of a ,massachusetts town to which the ,commonwealth was about to give #ajj worth of books came to secure my influence as a member of the ,state free public library commission to have a large part of the #ajj spent for rare and expensive books on ,massachusetts history4 ,as a large and valuable library made up principally of books of that class was soon to be given to another small town in the same county1 it would have been manifestly unwise to grant this request4 ,it seems unwise also to place a students' library in a small town where there are few who will use it4 ,it would be better to give the library to a flourishing institution at a county seat1 on condition that it shall be open for free consultation by all residents of the county1 and that1 under proper rules1 books may be lent from it to inhabitants of smaller towns for use at home4 ,in this way the library would be so placed that most persons wishing to make investigations would have the books near home1 and the comparatively few investigators in the smaller towns1 such as the man in the town first mentioned1 would also have their interests provided for4 ,the trustees of the ,thomas ,crane ,public ,library at ,quincy1 ,mass41 have concluded1 utilizing the experience of many years1 that a working library of #ae1jjj volumes is sufficient to supply the general wants of the #bj1jjj residents of the city4 ,it is proposed not to let the library grow beyond #bj1jjj volumes while the wants of the city remain what they are1 and when it exceeds that number of volumes to cut it down by taking out books that never have been needed in a popular library like that in ,quincy or that have become useless4 ,it having become evident that an addition would presently have to be made to the building if the recent rate of increase should continue1 it seemed best to the trustees to begin at once to reduce the size of the library4 ,they proceeded1 under the able leadership of ,mr4 ,charles ,francis ,adams1 to remove from the library large numbers of ,government documents1 unnecessary duplicates1 books of an outgrown ephemeral interest1 and those unsuited to the locality4 ,twenty-one hundred and forty-five volumes were removed immediately4 ,the ,quincy library1 by adopting this course1 relieves itself from very considerable prospective expenses and secures money to use in increasing its usefulness4 ,part of the plan is to keep the printed catalogs of the small library up to date and to scatter copies of them widely throughout the city by selling them at a nominal price4 ,it is always expensive to prepare and print a good catalog2 it is very expensive to issue new editions frequently4 ,still1 if a popular library is to do its work well it must introduce its constituents to its books by means of frequent revised editions of a good1 printed catalog4 ,the ,thomas ,crane ,library has been famous for the excellence of its annotated catalog and for lists of books on special subjects for the use of school children4 ,it proposes in future to use more money than in the past in making1 printing1 and keeping up to date good catalogs1 and1 in order to make it practicable to do so1 to keep down the number of volumes in the library1 thus reducing the expenses of cataloging1 and also to save money in housing its books4 ,that is to say1 it is acting on the well-established principle that a small library well cataloged1 if at all adapted in the number of its volumes to the size of a town1 is of incalculably greater advantage to its constituency than one many times larger but poorly equipped with catalogs4 ,it is a distinctive feature of the ,quincy plan not to make the library a special reference library4 ,that city is very near ,boston and ,cambridge1 which it is well known are richly supplied with large general and numerous special libraries4 ,when a man appears in ,quincy who wishes to make a minute inquiry on some special subject1 it is proposed to refer him to the great libraries in the neighboring cities1 and to confine the efforts of the trustees of the ,quincy library to supplying the general wants of its constituency4 ,here1 then1 is a bold attempt at adapting a library to its constituency4 ,shall it be seconded8 ,many will hold it unwise to discuss such a subject publicly4 ,remembering many ill-judged efforts at economy by ignorant1 uneducated1 or parsimonious men in town meetings and on library boards1 they will pronounce it hurtful to libraries to point out to such men that some library experts consider it well to keep down expenses for cataloging and housing books by weeding out libraries4 ,perhaps they are right4 ,whether they are so or not1 however1 their objection is too late4 ,the matter now under consideration is undergoing public discussion1 and it is important that men having special knowledge of library matters should contribute now the results of their experience4 ,unreasonable men in town meetings and in boards of trustees must be answered1 and reasonable men and women need to understand thoroughly the subject in order that their answers may be discriminating and wise4 ,once1 when the ,librarian of ,congress asked that an addition be made to the library rooms1 a member is said to have urged that instead of enlarging the ,capitol1 the library should be weeded out4 ,such a plan would be regarded generally as exceedingly foolish4 ,there must be in many parts of this broad land large and growing libraries which will aim to gather very large general and special collections not limited to books of intrinsic merit4 ,such libraries will have to get many books of little value in themselves to enable students to study subjects historically4 ,it would indeed be very silly to weed out the ,congressional ,library4 ,somewhere there should be accessible 7and where better than in that library87 every book1 pamphlet1 and map published in the ,united ,states4 ,the ,congressional ,library should be a great national library like the ,bibliotheque ,nationale and the ,british ,museum4 ,the ,quincy plan would not work well even in a place the size of ,worcester1 ,mass41 with a population of only #ij1jjj or #ie1jjj1 and but #dd miles from ,boston1 for it is a center of important educational institutions and of inquirers1 and therefore needs large reference libraries4 ,cambridge1 though very much nearer ,boston than ,quincy1 becomes1 because of ,harvard ,university1 a center where there must be a large library4 ,it is too great an inconvenience for ,harvard professors and students to rely1 except for book rarities1 on libraries even so near as those in ,boston4 ,on the other hand1 consider the ,john ,adams ,library at ,quincy4 ,it was collected by ,president ,john ,adams in ,europe and ,america1 and undoubtedly contains many valuable books4 ,but is it in place in ,quincy8 ,it was formerly kept in the ,adams ,academy1 but not proving useful there1 it was transferred to the ,thomas ,crane ,public ,library1 where it now is4 ,mr4 ,charles ,francis ,adams recently said that he only knew of this ,john ,adams ,library having been consulted once in forty years1 and that then he was himself the consulter4 ,it is more convenient for ,mr4 ,adams to make his many researches in the great libraries in ,boston and ,cambridge than in ,quincy1 and his opinion is that this library should be given to the ,boston ,public ,library1 where it would be of great value in supplementing the collections1 and would be readily accessible to the class of students who would use it4 ,perhaps1 however1 ,quincy would be unwilling to give up this library1 which marks its connection with a very distinguished man4 ,while it is a distinctive feature of the ,quincy plan not to make the public library a special reference library1 its success depends on having large reference libraries near at hand4 ,in one respect it encourages making the library a special library1 namely1 on local interests and history4 ,as to the saving in expense possible under the ,quincy plan1 while money is saved which would ordinarily be used in housing books and in other ways1 increased expenditure1 it should be remembered1 is contemplated in frequent issues of improved catalogs4 ,as ,i shall soon show1 the plan1 if well carried out1 requires other expenditures4 ,there are many small libraries which do not need weeding4 ,if a library needs weeding1 as many undoubtedly do1 will it be weeded out wisely8 ,broad-minded intelligence is needful for this kind of work1 as well as education and experience in library work4 ,an expert is as much needed in this work of weeding out as in selecting books for a library at its start4 ,great harm might result from injudicious discarding4 ,another objection likely to be made to the ,quincy plan is that it would often be difficult to decide how large a library is needed in a town or city1 and that this difficulty would be magnified in a growing town4 ,still1 if a thing is desirable it should be done in spite of difficulties4 ,foresight must be exercised and generous provision made for the probable growth of towns1 and the number of volumes changed as changes in the size of population or other considerations demand4 ,supposing a mistake has been made1 the weeding has been made with the accessibility in view of large and special libraries in towns and cities near by4 ,those towns and cities will still remain near to the town which has grown unexpectedly large2 their libraries will still be accessible for reference4 ,the difference between the old state of things and the new is likely to be that the books will be used more under changed circumstances than formerly4 ,but how provide under the ,quincy plan for students who can not afford time and money to frequent the large libraries even in towns or cities near by2 and supposing this number of special inquirers becomes considerable1 can you hope that they will receive a cordial welcome and sympathetic assistance in large neighboring libraries8 ,dangers here hinted at must be guarded against4 ,librarians and trustees should be on the lookout for inquirers and help them to get at the books needed4 ,it is proposed to help them by preparing and issuing often improved printed catalogs4 ,personal assistance would also evidently be needed under the new plan4 ,in some cases it would be necessary to buy books4 ,in others the investigator might be introduced to the officers of the library1 or by some influential person to the officers of a large neighboring library with reference to his being allowed to borrow if he could not use books on the premises4 ,the same thing might perhaps be better accomplished by a loan from the large to the small library4 ,the small library might have to pay for this privilege4 ,it might be desirable1 if an investigator had leisure but not money1 for the small library to pay his car fare to the town where the library to be consulted is situated4 ,large libraries as now constituted are very obliging1 and continually extend courtesies to smaller institutions4 ,the people of ,worcester1 for example1 every week1 and sometimes oftener1 have books borrowed for their use from the ,surgeon-,general's library1 ,washington1 from ,harvard1 the ,boston ,athenaeum1 ,columbia1 ,yale1 and other libraries4 ,many institutions are already extending gratuitously such privileges4 ,supposing it were to become the custom of small libraries to send books and pamphlets which they can get1 but do not need1 to large neighboring libraries where they would be useful4 ,such action would lead to an exchange of various civilities4 ,then1 too1 as the desirability of having large libraries help smaller ones by loans of books becomes more and more obvious1 will not persons of means give money to the former to enable them to do this kind of work for small towns generally or for particular towns in which they may be specially interested8 ,mr4 ,adams's advice to libraries is1 not to accumulate books promiscuously1 but to practice a systematic differentiation in collecting4 ,books which cumber the shelves of one library may be of the greatest value in another4 ,the public documents only of its own town and ,state1 and a few of the national documents relating to matters of general interest1 are in place in the library of a small town4 ,but all public documents have come to be of the greatest service in large libraries and in libraries connected with important educational institutions4 ,even those which seem driest1 because exclusively of statistics1 are much in demand in colleges where students of history and political economy are required to examine original sources4 ,mr4 ,charles ,a4 ,cutter said several years ago1 regarding the proper disposition of pamphlets1 that local pamphlets should be given to local libraries1 professional or scientific pamphlets to special libraries1 miscellaneous and all sorts of pamphlets to larger general libraries4 ,this is excellent advice4 ,even large general libraries practice differentiation1 many of them excluding professional books and leaving special libraries in their neighborhood to accumulate them4 ,a ,state library may properly make a specialty of public documents1 and perhaps law books1 and pay little attention to accumulating other books4 ,a general subscription library with a constituency mainly of people of leisure may find it more useful to collect books in belles-lettres1 biography1 history1 travel1 etc41 than to buy many dealing with industrial subjects4 ,but a public library in a great manufacturing town1 or a special library for architects and engineers1 must specialize on technical books4 ,it is not proposed to destroy books taken out of libraries where they are not needed1 but to place them within reach of those most needing them1 either through other libraries or auction rooms or secondhand bookstores4 ,no countenance would be given to such a proceeding as that of the administrators of the estate of the well-known collector of old books1 ,mr4 ,t4,o4,p4,h4 ,burnham1 who are said to have sent a ton or more of material from his stock to the paper mill4#e ,the people of ,worcester act more wisely4 ,they empty their attics into the rooms of the ,american ,antiquarian ,society or those of the local ,society of ,antiquity4 ,housekeepers there1 too1 dispose similarly of such books as turn up in spring cleaning and are found to be in the way4 ,an extensive system of exchange is in operation under the auspices of the former society1 and books and pamphlets sent to the rooms of either society1 find their way to persons and libraries where they are needed1 and the two antiquarian societies enrich their collections by the exchanges made4 #e ,it is conceivable that after a lifetime of buying whole attics of rejected books and preserving those which no one would buy at any price1 out of an immense stock there might be a ton of duplicate schoolbooks1 incomplete volumes1 and other books and pamphlets which could not even be given away to any library2 since the large libraries would have copies and the smaller ones would not esteem them worth shelf room4--,m4,d4 ,col4 ,thomas ,wentworth ,higginson recently stated that a trustee of the ,museum of ,fine ,arts1 ,boston1 told him that he spent a considerable part of his time in refusing gifts offered to the museum4 ,this trustee is probably wise in declining gifts4 ,there are many books and pamphlets offered to libraries which they would not find useful4 ,these should be accepted only on condition that they may be placed wherever they will be most valuable4 ,differentiation is specially desirable in the smallest libraries4 ,when but little money is available for buying books the small amount should be spent with closest regard to actual needs of the constituency4 ,not infrequently intelligent entertainment and elementary instruction will be the principles that should guide in selecting books for small libraries4 ,with intelligent cooperation several small neighboring towns might adopt to advantage the suggestion that each of them spend a few dollars a year on a specialty1 such as botany1 geology1 zoology2 every town taking a different specialty and all lending to one another4 ,this paper favors in the main the selection of books with special reference to the actual existing needs of the users of the library4 ,such an institution as the flourishing public library of ,providence1 ,r4,i41 might properly1 if allowable for any library in cities of moderate size1 add to its general work some specialty of limited interest4 ,mr4 ,foster1 its librarian1 has recently stated1 however1 that he thinks that notwithstanding the reputation which the famous ,harris collection of poetry gives to the library throughout the country1 it is the best for that library to devote itself almost exclusively to supplying the general needs of ,providence4 ,in conclusion1 it may be stated that ,mr4 ,adams does not claim that the plan of weeding out libraries adopted at ,quincy has never been thought of before4 ,he was not indebted to any book for the idea1 but it had occurred to other persons before4 ,action upon it had always been recommended4 ,mr4 ,adams has taken the bull by the horns4 ,he has put the plan in execution and to a considerable extent has systematized it4 ,he has also called attention to it and made it a living subject for discussion4 ,,relation ,,of ,,free ,,public ,,libraries ,,to ,,the ,,community ,presentations of ,library questions to the general reading public from authoritative sources are exceptionally hard to find1 even at the present day4 ,the one reprinted below was contributed to ,the ,north ,american ,review for ,june1 #ahih1 by ,herbert ,putnam1 then librarian of the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,herbert ,putnam was born in ,new ,york1 ,sept4 #bj1 #ahfa1 the youngest son of the founder of the publishing house4 ,he graduated at ,harvard in #ahhc and studied law4 ,he served as librarian in ,minneapolis1 first of the ,atheneum and then of the ,public ,library in #ahhd-ia1 meanwhile being admitted to the bar in #ahhf4 ,he practised law in ,boston in #ahib-ie1 but in the latter year became librarian of the ,boston ,public ,library1 serving until appointed in #ahii ,librarian of ,congress4 ,his administration has been marked by the development of this institution along the line of service of a national library4 ,during the great war he was ,director of ,library ,war ,service4 ,free libraries have existed for less than a half a century4 ,their establishment assumed that books are beneficial3 but it involved also the assertion that it is the proper function of government to supply books to such of its citizens as may require them at the expense of the community as a whole4 ,libraries of this special type do not yet form the major portion of the institutions supplying books on a large scale to groups of persons4 ,under the head of ,public1 ,society and ,school ,libraries1 these institutions in the ,united ,states aggregate #h1jjj in number1 with #ce1jjj1jjj volumes1 with #cd1jjj1jjj invested in buildings1 with #ag1jjj1jjj of endowments1 and with over #f1jjj1jjj of annual income4 ,of these the free public libraries supported by general taxation number less than #b1jjj1 with #aj1jjj1jj volumes1 and with less than #c1ejj1jjj of annual income4 ,they are1 however1 increasing with disproportionate and amazing rapidity4 ,in ,massachusetts1 but #aj of the #cec cities and towns1 but three-fourths of one per cent4 of the inhabitants now lack them4 ,one hundred and ten library buildings there have been the gift of individuals4 ,no form of private memorial is now more popular2 no form of municipal expenditure meets with readier assent4 ,nor are the initiative and the expenditure left wholly to local enterprises4 ,the ,commonwealth itself takes part3 extending1 through a ,state ,commission1 ,state aid in the form of books and continuing counsel4 ,and ,massachusetts is but one of eight ,states maintaining such commissions4 ,new ,york ,state1 in its system of traveling libraries1 has gone further still in supplementing initial aid with a continuing supply of books1 and even photographs and lantern slides1 purchased by the ,state and distributed through the ,regents of the ,state ,university from ,albany to the remotest hamlet4 ,the first stage of all such legislation is an enabling act--authorizing the establishment of a library by the local authorities2 the next is an act encouraging such establishment by bounties2 and ,new ,hampshire has reached a third by a law actually mandatory1 requiring the local authorities to establish free libraries in proportion to their means and the population to be served4 ,this seems to mark the high-water mark of confidence in the utility of these institutions4 ,it indicates that free public libraries are to be ranked with the common schools1 as institutions indispensable to good citizenship1 whose establishment the ,state for its own protection must require4 ,so the movement has progressed1 until now these #b1jjj public libraries combined are sending out each year over #cj million books1 to do their work for good or ill in the homes of the ,united ,states4 ,the entire #b1jjj result from one conviction and a uniform purpose4 ,yet among them there is every variety in scope and in organization4 ,there is the hamlet library of a hundred volumes1 open for a couple of hours each week in some farm house1 under a volunteer custodian1 maintained by the town1 but enlisting private contribution through bazaars and sociables--sending out its books by the local provision dealer to its remote and scattered constituents4 ,there is the library of the great city1 with elaborate equipment and complex organization to meet a vast and complex need4 ,such a library as you may find at ,chicago2 a city which1 though it has two great endowed reference libraries1 still considers its million and a half people entitled to a municipal library1 with a two million dollar building1 studded with costly mosaics1 and aided by forty branches and stations in bringing the books nearer each home4 ,or such a library as exists at ,boston2 organized as a ,city ,department1 under ,trustees appointed by the ,mayor1 maintained1 like the schools1 or the police1 or the fire department1 by general taxation2 with a central building which has cost the city two and one-half million dollars1 with ten branch libraries and seventeen delivery stations scattered through the city and reached daily by its delivery wagons2 with #gjj1jjj books2 and accommodations for over #b1jjj readers at one time2 including in its equipment such special departments as a bindery and a printing office2 requiring for its administration over #bej employes1 and for its maintenance each year a quarter of a million dollars1 in addition to the proceeds of endowments2 and representing in its buildings1 books and equipment an investment of over five millions of dollars1 the interest on which1 at four per cent41 to the expenditure for maintenance1 is equivalent to an annual burden of #dej1jjj for its creation and support4 ,when this function was first proposed for a municipality1 the argument used was that in this country books had come to be the principal instruments of education2 that the community was already supporting a public school system2 that this system brought a youth to the threshold of education and there left him2 that it qualified him to use books1 but did nothing to put books within his reach2 and finally that it was of paramount importance that the means of general information should be so diffused that the largest possible number of persons should be induced to read and understand questions going down to the very foundation of social order1 which are constantly presenting themselves1 and which we1 as a people1 are constantly required to decide1 and do decide1 either ignorantly or wisely4 ,a glance at the libraries now in operation in the ,united ,states shows that the ends proposed for them fall far short of the service which they actually perform4 ,they begin with the child before he leaves school2 while he is still in his elementary studies they furnish to him books which stir his imagination1 and bring the teaching of the text books into relation with the art and with life4 ,they thus help to render more vivid the formal studies pursued2 but they also prepare the child to become an intelligent constituent hereafter4 ,this work cannot begin too early1 for four-fifths of the children pass out into active life without reaching the high schools4 ,it need not be deferred1 for now the number is almost countless of books that touch with imagination and charm of style even the most elementary subjects2 and the library can add illustrations which through the eye convey an impression of the largest subjects in the most elemental way4 ,if the library begins with the citizen earlier than was foreseen1 it is prepared to accompany him further than was thought necessary4 ,it responds not only to the needs of the general reader1 but also to those of the student and even1 to the extent of its means1 to those of the scholar engaged in special research4 ,the maintenance of universities at the common expense is familiar in the ,west2 it is less so in the ,east4 ,and there is still contention that institutions for highly specialized instruction should not be charged upon the community as a whole4 ,but no one has questioned the propriety of charging upon the community the support of a library whose leading purpose may be the encouragement of the higher scholarship4 ,finally1 to the services just above described the public library has added another3 the supply of books for proposes purely recreative4 ,this service1 if anticipated1 was certainly not explicitly argued for2 nor was it implied in ,edward ,everett's prediction that the public library would prove the intellectual common of the community4 ,the common that ,mr4 ,everett had in mind was a pasturage1 not a baseball ground1 or lover's walk1 or a loafing place for tramps4 ,but as regards certain of the books customarily supplied1 the ordinary public library of to-day is furnishing recreation rather than instruction4 ,in fact1 if we look at the history of free public libraries in this country1 we find that the one point of practice on which they have been criticised is the supply of merely recreative literature4 ,the protest has come from thoughtful persons1 and it means something1 lightly as it has been waved aside4 ,the excuse that used to be given for the supply of inferior books was that they would entice to the use of the better books4 ,there was to be reached a mass of persons of inferior taste and imperfect education4 ,these persons must be introduced gradually to an acquaintance with the better class of reading through the medium of the familiar4 ,and1 at all events1 it was better that they should read something than not read at all4 ,i am not quite so confident of the regenerating virtue of mere printed matter as such2 and ,i am confident that the reading of a book inferior in style and taste debases taste1 and that the book which sets forth1 even with power1 a false view of society does harm to the reader1 and is so far an injury to the community of which he is part4 ,but even granting the premises1 the conclusion is doubtful4 ,we do not deliberately furnish poor art at public expense because there is a portion of the public which cannot appreciate the better4 ,nor when the best is offered1 without apology1 does the uncultured public in fact complain that it is too advanced4 ,thousands of ordinary people come to see and enjoy the ,abbey and ,chavannes and ,sargent decorations in the ,boston ,public ,library4 ,no one has yet complained that the paintings are too advanced for him4 ,the best of art is not too good for the least of men1 provided he can be influenced at all4 ,nor are the best of books too good for him1 provided he can be influenced1 and provided they are permitted1 as are the pictures to make their appeal directly4 ,they must not be secluded behind catalogs and formal paraphernalia4 ,the practice which admitted the scholar to the shelves1 and limited the general reader to the catalogues1 gave the best opportunity to him who least needed it4 ,the modern practice sets before the reader least familiar with good titles a selection of good books4 ,it places them on open shelves where he can handle them without formality4 ,the result is almost invariably1 that he is attracted to a book in advance of his previous tastes4 ,perhaps a chance paragraph appeals to some experience or ambition1 or an illustration stirs his imagination4 ,the books themselves draw him outside of his previous limitations4 ,in the place1 therefore1 of books inferior in quality1 the more modern public library seeks to attract by the freest possible access to books of the best quality4 ,not that this practice is universal4 ,but the opinion and tendency are in this safe direction4 ,however1 quality assumed1 the general question as to the reading of recreative literature remains4 ,what shall we say of the fact that sixty per cent4 of the circulation of the free public libraries still consists of fiction8 ,in the first place1 that this percentage takes no account of reference use1 which is almost wholly of serious literature2 second1 that as to home use the ratio in circulation of fiction to serious literature does not represent a similar ratio of trivial to serious service4 ,fiction is the small coin of literature4 ,it must circulate more rapidly to represent the same volume of real business done4 ,a volume of fiction may be issued1 returned and reissued three times while a biography or history or work of science is issued once4 ,it will then count seventy-five per cent4 in the circulation4 ,but the serious book has during the entire period been out in the hands of the reader2 and the service which it has performed--the period of attention which it has occupied--equals that of the novel in its three issues4 ,and1 finally1 there is to be considered the influence of the best fiction toward general culture 7if the library is not merely to inform but also to cultivate7--in broadening the sympathies1 giving a larger tolerance1 a kindlier humanity1 a more intelligent helpfulness2 in affording the rest that is in itself an equipment for work1 and the distraction that may save from impulse to evil4 ,however1 the amount of fiction circulated in proportion to the total work of the library is on the average steadily decreasing4 ,at the same time the quality is improving2 in part through critical selection1 in part as a happy result of the fact that the inferior novels are also1 as a rule1 inferior books1 so poorly manufactured that libraries cannot afford to buy them4 ,but there is standard fiction and current fiction2 and it is the current fiction that constitutes by itself a special problem still perplexing4 ,it is a problem that concerns not the uneducated child1 nor the illiterate adult2 it is caused by the people of intelligent education who are avid to read the latest novel by ,mr4 ,x4 or ,mrs4 ,y4 while it is still the latest novel by ,mr4 ,x4 or ,mrs4 ,y4 ,it is being talked about at dinner or afternoon tea4 ,well-informed people are reading it2 to read it is a social necessity4 ,the reason that presses the public library to supply promptly every most recent book in the domain of scientific literature is apparent enough4 ,such literature contributes facts which are the data for action4 ,but novels in general belong to the literature of power4 ,their purpose is not to furnish information but to give pleasure4 ,literature of this sort adds no new fact1 nor is it superseded1 nor does it lose any of its value by lapse of time4 ,to assume that it does would be to assume that beauty of form could become obsolete4 ,this is not so in painting1 in sculpture1 in architecture2 why should it be so in prose fiction1 in poetry1 in the drama8 ,was there1 in fact1 an aesthetic value in the ,canterbury ,tales in #achj1 in ,hamlet in #afjb1 in ,ivanhoe in #ahai1 that is not to be found in them in #ahih8 ,but a large portion of latter day fiction is fiction with a purpose2 another way of saying that it is a work of art composed for the dissemination of doctrine4 ,this element promotes it at once to the dignity of a treatise2 a new view of politics1 a new criticism of social conditions1 a new creed6 ,here is something that concerns the student of sociology4 ,and surely his needs are worthy of prompt response4 ,in fact1 his needs and the general curiosity do get prompt response1 and the new novels are freely bought4 ,how freely ,i have recently sought to ascertain4 ,i asked of some seventy libraries their yearly expenditure for current fiction in proportion to their total expenditure for books4 ,the returns show an average of from ten to fifteen per cent4 ,in one case the amount reached fifty per cent41 in others it fell as low as two per cent4 ,the ratio for fiction in general is much higher on the average2 but fiction in general includes ,scott and ,thackeray and other standards1 an ample supply of which would not usually be questioned4 ,at ,providence and ,worcester1 two of the most active and popular of public libraries1 the purchases of fiction1 current and standard1 formed last year but seven and eleven per cent41 respectively1 of the entire expenditure for books4 ,at ,boston there were selected but #agh titles of current fiction 7out of nearly #fjj read and considered74 ,but some dozen copies were bought of each title1 so that the entire purchases reached #b1cjj volumes and cost about #b1cjj4 ,this was about six and a half per cent4 on a total expenditure for books of #cd1jjj4 ,at ,st4 ,louis the practise is to buy but two copies out of the general funds to be circulated free4 ,nearly a hundred more are added which are rented out and thus pay for themselves4 ,the statistics do not seem to show that the initial expenditure for current fiction is very alarming4 ,but the purchase price of these books is but a fraction of the expense of handling them4 ,they cannot be supplied in adequate quantities2 for while the frenzy of curiosity persists1 an adequate supply is beyond the resources of any library4 ,but since the attempt to supply is futile the pretense is injurious4 ,the presence of the titles in the catalogues misleads the reader into a multitude of applications which are a heavy expense to the library without benefit to him4 ,and the acquisition of the single book means to the library the expense of handling a hundred applications for it which are futile to one that can be honored4 ,in this sense a current novel involves perhaps a hundred times the expense of any other book in being supplied to but the same number of readers4 ,the ,british museum acquires the new novels as published2 but it withholds them from the readers until five years after their date of publication4 ,it is my personal belief that a one year limitation of this sort adopted by our free libraries generally would relieve them of anxiety and expense and their readers of inconvenience and delusion4 ,but as regards current light literature in general it is worth while to consider whether the responsibility of public libraries has not been modified by the growth and diffusion of the newspaper and periodical press4 ,in #ahej1 when the free public library was started1 the number of newspapers and periodicals published in the ,united ,states was about #b1ejj2 now it is nearly #bj1jjj4 ,the total annual issues have increased from #djj million to over #d-a_/b billion copies4 ,the ordinary daily of #ahej contained perhaps a single column of literary matter4 ,to-day it contains1 for the same price1 seven columns4 ,in #ahej it gave no space to fiction2 now it offers ,kipling1 ,howells1 ,stockton1 ,bret ,harte1 ,anthony ,hope1 ,crockett1 ,bourget and many others of the best of the contemporary writers of fiction4 ,then there are the cheap magazines1 which tender a half dozen stories for the price of a cigar or a bodkin4 ,there are1 also1 the cheap libraries1 which have flooded the ,united ,states with engaging literature available to almost any purse4 ,in short1 conditions have altered4 ,a vast mass of light literature is now cheaply accessible to the individual which formerly could be acquired only painfully or at great expense4 ,why then should the public libraries struggle to supply it in book form at the public expense8 ,but as to a certain percentage of current light literature there is an embarrassment that ,i have not touched4 ,it is the embarrassment of making selection without giving offense4 ,all cannot be bought4 ,a choice must be made4 ,with reference to standard literature authoritative judgement is not difficult to obtain4 ,but here there has been no lapse of time to balance opinion4 ,an anticipatory estimate must be attempted and attempted by the library itself4 ,now1 if the library decide against the book it is very likely held to blame for dictating to its readers4 ,it is one thing1 says a journal commenting on an adverse decision1 it is one thing to consider this novel pernicious1 but it is another and more serious thing for the foremost library in the country maintained at public expense1 to deny to a large and respectable portion of the public an opportunity to judge for itself whether the work of a man of 7this author's7 calibre is pernicious or not4 ,the author in this case was1 of course1 not ,mr4 ,x41 but rather ,mr4 ,a41 an already known quantity4 ,so a library is not to be permitted to apply a judgement of its own6 ,it is not protected by the fact that this judgment coincides with the judgment of professional critics--so far at least as these may be ascertained4 ,the author may have turned perverse and written a book distinctly bad4 ,yet this book is to be bought and supplied to enable each member of the public to form a judgment of his own upon it4 ,and it is to be so bought out of public funds entrusted to the library for educational purposes4 ,censorship has to us an ugly sound2 but does the library act as censor when it declares a book beyond its province8 ,does it dictate what the people shall read when it says1 ,we decline to buy this book for you with public funds8 ,this is a question which is far larger than the selection or rejection of a novel or two4 ,it involves the whole question of authority1 and it concerns not merely the extremes1 but the varying degrees of worth in literature4 ,most departments of educational work are founded upon principles1 cautiously ascertained1 and systematically adhered to4 ,their consistent maintenance upon principle is the easier because each other such department deals with a special constituency1 limited either in age or perhaps in sex1 or at least in purpose1 and one which accepts as authoritative the system provided for it4 ,the free public library1 however1 has to satisfy a constituency practically unlimited1 including every age of both sexes1 whose intellectual need ranges from that of the most illiterate to that of the most highly accomplished1 whose education in books ranges from that of the person who has never entered a library to that of the scholar whose life has been a perpetual training in the use of the library2 the assertive classes1 the bashful classes4 ,and if toward this vast and heterogeneous constituency it seeks to assume the position of an educator1 it finds that its authority is one which the constituents themselves are unanimously unwilling to concede4 ,each constituent deems himself not a beneficiary accepting some service1 but a proprietor demanding it4 ,now1 within each community there are persons who would have every kind of printed matter published4 ,if1 therefore1 a public library exists simply to respond to the demands of its readers1 we must have1 instead of an educational system devised by experts and administered with reference to general principles1 a system fluctuating with each eccentric requirement of individuals1 indefinite in number1 various in taste and culture1 inexpert1 except as each may be competent to judge his own need1 incapable of expression in the aggregate1 and as individuals without responsibility for the general results4 ,if1 on the other hand1 an authority is to be vested in the library1 what limits shall it set upon itself1 upon what principles of discrimination shall it proceed1 in what directions may it expediently control8 ,i but state the problem4 ,i shall not endeavor to answer it4 ,but it is one of the most important involved in the relation of the public library to the community4 ,from such questions an ordinary educational institution stands aloof4 ,it is content to represent the judgment of the majority in matters of morality and to inculate the lesson of tried truths as against untried fancies in matters of opinion affecting the social order4 ,it thus throws its influence in favor of the established order of things4 ,but its right1 nay1 its duty1 to do this is unquestioned4 ,nor is it regarded as disparaging the opinion which it does not teach4 ,but a public library is not so exempt4 ,in addition to the doctrine which is accepted1 it is held to have a duty to the opinion which is struggling for recognition4 ,as to minority opinion1 it is not so much a university as a forum4 ,nay1 it is to give every advantage to minority opinion1 for--in our resentment of intolerance--minority opinion is not merely tolerated1 it is pampered4 ,now1 it is not for libraries or librarians to act as censors and denounce this or that publication4 ,yet it is to be remembered that a library which circulates a book helps to promulgate the doctrine which the book contains4 ,and if public libraries circulate books which teach restless1 irreverent or revolutionary doctrines1 they offer us the incongruity of a municipality aiding in the propagation of ideas which are subversive of social order4 ,on the other hand1 if there is to be exclusion on such grounds1 where is the line of exclusion to be drawn8 ,shall we say at doctrines which1 if carried into action1 would be criminal under the law8 ,would the public rest content with this8 ,moreover1 the principle of exclusion accepted1 who is to apply it8 ,whose judgment shall determine whether the particular book does or does not offend8 ,shall the library determine8 ,but will it not then be dictating to its readers8 ,will it not be unduly discriminating against a certain class of opinion when it has undertaken to represent impartially all shades of opinion8 ,will it not offend the remonstrant against the existing order of things who has a grievance1 and1 therefore1 a right to be heard2 and the defender of the existing order of things who must know the opinion in order to combat it2 and the student of sociology whose curiosity reaches all extremes and regards them simply as phenomena upon which he is entitled to be informed8 ,i believe that it will4 ,and yet ,i do not see how the library can escape exercising judgment4 ,for there is no other responsible authority which can be brought to exercise it4 ,we must then expect numerous decisions which will offend a portion of the community4 ,they will usually be on the conservative side--of exclusion4 ,and it is for those who believe that a public library should be a conservative influence in the community to see that it has the authority and is protected in its exercise4 ,not that in respect of the violent books there is great injury in present conditions4 ,in the public libraries of to-day there exists no doubt material sufficiently anarchic to upset society1 if it could have its will upon society4 ,the fact is1 that though there is plenty in literature that is incendiary1 there is little in our community that is inflammable4 ,the good that the libraries do is obvious and acknowledged4 ,they represent the accumulated experience of mankind brought to our service4 ,they are the custodians of whatever is most worthy of preservation in our own life and literature4 ,they are the natural depositories of what we have of memorial and of records2 the original entries of legislation and of achievement4 ,they must render history available2 they must adequately exhibit science2 they may help to refine by the best examples in each art1 and in this they may also contribute to the industrial life of the community by educating the artisan into an artist1 his craft into an art4 ,and through record and description of processes and inventions they may contribute to the foundations of great industries4 ,they touch the community as a whole as perhaps does no other single organized agency for good4 ,they offer to the shyest ignorance equality with the most confident scholarship1 and demand no formal preliminary which might abash ignorance4 ,they have a profound duty--not generally appreciated--to help render homogeneous the very heterogeneous elements of our population4 ,thirty per cent4 of it has come to us from an alien life and alien institutions4 ,one-third of the people in our six leading cities are of foreign birth2 seventy-one per cent4 were either born abroad or born of foreign parentage4 ,in the assimilation of this foreign element no single agency is perhaps so potent as our public libraries4 ,the public libraries deem themselves the allies of formal educational processes2 but also the direct educators of that part of the community not subject to the formal processes4 ,it is this latter responsibility which has led them to attempt a broader service than the mere supply of books4 ,a book is not the only nor necessarily the most effective vehicle for conveying knowledge4 ,there are illustrations which more directly convey an impression1 and often as fully state a fact4 ,and photographs and process reproductions are now part of the equipment of a public library almost as conventional as books4 ,within the past year #aj1jjj such have been added to the collections of the ,boston ,public ,library2 not as works of art 7they are for the most part cheap silver prints and the ,art ,museum is but a hundred feet distant72 nor merely as aids to the study of the fine arts and the useful arts1 but also as convenient auxiliaries to the study of history1 of literature and institutions4 ,and they are used by individuals and by classes not as a substitute for the text1 but as helping to render vivid the lesson of the text4 ,with these go lectures in exposition4 ,every building of importance recently designed for the uses of a public library includes an art gallery and a lecture hall4 ,what an immense augmentation of function this implies6 ,it implies that the library is no longer merely an aggregate of books1 each passive within rigid limits2 but that it is an active agent having under its control material which is kept plastic and which it moulds into incredibly varied shapes to suit incredibly varied needs4 ,the experience of the ,boston ,public ,library shows that in the case of books each increase of facilities creates an increased demand4 ,the trustees of #aheb boasted that they were providing for as many as fifty readers at a time2 the trustees of #ahhg thought themselves venturesome in providing for #ejj readers at a time2 and within a month after the new building was opened it was forced to accommodate over #gjj at a time4 ,every week over #cj1jjj persons enter the ,central ,library building1 and every year #a1bjj1jjj volumes are drawn for home use by the #fe1jjj card-holders4 ,yet these figures represent still but a portion of the persons reached and the work to be done4 ,nor can facilities for distribution keep pace with the need4 ,for a city of a half million people spread over an area of forty square miles adequate library facilities cannot ever be provided4 ,a municipality which even approximates the adequate in providing buildings1 equipment1 administration and general literature at the public expense must still look to private gift for the specialized material necessary to a great reference collection4 ,that the ,boston ,public ,library is next to the ,british ,museum in ,shakespeariana is1 to be sure1 the result of a special expenditure by the city4 ,but the larger part of its special collections which have given it distinction as a great scholars' library1 has come from private gift2 the ,ticknor collection of ,spanish literature1 the ,bowditch collection of mathematics1 the ,chamberlain collection of autographs1 the ,brown collection of music and many others4 ,and a city which erects for its public library a building which is monumental is putting forward the most attractive invitation to private gift4 ,the gifts which have come to ,boston as the direct result of the new building have already reached a twelfth of its cost4 ,with proper organization and a liberal co-operation between municipal and private effort the opportunities for service are almost limitless4 ,the risk is the greater of attempts at service either legally inappropriate or practically inexpedient1 and the risk is not lessened by a popular appreciation which is more enthusiastic than it is apt to be discriminating4 ,there is1 therefore1 the greater need of discrimination on the part of the library itself and of an authority which will protect its exercise4 ,this authority can be conferred only by intelligent public opinion on the part of those who are capable of appreciating constitutional limitations4 ,,the ,,public ,,library3 ,,its ,,uses ,,to ,,the ,,municipality ,written for the ,national ,municipal ,league and printed in ,the ,library ,journal for ,june1 #aijc1 eight years after the author1 ,dr4 ,john ,s4 ,billings1 had begun his service as director of the ,new ,york ,public ,library2 largely a defence of libraries against certain objections4 ,the statement of the part played by sentiment in popular institutions1 and its justification1 are striking and true4 ,john ,shaw ,billings was born in ,switzerland ,county1 ,ind41 in #ahci1 graduated from ,miami ,university in #aheg1 studied medicine and after serving as a surgeon in the ,civil ,war1 was assigned to the ,surgeon ,general's ,office in ,washington1 of whose library he compiled the #af-volume ,index ,catalogue4 ,after service in ,johns ,hopkins and ,pennsylvania ,universities he was chosen in #ahie director of the newly established ,new ,york ,public ,library1 where he served until his death in #aiac1 planning and supervising the construction of its central building4 ,the great majority of cities of #be1jjj inhabitants and upward in the ,united ,states have public libraries of some sort1 and the same is true of many of the smaller cities4 ,many of these libraries have been founded on gifts of individuals1 some have developed from subscription libraries1 but the majority are now supported mainly or entirely by funds appropriated by the city government4 ,a considerable number are still in the formative stage1 this being true of those for which buildings are being erected from funds provided by ,mr4 ,carnegie and for several hundred others for which he will probably provide buildings in the near future4 ,there may be excessive and unjustifiable taxation for the support of a public library--the amount which the city can afford for this purpose should be carefully considered in connection with its needs for a pure water supply and good sewage disposal1 for means of communication1 for the care of the sick poor and for public schools4 ,each case must be judged by itself2 the only general rule ,i have to suggest is that in the department of education the claims of the public library for support are more important than those of municipal college or high school4 ,the people who have no taxable property1 and who therefore often erroneously suppose that they contribute nothing toward the payment of the taxes1 are usually quite willing to have a higher tax rate imposed for the purpose of securing for themselves and their families free library facilities--although in exceptional cases religious or sociological opinions may lead them to oppose it4 ,a considerable number of taxpayers on the other hand1 are more or less reluctant to have their assessments increased for this purpose1 and their arguments should be considered and met4 ,they are3 #a4 ,that they should not be taxed for things they do not want and never use4 #b4 ,that furnishing free books tends to pauperize the community and to discourage the purchase of books for home use4 #c4 ,that there is no evidence that free public libraries improve the community materially or morally4 #d4 ,that the greater part of the books used are works of fiction and that these are injurious to the readers4 #e4 ,that most of the arguments used in favor of free public libraries are merely sentimental and emotional4 ,the first of these reasons would apply also to taxes for public schools1 street paving1 sewerage1 and many other items of municipal expenditure and has no weight4 ,with regard to the second argument it is not a sufficient reply to say that every one pays through the taxes1 for this would apply equally well to free lodging houses1 free lunchrooms and soup kitchens1 free fuel1 etc41 all of which it generally believed tend to pauperize a city1 except in great and special emergencies4 ,the proper answer is that the free public library is an important and1 indeed1 necessary part of the system of free education which is required to secure intelligent citizens in our form of popular government1 and that while in a few very exceptional cases free schools and free libraries may tend to improvidence or indolence or even to certain forms of crime1 these rare cases are of no importance in comparison with the benefits which education confers upon the immense majority of the community and with the fact that without free schools and libraries a large part of the people will not be sufficiently educated to be useful citizens4 ,with the regard to the third count1 the public library1 again1 may be considered together with the public school4 ,while it is difficult to trace to either specific instances of material or moral improvement1 it is certain that the general diffusion of intelligence which both certainly effect does result beneficially in these directions4 ,communities with flourishing free schools and libraries are usually more prosperous and better than those without such facilities1 and1 while there is doubtless room here for a confusion of cause and effect1 it is probable that there is both action and reaction4 ,prosperity calls for increased facilities for education and these in turn tend to make the community more prosperous4 ,that the majority of books withdrawn from public libraries are works of fiction cannot be denied4 ,many librarians are wont to deplore this fact1 and most libraries endeavor in one way or another to decrease the percentage of fiction in their circulation4 ,the proportion of recreative reading in a public library is necessarily large4 ,in like manner1 the greater proportion of those who visit a zoological or botanical garden do so for amusement4 ,yet the information that they secure in so doing is none the less valuable and both are certainly educational institutions4 ,so if in the public library a large number of its users get their history1 their travel and their biography through the medium of recreative readings we should not complain4 ,were it otherwise these readers would probably lack altogether the information that they now certainly acquire4 ,taking up the final count in the indictment1 it is doubtless true that sentimental and emotional considerations have had much to do with library development4 ,they have furnished the initial motive power1 as they have for free schools1 for the origin and progress of democratic government1 and for most of the advances of civilization4 ,they often precede deliberate1 conscious reasoning and judgment1 yet they are often themselves the result of an unconscious reasoning process producing action of the will in advance of deliberate judgment4 ,sometimes they are pure reflexes1 like winking when the eye is threatened by a blow4 ,the free public library can neither be established nor maintained usefully without their aid1 but their methods--or want of method--must be carefully guided to produce good results4 ,the sentiment that we ought to establish institutions for the diffusion of knowledge is the expression of a real economic need and should be directed and encouraged and not suppressed4 ,logic is a useful steering apparatus1 but a very poor motive power4 ,,the ,,library3 ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,its ,,recognition ,delivered by ,frederick ,m4 ,crunden before the ,library ,section of the ,international ,congress of ,arts and ,science1 held in connection with the ,louisiana ,purchase ,exposition at ,st4 ,louis in #aijd1 closes with a summary of the public library's functions that remains measurably true to-day1 although1 of course1 it could now be somewhat expanded4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,crunden appears in ,vol4 ,i4 ,the ,louisiana ,purchase ,exposition is an epitome of the life and activity of the world--from the naked ,negrito to the grande dame with her elaborate ,paris costume1 from the rude wigwam of the red ,indian to the ,world's ,fair palace filled with the finest furniture1 rugs and tapestries1 sculpture and painting1 and decorations that the highest taste and finest technique can produce--from the monotonous din of the savage tom-tom to the uplifting and enthralling strains of a great symphony orchestra--from fire by friction1 the first step of man beyond the beast1 to the grand electric illumination that makes of these grounds and buildings the most beautiful art-created spectacle that ever met the human eye4 ,and to all this magnificent appeal to the senses are superadded the marvels of modern science and its applications--the wonders of the telescope1 the microscope and the spectroscope1 the telegraph1 in its latest wireless extension1 the electric motor and electric light1 the telephone and the phonograph1 the ,roentgen ray and the new-found radium4 ,and now after this vision of wondrous beauty1 this triumph of the grand arts of architecture and sculpture and landscape--of all the arts1 fine and useful--has for six months enraptured the senses of people from all quarters of the globe1 the learned men of the world have gathered here to set forth and discuss the fundamental principals that underlie the sciences1 their correlations and the methods of their application to the arts of life--to summarize the progress of the past1 to discuss the condition of the present and attempt1 perhaps1 a forecast of the future4 ,in the scheme of classification1 our subject appears in the last department that concerns itself with man's purely mundane affairs1 and is the last section in that department4 ,it thus appears properly as a climax and summary of the arts and sciences intelligible to man in his present stage of existence2 and if the problem of the future life is ever solved this side of the grave1 the knowledge conserved and disseminated by the library will be the starting-point and the inspiration of the advance1 as it has been of all progress since the art of written speech was invented4 ,the library is the reservoir of the common social life of the race4 ,it is at once the accumulator and the transmitter of social energy4 ,without the library the highest social culture is impossible2 and a most moderate degree could be achieved by very few4 ,under the main division1 ,social ,culture1 the library is one of the five sections in the ,department of ,education4 ,in education are summed up all the achievements of the past and the possibilities of the future4 ,in the words of ,wendell ,phillips1 ,education is the one thing worthy the deep1 controlling anxiety of the thoughtful man4 ,education1 exclaims ,mazzini1 and my whole doctrine is included and summed up in this grand word4 ,it is practically a truism that ,jules ,simon utters when he says ,le peuple qui a les meilleures ecoles est le premier peuple2 s'il ne l'est pas aujourd'hui il le sera demain4 ,under this ,department of ,education1 with its grades1 the ,school1 the ,college and the ,university1 the ,library is assigned the last section4 ,it belongs there in chronological order of development as an active factor in popular instruction and enlightenment2 and1 furthermore1 the presentation of its claims and functions comes naturally after those of the other factors in education1 because it is an essential coadjutor and supplement to each and all4 ,it is a summary and a climax4 ,there have always been libraries1 and they have always been a factor in education2 but the public1 free1 tax-supported library is but just half a century old1 and could hardly be considered out of the long clothes of infancy till the year #ahgf2 while its general acceptance as an essential supplement to the public school and a co-ordinate factor with the college and university may be considered the accomplishment of the last decade4 ,there are still teachers who look on general reading as an interference with school work and an extra burden on their shoulders4 ,we start1 then1 with the axiomatic proposition that all human progress depends on education2 and no elaborate demonstration is necessary to show that the library is an essential factor in every grade of education4 ,higher education1 certainly1 cannot dispense with the library4 ,the well-known dictum of ,carlyle1 ,the true university of modern times is a collection of books1 was accepted as a striking statement of a man with rhetorical habit1 without1 perhaps1 a realization of its full significance4 ,it has been recently expanded into a more express and specific tribute to the importance of the library in university education4 ,in an address delivered in ,st4 ,louis and afterwards published in the ,north ,american ,review1 ,president ,harper said3 ,the place occupied by libraries and laboratories in the educational work of to-day1 as compared with that of the past1 is one of commanding importance4 ,indeed1 the library and the laboratory have already practically revolutionized the methods of higher education4 ,in the really modern institution1 the chief building is the library4 ,it is the center of institutional activity4444 ,that factor of college work1 the library1 fifty years ago almost unknown1 to-day already the center of the institution's intellectual activity1 half a century hence1 with its sister1 the laboratory1 almost equally unknown fifty years ago1 will have absorbed all else and will have become the institution itself4 ,as to the value of the library in elementary education ,doctor ,harris says3 ,what there is good in our ,american system points towards the preparation of the pupil for the independent study of the book by himself4 ,it points towards acquiring the ability of self-education by means of the library4 ,i might quote similar utterances from many other eminent educators as to the value--the necessity--of the library in early education2 but ,i can think of no stronger summing-up of the subject1 nor from higher authority1 than this statement from ,president ,eliot3 ,from the total training during childhood there should result in the child a taste for interesting and improving reading1 which should direct and inspire its subsequent intellectual life4 ,that schooling which results in this taste for good reading1 however unsystematic or eccentric the schooling may have been1 has achieved a main end of elementary education2 and that schooling which does not result in implanting this permanent taste has failed4444 ,the uplifting of the democratic masses depends on this implanting at school of the taste for good reading4 ,to persons who have given little thought to educational questions these utterances will have the weight that attaches to the highest authority2 but we need no university president or national commissioner to tell us these facts4 ,we have learned them from our own experience2 and1 enlightened as we now are1 it seems to us strange that question could ever have been raised as to the essential character of the library in elementary education4 ,yet there are some of us1 ,i am sure1 who can recall painful consequences from putting into practice an educational theory not generally accepted by the pedagogues of our childhood days4 ,we know that higher education is impossible without a library1 for the library is the storehouse of the world's knowledge1 the record of humanity's achievements1 the history of mankind's trials and sorrows and sufferings1 of its victories and defeats and of its gradual progress upwards in spite of frequent fluctuation and failure4 ,in this chronicle of the past lie lessons for the present and the future2 from the lives of storied heroes comes the inspiration that leads the race onward and upward4 ,a university without a library would of necessity have a very small and weak faculty--only the few professors who could be induced to go where the most important instrumentality of their work was lacking3 the university that has an adequate library includes in its faculty the professors of all other universities and all the great teachers of all countries and ages4 ,but is it worth while to consider a university without a library8 ,can there be such an institution8 ,in higher education1 then1 the library is a necessity4 ,in elementary and secondary education it is no less essential1 if the most is to be made of the few years that the average child spends in school and if he is to be started on a path of self-culture4 ,on this point ,stanley ,jevons says3 ,in omitting that small expenditure in a universal system of libraries which would enable young men and women to keep up the three ,r's and continue their education1 we spend ,l#ig and stingily decline the ,l#c really needed to make the rest of the ,l#ajj effective4 ,at the ,international ,library ,conference in ,london1 in #ahig1 one of the most distinguished ,american librarians1 who has been an administrator in a large educational field outside of the library1 expressed his view of the supreme importance of the library in a scheme of popular education by saying that if he had to choose between the public school and the public library--if he could have only one--7though the alternative is one that never will or can be presented71 he would keep the library and let the school go4 ,for1 he argued1 every child would learn to read somehow2 and1 with a free library that actively sought him1 he would be better off than if he had a school to teach him to read1 but no books to read after he had learned4 ,but however divergent might be opinions regarding this impossible alternative1 there is no doubt that the public library1 with enlarged functions and activities1 has at least equal potentialities with the school4 ,whether the formal instruction of the school or the broader education of the library is of greater value1 depends on what is the chief aim4 ,if it is merely to make breadwinners1 the school may be the more useful1 though in this1 too1 the library is an efficient coadjutor2 but if our purpose is to make men and women1 citizens of a progressive nation1 active members of an aspiring society1 the library may fairly claim at least equal rank with the school4 ,for the school wields its direct influence over the average child but a few years2 the library is an active influence through life4 ,again1 more than ninety-five children out of every hundred leave school before they are sufficiently mature to comprehend those studies which open their eyes to the universe1 which bear upon their relations to their fellow-men1 upon their duties as citizens of a state1 as members of organized society4 ,these are the studies that deal with the most important problems that mankind has to solve4 ,they cannot be taught to children2 they cannot be taught--dogmatically--at all4 ,they involve the consideration of burning questions1 subjects of bitter controversy--the world-old battle between conservatism and innovation which1 as ,emerson says1 is the subject of civil history4 ,they cannot be taught by any teacher1 they cannot be taught by any text-book or by any one book4 ,their adequate consideration calls for the reading of many books--books of the present and the future as well as the past4 ,the electrician who allows himself to be guided by the treatises of twenty years ago would have no standing2 neither has the economist or sociologist who has not kept up with the literature of the last thirty years--or the last three years4 ,it would be of no particular advantage for all of us to be electricians4 ,we can safely trust that field to experts2 but it is extremely desirable that every man should comprehend the great issues of economics and politics4 ,the school cannot even ,,present the important problems of sociology2 the university cannot adequately do so without the library4 ,on no other subject is the wide reading that ,matthew ,arnold enjoins so necessary4 ,and no other subject is of such momentous importance to mankind2 for the betterment of social conditions is a necessary forerunner and foundation of moral and religious progress4 ,and that cannot be true religion which does not lead to social betterment4 ,in that noblest aspiration ever put into the mouth and mind and heart 7too often1 alas1 only the mouth67 of man we are taught to pray not that we may be transplanted to a better world1 but that ,god's kingdom may come and ,his will be done in this world4 ,we are not likely to abate our eagerness in the pursuit of knowledge of physical science1 for the zeal of the scientist is stimulated by the spur of commercialism2 and1 though it seems impossible1 the twentieth century may bring forth as wonderful discoveries and inventions as the nineteenth4 ,but1 to take the advance just now most sought1 can any one raise the question as to which would be of greater benefit to ,st4 ,louis1 to reach ,chicago in an hour by airship or to take six or ten hours for the trip and find there--and everywhere--a contented body of workmen supplying us with the necessities of life and a set of managers carrying on the transportation system that we already have on equal terms to all people8 ,what the world's progress most needs is evening up4 ,the advancing column presents a very ragged front1 with physical science and its applications so far ahead that they have almost lost sight of social science in the rear4 ,it would be no great disadvantage to the world--to the progress of mankind as a whole--if the swift-footed legion of applied science would merely mark time for a period1 while attention should be given to a better organization of the vast human army4 ,the objective point would be reached as soon1 for a nation is like a railway train2 it can go no faster than its hindmost car4 ,but this is not likely to happen at present4 ,applied science has every stimulus from within and without1 every reward intrinsic and extrinsic2 while progress in the social and political sciences must carry the dead weight of the inertia of conservatism and also meet the active and intense opposition of vested interests1 which have ever the single purpose of preserving the status quo1 no matter how unjust or maleficent4 ,the solution of these all-important problems cannot be found in the school1 where immature minds are taught merely how to use the tools of knowledge2 these questions cannot be settled by the small number of university students2 they must be solved by the education of the masses1 by instilling in them in their early school years a desire for knowledge and a love for good reading1 which will lead them to continue their education by means of the library4 ,the education of the mass of the voters who determine the character of a democratic government1 must not be left to the party organ or the stump speaker4 ,the great social and political questions should be studied and pondered in the quiet of the closet and not decided1 without previous thought1 amid the hurrahs of the hustings4 ,to make the public library realize fully its possibilities as the ,people's ,university calls for more than the opportunity which every public library now offers2 it requires active effort to reach out and bring the people to the library by the fullest co-operation with the school and by means of attractive lecture courses1 which shall stimulate reading and guide it in profitable channels4 ,but the beginning of this work--the inculcation of a taste for good reading--lies with the school1 with the library's co-operation1 especially during the years from six to ten or twelve1 those years when nearly all the children come under the school's influence and when the habit of reading can be most easily formed4 ,if charged with placing undue stress upon the value of the library1 ,i might urge its comparative newness and its consequent lack of recognition2 and1 as an evidence of the latter1 ,i might point to the fact that in this great educational exposition1 while one vast palace is given up to exhibits of the school1 the library has with difficulty secured a part of a room in the ,missouri ,state ,building for an exhibit of its activities in the great work of education1 in which1 as ,i am trying to show1 its potentialities are as great as those of the school4 ,as our ,board of ,directors said1 in its appeal to the exposition ,directors for a separate library building3 ,the library1 besides being the most efficient and most economical agency for popular education1 represents all the fair will have to show4 ,it stands for the sum total of human knowledge4 ,it is the instrumentality through which knowledge has been conserved and cumulated4 ,only through the library can civilization continue to advance4444 ,books are the most potent factors in progress4 ,without books we should have had no powerful locomotives to show1 no wireless telegraphy1 no wonder-making machinery1 no beautiful buildings1 no impressive statuary1 no paintings to arouse wonder and yield delight--no ,world's ,fair to draw distinguished scientists and educators from all over the world4 ,by way of introduction to the comprehensive addresses of the two distinguished delegates who have travelled four or five thousand miles to lay before this ,section1 and1 through publication1 before the world1 the past history and the present problems of the library1 it has seemed to me appropriate that1 as chairman1 ,i should present a brief plea for the consideration of the library as one of the greatest factors in human progress4 ,it has existed1 though not in its present form or with its present functions1 from the dawn of recorded civilization4 ,it is itself the record of civilization2 and without it there can be no records and no civilization4 ,it is the repository1 the custodian1 the preserver of all the arts and sciences and the principal means of disseminating all knowledge4 ,with the school and the church it forms the tripod necessary to the stable equilibrium of society4 ,let me briefly summarize the functions of the public library4 #a4 ,it doubles the value of the public school instruction1 on which is expended more than ten times the cost of the library4 #b4 ,it enables the children who leave school at an early age 7an overwhelming majority7 to continue their education while earning their living4 ,it provides for the education of the adults who have lacked or failed to utilize early opportunities4 ,this is of special importance in a country like the ,united ,states1 where one of the greatest political problems is the assimilation of a vast influx of ignorant foreigners of all races and languages4 #c4 ,it supplies books and periodicals needed for the instruction of artisans1 mechanics1 manufacturers1 engineers1 and all others whose work requires technical knowledge#f--;all persons on whom depends the industrial progress of the community4 #d4 ,it furnishes information and inspiration to ministers1 teachers1 journalists1 authors1 physicians1 legislators--all persons on whose work depend the intellectual1 moral1 sanitary1 political and religious welfare and advancement of the people4 #e4 ,it is the stimulus and the reliance of the literary and study clubs1 which1 especially among the women1 have done much not only for individual self-culture but also for civic enlightenment and social betterment4 ,this represents its numerous post-graduate courses1 which are taken by constantly increasing numbers4 #f4 ,it has philosophers and theologians to explain and expound and to exhort those who are willing to listen2 but1 far better1 it has poets and dramatists and novelists--who compel a hearing and impress on heart as well as mind the fundamental truths of morality and religion4 #g4 ,it is also a school of manners1 which have been well defined as minor morals4 ,the child learns by example and by the silent influence of his surroundings2 and every visit to a library is a lesson in propriety and refinement4 ,the roughest boy or the rudest man cannot fail to be impressed by the library atmosphere and by that courtesy which is the chief element in the library spirit4 #h4 ,it imparts1 as the school cannot1 knowledge of one's self1 and of one's relations to one's fellow-man1 and thus prepares the individual for citizenship and fellowship in organized society and leads him to be an active force in social advancement4 #i4 ,it elevates the standard of general intelligence throughout the community1 on which depends its material prosperity as well as its moral and political well-being4 #f ,the information furnished by a book in the ,cincinnati ,public ,library once saved that city a quarter of a million dollars4 ,this in numerous instances1 but on a smaller scale1 is a part of the everyday work of the library4 #aj4 ,but not last1 if an exhaustive list were aimed at--nor least it supplies a universal and urgent craving of human nature by affording to all entertainment of the highest and purest character1 substituting this for the coarse1 debasing1 demoralizing1 amusements which would otherwise be sought and found4 ,further1 it brings relief and strength to many a suffering body and cheer and solace to many a sorrowing heart4 ,it is instruction and inspiration to the young1 comfort and consolation to the old1 recreation and companionship to all ages and conditions4 ,i close as ,i began3 ,education is the greatest concern of mankind2 it is the foundation of all human progress4 ,the library is an essential factor in all grades of education2 and it is the agent plenipotentiary in the betterment of society and the culture and cheer of the human soul4 ,the highest gift of education is not the mastery of sciences1 but noble living1 generous character1 the spiritual delight that comes from familiarity with the loftiest ideals of the human mind1 the spiritual power that saves each generation from the intoxication of its own success4 ,,the ,,library ,,as ,a ,,factor ,,in ,,modern ,,civilization ,read by ,president ,faunce of ,brown ,university1 at the ,narragansett ,pier ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association in #aijf4 ,elaborates the library's three gifts to the nation--knowledge1 perspective and ideals4 ,william ,herbert ,perry ,faunce was born in ,worcester1 ,mass41 ,jan4 #ae1 #ahei1 graduated at ,brown ,university in #ahhj1 entered the ,baptist ministry1 and after holding several pastorates became in #ahii president of his alma mater4 ,he is known as an effective writer and speaker1 especially on religion and education4 ,we have long been accustomed to speak of three great factors in modern civilization--the school1 the church1 and the home4 ,must we1 in view of such a significant meeting as this1 add a fourth factor--the library8 ,the modern library has in some places become a true school2 in other places it has radiated something of the refinement for which we once looked to the home1 and something of the idealism which is a peculiar gift of the church4 ,the library is vastly more than a collection of books3 it is a social1 civilizing1 moralizing force4 ,we expect to find the library building in every city and town as much as to find the spire of the church or the flag of the schoolhouse4 ,the visitor to ,boston to-day finds the public library as commanding a pile as ,trinity ,church1 and far more imposing than any schoolhouse4 ,the visitor to ,new ,york finds the new public library building climbing into a mass and dignity as great as that of any cathedral4 ,no smallest village is now complete without its library1 and when some future ,goldsmith shall sing the praise of another ,deserted village1 he will point out not only with the noisy mansion of the school-master1 not only the church adorned with the meek and unaffected grace of the rural pastor1 but the loaded shelves1 the catalogs and reference lists1 the chairs and tables1 and the zeal unaffected1 though not always meek1 of the modern librarian4 ,these libraries have sprung into being throughout the land without specific legislation and without deliberate propaganda4 ,the church missionary societies of the country have adopted the avowed policy of planting a church in every community1 and appointing superintendents of missions to see that this is done4 ,every state in the ,union has its laws for the establishment and maintenance of schools4 ,but these multiplying libraries have come into being without enactment of law or the preaching of the crusade4 ,they have spread from sea to sea by a happy contagion1 they have become a noble ,american epidemic4 ,the great inarticulate thirst for knowledge has demanded satisfaction1 and created its own supply4 ,our wisest directors of public sentiment and philanthropic endeavor have realized that through the library may come a charity that does not pauperize1 a help that induces self-help1 light to irradiate the dark places of civilization1 inspiration for every calling1 and access and power to every worthy institution and noble cause4 ,what then is the specific function of this new and powerful institution in modern life8 ,what is the contribution of the library to modern civilization8 ,the library makes to the nation three gifts3 the gift of knowledge1 the gift of perspective1 the gift of ideals4 ,putting the matter in another way1 we may say it gives us facts1 relations1 values4 ,the library is primarily to conserve and disseminate knowledge4 ,indeed1 the old conception of the library was purely that of a place of storage for written or printed material4 ,no one thought of taking out a book from a mediaeval library any more than of removing a statue or painting from an art gallery4 ,and still to-day the function of the library as a storehouse is most important4 ,modern democracy holds that knowledge is not for a few bright minds of each generation1 not for an intellectual elite2 but all that is knowable is to be made accessible to all that desire to know4 ,if we allow knowledge to come only to a chosen few of each generation1 how can we know that we have chosen the right ones to receive it8 ,the genius that might turn the stream of history may be born in the lowliest cabin on the prairie1 or in the darkest tenement of the great city4 ,there may not be a village ,hampden in every village1 but there may be an ,edison1 a ,fulton1 an ,eli ,whitney1 an ,andrew ,carnegie1 a ,carl ,schurz in any village in ,america4 ,only when we make knowledge accessible to all shall we know what minds and hearts are among us4 ,but we must discriminate4 ,the books which no longer convey knowledge1 which state theories no longer held1 and propound as facts things no longer believed2 in other words1 antiquated books of knowledge should be sharply separated from books abreast of modern thinking4 ,those books which have ceased to be of any use to mankind 7except for antiquarian purposes7 or which never were of any use to mankind--and their name is legion--have their place in a museum1 but not in an working library4 ,in an arsenal we keep only weapons now serviceable in actual war1 and relegate flint-locks1 catapults1 and bows and arrows to the museum4 ,no arsenal in the world would be large enough to accommodate weapons for a modern regiment mingled with all the weapons of all past generations4 ,it is time for some one to say frankly that there is no inherent sanctity in paper and printer's ink4 ,it may have been true in ,milton's day that a book was usually the precious life-blood of a master spirit2 but to-day a book is often the product of the least erected spirit that fell4 ,an almanac put forth to advertise some nostrum1 or a novel prepared purely as a piece of merchandise1 does not acquire dignity or value simply because bound in leather and placed on the shelf with ,paradise ,lost4 ,we must apply to our libraries some higher standard than that of size4 ,we never estimate the ,uffizzi or the ,louvre by the number of paintings they contain1 yet we continue to grade modern libraries by the number of volumes groaning on dust-covered shelves4 ,a library of five thousand well selected books may be of far more service than one of one hundred thousand composed largely of books outgrown and forgotten4 ,our public libraries must distinguish sharply between the library and the museum1 to the advantage of both4 ,secondly3 ,perspective4 ,the library aims to show us facts in their large and permanent relations4 ,there is no virtue in mere knowledge of facts 7any more than in vast numbers of volumes74 ,most facts are not worth knowing1 still less worth preserving4 ,doubtless the letter p occurs a certain definite number of times in ,idylls of the ,king1 and it may be that some deluded mortal in prison or asylum has ascertained that number2 but we do not care to know that fact or have any one else know it4 ,the exact number of grains in some ant-hill is doubtless discoverable1 but only a lunatic would care for the discovery4 ,most facts in nature and in history are in our present stage of development without value4 ,only when these facts are collected1 classified1 seen in relation1 and translated into truth do they become of value to men4 ,for this reason the library must encourage1 slow1 patient1 thoughtful reading4 ,we have long been told that a taste for reading is worth ten thousand a year4 ,whether this is true or not depends altogether on what sort of reading is referred to4 ,the habit of letting the mind lie passive while some scribbler plays upon it is not worth ten thousand a year4 ,the habit of letting the mind become a waste basket for sensation and scandal is not worth ten thousand a year4 ,the habit of reading as a substitute for thinking is worth nothing1 but is sheer damage to mental fibre4 ,the university library is even more important than the university laboratory4 ,in the laboratory we verify the theory which is far more likely to be discovered in the library4 ,the new discovery is a new combination of old ideas1 and such mental combination comes to us more easily when we are dealing with thoughts than with things4 ,our students need to use books not only as tools1 but as friends4 ,in the old days1 when the reading of college students was far more promiscuous than to-day1 they were accustomed to regard books almost as personal acquaintances1 and there was a genuine exchange of reaction of writer and reader4 ,such reading was indeed very desultory1 but1 as our professor of ,english literature is accustomed to say1 it was immensely fattening4 ,now1 on the other hand1 the college student goes to the library with a list of references1 using many books1 but becoming really acquainted with none4 ,he opens one work at volume #b1 page #aic1 another at volume #d1 page #cae1 and1 having extracted the precise bit of information he desires1 has no further use for the author in question4 ,this modern method of reading is far more accurate and definite than the older method1 and is obviously effective in securing results4 ,but it must be supplemented by the browsing of former days1 by the large horizons which come from being set free in the companionship of great minds4 ,thirdly3 ,ideals4 ,our libraries must not be only storehouses of knowledge1 but reservoirs of power4 ,the great books of all time give us contact with inspiring personalities1 shining examples1 with the great leaders of men4 ,the trophies of ,themistocles will not suffer us to sleep4 ,when such books come into many a shut-in life1 to many a boyhood1 cabined and confined1 the limitations of the farm and factory are forgotten1 the mind expands to a kinship with past and future1 and the reader in some village library may become the prophet of the new century1 and the leader of the modern world4 ,more than that3 the literature of power creates the climate in which we live4 ,it shapes our ideals of success1 of power1 of beauty1 of goodness4 ,fiction and poetry1 if they thus create aspiration and give us standards1 may be more useful than all encyclopedias or text-books1 for they deal with the sources and the goal of all human action4 ,,the ,,provision ,,of ,,books ,the seven addresses or papers just preceding relate to the general services of the library to the community4 ,the twelve that now follow analyze this into four types of special service1 as already suggested--the provision of books1 the collection of information1 the control and guidance of reading and community-centre service4 ,the next three papers treat of the provision of books4 ,,the ,,librarian ,,and ,,his ,,constituents ,that the choice of books is the most important of the librarian's duties and that his best effort should be given to it1 is the thought of an institutional librarian1 ,r4,b4 ,poole of the ,new ,york ,y4,m4,c4,a4 ,this view should interest those who think that administrative problems and socialization are elbowing the books into the background4 ,reuben ,brooks ,poole was born in ,rockport1 ,mass41 in #ahcd1 and graduated at ,brown ,university in #aheg4 ,after serving as a teacher he became librarian of the ,y4,m4,c4,a4 library in ,new ,york ,city1 where he remained until his death on ,april #f1 #ahie4 ,he was president of his state library association in #ahid4 ,by constituents is not meant political constituents4 ,it is unfortunate for any librarian when he holds his office in a public library as a political favor1 and library appointments should be as far removed as possible from all party influences4 ,a public library1 like any other public property1 is susceptible of being used as a tool1 and may easily degenerate into a political job1 unless specially protected by its charter4 ,new ,york city has one such library4 ,the library exists for the librarians2 its constituents--not readers--are of the school of politics4 ,the example1 it is to be hoped1 is a unique one in our country4 ,a brief retrospect of the libraries and librarians of the past may help us to more fully comprehend the situation of the librarian and his constituents of to-day4 ,the monk represented the librarian of the ,middle ,ages4 ,he was not by profession a librarian1 and yet the valuable service he rendered to literature entitles him to the name4 ,he was at once chorister1 master of ceremonies1 transcriber1 illuminator1 and collector4 ,professedly the monk was a religious ascetic4 ,he retired from the world to devote himself to religion1 to a life of self-denial4 ,his language was the ,latin2 the books or manuscripts that surrounded him were works of the ,fathers1 books of devotion1 service-books1 and the classics4 ,these were just in keeping with his life and thoughts4 ,a congenial occupation was thus opened to him4 ,the hours of the cloister were made shorter as the monk duplicated and reduplicated some dainty missal1 or some commentary of ,augustine1 or painted a miniature of the ,virgin or of the apostles4 ,however much we may differ in opinion as to the service rendered to religion by the monasteries of the ,middle ,ages1 as librarians we have a fellow-feeling with these toiling monks1 and are grateful to them for the service they have rendered the libraries of to-day by their preservation of works that otherwise would have been destroyed4 ,there is nothing in the book-making arts of to-day to compare with the artistic skill displayed in the illuminations and miniature-painting which enrich and beautify the manuscripts of those times4 ,the monastic libraries were small1 and the readers few4 ,books were loaned from monastery to monastery4 ,they were distributed once a year1 at the ,lenten season4 ,as each borrower returned his book he was catechised as to its contents1 if the examination was satisfactory he was allowed another book for the coming year2 if not1 he must take his old book again4 ,one not a member of the order of ,st4 ,benedict1 or an attache of ,cluny or ,canterbury1 could procure the coveted treasure1 sometimes1 by pledging to return with the manuscript borrowed a full transcription4 ,library economy in these ages was very simple4 ,catalogues were little more than inventories1 and no discordant notes were chanted1 in duets or solos1 over systems of classification4 ,the absolute or fixed system of shelving was in vogue1 the books being held in their places by chains4 ,the survival of this feature exists in the attachments of the modern city directory4 ,but1 not to linger longer in cloisters or abbeys1 we come to the age of printing and to the foundation of the modern libraries of ,europe2 the treasures in the monastic libraries contributing to form their vast collections4 ,the monk's occupation as a librarian was gone1 and he was succeeded by the collector1 the keeper1 the scholar4 ,in the centuries immediately succeeding the invention of printing there was a growing diffusion of knowledge by means of libraries4 ,we smile at the restrictions imposed1 and look upon them as so many fetters on the intellect4 ,it is1 however1 to be borne in mind that at this time books were costly and rare1 and on this account were guarded with great jealousy4 ,when the ,bodleian library was founded it was stipulated by law that under no pretence should any book be lent to any one1 no matter what his station4 ,a ,fellow of ,corpus ,christi ,college could not enter the sacred alcoves alone1 and he was under oath not to remove a book4 ,the books were there for use1 there can be no question2 and in the ,bodleian1 to which we have just referred1 a person could have six books at a time to consult1 and the library was open for six hours during the day4 ,about #afej ,humphrey ,chetham bequeathed ,l#a1jjj for a public library in ,manchester1 ,england4 ,he was a firm adherent of the fixed location4 ,my mind and will is1 he says1 that care be taken that none of said books be taken out of the said library at any time1 and that the said books be fixed or chained4 ,after specifying certain religious books1 and annotations on the ,bible1 he adds1 and other books proper for the common people4 ,it was two hundred years after this1 in this last half century1 before the ,public ,libraries ,act was introduced into the ,english ,parliament2 and from this period we may date a new era1 both in ,england and in this country1 in the dissemination of books and improved library methods4 ,the last decade1 commencing with the formation of the ,a4,l4,a4 and the beginning of our second century as a nation1 has witnessed results hitherto unachieved in library economy4 ,it is not necessary to enlarge here upon the work that has been accomplished4 ,the important thing to note is that the librarian of to-day should be en rapport with all that pertains to his profession4 ,he should acquaint himself with schemes of classification1 and elect from them that which is best adapted for the purposes of his own library4 ,he should adopt the best system for charging1 acquaint himself with the most approved library appliances4 ,whether he adopt the classed catalogue1 the dictionary1 the alphabeto-classed1 or any other form1 let it be one that shall be abreast of the progress that has been made in this department of library science4 ,the librarian can scarcely keep pace with his fellow-librarians unless he receives the right hand of fellowship of the ,american ,library ,association1 and is a reader of the ,library journal or the ,library notes1 just launched and designed to cruise along the coast into the smaller ports4 ,the advantages which the librarian receives from these sources will qualify him better for his profession1 but the greater advantage will accrue to his readers3 knowledge will be made more available1 and a bright1 cheerful atmosphere will pervade the alcoves of his store-house4 ,the librarian of to-day is developing to the full the utilitarian principle4 ,he is practical1--practical in his library management1 practical in his choice of books4 ,his constituency is either a particular class or the great public4 ,to supply the masses with reading1 and to make books helpful in all the vocations of life1 is the librarian's aim4 ,it is just here that we need to emulate our predecessors1 the monks and the collectors and bookworms of the sixteenth and succeeding centuries4 ,he must have the spirit of the collector1 the animus of the scholar4 ,he must not forget that he is an antiquarian in his zeal for utility4 ,his constituency is not confined to the present2 he is building for posterity as well4 ,his library will live after him4 ,he therefore needs to be a wise master-builder4 ,if the choice of books is in the librarian's hands1 or if he occupies an important position in connection with the selection1 his best effort should be given to this department4 ,the responsibility is not small4 ,he will find it more difficult often to reject than to select4 ,he must consult the wants of his readers2 but there is a limit to that4 ,everything that is in print may be called for1 but that is no reason why it should be honored with a place in a library4 ,the librarian's personal equation is not to be the standard1 but the foundation principles of morality1 truth1 and sound sense must guide him4 ,no quarter should be given to books of doubtful morality4 ,fiction now finds a place in most libraries open to any extent to the public1 and this class of books forms so large a part of the circulation of many libraries that it is becoming a question of no small importance as to how far public funds should be expended for such books as afford little else than pastime4 ,a public library is a public educator4 ,it is not a sluice into which every publisher may dump his entire wares2 as educators1 librarians and managing boards have the right to maintain the purity of their collections1 and to protect them from inundations of worthless books4 ,the librarian should be alert to supply his readers with all they require that will be helpful1 as we have said2 but1 more than this1 he should lead them4 ,he may do so by procuring works of standard worth1 new and old1 that represent the best thought in any department of literature or science4 ,unless he has something of the spirit of the collector very much will elude his grasp1 and be1 perhaps1 utterly lost to his library4 ,there are the limited editions1 now so limited in number2 the privately printed book2 the first numbers of periodicals2 the first reports of societies2 local histories and genealogies2 memorial volumes1 and the like1--works whose value is enhanced by time4 ,a librarian1 to be successful1 must be a lover of books4 ,the novice1 in applying for a librarianship1 often puts it down as one of his cardinal qualifications that he is fond of reading4 ,to the active1 toiling worker this is not suggestive of business4 ,a love of books very naturally suggests a taste for reading1 except when bibliomania is in the blood4 ,a true friend of books is not such because his collection embraces ,elzevirs and ,aldines1 or because they are in ,grolier or ,bedford bindings1 or printed on ,whatman or ,holland paper1--these are matters of just pride1--but because the army of silent authors1 marshalled under his leadership1 will diffuse light and knowledge wherever they go4 ,the librarian imbued with this spirit1 if he finds time to read1 will reflect what he has read4 ,it is to be feared that the librarian who reads in these times is the exception2 and yet there can be no question that1 if he could have each day an hour or two for reading1--time enough to acquaint himself with the thought of the times1 and occasionally commune with the authors of the past1--his efficiency would be greatly enlarged1 and his readers would have a supplemental catalogue in him1 corresponding1 to some extent1 to the good work contemplated by our ,cooperative ,committee4 ,there are in every library very many books that are what we might term1 to use a mercantile phrase1 dead stock4 ,from the very necessities of the case there must be many books that will be called for only at great intervals1 while others never have a friendly consultation4 ,but1 aside from these1 libraries will often have works of great practical value that are standing idle1 because it is not generally known that the library possesses them4 ,there may be a choice lot of works on electricity1 a rare collection on ceramics1 a fine selection of engravings1 representative works in the various industrial arts2 the call for them not being popular and large1 they might be brought to the notice of a larger constituency by calling the attention of certain readers to them1 or by sending a polite invitation to some manufacturing firms1 to some professional electricians1 or to art schools and scientific schools4 ,periodicals1 before the days of ,poole's ,index1 were sealed books4 ,libraries have been wonderfully expanded where this index is used4 ,further cooperation in this direction1 as planned by the ,cooperative ,committee1 should receive hearty encouragement4 ,the books of a library may be further enlarged in their use by publishing1 on the library bulletin1 the works in the library that illustrate important events1 after the admirable plan initiated by ,mr4 ,foster1 of ,providence4 ,if the librarian has not the time at his command to read he has rare opportunities for reading character2 and to be on good terms with his varied constituency he will have to be like ,st4 ,paul1--all things to all men4 ,he must be polite1 accommodating1 possess his soul in patience1 and be unselfish in his devotion to his readers4 ,generally1 his contact with his constituency will be pleasant and agreeable1 but he will have to deal with certain typical characters that will vex and fret him4 ,there is the rummager1 who snarls at all catalogues1 and wants the freedom of the library1 not for studious research1 but to gratify his bookish propensity4 ,five minutes with authors is his watchword4 ,the crank1 who has been defined as a person with an idea1 without brains to carry it out1 is a frequenter of libraries4 ,his inquiries are for what the library does not possess4 ,this affords him a text for lecturing the librarian and the managers4 ,if the librarian's sentiments are not in accord with that idea of his he threatens to expose him in the newspapers4 ,the curiosity-hunter is another representative reader4 ,he is brother to the rummager1 but he does not despise catalogues4 ,they exhibit the oddities of the library1 at least the odd titles1 such as ,luther's ,vagabonds and ,beggars1 ,the ,foundling ,hospital for ,wit1 or ,the ,history of the ,tread-mill4 ,he passes quickly from one to the other1 gleaning here and there till curiosity is satiated4 ,another reader helps the librarian materially in his statistics2 if he calls for one book he calls for an armful4 ,the subject he is investigating may require all the light the library can focus upon it2 but he disposes of his armful so quickly that the query is1 by what alchemy knowledge is appropriated so rapidly4 ,it must be put to the credit of this age4 ,the intelligent tramp is another habitue of libraries4 ,he is sometimes a desultory reader1 sometimes he is a specialist1 and he investigates with a profound air the most difficult problems2 but that is as far as he goes4 ,he is constitutionally lazy4 ,he has some love for literature and science1 but a far more appreciative love of leisure4 ,he does nothing1 produces nothing4 ,then there are walking encyclopaedias4 ,you cannot name any author or work that they have not an acquaintance with4 ,they can talk glibly on any subject2 they absorb like sponges1 but they give out nothing4 ,they have a passion for reading2 but they either do not1 or will not1 make their knowledge available to others4 ,the colored man who not long since applied to me for something on the toothache1 as he was to deliver a lecture upon this interesting topic1 was not of this non-productive class4 ,if his monograph has been published it will be a good book for close classification4 ,the librarian who feels the obligations of his position realizes that his influence as an educator is far-reaching1 telling effectively upon the community in which he lives1 and destined to extend far down the years to come4 ,it becomes him1 therefore1 to fully equip himself for his work1 and to give to his constituents the results of his ripest experience and his most unselfish attention4 ,,the ,,usefulness ,,of ,,libraries ,,in ,,small ,,towns ,a few books in a small town may exert as much influence as many books in a large one2 and the personal influence of their custodian and administrator may count for more4 ,an early statement placing emphasis on this fact by ,miss ,west of the ,milwaukee ,public ,library 7now ,mrs4 ,henry ,l4 ,elmendorf7 appears in the subjoined paper read at the ,buffalo ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association in #ahhc4 ,theresa ,west ,elmendorf1 who as the writer of this paper was ,theresa ,hubbell ,west1 was born at ,pardieville1 ,wis41 ,nov4 #a1 #ahee1 educated in ,milwaukee and served on the staff of the public library of that city1 being deputy librarian in #ahhj-ib and librarian in #ahib-if4 ,in that year she married ,henry ,l4 ,elmendorf1 then librarian of the ,buffalo ,public ,library1 and since his death in #aijf she has been vice-librarian there4 ,in #aiaa she was chosen president of the ,american ,library ,association--the first woman to hold this office4 ,there is still1 as in the days when the story of the wicked and slothful servant1 who contemptuously hid his one talent in a napkin1 was told1 something discouraging in the sight of incomparably greater opportunities than our own in the hands of another4 ,the librarian of a small town or village may not cherish the envy of the man in the parable in his heart1 and yet feel a certain depression1 a sense that the small things he is striving--perhaps with all his might--to accomplish amount to very little1 as he listens to plans for the construction of a building which will commodiously and conveniently house two millions of books2 as he ponders over a printed scheme which will intelligently order upon the shelves a hundred thousand volumes1 and is yet so flexible1 so elastic1 that this number may be indefinitely increased with no confusion1 no necessity for rearrangement2 as he sees a method of charging which has been slowly evolved to meet the ever-varying1 ever-increasing needs of a circulation whose daily issues are counted by thousands4 ,possibly this feeling has something to do with the small representation in this ,association of the hundreds of lesser libraries which are scattered through the land4 ,whether it has1 or not1 the fact of this meagre representation remains1 and remains to be regretted4 ,that such a state of things is to be deprecated by the society goes without saying4 ,every new member1 in one way or another1 brings an added power and influence1 which is by no means always to be measured by the size of the library which he represents1 or the active part he bears in the deliberations4 ,he may even be utterly silent1 and yet an actual force2 for no speaker fails to feel the inspiration which radiates from an attentive and enthusiastic listener4 ,in ordinary society the accomplishment of being a good listener is one of the most enduring of charms4 ,it does not lose its power among librarians4 ,the prosperity of a paper as truly as a jest's lies in the ear of him that hears it1 never in the tongue of him that makes it4 ,to ask these unattached librarians1 if perhaps an echo may reach them1 to consider whether their isolation from their profession is not only a deprivation to themselves which they can illy afford1 but a retarding of the progress of the true library spirit as well1 and to suggest a thought which may possibly prove a stimulus to counteract the discouragement and depression before spoken of1 is all that ,i have even hoped to accomplish in the few words which have1 somewhat too ambitiously1 been called a paper on ,the usefulness of libraries in small towns4 ,in regard to the interest and profit of these meetings to the lesser libraries1 ,i have heard it asserted1 and it is1 ,i think1 true1 that the papers and discussions were almost exclusively directed to the consideration of the aims1 methods1 and needs of great libraries4 ,if the fact needs explanation1 or justification1 an ample one is found in the register of the names of the composing members1 with their positions4 ,that there would be a ready and cordial response to any general call for the discussion of topics specially pertinent to small libraries is not to be doubted4 ,over the editorial columns of one of our most-used periodicals runs the legend1 ,every man is a debtor to his profession4 ,it was a most wise choice of mottoes by our friend1 the editor and publisher1 for in no profession is it more true than in our own4 ,the constant missionary work which ,boston and ,chicago1 and indeed every library of any repute in the country1 has done and is doing1 is proof enough that the obligation is appreciated4 ,if the smaller libraries want the discussion of simpler1 less technical methods1 they have1 probably1 but to ask4 ,it may be objected that the great obviously includes the small1 and that plans and methods which are good and suitable for the former need but to be reproduced in miniature for the latter4 ,it is true1 that1 in many departments1 the accident of size makes little or no difference in library economy2 but in the administration of affairs1 in the machinery of running1 the director of a municipal library has many and accumulating cares1 of which his less burdened rural brother need never feel the weight4 ,prof4 ,john ,fiske1 some years ago1 at the time when he was assistant librarian of ,harvard ,university1 very graphically described a portion of the perplexing duties which fall to the lot of even a university librarian1 striving to correct the erroneous but too prevalent notion that such a position is a sinecure4 ,he confined himself to an enumeration and description of the duties which are essentially professional1 the multiplicity of details of the ordering1 classifying1 and cataloging of books4 ,in this direction there is a difference only in amount between the greater and the less4 ,but1 in addition to all that ,prof4 ,fiske described1 a city librarian must needs oversee as well the thousand and one minutiae which go to make up the sum of a day's work in a circulating library4 ,he must provide for the accurate identification and registration of his borrowers1--no light task when they number tens of thousands of the floating population of a western city1 which has more active duties for her police than the following up of delinquent patrons of the public library4 ,he must see to it that the thousands of books which flow over his counters are unerringly charged1 and that tardy borrowers are warned of their remissness4 ,these are but a few of the numberless details1 many of which are trivial in the extreme1 but which all go toward the making up of such a day's work as none but he that feels it knows4 ,as a machine increases in complications a constantly greater percentage of power is consumed in overcoming friction4 ,this attention to the routine of daily work1 which forms much of the severest1 because least satisfying1 work which a librarian does1 may be compared to the friction of machinery2 and just in the proportion that the power of his mind and the strength of his body are taxed in this direction1 by just so much are they reduced for other duties1 the importance of which is specially prominent in the minds not only of the profession1 but of the public as well1--an actual knowledge of the books which the library buys1 and the exertion of an active personal influence in raising the standard of literature which is drawn from the library4 ,it is precisely in this line of personal influence that there seem to me to be special encouragements to the librarians of small towns1 that here1 notwithstanding their limited resources1 they have peculiar opportunities for attaining an almost ideal standard of excellence in the quality of their work4 ,it would be unjust to say that a city librarian actually works harder than his country brother4 ,the duties of the former are mainly those of guiding1 overseeing1 and correcting the work of others4 ,the latter1 with his own hands and brain1 does most of the work himself4 ,it is as if the one were architect solely1 and the other not only architect1 but mason and carpenter as well4 ,one of the severest trials of the lot of a city librarian1 in the ,west at least1 is that he must work through many assistants who are not only utterly lacking in any real love or enthusiasm for their work1 but who are many times illy-educated as well4 ,the remedy for this state of affairs is not likely to be found until our boards of trustees take for their careful consideration the reply of a certain irate domestic to her remonstrating mistress3 ,you can't expect a good cook and all the ,christian virtues for two dollars a week6 ,if the necessities of the work do not require the employment of more than one1 two1 or1 at most1 three assistants1 the subtle electric current of the librarian's own enthusiasm may suffer the subdivision without being utterly dissipated4 ,he can actually do much of the work himself4 ,he comes into contact with his clientage1 which is not so large but that he may hope to become personally acquainted with many of them1 and1 learning their tastes and needs1 easily become their trusted friend and guide4 ,his catalog1 too1 is his own work1 and it is perhaps safe to say that no one ever properly appreciates a catalog but its maker4 ,certainly no one else ever handles it with equal ease and intelligence4 ,i am afraid the catalog has never been made1 and never will be1 over which the ignorant and indolent will not be perplexed and deceived2 and1 after all is said1 it is to the ignorant to whom the gospel of the public library is specially sent4 ,if the cataloger himself is constantly at hand to explain intricacies1 to supplement deficiencies1 with his own perfect knowledge of his library1 to answer even foolish and stumbling questioners patiently and intelligently1 he may make the puzzling way of finding and getting a book so plain that ,the wayfaring man1 though a fool1 need not err therein4 ,that this personal influence1 when exerted1 bears fruit1 and that right soon1 has been proved again and again4 ,the following is from the last report of one of the largest libraries in the country3 ,the increasing public interest in the more scholarly books of the ,library1 and the large accession of visitors to the reference tables1 are to be attributed partly to the ,saturday-morning classes which have been conducted at the ,library for the past four months4 ,if such work makes so immediate and appreciable an impression upon a circulation which is numbered by hundreds of thousands1 is there not a hopeful outlook1 indeed1 for small workers8 ,one has said that ,a library is1 after all1 very much what its librarian makes it4 ,there are too many conflicting individualities at work in a municipal library to make this1 to any considerable extent1 true2 but in a small town or village the personal equation of the librarian may easily become the exponent of the power of the library4 ,,address ,,at ,,the ,,dedication ,,of ,,the ,,library ,,of ,,the ,,university ,,of ,,pennsylvania ,dr4 ,talcott ,williams1 the orator of this occasion1 ,feb4 #g1 #ahia1 was at that time a journalist in ,philadelphia4 ,he has always been a welcome writer and speaker on literary themes4 ,talcott ,williams was born in ,abeih1 ,turkey1 ,july #bj1 #ahdi1 the son of an ,american missionary4 ,he graduated at ,amherst in #ahgc and in that year entered journalism1 becoming later an editorial writer on several large dailies until #aiab when he was made director of the ,school of ,journalism of ,columbia ,university1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,for the first and for the last time1 the voices of men are heard in this place1 dedicated to the more eloquent silence of books4 ,nowhere is man more and men less than in the library4 ,in the presence of books individual learning pales4 ,the scholar dies2 the library lives4 ,yet only in part4 ,in this bookish age1 we fondly impute immortality to books4 ,nothing could be more false4 ,few books have the power of an endless life4 ,against these books of power stand a great multitude of books of use1 which perish with the using4 ,the vast mass of books1 like the thoughts in our daily lives1 sink into the background of the recollection of the race and furnish the soil from which fresh growths spring4 ,few there are who have written books of power4 ,not a score in all4 ,poets for the most part4 ,high priests forever after the order of humanity1 whose flaming message burns from age to age in the great tree of human existence1 consuming and unconsumed4 ,these books of power which live that humanity may not die1 and books of use that die that others may live1 divide literature between them4 ,they constitute the warp and woof out of which the university weaves the higher education4 ,in its last analysis a liberal training is the mastery of books of use and a glad yielding to the mastery of books of power4 ,controversy over the classics1 wrangling over ,greek1 vain jangling over required and elective courses--these are details4 ,direct contact between the growing minds of each generation and the great minds of the race--this is essential4 ,we smile at the space given ,confucius in ,chinese education2 the ,koran in ,mohammedan schools2 but this is only a perversion of the sound instinct which everywhere puts the young to school to the teachers of the race4 ,unless your education does this1 it stands where the electric telegraph did before its wires were grounded--its batteries and instruments1 its poles and wires useless until they were in direct contact with the elemental source of electric energy in the earth itself4 ,so-called and mis-called practical systems of education1 realschulen1 which omit these eternal realities of the race1 find when they have stuffed their pupils with the facts of the day that they are still insulated from the thinkers of all time4 ,fortunately for us and for our education1 these books of power exist in more than one language and are accessible through more than one channel of learning4 ,thanks to the matchless translation of the ,bible1 one incomparable group of books of power is taught in every ,sunday-school1 though ,i doubt if this will be held sufficient reason for neglecting their study in every university4 ,greek holds another group4 ,but it is the pitiful pedant's plea to urge their study because ,greek is difficult4 ,it is not because ,greek is ,greek1 but because ,homer is ,homer that ,chapman spake out loud and bold of the solitary text-book which has held its own for #bejj years1 and links1 as may it forever link1 this university with the school of ,athens4 ,yet still your ,homer1 living1 lasting1 reigning1 ,and proves how truth builds in poets feigning4 ,it is because these books of power hold the truth that makes men free1 working thoughts that perish never1 that they live when the tongues in which they speak are dead4 ,books of power which transmit the spiritual life of the race keep the self-same spirit through all the transmigrations of speech4 ,the scriptures of the race1 no less than the scriptures of religion1 enjoy a pentecostal gift of tongues1 and are heard by every man in his own language4 ,where such books are few in number1 which a shelf or two will hold1 there is a liberal education1 and no elective course which permits their exclusion offers intellectual salvation4 ,some such books every race has found in its own literature as it reached the full stature of universal humanity1 as our own ,english-speaking race1 well-nigh within this generation1 has discovered in adding ,shakespeare to our general schooling4 ,by the production of such books of power nations are justly measured4 ,this is the wisdom which keepeth a city from destruction4 ,the ship of state1 however weighted with worldly wealth1 moves a trackless keel through the waters of history unless some poet wings its course with the proud1 full sail of his great verse4 ,we have all heard to-day from one whose lifelong devotion has raised him to the foremost rank of scholarship4 ,weave a circle around him thrice ,and close your eyes with holy dread1 ,for he on honey-dew hath fed ,and drunk the milk of ,paradise4 ,the study of such books is possible without any aid or apparatus whatever2 so near is the diviner of letters to every one of us4 ,but the first office which the library discharges in a university is in providing the limitless and manifold interpretation which the ages have builded about these great books of power4 ,better than all other books as are the books of power when read without study1 they are infinitely bettered by all study4 ,the literature of interpretation is only second in value to the literature of inspiration4 ,the study even of books of power tends to become scholastic1 narrow1 provincial1 letterwise1 and spiritually dead1 unless it is quickened and corrected by the fruits of the entire field of critical science4 ,for lack of this more than one sacred book has met a fate which makes one feel1 as well kill a book as give it a good name4 ,even in the teaching of books of power--which of all teaching needs but a soul and the book to awake eternity--the scholar is saved from himself by the library4 ,he learns that with all the inspired prophets of the race no scripture is of private interpretation1 that only time unlocks the weaving of these deeper oracles of humanity1 because they spake not of themselves1 but for the spirit of man4 ,nor need we fear that they will be smothered by their interpretation4 ,the mountains bear easily the weight of forests they uprear1 and at the last and highest1 no tree ascends above the snow-line of eternal thought4 ,but such ascents are as little the normal work of the university as of the road-builder4 ,its course lies chiefly along the broad highways of learning4 ,not books of power1 but books of use1 which sum first general1 and then special and professional knowledge1 occupy the greater portion of its time1 just as the most saintly of mortals devotes more of his days to earning his living than to saving his soul4 ,if the study of books of power is rendered more valuable by a library1 the adequate teaching of books of use without one is impossible4 ,every text-book is a compromise between what is known and what can be taught4 ,two classes1 ,i know1 the publishers and the public1 cherish the belief that there are text-books which sum current knowledge on this subject and that2 but there are none4 ,every text-book is out of date the day after it goes to the printer1 and the day before it gave out1 not what is known1 but the view of what is known then in vogue4 ,it measures the advancing tides of learning by a gauge itself incessantly changing4 ,we love to speak of authorities and standards4 ,we delude ourselves4 ,the whole field of letters and of learning is in a perpetual flux1 whose only complete record is the library4 ,we know that in science discovery succeeds discovery4 ,there is nothing certain about a scientific book except that it will be wrong in five or ten years4 ,only now and then does some law-giver in science1 some ,newton or ,darwin1 descend the mount of discovery1 bearing eternal and lasting laws of nature1 writ by ,nature's ,god4 ,but in literature we dream of permanent reputation4 ,here1 too1 ,every century gives the last the lie4 ,all the lesser priests of letters stand at shrines like that of ,nemi and the ,golden ,bough1 ,beneath ,aricia's trees1 ,where the ghastly priest doeth reign1 ,the priest who slew the slayer ,and shall himself be slain1 ,every new book enters the arena about to die4 ,the friendly verdict but deters fate2 it does not avert it4 ,the lesser criticism of letters must be done anew for every crop of readers1 and in fifteen or twenty years most essays are left behind4 ,the procession of novels passes almost as rapidly4 ,few are read for thirty years1 no ,english novels have held a popular place for past half a century1 and a decade before the centenary of ,waverly it begins to be whispered that ,scott is no longer read by the young4 ,every generation must have its own translations of the classics1 or reprints of those which have been forgotten4 ,morals1 philosophy1 and religion must be rewritten for it4 ,even histories1 which linger a little longer on the stage than all the rest1 yield to inexorable change4 ,it is barely a century since ,gibbon launched his mighty fleet1 freighted with the fall of empire4 ,it has long ridden the seas1 but ,i think we are all well aware that its masts are already low on the horizon4 ,no one author1 no one work1 can longer satisfy the world for the story of ten centuries of the race4 ,for most of us these changes do not exist4 ,unconsciously we go on down the stream with the favorites of our youth and forget that both are growing old together4 ,if literature is to be taught as it is1 and not as it seems1 to take one pregnant illustration1 true of all studies1 teacher and taught must have instant and vital access to that great body of books to which in every subject a text-book is but a rude and makeshift guide4 ,the present can only be understood by the past1 and both are needed to prophesy of the future4 ,when this library has been enlarged to the utmost bounds of our anticipation1 it will still have its limits to the specialists--joints in its armor of learning4 ,even at the ,british ,museum ,i was told and discovered that no man is long at work without wanting some book with which it is unprovided4 ,but if teaching requires this great array1 much more does the wider work of the college professor4 ,to look upon him as set only to teach1 to hear recitations1 is as narrow and barren a view of his work as to think of the farmer as only occupied in feeding his calves4 ,if a university is in the highest sense to be a teaching body1 it must cultivate knowledge as well as pupils4 ,its professors must do more than harvest the learning and teach the discoveries of other discoverers4 ,they must produce and discover4 ,the spirit of genius bloweth where it listeth1 but those books of use which play their part in giving each generation its critical standards1 its histories1 and the results of research are born only in full libraries4 ,if a university is deficient in them1 the lack is apt to be in that laboratory of learning1 its library4 ,unless a university is producing these1 it is teaching only its matriculates when it ought to be teaching the public4 ,much may be done1 much accomplished1 in the university without the library4 ,professional schools may multiply and grow1 for in these men of professional learning supply the lack of books4 ,it is even possible to carry on much research and produce valuable results along any narrow rising line of discovery in some science1 which1 like the coral1 has but its growing edge alive1 and for the rest is dead and under water4 ,but if a university is to fill the whole round and play part in society1 it must enjoy1 employ1 and extend the organized memory of man as represented in a great library4 ,as the chief value of this lies1 not in any view of its mere bulk and size1 but in its relation to the recollection of the race1 so the work of the university pivots on its ability to make vital the study of books of power1 without which all learning and letters and science are but a vain show4 ,better1 a thousand times better1 the solitary study which brings men face to face with the spirit of man in these great movements than any university study which dwarfs to routine or degrades to mere rote these great works4 ,for the object of all our study is not knowledge1 but wisdom1 and we move to dwindling ends if we search out all the secrets of matter and forget the secrets of the spirit4 ,the great round of studies which make up the university1 its libraries and laboratories1 the accumulation of the past and the discovery of the future1 these are each and all but the scaffolding by which the race rises to those conceptions of the ,divine and the spiritual uttered and summed in its books of power4 ,listening to their teaching we may even learn that the ascent of man is more important than his descent1 his future of more consequence than his origin--that it is his birth1 and not his death1 which is a sleep and a forgetting4 ,but books of use and books of power--the indiscriminate eulogy of books and reading has ceased to be possible even at the opening of a building dedicated to both4 ,their criticism has begun4 ,books are no longer the unique property of the scholar4 ,we all buy books4 ,most of us read them4 ,many of you write them4 ,the use of books is the one side of learning on which we all claim an opinion4 ,yet owned1 read1 written1 or wholly laid aside in a busy life1 the use of books1 which each of us knows1 is individual and personal4 ,standing to-day in the home of a collection which1 we trust1 is to be one of the larger libraries of learning1 landmark1 and lighthouse at once1 recording the past and lighting the pathless future1 this individual and personal use is inevitable before us1 cramping and limiting our conception of the relations1 the aims1 and the ends of a great library4 ,its very beginnings about us raise a doubt as to the wisdom of these endless accumulations of print4 ,the peril of the mere aggregate was1 perhaps1 never plainer than in these days1 when the great glacier of democracy slides on1 making high places low and low high--one would be glad to believe1 preparing the pathway of a new lordship of learning1 but one is fain to fear making easy the track and broad the road for an evil over-lordship of mediocrity in learning and in literature4 ,our own democracy we are assured1 has ceased to read anything but fiction1 and demands this1 not book-meal1 but piece-meal1 in monthly1 weekly1 or even daily doses4 ,the vast book-stack of the modern library1 in which volumes lose their individuality as completely as urns in a columbarium1 and like them but too often hold naught but dead and forgotten dust1 is far removed from the still air of delightful studies which we associate with our own loved libraries4 ,i seldom go there1 says ,emerson of the ,university ,library he used1 without renewing my conviction that the best of it all is already within the four walls of my study at home4 ,the ablest of ,american editors recently urged in the most brilliant of ,american newspapers that the ,library of ,congress should be reduced to a sound working collection of #ej1jjj volumes1 and the rest of its treasures dissipated or stored4 ,i have myself heard the suggestion in regard to this library1 and from one of academic connection1 that its future usefulness would be increased if its future bulk were restricted4 ,whether we listen to the philosopher1 the editor1 or the university trustee2 whatever fanned and winnowed opinions we apply to the great threshing floor on whose round the feet of the ages slowly tread out the wheat from the chaff in the garnered harvest of human thought1 the remnant will be small--measured by high thought or narrow utility4 ,the mere mass of our libraries already overtaxes our utmost ability to classify1 to catalogue1 and to administer4 ,as we watch their bulk grow1 on whatever side of the great altar of learning we worship1 our fears increase that these heaped offerings will stifle the sacred fire4 ,this weighty weapon of letters forged by generations1 this mighty armor and panoply of learning on whose myriad rivets so many hammers have rung1 has outgrown the individual1 and we begin to doubt its ultimate value to society4 ,thus men ever err in their early thought on the new duties and fresh responsibilities created for men by associate man4 ,in the field of organized life the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts4 ,the body is more than an aggregate of cells4 ,the soul wiser than all its faculties4 ,a nation more puissant than any census of its citizens4 ,man more than men4 ,the secret of this supremacy over the sterile synthesis of sense1 the root and germ mastery over the mere mechanics of life1 and the bald and barren arithmetic of existence1 lies in the capacity to know the present and to remember the past--in consciousness1 out of which conscience grows1 and in memory1 ,mnemosyne1 mother of all the ,muses and parent of all learning4 ,rightly in all history do we measure the value of every human society to ,humanity by its power to awake to its own existence and be aware of its own past4 ,this is the --mystery in the soul of state ,which hath an operation more divine ,than breath or pen can give expression to-- ,this exalts the microscopic municipalities of ,greece4 ,this abases the dumb millions of ,asia4 ,our own articulate millions1 deficient in much1 have done most for the world1 not by material development1 but by demonstrating that #fb1jjj1jjj spread over a continent can enjoy a consciousness as constant1 continuous1 and complete as the handful of citizens in the market-place of a ,greek city1 less in population that the ward in which we stand1 smaller in area than the open spaces about this ,university4 ,this general capacity to think as one and remember as a whole differences modern societies from all the past1 save that of ,greece4 ,this has brought the awakening of nations in this century1 a mightier resurrection with power than the awakening of men in the sixteenth century4 ,with the future awakening of man the work will be complete4 ,until it is1 national consciousness and national memory1 creating conscious national life1 are the determining conditions of human progress4 ,the problem which ,greece solved by making its communities small1 the modern world triumphantly meets by making them large and live4 ,it secures this through the newspaper1 the print of the present1 which sets at one in consciousness vast masses of men which are set apart in space4 ,for generations separated in time1 the library1 the print of the past1 preserves for society the sacred oracles of memory4 ,misunderstood1 misappreciated1 placed in opposition1 treated as antagonists1 the editor assuring us that the newspaper has superseded the printed book1 the librarian hesitating to cumber his shelves with the fugitive issues of the newspaper1 these twin and vital organs in society still supplement and correlate each other4 ,the newspaper is the library of the moment1 the library is the newspaper of all time4 ,we open a newspaper to learn what we are as a nation4 ,we enter a library to learn what we were4 ,the revelations of neither are altogether satisfactory4 ,we object to the library because it does not tell enough of the past4 ,too often we object to the newspaper because it tells too much of the present4 ,the faults and shortcomings of the past1 however plainly told1 rouse no unpleasant sense of responsibility4 ,in our own individual experience we have each of us had our private and personal quarrel with consciousness and memory for setting in too clear a light the sins and duties1 the lacks and demands of the past and passing day4 ,the revelation is no pleasanter when consciousness1 memory and responsibility are social and national4 ,yet it is only by accepting both a complete social consciousness and a complete social memory that a society can be created whose ultimate end is the highest development of each of its individuals1 whose service is the highest duty of all its members4 ,lavish margin of error in the newspaper too often leads us by some slain truth to ask with the soldier at ,philippi3 ,messenger of error-- ,why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men ,the things they are not8-- ,but like ,cassius1 the truth is self-slain and dies among its friends4 ,it still remains true that the newspaper is oftener challenged for telling what is unpleasant than for recording what is untrue1 and the refined and cultured soul1 which objects to the newspaper because it reeks with the ill news of society for whose ills no man can avoid his just share of responsibility1 but imitate the ,pharaoh1 who slew the messengers of evil and sunk in wilful ignorance to an ignoble grave4 ,the nation which lives by the newspaper will lose touch with the past4 ,the nation which lives in the library will want knowledge of the present4 ,we know all too much as ,americans of the peril of thinking by the newspapers4 ,german thought has run in the seclusive channel of the academic library to the lack and loss of civic consciousness4 ,germany was the last of modern states to act as a people4 ,we were the first1 the balance and connection between the newspaper and the library1 news and liberal letters1 the reporter and the professor1 cuts up by the roots the frequent conception of the library as a place occult1 withheld1 untrod2 shut apart from practical ends1 the grant of society to the scholar--useful to letters1 useless to life4 ,this idol of the market-place falls to pieces confronted by the facts of social structure4 ,as well might the brain be held silent1 the voice of memory dumb1 the light of consciousness in darkness by the side of the brute mechanical forces of the body2 silence1 seclusion1 separation from the active life of society1 these may be for the exchange and the market-place1 the railroad and the factory1 vast1 dumb mechanic processes which perish in producing1 but not for the library--not here1 not here4 ,these walls ring with war4 ,they sound with the conflicts of the race4 ,here1 rather than in any arsenal is heard --the infinite fierce chorus1 ,the cries of agony1 the endless groan1 ,which1 through the ages that have gone before us1 ,in long reverberations reach our own4 ,thus much for the library in organized society4 ,long since have we known of books as the counsellors and comforters of men4 ,to us all they have been teachers1 to each of us companions4 ,that great majority1 greater in wisdom no less than in number1 in which by the iron decrees of fate so many are called and so few are chosen to lasting immortality1 holds all of whom living the world was not worthy1 but of whom dead it slowly seeks to be4 ,here and here alone in all shapes and forms1 we build the sepulchres of the prophets whom our fathers crucified and here doubtless our children will build the sepulchres of those who in our day are despised and afflicted of men for the truth's sake4 ,in joy and in grief1 in life and in death some book supports1 sustains1 and soothes each of us1 and in this library the very light has been trained to teach us at every window and door that we might enter it to pass within the presence of the mighty dead1 to enjoy the companionship of that great company no man can number of wise men made perfect by time4 ,but to the seeing eye and the hearing ear1 awake and attentive to all that a library is1 not for men but for man1 not for individuals but for the race1 a greater than ,solomon is here1 and a mightier shape fills these halls and looks down from these shelves than all the trooped and illustrious dead4 ,these books1 shelf on shelf1 these volumes1 which fit subject by subject into the storied arch of human knowledge1 resting one side on metaphysics and the other on history1 the science of mind and the science of man1 seem existent human memory4 ,the complete library would round and fill the record of the race4 ,at best1 we have but a beggarly fragment4 ,if a single copy of each of the #ac1jjj1jjj volumes which dropped from the press in #dej years were by some glad miracle multiplying knowledge gathered in one place1 human memory would be unbroken for this short span of its long stay on the globe4 ,of #ac1jjj1jjj but #a1jjj1jjj rest in the largest library on earth in ,bloomsbury ,square1 and not a half are gathered in all known libraries4 ,but such as it is1 large or small complete or incomplete1 a great library to its capacity gives1 as this has begun to do1 the only measure we have of the recollection of the race4 ,here we stand face to face not with men or nations1 race or people1 but with man4 ,blindly our humanity still struggles to shape its thought1 dumb1 inarticulate1 unconscious1 travelling in darkness and laboring in pain1 century by century1 and generation by generation1 in the slow pilgrimage toward the conscious and consecration before it4 ,the thunder of its power who shall know8 ,who shall sound its depths or scale its heights8 ,who shall know it in all its compass and sound1 measure the confines thereof or prophesy its far final coming8 ,these are all hid in the inscrutable decrees of ,god from the sight of men1 but here1 here and in places like this there rises before us like an exhalation of the past in these volumes1 in this library1 the majestic and visible memory of man4 ,rightly here1 as in that larger treasure house in ,london1 have we gathered museum and library under the same roof4 ,these shapeless fragments worked by the early cunning of savage man1 these inscribed marbles and sculptured slabs1 these tablets and relics of another and a distant life1 these all1 each in its place1 play their part in the recorded memory of the race4 ,out of every fragment from every book shines this ,ancient of ,days1 who before ,abraham was and after us shall be4 ,who and what are we1 creatures of a day1 toilers of an hour1 to be measuring by our experience the metes and bounds in the manifestations of his mighty memory4 ,rather let our labor be given to render complete and to transmit unbroken our share in this great heritage by preserving the universal printed record of the life about us4 ,the librarian falling far short of the honor and amplitude of his office1 standing between the living past and the slowly dying life of the present1 now and then apologizes for saving every empty volume1 because none but prescient omniscience can tell which of #aj1jjj titles will be demanded by some solitary reader a century hence4 ,how petty the plea1 how narrow the argument1 how infinitesimal the claims of this distant reader who after all may never appear6 ,but how simple1 how sufficient1 how adequate becomes the reason for the preservation of every volume when we remember that it1 too1 is a part of this vast image of human memory seated by the slow river of time1 more vocal than that of ,memnon1 older and younger1 and with every fresh sunburst of genius breaking into fresh song6 ,in high reason has our own ,historical ,society gathered every volume which fell in this ,state and city from the press of the last century4 ,only thus can the span of human memory be set forth without a single forgetful flaw4 ,if the like effort is made here to fill a like responsibility for the passing moment to the future1 it is possible that the ,historical ,society of another century will not find it necessary to pay #gjj for an almanac which might once have been had for a penny1 and yet how grievous the gap in the continuous and social memory of this our city if the solitary copy left of ,bradford's ,almanac1 the first product of our press1 had not found a secure resting-place4 ,a great library1 therefore1 does not merely transmit the memory of the past2 it is daily providing memory for the future1 safe preserved against the wreckful siege of battering days4 ,for the individual no worse hap can fall than loss of memory4 ,all other powers may remain4 ,this lost1 all are worthless4 ,stripped of memory1 the soul has no future and no past1 naught save an infructuose now4 ,nor less1 the race4 ,the destruction of the ,alexandrian ,library1 whether with ,abulfaraj we attribute it to the intelligent ,moslem1 or with ,gibbon to the ignorant monk1 was not the loss of so many books and parchments4 ,it was the paralysis of a great lobe of human memory1 fatal lesion had fallen on the localized organ of recollection in the brain of humanity4 ,if we had the #bjj plays of ,aeschylus1 the #afj of ,sophocles1 the last books of ,livy1 the missing annals of ,tacitus1 which this library held1 the stature of these writers would not be increased4 ,like the greater peaks of every chain they already rise as they recede4 ,it is only the foot-hill that needs bulk4 ,these1 and lost books like them1 would fill for us the full measures of classic memory4 ,as library after library perished and book after book shared the fate of those fathered by ,ptolemy1 the wreck and loss of human memory went on4 ,the ages that we call dark lacked not in men of action4 ,those ages of faith had their men of thought matching any before or after4 ,they laid for us the foundations of a civil liberty more indestructible than that of ,rome4 ,the piers of that great arch of law along which our rights daily travel in safety were built by them4 ,their architecture and their sculpture equals any4 ,their knowledge of the earth1 as a whole1 was immeasureably in advance of classic conception4 ,they furnished in ,dante one of the two or three poets for all time1 and in the ,roman ,church they gave the race a creation and conception of whose future it would be a rash man who ventured to say that it was destined to be less than its past1 imperial as its history has been4 ,these ages were dark1 not from lack of light and of leading1 but from lack of memory4 ,the ages had lost touch of the elbow in their march through the dark defile of time4 ,the ,renaissance was less the revival of human knowledge than the recovery of human memory4 ,age was joined again to age in the unbroken sequence of continuous recollection1 and ,greece laid her hands to transmit an ,apostolic succession of memory on the bowed and studious head of the modern world4 ,to play its part in transmitting and preserving human memory this library is tonight opened and dedicated4 ,our ,library ,committee1 and you1 sir1 its head1 who have shown us that whole libraries of comment may be condensed into a volume by your magic alembic1 providing for criticism a new instrument of precision akin to the measurements and the analysis of the exact science--you1 sir1 in the loving care you have given this building1 have not been providing a retreat for scholars2 you have built and fashioned here another refuge and stronghold1 fortified ,against confounding ,age's cruel knife ,that he shall never cut from memory4 ,the architect of this building has not wrought in mere brick and stone2 he has added to those shrines and centres of human memory to which its treasures gravitate for their security and convenience4 ,this university1 in receiving this building from its ,finance ,committee1 which has raised its cost1 and whose head first suggested its erection1 is placed in a position where it can discharge not only the first duty of a university1 to which it has always been true1 of thinking for the community1 but the second1 which is like unto it1 of remembering for society4 ,,collection ,,of ,,information ,one of the functions of the modern library is that of a huge cyclopedia1 kept continually up to date by the acquisition of new material--books1 periodicals1 prints1 pamphlets1 clippings1 publicity matter and manuscripts4 ,it is the cyclopedia on cards long advocated by ,dr4 ,dewey1 except that the cards are in its catalogue and do not contain the information directly but serve only as keys to it4 ,in this kind of service the library is for the moment getting away from books and nearer to the worker1 whether at home1 in school or laboratory1 or in commerce and industry4 ,,libraries ,,as ,,bureaus ,,of ,,information ,early material on this ancient function of libraries1 so widely extended and developed of late1 is hard to find4 ,only two papers are given here4 ,the first1 by ,samuel ,s4 ,green1 is part of an address delivered at the dedication of the ,haston ,free ,public ,library ,building in ,north ,brookfield1 ,mass41 printed in ,the ,library ,journal for ,july1 #ahif4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,green appears in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series4 ,the ideal library is one which invites everybody who has a question to ask1 which books contain answers to1 to come to the library and put his question1 with the assurance that he will be kindly received1 his question sympathetically considered1 and every effort made to find the answer desired4 ,i cannot better illustrate what ,i mean by saying that libraries should be bureaus of information than by giving instances of inquiries recently made in the library under my charge and explaining how those inquiries were met4 ,i will select questions which were answered by sending out of town for books1 and thus illustrate in addition the fact that libraries administered on advanced principles help one another4 ,a man came to me not long since and asked by what means he could dissolve a certain gum which he mentioned4 ,i had the ,united ,states ,dispensatory brought4 ,the man did not find the answer wished for in that work1 but did find a reference to a volume of the ,pharmaceutical ,journal4 ,we did not have a set of that periodical2 so ,i said that ,i would send away to borrow the desired volume4 ,i sent to the librarian of the medical library in ,boylston place1 ,boston1 for it4 ,he sent it to me immediately by express4 ,that volume contained some of the information desired by the inquirer1 but not all that he wanted4 ,there was another volume of the same periodical which he thought would contain the facts which he was in search of4 ,i sent for that1 promising to return both volumes at once4 ,the second volume was immediately received4 ,that contained just what was wanted4 ,by doing work like this a librarian may do much to add to the prosperity of the industries of a town4 ,another man came to me to inquire whether we had a catalog of a certain southern society which purported to do hospital work4 ,i found that we had no catalog of the society named4 ,it appeared that the applicant for information had been asked to contract to do #djjj worth of work for a society of the name mentioned and wished to learn something about its standing4 ,i told him that if ,i were in his place ,i should write to a gentleman in ,washington1 whose name ,i gave him1 who knows all about medical institutions and hospitals throughout the country1 to ask him about the society2 ,i offered to write1 myself1 as the applicant felt timid about writing4 ,i did write and soon had the answer that the correspondent would advise the ,worcester man to be very cautious about entering into a contract1 for he knew nothing about the existence of such a society4 ,i hope that ,i helped to save a ,worcester business man from loss on this occasion4 ,again1 a boy who came into ,worcester to school called at the library to ask me what ,i could tell his brother about a school for instruction in tanning leather in ,freiberg1 ,saxony4 ,did it receive ,americans8 what was the cost of attending its sessions8 what was its curriculum8 etc41 were questions asked4 ,i had no pamphlet to give the required information1 but suggested that the ,commissioner of ,education at ,washington be written to1 to find out what information could be found in the library of his office4 ,i found that it would be necessary for me to write the letter2 so ,i wrote it4 ,soon the answer came giving the information desired and stating the address of the school4 ,the answer was passed over to the applicant1 with the suggestion that if further information were desired he should write to the officers of the school4 ,i remember doing much to start in her studies a resident of ,worcester who has since become a distinguished ,russian scholar1 by helping her to get a ,russian-,german dictionary from abroad and by borrowing ,russian books for her to read from ,harvard ,college ,library4 ,three students of the ,chinese language have received assistance at my library1 one a missionary at home on leave1 the other two students under the late ,chinese professor of ,harvard ,university1 from dictionaries and other books borrowed for their use4 ,i have had occasion to hunt up books in the language of the ,exquimaux for the use of an investigator in ,worcester4 ,i could not find the books in the libraries of ,harvard ,university or ,columbia ,college1 and tried the libraries of other centres of learning without success1 when ,i remembered that ,dr4 ,j4 ,hammond ,trumbull1 the well-known ,indian scholar and historical student1 had brought together a fine collection of philological works in the ,watkinson ,library at ,hartford1 ,connecticut4 ,the librarian of that library wrote me after a few days1 saying that he had the books and would send them at once4 ,he apologized for not despatching them before1 saying that the library did not allow books to be taken out4 ,he had waited to consult the president4 ,the president had said that they must set aside the rule if ,mr4 ,green and the library in ,worcester wanted the books1 for it was evident that they were needed for some important purpose4 ,we got the books and they were used in the preparation of a learned paper4 ,now1 for closing illustrations1 let me show you how libraries at great distances help one another4 ,i will choose the relations of the library in ,worcester to the ,public ,library of ,denver1 ,colorado4 ,mr4 ,dana1 the librarian of that library1 sent to me to borrow one of the publications of the ,browning ,society of ,london4 ,it was sent to him by registered mail and returned1 safely1 in the same way4 ,next he wanted1 for some student of mining1 an extract from one of the volumes of the ,comptes ,rendus of the ,french ,academy4 ,the extract was copied from the volume and sent to him4 ,there has since occurred the following transaction4 ,a gentleman in ,chicago had written to ,mr4 ,dana1 in ,denver1 to ask him whether he knew of a translation of the report of a government railroad commission in ,holland which had recently been engaged in considering what kinds of paint are best to use in preserving iron1 and whether he could tell him where to find the results of certain experiments which had been made in one of the bureaus of the ,u4,s4 ,navy ,department4 ,mr4 ,dana passed along the question to me1 knowing that ,i had often to answer questions of that kind4 ,in order to find an answer to the first question1 ,i at once set a young man at work looking at the indexes of the late volumes of the ,railroad and ,engineering ,journal1 and soon an important article was unearthed giving the results of the investigations of the ,dutch commission4 ,this piece of information was sent to ,denver4 ,i then wrote to ,mr4 ,henry ,c4 ,baird1 the ,philadelphia publisher1 to see if he knew of the publication of a translation of the report4 ,he wrote back that he did not know of the publication of such a translation1 but that there was a long article on paints useful in the preservation of iron in one of the most recently issued volumes of ,spons's ,receipts4 ,he promised1 however1 to make further inquiries4 ,so he went to the rooms of the ,philadelphia ,academy of ,sciences and inquired there what gentleman in the city was most likely to have the information sought for4 ,he was referred to some one connected with the ,pennsylvania ,railroad ,co41 who told him that he was not aware that the report had been translated1 but referred the inquirer to an elaborate article extending through several numbers of the well-known periodical1 ,iron4 ,mr4 ,baird transmitted the information he had got to me and ,i sent it and other pieces of information gained since my last letter to the library of ,denver4 ,the information sent to ,denver was sent to ,chicago4 ,so by the aid of two far separated librarians a person in ,chicago1 an intermediate city1 distant from the homes of both1 received information which he desired through ,denver1 ,worcester1 and ,philadelphia4 ,for an answer to his second question1 this inquirer from ,chicago was referred to the ,navy ,department at ,washington4 ,a clergyman in ,colorado ,springs1 and this is a final illustration1 applied to the librarian of the same public ,library in ,denver for an old book by ,goldwin ,smith4 ,he referred him to me4 ,i knew him1 having met him on my way to ,california4 ,to my surprise ,i found we did not own the book4 ,so ,i wrote to ,mr4 ,winsor1 the ,librarian of ,harvard ,university1 and told him that the applicant could be trusted and would make good use of the information afforded him1 and that he needed the book in preparing a course of lectures which he was to give at once at ,colorado ,college in ,colorado ,springs4 ,then ,i asked ,mr4 ,winsor if he felt at liberty to lend the book4 ,the next thing ,i heard in regard to the matter1 a letter came from the gentleman in ,colorado ,springs thanking me for the aid rendered1 and saying that ,mr4 ,winsor had sent the book and that it had reached him just in time to use in preparing a lecture4 ,the library in the ,united ,states which was earliest in the field in doing the work of lending to other libraries systematically and on a large scale1 in so far as ,i know1 was that of the ,surgeon-,general's ,office in ,washington1 long administered so intelligently and with so keen an eye for usefulness by ,dr4 ,john ,s4 ,billings4 ,now1 how can libraries in towns of the size of ,north ,brookfield become bureaus of information8 ,let them approach as nearly as they can to the ideal of seeing to it that everybody needing information gets it4 ,the first thing to do is to let it be understood that a library desires to have inquirers come to it for information1 and that its librarian is ready to take time to find out whether the library contains books which will give the information desired4 ,if it does not have the needed books1 the librarian tries to think where they can be had4 ,does anybody in town own them8 ,if not1 can they be had from a library in a neighboring town8 ,if these resources are not adequate1 then let the librarian send to the nearest large centre to borrow books from the library there to answer the questions asked4 ,worcester would be the natural centre for ,north ,brookfield to send to4 ,individuals should not send to ,worcester1 but the librarian1 having exhausted resources at hand1 should send for the books1 the library agreeing1 of course1 to make good damage and loss and pay the cost of carriage4 ,an out-of-town librarian does not know the individual users of a library in a smaller town1 but the librarian in that town does know his constituency and for whom it is safe to borrow books4 ,libraries should lend to one another1 but the work of lending should be systematic4 ,as a member of the ,free ,public ,library ,commission of ,massachusetts1 ,i wish to say that the commission likes to come into close contact with the libraries of the state1 and that the smaller libraries may from time to time find it helpful to put questions to its chairman at the state house in ,boston1 in person1 through a representative1 or by letter1 about library administration4 ,people are breaking away from their leaders to-day4 ,there is an immense amount of crude thought and imperfect information in every community4 ,i verily believe that not least among the instrumentalities by which thought may be matured and knowledge completed are public libraries when administered as bureaus of information by accomplished and earnest librarians1 who will act as sympathetic friends and advisers to inquirers and help them to look at all sides of questions and form well-grounded judgments4 ,,the ,,library ,,friend ,not all the information required of the ,public ,library is asked by those engaged in laboratory research or by experts in commerce and industry4 ,much of it is homely stuff1 greatly desired and more or less easy to find4 ,much of it can be given offhand by the capable reference assistant1 who thereby becomes what the writer of this article calls a library friend to her neighborhood4 ,miss ,winifred ,louise ,taylor was born in ,freeport1 ,ill41 ,feb4 #bd1 #ahdf4 ,in #ahgd she organized the first circulating library in ,freeport and acted as librarian for twelve years4 ,it was eventually incorporated in the ,freeport ,public ,library4 ,in #aijj-ja1 ,miss ,taylor was in charge of the information desk at the ,pratt ,institute ,free ,library1 ,brooklyn4 ,for many years she gave much of her time to work in the prisons1 and in #aiad she published ,the ,man ,behind the ,bars1 describing some of this work4 ,the library friend is the term that seems best to apply to that member of the modern library's staff whose work is a development of the service ordinarily rendered through the information desk4 ,information-desk service as usually conceived1 it is not2 for the library friend deals with the tendencies1 tastes1 and aspirations of readers as much as if not more than with the definite question and answer respecting facts4 ,the office indeed may be regarded as finding its first expression in the circulating libraries maintained by subscription in many of the smaller cities twenty-five years and more ago1 when the free public library of to-day was comparatively rare4 ,in those libraries every subscriber knew the librarian1 and the librarian was personally acquainted with every book on the shelves4 ,to bring the books and readers into congenial relationship was the business and usually the pleasure of the librarian4 ,the personal element was the heart from which the circulation of the books radiated--if the presiding personality lacked vitality and enthusiasm the library was a failure4 ,with the era of the democratic free libraries1 with their more rapid growth1 with their doors open to men1 women and children of all classes1 the human element1 the personal relation of librarian to the reader suffered a gradual eclipse1 until1 in some libraries more perfectly developed on the technical side1 the personal equation vanished altogether4 ,the library became a great machine1 into which a number was dropped1 and out of which a book was dropped like corn from the hopper4 ,we all know how formidable this mechanism is to those unaccustomed to modern library methods4 ,to the uninitiated the card catalog is an abomination1 an unsolved problem1 a delusion and a snare4 ,the boy who is interested in athletics1 fumbling over the card catalog in ,micawber-like fashion1 hits upon the title ,morning and evening exercises2 he straight away hands in the number thinking he has found a prize4 ,it is discouraging and depressing when the machine shoots out to him a volume of devotional compilations4 ,he has tried his luck and it has failed1 and as he was reminded only last week that a book cannot be exchanged the same day on which it is drawn out he retires with ,morning and evening exercises1 a sadder1 but not a wiser boy4 ,it is in accord1 therefore1 with the process of library evolution that a closer personal relation between reader and librarian should be developed through some such medium as is here outlined under the designation the library friend4 ,one of the library problems just now is this3 given on the one side #ajj1jjj books and on the other #ej1jjj people4 ,how is each individual to be brought into contact with the particular book that he wants8 ,where open shelves are practicable a great advantage--to the discriminating reader1 an inestimable advantage1 is gained2 but the majority of librarians have not room to throw any department open to the public2 and even among open shelves the person whose judgment of books is wholly untrained often misses what he is looking for4 ,the assistance given by the reference room is invaluable4 ,there no one goes away unsatisfied2 but the reference room reaches only those in pursuit of a definite subject4 ,beyond its range is the drifting1 aimless reader1 the searcher after something he knows not what4 ,the dull1 the diffident1 the beginners in the use of libraries1 those who read purely for amusement and those who want the new books--new spelled with a capital n and book with a small b--old persons1 those whose eyesight is defective and whose glasses strike the card catalog at the wrong angle1 foreigners who use ,english with difficulty and diffidence--all these gather together in the delivery room at once1 and efficient as the assistant may be--and sometimes they effect miracles--it is impossible for them to give the different individuals the help each one needs4 ,in the libraries where the human element is most withdrawn the case of these people is hard4 ,to bring the personal relation again into the library and to develop it with the growth of the needs of the public1 with this end in view1 a number of libraries have introduced the information desk4 ,by common consent1 perhaps in the eternal fitness of things1 this position so far seems to have been relegated to woman4 ,she is a reading lady1 and far gone in the pleasures of friendship4 ,so wrote ,sir ,roger ,de ,coverley of the object of his affections1 and no one could more felicitously describe two of the qualifications for the one presiding at the information desk4 ,a reading lady she must be2 and it is no less important that she be far gone in friendship for the public4 ,to study their needs2 to be receptive as wax to their impress1 and responsive with heart and soul as well as with mind4 ,this all around sympathetic power is the fundamental requisite of true service in this position4 ,she may be a person of many words or of few2 a good listener she must be4 ,success depends less upon temperament or gifts than upon an attitude of inward receptivity and outgoing friendliness--the attitude that radiates a home-like atmosphere and insensibly sets the stranger at ease4 ,emerson quaintly described certain faces as decorated with invitation4 ,this style of decoration will be permanently in fashion in this position if the invitation from the heart is a magnet strong enough to draw within its circle those who are in need of help4 ,it is most necessary1 also1 that a certain poise be preserved4 ,to be ready but not over anxious to assist2 to be responsive but not intrusive2 to be suggestive but never insistent2 to recommend books without forcing one's own literary tastes or standards upon others2 while helping new comers1 to seek to make them independent in their use of the library instead of leading them to rely on some one else to do the work and use all the judgement for them1 all this requires a nice adjustment of balances4 ,and it is well to have on hand the tact which is the art of lessening social friction1 and the sense of humor so invaluable as a lubricator in human relations4 ,when any one comes to the information desk with a grievance1 irritated1 if not angry1 to be met with simple good nature1 and not to be taken too seriously1 and yet to find instant readiness to adjust the cause of annoyance if possible1 soon dissipates the feeling of antagonism or injury4 ,such encounters ought not to tax one's patience4 ,they sometimes turn out to be rather interesting4 ,nor need stupidity tax one's patience4 ,what more pathetic than the isolation of one who is slow to perceive and to grasp8 ,it is a terrible handicap4 ,to rescue the dull from their dullness should be the first impulse1 and shallow is the sympathy that does not reach out to such instinctively4 ,it is not enough to be able also to unlock the resources of the individual4 ,people come to libraries from all sorts of homes4 ,to the man or woman living in the midst of ugly and sordid surroundings1 where the days are crowded with drudgery1 the weekly visit to the library becomes a social event2 it is a lift into a fresh atmosphere1 into another plane of life4 ,a passing greeting from the information desk gives a sense of welcome and of relationship to the reading public4 ,five or ten minutes of cordial contact1 a brief conversation with one unrelated to their world of worries1 is a refreshing experience4 ,to be recognized as a thinking1 reading being1 with opinions about books1 instead of a human machine for cooking1 scrubbing and sewing1 or money-getting1 puts new life into one4 ,but this social side of the work of the information desk must rest on the solid foundation of practical qualifications4 ,one must possess the knowledge of a wide range of books1 the power of concentration on the one person or the one subject in hand1 and the mental alertness that perceives when another person is waiting4 ,the more perfect the understanding of the system of classification of the books and of all the technical side of library work1 the more effective will be the service at the information desk4 ,there the resources of the library should be at command1 and should be reached rapidly and accurately4 ,when any imaginable or unimaginable question may be asked at any moment1 from ,may ,i use your pencil8 up through the whole range of history1 art1 literature1 politics1 science or religion1 one must know the ground thoroughly in order to meet these demands4 ,topics requiring special research are passed on to the reference room1 but the inquirer should be put on the right track when he wants but a single book from the delivery room4 ,the new-comer must be instructed in intelligent use of the catalogs and helped towards self-reliance from the start4 ,the young people must be assisted in making out their first lists1 and these lists should represent a variety of authors1 in order that the author who pleases can be followed up independently through the card catalogs4 ,a well selected first list for boys or girls should place at their command a range of #ej1 #fj1 or #ajj books4 ,it is surprising how few writers are known to the average boy or girl who comes to the public library for fiction4 ,the field of the boy is often bounded by ,alger1 ,ellis1 ,optic1 and ,henty1 while the girls may know only ,sophie ,may and ,miss ,olcott4 ,beyond are unknown seas4 ,one of the early developments at the information desk will be carefully-selected lists of books for boys and girls4 ,they grow under one's hand as the young people in turn recommend additions4 ,this sense of co-operation wins the confidence of those who are quick to suspect and ward off any lurking desire for their improvement on the part of the library4 ,notwithstanding that the starting point must always be the taste and inclination of the reader1 it is a simple matter to keep the pressure in the right direction4 ,carefully-selected fiction lists for older readers also meet a want4 ,such lists do not include the works of the standard1 voluminous writers known to every one4 ,into them are gathered some of the old favorites of a generation ago1 or later novels which may have happened to miss fame and yet possess an abiding charm and the indispensable element of interest4 ,there are hundreds of such books1 perennially delightful1 novels just now submerged under the continually rising tide of new fiction4 ,it is a piece of pure good fortune for the reader who turns in despair from the pursuit of ,david ,harum1 ,eben ,holden1 or ,janice ,meredith1 to find a fresh range of unheard-of novels of equal or more than equal interest4 ,this enlargement of their circle of congenial authors is welcomed with every grateful appreciation4 ,a list of good short stories is another resource1 and one of cheerful books for invalids2 stories that are neither morbid nor tragic4 ,young working men who can come to the library only at evening are glad of assistance in selecting books related to their work and they are quick to respond to any evidence of sympathetic interest in their pursuit4 ,young girls employed during the day who wish to make up for the lack of opportunities in school are eager and grateful for advice in outlining courses of reading and study2 those studying music are glad of guidance into the more interesting pathways of musical literature1 or it may be the amateur in some branch of art who reveals a cherished ambition in the hope of obtaining help in this direction1 and delightfully friendly relations spring into being while these various lists are under way4 ,often the chance encounter1 the mere passing remark1 brings the happy inspiration as to just the right books1 as when one catches a glimpse of a deep enthusiasm for nature surviving in the breast of a man through fifty years spent between city walls4 ,to introduce him to ,richard ,jeffries1 most intense1 nearest to nature's spirit1 and least known of nature's lovers1 is to enrich the remaining years of this man's life4 ,all who go to the library go as seekers4 ,some are seeking merely entertainment1 others are searching for knowledge1 but many are struggling with the deep problems that beset us all1 perhaps in moral or spiritual darkness1 and looking only for light4 ,if one's heart is with the people1 nothing so quickens perception as sympathy4 ,one notes the trend of the reading of the individual1 and often what he is seeking is intuitively divined4 ,perhaps the simple remark1 ,if you can tell me just what you want ,i may be able to find it for you1 results in a frank statement of the difficulty1 or an outburst of sudden confidence is given from the impulse that makes it often easier to confide in a stranger than in a relative4 ,and it counts for a good deal just then if the one at the information desk knows what writer has felt and thought most deeply and has written most clearly and helpfully on that subject4 ,few are the needs of the human heart or mind that are really beyond the reach of help from books--books in which we find the reflection of our every mood1 the expression in our inmost aspiration1 the conservation of the feeling1 the experience and the wisdom of the race4 ,,control ,,and ,,guidance ,,of ,,reading ,border regions are those of greatest interest1 for they are regions of contact and therefore places where things happen4 ,this is a border region between the field of the librarian and that of the teacher4 ,its activities are the sole justification for the name library teacher bestowed upon assistants in many of the homelier city districts4 ,here the librarian must tread warily4 ,he can not push or pull2 he must effect what he desires by making it attractive to the reader4 ,in the five following papers this function is somewhat elaborated--a very modern phase of library work and one most nearly concerned with its socialization4 ,,probable ,,intellectual ,,and ,,moral ,,outcome ,,of ,,the ,,rapid ,,increase ,,of ,,public ,,libraries ,a paper by ,rev4 ,dr4 ,pierce1 then editor of ,zion's ,herald1 a ,methodist publication1 read at the ,lake ,george ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association in #ahhe4 ,notably free from the caution and hesitancy then often appearing in the public utterances of the clergy regarding popular libraries1 and full of belief that their power of guidance would make them powerful elements of culture4 ,bradford ,kinney ,pierce was born in ,royalton1 ,vt41 ,february #c1 #ahai1 and graduated at ,wesleyan ,university in #ahda4 ,entering the ,methodist ,episcopal ministry1 he was also occupied for many years as teacher and editor1 being agent of the ,sunday ,school ,union in #ahde-ef1 editing ,zion's ,herald in #ahgb-hh and then serving as librarian of the ,free ,library at ,newton1 ,mass41 in addition to his other duties1 until his death1 ,april #ai1 #ahhi4 ,he has been called the ,nestor of ,new ,england ,methodism4 ,the free public library is now becoming the favorite posthumous beneficiary of our men of wealth4 ,heretofore it has hardly been esteemed respectable in the vicinity of ,boston for a man of fortune to die without leaving a generous bequest to ,harvard ,college or to the ,massachusetts ,general ,hospital4 ,the city and town library is now beginning to share liberally in these testamentary benefactions4 ,the college requires too considerable a sum in our days to be often adequately endowed by the estate of one patron1 but the library can be established and be quite amply appointed by the accumulation of one public-spirited citizen1 and be made to become his most-honored and permanent memorial4 ,every town of any size in our ,new ,england and ,northern ,states either has1 or will soon have1 one of these people's universities1 through the individual gift of a generous citizen1 or by public establishment4 ,this general gathering of large bodies of books in all our principal towns1 opened freely to all ages1 can but produce a manifest influence for good or evil in the community4 ,the familiar and forcible response to the objection made to the establishment of so many small colleges in the land1 rather than securing their consecration and abundant endowment and appointment in a few centres1 is that the fresh-water institution1 so called1 brings the opportunities for a liberal culture near to thousands who could not otherwise be prompted to make the incident sacrifices to secure an advanced education4 ,the immediate presence itself of the institution is an inspiration to study4 ,so the presence of the numerous libraries1 with their wide-open doors to all1 and their attractive shelves1 becomes a powerful incitement to those who otherwise would hardly think of seeking enjoyment or profit in reading4 ,the statistics of these city and town libraries fully confirm this a-priori presumption as to their influence in awakening and cultivating an interest in books among all classes4 ,and this influence of books upon a reading community is very powerful4 ,it is more subtle than human companionship4 ,the latter strongly affects and moulds the character2 but books reach us at lower depths4 ,they inspire us more profoundly2 they touch our whole being1 intellect1 heart1 and executive purpose2 they imperceptibly create or modify our ethical standards2 they become our models of life and conduct2 they lay hold of our highest and most sacred sentiments and color our views of the life beyond4 ,it can but be1 where the circulation of these volumes reaches nearly all our families and enters into the thoughts and emotions of every day of the year1 that manifest results for the better or the worse will follow4 ,many thoughtful persons have been honestly anxious in reference to the result of the experiment4 ,the public press has sent out its serious forebodings from the pens of those who have taken depressing views of the matter1 and alarming tracts have been published1 giving painful criticisms upon the contents of certain libraries1 the nature of special volumes found upon their shelves1 and the amount of circulation of works of fiction of not the most elevating1 or even wholesome1 character4 ,to all this we answer that these criticisms1 whether well founded or not1 have not been without their influence in calling attention to the most intelligent of our institutions4 ,their officers are cultured gentlemen and ladies1 clearly apprehending the relation of the library to the intellectual and moral development of the community and its true office in administering to the improvement1 as well as enjoyment1 of its patrons4 ,it is more and more becoming an educating rather than a simply entertaining institution4 ,it is every day becoming more widely recognized that it is not intended to be a competitor with the circulating library1 but rather an antagonist1 winning the patrons of the latter to the reading and study of a higher order of literature4 ,while the majority of library managers do not take the extreme view that has been strongly advocated by some quite intelligent library trustees1 that the public funds should not be used for the purchase of fiction1 which may be considered an intellectual luxury1 but only for improving and educating literature1 they do seek to carefully sift the lighter issues of the press1 securing the best and the purest of this character4 ,they also study at the same time1 through their accomplished officers and assistants1 in the use of the local press1 through the cooperation of the teachers of the schools and the leaders of public opinion1 with the aid of parents1 to awaken especially in the minds of the young people a taste for regular and substantial courses of reading in the various departments of science1 history1 and belles-lettres4 ,the success that has attended these efforts is full of encouragement4 ,our superintendents and librarians do not simply remain at their desks1 or stand behind their tables to respond to the call for books1 but make themselves felt in the community1 aiding in the investigations of students1 assisting in the search for authorities1 facts1 and illustrations1 suggesting plans for interesting the youthful readers in scientific or literary studies1 and calling attention to the rich accumulations upon the library shelves4 ,the annual reports of these institutions are constantly showing improvement in the character of the reading in their several communities1--a gradual decrease in the lighter works1 and an increase in the call for books of art and science1 of travel and biography1 of poetry and philosophy4 ,a significant falling off in the number of books taken from the library1 in many places1 is noticed1 while the patronage of the library is manifestly increased4 ,the works that are now selected are substantial1 requiring thought and time in reading4 ,they cannot be hurried over in a day like the light novel1 and hence the decrease in the number of volumes read is a most gratifying evidence of improvement in the quality of the reading4 ,the free library is becoming the effectual antagonist1 also1 of the superficial news and story papers4 ,their name is legion4 ,they assault the eye with their staring illustrations1 and tempt the reader by their cheapness4 ,especially at the close of the week1 supplies of this trash1 with periodical sheets of a little higher order1 but still superficial1 have been heretofore laid in for the hours of respite from labor on the ,sabbath4 ,this light1 disconnected1 desultory reading1 carried on through all the unoccupied hours of the week1 while it secures a smattering of information1 can but be of a very vicious intellectual tendency1 not to speak of its moral influence4 ,the free library and its reading-room offer without expense the perusal of the best periodical literature in the land1 and permit and tempt their patrons to secure1 for the unemployed hours of the approaching ,sabbath1 works of deep interest and of an improving character4 ,we are confident that this multiplication of well-selected and constantly growing collections of standard and current literature is full of promise of good1 and1 as generally managed among us1 is attended with small and easily corrected evils4 ,it is inspiring the establishment of literary and scientific clubs1 awakening the ambition and inventive powers of our mechanics1 encouraging a liberal and cultivating course of reading among our school students1 and affording an immeasurable amount of pure and refining enjoyment throughout the community4 ,we look upon it as one of the significant and powerful elements of a higher and general culture among the people1 and prophetic of far greater and better fruits in the future4 ,,possibilities ,,of ,,public ,,libraries ,,in ,,manufacturing ,,communities ,a love of reading as a keynote to broader culture1 and how the librarian may guide reading by stimulating that love--a paper by ,mrs4 ,sanders of the ,pawtucket ,public ,library 7long lovingly known among librarians as ,mawtucket of ,pawtucket74 ,minerva ,amanda ,sanders was born in ,providence1 ,r4,i41 ,feb4 #a1 #ahcg4 ,about #ahgf she became librarian of the subscription library in ,pawtucket1 ,r4,i41 organized in #aheb1 which preceded the present free library2 and when about six months later it was turned over to the town1 she continued in charge1 serving until her death1 ,march #bj1 #aiab4 ,mrs4 ,sanders did notable pioneer work in her profession1 especially in the adoption of free access to books and in work with children4 ,this paper was read at the ,thousand ,islands ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association in #ahhg4 ,sir ,john ,herschel1 in an address to the working people of ,windsor and ,eton upon the occasion of opening a public library for their use in #ahci1 said3-- ,if ,i were to pray for a taste1 which should stand me in stead under every variety of circumstances1 and be a source of happiness and cheerfulness to me through life1 and as a shield against its ills however things might go amiss and the world frown upon me1 it would be a taste for reading4 ,give a man this taste and a means of gratifying it1 and you can hardly fail of making a happy man1 unless1 indeed1 you put into his hands a most perverse selection of books4 ,you place him in contact with the best society in every period of history2 with the wisest1 the wittiest1 with the tenderest1 the bravest1 and the purest characters who have adorned humanity4 ,you make him a denizen of all nations1 a contemporary of all ages4 ,the world has been created for him4 ,it is hardly possible but the character should take a higher and better tone from the constant habit of associating in thought with a class of thinkers1 to say the least of it1 above the average of humanity4 ,it is morally impossible but that the manners should take a tinge of good breeding and civilization from having constantly before one's eyes the way in which the best-bred and the best-informed men have talked and conducted themselves in their intercourse with each other4 ,there is a gentle but perfectly irresistible coercion in a habit of reading well directed1 over the whole tenor of a man's character and conduct1 which is not the less effectual because it is really the last thing he dreams of4 ,it cannot1 in short1 be better summed up than in these few words3 ,it civilizes the conduct of men1 and suffers them not to remain barbarians4 ,recognizing this love of reading as the keynote to broader culture and a higher standard of morals1 one by one1 during the last half-century1 libraries have been thrown open to the public that were before only accessible to the scholar 7and often grudgingly even to him7 and new libraries established1 till1 in every community1 a free public library is as much a necessity to-day as its churches or its schools4 ,even in the troublous days of the ,revolution our forefathers were awaking to this demand1 for in #aggf there were #bi partially public libraries in the colonies2 in #ahjj there were #di2 in #ahgf the number had increased to over #c1jjj2 while to-day we number between #e1jjj and #f1jjj public libraries1 comprising a total of over #bj1jjj1jjj volumes4 ,the influence of a public library is contingent upon many circumstances--its community1 its finances1 and largely upon its management4 ,possibilities which may be developed in one library1 in another remain unnoticed2 while something of equal importance is made of incalculable benefit to its own community4 ,thus1 though working on a general principle1 each library independently works out the problem of the greatest good to the greatest number of its own patrons4 ,happily1 therefore1 there is no cause for the rivalry and jealousies that disturb the harmony of so many fraternities4 ,it is my pleasure and privilege to live in a manufacturing community2 to watch the development of practical ideas2 to follow the progress of mechanical improvement1 and witness with pride their results1 for the distinctive feature of ,pawtucket is the variety of its industries4 ,we remember with pride our parentage and the honor due to it2 but surely when ,samuel ,slater1 after a weary time of toil and discouragement1 perfected the first power machinery for cotton spinning in this country1 and with a pardonable pride saw it in successful operation in the first bona fide cotton mill in the ,united ,states1 which still stands in the centre of our city--7,i speak with authority though ,i am fully aware that this is a case parallel to the ,seven ,grecian cities striving for ,homer dead47--,when1 as ,i said1 this was accomplished in #agia1 there was no power of the imagination that could have foreseen the change from the little mill village on the ,blackstone ,river1 with its few hundred inhabitants1 to the present city of #be1jjj1 #ac1jjj of whom are engaged in industrial pursuits1 its #gj schools1 its #fjj manufacturing establishments1 embracing the greatest variety of industries4 ,but ,pawtucket is only one of many thriving manufacturing communities4 ,waltham1 ,mass41 the adoptive parent of the ,american ,watch ,co41 which had in #ahfe a population of but #g1jjj1 now numbers over #af1jjj1 with not less than #g1jjj employes1 #b1ejj of whom alone are employed by the ,american ,watch ,co4 ,lowell1 ,mass41 according to the census of #ahhc1 had a population of #ff1jjj1 one third of whom were employed in its #cjj manufactories4 ,manchester1 ,n4,h41 with a population of #dj1jjj1 employs #ae1jjj persons in its #ajb manufactories4 ,and so ,i might go on enumerating special statistics1 but these are simply representative communities4 ,it is sufficient for my purpose to say that there are in the ,united ,states about #bed1jjj manufacturing establishments1 employing nearly #c1jjj1jjj persons1 at an average wage of #a4ae per working day4 ,it is to this great class that we look for much of the prosperity of our country2 for we find that the value of the product of the manufactures of the ,united ,states for the last ten years was #e1djj1jjj1jjj4 ,it is also an important factor in our government1 for the pride and principle of our country is ,vox populi1 vox ,dei4 ,in these days when skilled labor is at a premium1 when issues are constantly arising requiring the best legislative ability1 and the demand for both is far greater than the supply1 how are we to meet it8 ,the reply comes from far and near1 ,educate the people4 ,yes1 educate the people6 for they are very ready to be educated1 many of them striving with a self-denial known only to themselves to give to their children the education that was denied them2 our schools of to-day are showing good work from the sons and daughters of these parents1 and its influence is blessing their homes4 ,but many are denied that privilege1 and cannot afford to spare their children's wages for even the three months covering the compulsory law of education4 ,at the average wage a private library though small is unattainable2 a newspaper may be a luxury indulged in4 ,where1 then1 is the royal road to learning8 ,we do not hesitate to say the free public library is that long-sought highway4 ,then open wide the doors2 let us stock our shelves with the best mechanical and scientific works2 see that each craft is especially represented2 supply the works on the leading questions of the day1 also works pertaining to the civil government4 ,in this we must not be partisan2 these subjects must be considered in all their bearings1 and in the broadest manner4 ,the biographies of working men who have attained honor by their practical worth and perserverance either in mechanical1 civil1 or military service must have a prominent place2 history and travel will receive their share of attention2 while we will not forget that the working man and woman must have some amusement and recreation1 and that strong meat is not always desirable2 our fiction department must be supplied with all that is bright1 fresh1 inspiring1 and helpful1 but nothing that will create a craving for greater stimulant1 or tend in the least degree to weaken the moral character2 for the office of a public library is to develop to its fullest capacity the best powers of a community4 ,the extent of such development must depend largely upon the manner of its use4 ,believing that the first entrance into a library should bring with it that most delightful sensation1 the companionship of books1 we have at our own library1 contrary to the custom which now obtains1 thrown open our shelves to the public1 with the title and name of author plainly printed on each volume so that literally he who runs may read4 ,an old man said to me a few days since3 ,i get little time for reading now1 but ,i love to come in and look at the books2 they bring to mind many a thing that ,i read long ago1 and ,i carry it with me all the day through2 'tis an education just to be with them4 ,you say1 ,how can this be done without loss of books8 ,ten years of experience has taught us that there is a point of honor in these working people in this regard1 with which we must come in contact to fully appreciate2 we have lost no more books with our open system than other libraries with their closed shelves4 ,understanding fully the value of a catalogue1 especially a closely classified one1 to the scholar2 to an uneducated man it is a labyrinth through which he gropes till in despair he either lays it aside or appeals for help4 ,what is a catalogue to a man who asks for a book on birds1 and when we direct an attendant to give him a certain work on ornithology1 quickly replies1 ',tis not that ,i want2 'tis a book on birds2 or the girl who wants an adequate book to furbish up her society manners4 ,not one in ten persons comes to a library with a definite object4 ,roaming at will among the books1 the sight of ,blaikie's ,how to get strong has been the first step toward the recovery of health otherwise lost2 ,john ,b4 ,gough's ,darkness and daylight has brought in the same way happiness to a wretched household2 while ,andrew ,carnegie's ,triumphant ,democracy has awakened in more than one citizen an interest and pride in his native or adopted country heretofore unknown4 ,there are the contents of the shelves to select from2 no fear of any one leaving the library without a book2 whereas1 after presenting from the catalogue a list of books to be returned as not in1 he either hasn't time1 or will make no further trouble1 and passes out unsatisfied4 ,i have already said that a possibility in one community may be impracticable in another2 with us this open system has proved an unqualified success4 ,a community of this class is not aggressive2 on the contrary they are in a library rather shy4 ,they should be met with prompt service1 and the courtesy of the drawing-room4 ,make them welcome as they enter the library2 it is their own2 help them to cultivate a personal pride in it2 ascertain their tastes1 7many of them will surprise us71 and call their attention to such works as will gratify them1 gradually leading them to higher standards when it is necessary4 ,if they are seeking special subjects and need our help1 let us exhaust our references4 ,to give to him that asketh and the ,lord loveth a cheerful giver should be a librarian's watchword4 ,what does it matter if half of the pleasures1 and all of the ills of our patrons be poured into our ears8 ,it only brings us nearer to them1 and shows us how to be more helpful1 and widens the influence of our work4 ',tis a wise community that enables its trustees to give to their librarian sufficient clerical assistance to allow him to mingle with the people1 to learn their habits and tastes1 to direct their reading 7especially of the young71 and to assist them in their researches2 for we all know that peculiarly inherent weakness of human nature1 to seek for information from the highest source1 and to be better satisfied1 even though the same help may be rendered us by a subordinate4 ,the reading-room in connection with a public library may be made an important agent in the education of a community1 especially of its young men and children4 ,after a day of hard work1 what are the homes to which many of these young men return8 ,the accommodations of a cheap boarding-house1 which means a room generally occupied by two or more1 with barely furniture for necessity to say nothing of comfort4 ,what inducement has he to spend his evenings at home8 ,where1 then1 will he go8 ,into the street1 to drift into the place offering the most attraction for the least money2 alas6 too often at the bitter cost of misery to himself and sorrow for his friends hereafter4 ,this1 then is our work1 to make our reading-rooms so attractive that they will be drawn hither4 ,have them well lighted1 well heated and ventilated1 supplied with the daily papers of our own and other cities1 also the current magazines4 ,we cannot afford to be niggardly in this work4 ,let us supply our tables with illustrated mechanical and art works1 also the best literature of the day4 ,the more freedom that we can give1 the better the results4 ,the young man will pass in and out at his pleasure1 spending an hour or two with whatever pleases him best1 till the reading-room largely takes the place of home1 and reading becomes a part of his daily existence1 the beneficent effect of which he will carry through life4 ,there are lying on our tables week after week by actual count #fjj papers1 magazines1 and books1 from ,baby ,days to ,the ,cathedrals of the ,world1 free to the public4 ,this has ceased to be an experiment1 for during the ten years our losses have not amounted to #aj2 and there are days when nearly if not quite #ejj persons sit at our tables4 ,the greater possibilities1 however1 are with our children1 the future parents and guardians of our commonwealth4 ,what are we doing for them as public libraries1 as educators8 ,working hand in hand with the schools faithfully and well1 as shown by the valuable and interesting reports published in the ,library journal1 without which we would know as little of the library work outside our own as we would know of the outside world without our newspaper4 ,long may it live6 ,does our responsibility rest here8 ,what of the multitude of waifs worse than homeless1 without restraining or guiding influence1 to be thrown into the community to swell the numbers of paupers and criminals1 many of whom1 yes1 the majority of whom1 have the same gentle instincts and latent ability as our own little ones so tenderly nurtured4 ,we may say this is the work of charitable institutions and humane societies2 not so2 this is essentially our work4 ,we call ourselves educators1 and have the honor to be recognized as such2 the work of a public library is to teach1 to elevate1 to ennoble1 there is no limit to its possible influence4 ,must we wait1 then1 until our children 7for they are all ours as a community7 are fourteen years of age or upwards before we begin to teach them the first principles of right living1 of mental growth1 of love to their neighbor8 ,we maintain that we cannot begin too early1 and that this is a part of library work from which we get the greatest percentage of reward4 ,again ,i ask1 ,what are we doing for these children1 the future pride or dishonor of our communities8 ,brockton1 ,mass41 has a reading-room to which children are admitted1 and which they are encouraged to visit1 so well patronized that it will soon double its seating capacity4 ,waltham1 ,mass41 has taken a step in the right direction4 ,the trustees of the public library have supplied two tables in their waiting room with ,wide awake and ,st4 ,nicholas for the children4 ,lowell1 ,mass41 admits children during the day1 and supplies them with juvenile magazines4 ,manchester1 ,n4,h41 admits children to the reading-room2 but unfortunately1 from various causes1 they are unable to offer the necessary attractions1 and few visit it4 ,newport1 ,r4,i41 can only furnish ,st4 ,nicholas for want of money1 but children may come and go at their pleasure4 ,olneyville1 ,r4,i41 is offering every inducement that their means will allow to draw children to their reading-room2 and to interest and instruct them seems to be the object of those in charge4 ,willimantic1 ,conn41 admits children at the age of #ab years4 ,somerville1 ,mass41 supplies juvenile magazines1 and has no limit to age4 ,springfield1 ,mass41 also admits children at all ages4 ,the ,boston ,public ,library1 the parent of the public libraries of ,new ,england1 true to its paternal instinct1 begins to exert its influence over the children at the earliest years4 ,there are doubtless others from whom we would be glad to hear1 but ,i confess that1 after visiting and inquiring among public libraries concerning this work1 ,i became disheartened and ceased investigation1 for the popular verdict seems to be ,children and ,dogs not allowed4 ,with our experience in this work with the children since the opening of our library in #ahgf1 and knowing the possibilities only waiting for development1 ,i am emboldened to speak earnestly4 ,let us gather the children in2 give milk for babies1 in the illustrated books which they may understand though they cannot read2 juvenile magazines and literature of a healthy nature to counteract the pernicious trash that is flooding our communities4 ,it is only necessary to refer you to the specimens of flash literature which our boys have relinquished to us1 with pale faces and trembling hands1 after reading from the scrapbook here on exhibition the cuttings from the newspapers of the day showing the bad influence of the dime novel4 ,it tells its own story far better than ,i can tell it1 and the one in whose mind this great remedial agent originated is daily blest in seeing the good results of his experiment4 ,help the children to begin early to understand that even they are of use in a community2 awaken their pride and ambition in the right direction1 and their future is assured4 ,if there are those who doubt the practicability of this work1 and1 like ,hosea ,bigelow1 would ,give more for one live bobolink ,than a square mile of larks in printer's ink1 come and see our ,flower ,band1 numbering #bjj children1 gathered from the little girls and boys who frequent our library and reading-room1 from five years of age to fourteen2 from the little fellow who brings three wilted daisies1 or a rose without a stem1 to the dainty miss with a bouquet from the greenhouse4 ,their badges signify a pledge to bring flowers once a week 7if possible71 and to respond to a call to distribute them in any place where they will add a bit of brightness to a shadowed household2 also to seek out such homes and report them4 ,several names have been already stricken from our list1 of those who have died leaving a blessing for these little missionaries4 ,the influence of this work upon the children and the community cannot be told4 ,it must be seen to be appreciated4 ,i have endeavored to show that upon the influence of the public library working in harmony with the spirit of the churches and the schools1 with the single object of the highest welfare of the people1 depends much of the prosperity1 morality1 and culture of our industrial communities--,i might also say of our country2 but when we consider that there are less than #f1jjj public libraries in the ,united ,states1 are we not tempted to say in the words of old1 ,what are they among so many8 ,but let us remember that the same spirit that gave power to feed the multitude from the five loaves and fishes still lives in the hearts of men to animate them to good works1 as shown by ,messrs4 ,ames1 ,hail1 ,pratt1 ,carnegie1 ,osterhout1 ,newberry1 and a host of others whose names are yet to be engraved as public benefactors on the tablets of public libraries4 ,may ,god speed the work6 ,,presidential ,,address ,,of ,,joseph ,n4 ,,larned ,the need of stronger forces in popular education--the failure of the press--the library's opportunity1 as it appeared to a scholarly librarian of the so-called old school in #ahid4 ,joseph ,nelson ,larned was born in ,chatham1 ,ontario1 ,may #aa1 #ahcf1 and was educated in the public schools of ,buffalo1 ,n4,y4 ,he served on the editorial staff of the ,buffalo ,express in #ahei-gb1 was superintendent of education in ,buffalo in #ahgb-gc and superintendent of the ,buffalo ,library from #ahgg until it became the ,public ,library in #ahig1 after which he devoted himself to literature until his death in #aiac4 ,his best known work is his ,history for ,ready ,reference and ,topical ,reading4 ,he was president of the ,a4,l4,a4 in #ahic-id4 ,it was my misfortune to be absent from the meeting at which you did me the honor to elect me to this place1 and ,i had no opportunity1 either to give my advice against that action1 or to thank you for the distinction with which it clothes me4 ,the advice ,i would have given is now belated2 but my thanks have lost no warmth by the delay1 and ,i pray you to accept them with belief in their sincerity4 ,at the same time ,i shall venture to draw from the circumstances a certain claim upon your generosity4 ,if it happens to me to be tripped in some of these tangles of procedure which1 in such meetings as this1 await the stumbling feet of an untrained presiding officer1 be good enough to remember the warning ,i would have given you if ,i had had the opportunity4 ,we are gathered for the sixteenth meeting of the ,american ,library ,association1 in the eighteenth year of its existence4 ,our league of the libraries is young2 its history is unpretentious2 but it is the history of a movement of higher importance to the world that many others that have marched with trumpets1 and drums4 ,eighteen years ago1 the conception of the ,library militant1 of the ,library as a moving force in the world1 of the ,librarian as a missionary of literature1 was one which a few men only had grasped2 but with which those few had already begun the doing of a revolutionary work4 ,to-day such ideals are being realized in most corners of the ,american republic4 ,the last generation1 and the generations before the last1 were satisfied with the school as an agent of popular education4 ,in our time we have brought the library to the help of the school1 and the world is just opening its eyes to perceive the enormous value of the reinforcement that is gained from this new power4 ,and the discovery has come none too soon2 for a desperate need of more and stronger forces in the work of popular education is pressing on us4 ,if we reflect on the social conditions of the present day1 and review a little the working of the ferments in civilized society during a few years last past1 we shall marvel1 ,i think1 at the timeliness of the movement which brings the public library1 just now1 to the front of action among the instruments and agencies of popular education4 ,it is our fortune1 good or ill as we may regard it1 to be unmistakably passing through one of the greater crisies of human history4 ,in the last century1 modern democracy got its political footing in the world4 ,its birth was older1 and it had been cradled in divers nursing places1 ,swiss1 ,dutch1 ,english1 and ,new ,english2 but last century it stepped into political history as the actor of the leading part2 as the sovereign of the future1 mounting his throne4 ,from the moment it came on the stage1 all wise men knew that its need above every other need was education4 ,they made haste1 in our country1 to build school-houses and to set the school-master at work2 seeing plainly that all they might hope for and strive for in the future would depend on the intelligence that could be put into the brain of this omnipotent sovereign who had risen to rule the world4 ,well1 the schools and the school-masters served their purpose reasonably well for a reason4 ,democracy was fairly equipped with a spelling-book and a quill-pen for the duties and responsibilities of a simple1 slowly-moving time4 ,the mass of its members1 the every-day people of the farm and the shop1 read the pamphlets and the weekly gazettes of their day1 and were gently drawn1 with unconfused minds1 into one or the other of two straightly opposed political parties which sought their votes4 ,if they lacked knowledge1 there was a certain ingenuousness in their character which paid respect to the opinions of men who had more4 ,if blundering in politics occurred1 it was blundering leadership1 for the most part1 and more easily corrected than perversity in the ranks4 ,so the reign of democracy was successful enough while society kept the simpler state4 ,but that simpler state is gone4 ,we who are beyond middle age may say that we have seen it disappear4 ,we have witnessed a miraculous transformation of the earth and of the people who dwell on it4 ,we have seen the passing of ,aladdin1 who rubbed his magical electric lamp as he went calling ,afreets from the air to be the common servants of man4 ,a change has been wrought within fifty years that is measureless1 not only in itself1 but in its effects on the human race4 ,the people who whisper in each other's ears across a continent2 who know at noon-time in ,nebraska what happened in the morning at ,samarcand2 the people to whom a hundred leagues are neighborhood1 and a thousand but easy distance2 for whom there is little mystery left on the face of the earth1 nor anything hidden from their eyes2 these people of our day are not in the likeness of the men and women who ambled horseback or rode in coaches from town to town1 and who were content with a weekly mail4 ,the fitting and furniture of mind that would make a safe member of society and a good citizen out of the man of small horizons1 who lived the narrower life of a generation or two ago1 are perilously scant for these times4 ,it is true that all the wonderful quickening of life which has occurred carries something of education in itself1 and that men learn by living under the conditions of the present day2 but the learning caught in that way is of the dangerous kind4 ,it is the delusive knowledge of the surface of things2 the deceitful lore which breeds mischievous beliefs and makes them fanatical4 ,it goes but a little way1 if at all1 toward the saving of society1 as against the unrest1 the discontent1 the desire1 which torment such an age of revolution as ours4 ,and the threatening fact is this3 that ignorant opinions have acquired at the present day a capacity for harm enormously increased over that of the elder times4 ,they share the magnified potency that is given to all things1 good or ill1 by the science of the modern man4 ,its million tongues are lent to them for propagation2 but that is a matter of small seriousness compared with the boundless ease of combination which it offers to them at the same time4 ,it is in that appalling facility of alliance and organization1 which present conditions have given to men and women of every class and character1 for every kind of aim and purpose1 that the greatest peril of society lies in our day4 ,a peril1 that is to say1 so long as society has no assurance that the leagues and confederacies formed within its bosom will be prevailingly well instructed and intelligently controlled4 ,as a serious danger this is something quite new4 ,it has come upon us within recent years4 ,i can remember a state of things in which it was difficult for a man in common life to join himself with other men1 much beyond his own neighborhood1 in any effectual way1 excepting as he did it on the lines of an old political party or an older church4 ,but1 to-day1 leagues1 unions1 federations1 associations1 orders1 rings1 form themselves among the restless1 unstable elements of the time as clouds are formed in the atmosphere1 and with kindred lightning flashes and mutterings of thunder4 ,any boldly ignorant inventor of a new economical theory or a new political doctrine1 or a new cornerstone for the fabric of society1 can set on foot a movement from ,maine to ,california1 between two equinoxes1 if he handles his invention with dexterity4 ,this is what invests popular ignorance with terrors which never appeared in it before1 and it is this which has brought the real1 responsible test of democracy1 social and political1 on our time and on us4 ,democracy1 in fact1 has remained considerably1 hitherto1 an unworked theory of society1 even in communities which have supposed themselves to be democratically constituted4 ,it has remained so through want of conditions that would give a clear sound to the individual voice and free play to the individual will4 ,those conditions are now arriving in the world1 and the democratic regime is consequently perfecting itself1 not politically alone1 but economically1 and in all the social relations of mankind4 ,so it is not exaggeration to say that we have come to a situation in which society must fight for its life against popular ignorance4 ,the old agencies of education are inadequate1 when the best has been made of them4 ,the common school does not go far enough1 and cannot4 ,its chief function is to prepare a soil in the young mind for the after seed-planting which will produce fruits of intelligence4 ,unsupplemented1 it is well-nigh barren of true educational results4 ,the higher schools and colleges reach too small a number to count for much in a problem which concerns the teaching of the universal millions4 ,what agency1 then1 is there1 that will prepare the democracy of the present and the future for its tremendous responsibilities8 ,some may say1 the newspaper press3 and ,i would rejoice if we could accept that reply4 ,for the press is an educating power that might transform the civilization of the world as swiftly in mind and morals as steam and electricity have transformed its material aspects4 ,there is nothing conceivable in the way of light and leading for mankind which a conscientious and cultivated newspaper press might not do within a single generation4 ,but a press of that character and that effect seems possible only under circumstances of disinterestedness which are not likely to exist4 ,the publication of a newspaper may sometimes be undertaken as a duty1 but not often4 ,as a rule it is a business1 like any other1 with the mercenary objects of business2 and as a rule1 too1 the gain sought is more readily and more certainly found by pandering to popular ignorance than by striving against it4 ,a few newspapers can secure a clientage which they please best by dignity1 by cleanness1 by sober truthfulness1 and by thoughtful intelligence1 in their columns2 but the many are tempted always1 not merely to stoop to low tastes and vulgar sentiments1 but to cultivate them2 because there is gravitation in the moral as well as the physical world1 and culture in the downward way is easier than the upward4 ,the vulgarizing of the news press has been a late and rapid process1 nearly coincident in cause and event with the evolution of this modern democracy which it makes more problematical4 ,we need not be very old to have seen the beginnings3 the first skimming of the rich daily news of the world for the scum and froth of it2 the first invention of that disgusting brew1 from public sewers and private drains1 with which the popular newspapers of the day feed morbid appetites4 ,we can recall the very routes by which it was carried from city to city1 and taken up by journal after journal1 as they discovered a latent1 un-developed taste for such ferments of literature in the communities around them4 ,the taste was latent1 potential2 it did not exist as a fact2 it was not conscious of itself2 it made no demands4 ,the newspapers deliberately sought it out1 delved for it1 brought it to the surface1 fed it1 stimulated it1 made it what it is to-day1 an appetite as diseased and as shamefully pandered to as the appetite for intoxicating drams4 ,and1 so far as ,i can perceive1 this action and reaction between what is ignorant and vulgar in the public and what is mercenary and unscrupulous in the press will go on until popular education from other sources puts an end to it4 ,for it is the saving fact that there are other sources2 and foremost among them are the public libraries4 ,if it has been our privilege to see1 and for some in our circle to bear a part in1 the beginnings of the active educational work of the libraries1 ,i am persuaded that it is only the beginnings we have witnessed as yet4 ,i am persuaded that the public library of the future will transcend our dreams in its penetrating influence4 ,consider for a moment what it is1 and what it offers to the energies of education which a desperate necessity is awakening and organizing in the world6 ,it is a store1 a reservoir1 of the new knowledge of the latest day and the ripened wisdom of the long past4 ,to carry into the memory and into the thought of all the people who surround it1 in a town1 even some little part of what it holds of instructed reasoning and instructed feeling1 would be to civilize that community beyond the highest experience of civilization that mankind has yet attained to4 ,there is nothing that stands equally beside it as a possible agent of common culture4 ,it is the one fountain of intellectual life which cannot be exhausted2 which need not be channeled for any fortunate few2 which can be generously led to the filling of every cup1 of every capacity1 for old or young4 ,there is little in it to tempt the befouling hand of the politician1 and it offers no gain to the mercantile adventurer4 ,for those who serve it on behalf of the public there are few allurments of money or fame4 ,its vast powers for good are so little exposed to seduction or corruption that it seems to give promises for the future which are safer and surer than any others that society can build hopes upon4 ,in this view1 those who serve the public libraries have a great responsibility laid on them4 ,they hold in their hands what would give to civilization an ideal refinement if it could be distributed and communicated to all4 ,as we know very well1 that is impossible4 ,there is a part of mankind1 in every community1 which never will feel1 never can be made to feel1 the gentle attractiveness and influence of books4 ,the fact is one not to be disputed or ignored4 ,at the same time it is a fact to be treated practically as though it did not exist4 ,it is our business to assume that the mission of good books1 books of knowledge1 books of thought1 books of inspiration1 books of right feeling1 books of wholesome imagination1 can be pushed to every hearth1 and to every child and parent who sits by it4 ,and it is our business to labor unsparingly toward the making of that assumption good1 without reckoning any fraction of hopelessness in it4 ,that is the business to which we are appointed in this world4 ,let us be careful that we do not misconceive it in one most important particular6 ,it is not the mission of books that we are charged with1 but the mission of good books4 ,and there lies a delicate1 difficult1 very grave duty in that discrimination4 ,to judge books with adequate knowledge and sufficient hospitality of mind2 to exercise a just choice among them without offensive censorship2 to defend his shelves against the endless siege of vulgar literature1 and yet not waste his strength in the resistance--these are really the crucial demands made on every librarian4 ,for the first condition of successful work is a good tool2 and our tools are not books1 but good books4 ,these given1 then follow those demands on us which we sometimes discuss as though they came first of all3 the demands1 that is1 for a perfected apparatus in the working library1 for a tireless energy in its motive forces1 and for a large intelligence in the directing of them4 ,not many years ago1 our missionary undertakings from the library seemed to be bounded by its own walls4 ,the improving1 annotating1 and popularizing of catalogues2 the printing and distributing of bulletins and reference lists2 the surrounding of readers and seekers in a library with willing help and competent suggestion2 these labors seemed1 only a few years ago1 to include almost everything that the librarian most zealous as a missionary could do4 ,but see what doors have been opening in the last few years1 and what illimitable fields of labor now invite him6 ,through one1 the great army of the teachers in the common schools is coming into co-operation with him4 ,through another1 he steps into the movement of university extension1 and finds in every one of its servants a true apostle of the library mission of good books4 ,from a third1 he spreads his beneficient snares about a city in branches and delivery stations2 and by a fourth he sends traveling libraries to the ends of his ,state4 ,the arena of our work is large enough already to make claims on every faculty and power we can bring to it2 and yet our plainest duty is to enlarge it still4 ,i think we may be sure that there are portals yet to open1 agents yet to enlist1 alliances yet to enter1 conquests yet to make4 ,and in the end--what8 ,those of us who have faith in the future of democracy can only hold our faith fast by believing that the knowledge of the learned1 the wisdom of the thoughtful1 the conscience of the upright1 will some day be common enough to prevail1 always1 over every factious folly and every mischievous movement that evil minds of ignorance can set astir4 ,when that blessed time of victory shall have come1 there will be many to share the glory of it2 but none among them will rank rightly before those who have led and inspired the work of the public libraries4 ,,the ,,library ,,as ,,an ,,inspirational ,,force ,what a librarian may do to direct the attention of his readers to the really great writers and thinkers--a plea for original work and for innovation in the library--a note frequently heard in #aibj1 but new in #ahii when ,mr4 ,foss1 librarian and popular poet1 sounded it in ,public ,libraries for ,march4 ,sam ,walter ,foss was born in ,canadia1 ,n4,h41 ,june #ai1 #aheh1 graduated at ,brown ,university in #ahhb and served on the editorial staff of various papers4 ,in #ahie he left that of the ,boston ,globe and from #ahih to his death1 ,feb4 #bf1 #aiaa1 he was librarian of the ,somerville1 ,mass41 ,public ,library4 ,he published several volumes of popular verse4 ,a library has no especial reason for self-felicitation simply because it distributes a large number of books4 ,in fact1 it is possible for it to give out a very large number of books and do more harm than good4 ,the test question to ask is3 ,is it grinding out a product of enlightened and symmetrical men and women8 ,is it transforming the community into intellectual1 thoughtful1 better equipped1 more roundly developed citizens8 ,is it making life any ampler1 is it making men any manlier1 is it making the world any better8 ,if there is any library that cannot answer these questions affirmatively1 its librarians are doddering their lives away in useless activity1 and receiving a salary without rendering any real service in return4 ,the activities of such a library are useless contortions1 and the taxpayers have a right to protest its further existence4 ,what can a librarian do to make his library an inspirational force8 ,in the first place he must be as accessible as a turnpike road4 ,it seems to me that he can do more good by talking to people than in any other way4 ,to do this1 of course1 it is a prerequisite that he should know something4 ,i have no faith in the miserable heresy that a librarian who reads is lost4 ,a librarian who does not read would better not be found in the first place4 ,a librarian who does not read is simply a stable keeper for books4 ,he may see to it that they are well blanketed1 groomed1 and put in the proper stalls1 and that the various implements about his stable are kept in good order2 but such a librarian will never be mistaken for an intellectual giant in his community4 ,let him know the books he handles so that he can talk with schoolgirls about ,sophie ,may and ,virginia ,townsend1 and with boys about ,henty and ,brooks and ,knox and ,butterworth4 ,let him be able to discuss ,herbert ,spencer and ,david ,harum with equal zest1 and know something about ,kant and a good deal about ,kipling1 and venerate ,marcus ,aurelius1 and not despise ,mark ,twain4 ,his mind should be a live coal in its love for books1 and then nestle up to other minds and let them get ignited also4 ,but it may be said that a librarian hasn't the time for such extensive reading4 ,did you ever know a boy who couldn't find time to play8 ,one always finds time to do the thing he loves to do2 and a man who has a genuine love for reading will find time for it even in a library4 ,one of the greatest longings that any soul can have is a longing for some one to talk with who is interested in identical subjects4 ,a librarian1 through personal intercourse1 can become a powerfully educative influence in his community1 and start intellectual impulses that will not subside during his lifetime1 but go on widening and blessing indefinitely4 ,let him become the father confessor of minds in his town or city2 the priest of the intellect1 to whom all men shall bring all their mental problems1 all their dubious enigmas of the brain4 ,he will not be able to solve all their puzzles or untie all their knots2 but perhaps he will be able to hold the candle for a little while1 while they struggle with the knots themselves4 ,let him always hold the candle1 and talk pleasantly while he is holding it4 ,this matter of being pleasant in a library is really the first and great commandment4 ,there should be an air of welcome inside that is pleasanter than the sunshine outdoors4 ,the deathlike stillness and tomblike hush1 the sepulchral gloom1 the graveyard silence that sometimes prevails in libraries1 should not be encouraged4 ,make people feel at home4 ,the library here can learn a good lesson from the barroom4 ,there are no signs up in a barroom intimating that loud talking is not allowed1 nobody walks on tiptoes1 everybody is welcomed heartily and encouraged to stay1 and men find a sympathetic friendliness there who find it nowhere else4 ,john ,wesley said we should not allow the devil to monopolize all the good tunes4 ,the library should not allow the barroom to monopolize all the spirit of human friendliness and good cheer4 ,i am sincerely glad that the old type of librarian is passing out--a man so dignified that children were afraid of him1 whose face was so long that his chin dragged on the floor4 ,we want human men with blood in them in a library2 men who like men and love children2 men who can make themselves agreeable to men1 women1 children1 and dogs4 ,let us make life as pleasant in a library as a mother's twilight hour with her children1 and we shall raise up great families for the afterdays1 who shall look back upon us as their intellectual parents1 and rise up after we are gone and call our memories blessed4 ,there are three classes of books--books that give pleasure1 books that give information1 and books that give inspiration4 ,the first class has its thousands of readers1 the second its hundreds1 and the third its tens4 ,it is a good thing to read books for pleasure--it is the most innocent kind of drunkenness ,i know about2 but that reading books merely for pleasure may develop into a kind of intellectual dissipation is something that we know from experience2 for who is there of us who has not sinned8 ,but reading books merely for pleasure is something we should outgrow in childhood1 just as we do stilts and marbles and the game of tag4 ,it is a better thing to read books for information4 ,it is one of the healthiest joys of the normal mind to be forever learning something2 forever learning and forever coming to the knowledge of the truth4 ,it is the best thing1 however1 to read books for inspiration4 ,and this is a class of readers into which many of the frequenters of the public libraries never graduate4 ,ah6 the pity of it6 ,books that lift us out of ourselves and the fogs and fumes and dust of our little treadmill routines into the ampler ether of loftier altitudes--into the grandeurs of life6 ,emerson and ,shakespeare and ,wordsworth and ,whitman--do men love such as these and remain little men8 ,no1 this is the meat from which giants are grown2 here is the food for souls4 ,now it seems to me it is the duty of the good librarian1 one who believes in the august nature of his profession1 to lead up his readers by all devices within his power1 by imperceptible gradations1 through the books that please and the books that inform1 to the books that inspire4 ,and the librarian who drops a boy before he learns to love ,john ,milton has only brought him half his journey1 and has dropped him before he has reached the destination to which his fare was paid4 ,why do not people read the best books8 ,one reason is they never see them4 ,it is a librarian's business to keep them in sight1 his next business is to read them himself1 and his next business is to talk about them whenever he can get an audience of fifty1 or five1 or one2 to write about them in his monthly bulletins and let every man know he can get them1 and welcome1 by stretching out his hand4 ,we all know how ,tom ,sawyer got his fence painted4 ,he made all the boys in his neighborhood believe that fence painting was great fun4 ,the librarian should make all the boys in his neighborhood believe that reading the best books is genuine pleasure4 ,they can be brought to an appreciation of this pleasure as one is brought to the height of a tableland of a great continent1 by gradations so gradual that they seem to be walking on a flat surface4 ,i believe that the great destiny of the public library is as yet but faintly foreseen4 ,the plain truth is that the library has not tried yet to do its best4 ,it has opened it doors and let people come in1 if they so desire1 or if they happen to be passing that way4 ,no successful auctioneer does business according to any such method4 ,on the contrary he lifts up his voice to all it may concern1 and to all that do not care that there are about to be great bargains at his place4 ,the business man who opens his store and then forever holds his peace has his solitude very infrequently interrupted by customers4 ,the church that has no missionary spirit is as tepid as the old church of ,laodicea4 ,the schoolmaster whose pupils absent themselves too frequently collects his daily audience1 even if he has to call in the services of the truant officer4 ,all this is written with something of the same wisdom4 ,i do not believe it should always wait for people to come to it2 it should go to the people4 ,every family in every city or town where there is a library should be offered a library card1 or as many cards as it has adult members4 ,sometimes there is so much red tape prerequisite to obtaining a library card that a bashful man does not dare to make the attempt4 ,let us not shut the people off from the books that they have paid for by a barbed wire fence of red tape4 ,let every man or woman1 yes1 or child1 too1 that is old enough1 be personally canvassed and offered a library card4 ,then sell him a catalog at cost price1 or better still1 at less than cost1 and tell him how to use it4 ,ah1 but our trustees will say1 this will cost something4 ,yes1 it will cost something1 but it will be a tremendously profitable investment1 and pay immense dividends later on in a more intelligent citizenship and wiser and happier men4 ,from all this ,i wish it might be inferred that no librarian can be too great for his position4 ,it is not easy for him to have too much knowledge1 too much tact1 too much consecration to his work1 too exalted an estimate of his possibilities4 ,he should not have a mind with a flange on it1 so that it forever runs on the small rail along the dusty roadbeds of routine4 ,let him originate1 let him innovate1 let him blaze his path with the pioneers--let him think4 ,,the ,,use ,,of ,,the ,,public ,,library ,part of an address by ,president ,angell of the ,university of ,michigan--educator1 diplomat and statesman--at the dedication of the ,ryerson ,library ,building in ,grand ,rapids1 ,mich41 ,oct4 #h1 #aijd4 ,to advise a reader1 ,pres4 ,angell thinks1 one must know something of his personal aptitudes4 ,general advice about good reading is seldom of great service4 ,a modern note by a great man4 ,james ,burrill ,angell was born in ,scituate1 ,r4,i41 ,jan4 #g1 #ahbi1 graduated at ,brown ,university1 and after studying abroad1 became eminent as an educator1 holding first a professorship in his alma mater and then serving successively as president of the ,universities of ,vermont and ,michigan4 ,he was ,u4,s4 minister to ,china in #ahhj-ha and served on important international commissions4 ,his works on international law and on education are standard4 ,he died on ,april #a1 #aiaf4 ,now that your benefactor has so nobly done his part1 it remains for the city to see that the library is maintained and managed in an effective manner4 ,it would not only be an act of ingratitude1 but it would be a mockery1 if in such an edifice as this we should not find a good and growing and well administered library4 ,there is no more important commission in your city than the commission charged with the care of your library4 ,let us hope that they will always be chosen with special regard to their fitness for their official duty and without regard to their party affiliations4 ,especially is wisdom needed in the selection of your books4 ,it is not so difficult to choose books for the cultivated and scholarly readers4 ,but in a city library you must provide for all your population4 ,particular care should be had to procure books attractive and useful to your artisans and mechanics and common laborers4 ,they should be led to feel that this is the place where they can most profitably spend a spare hour and can find something to bring new brightness into their monotonous lives4 ,the efforts which you have already initiated to make the library serviceable to the pupils in your schools must now be redoubled4 ,the teachers and the library authorities must always contrive to cooperate heartily4 ,the multiplication of libraries in this country has already elevated the work of the librarian to the dignity of a distinct profession4 ,and no profession promises to be more useful4 ,in addition to the proper organization and care of the library1 the influence which a competent librarian can wield in his guidance of the reading and studies of the young is seldom outweighed by that of the teacher or the preacher4 ,in no manner can a generous appropriation of funds for the support of a library be more wisely expended than in securing a competent librarian4 ,judging by my own experience and by my observation of others1 ,i doubt whether the guide books which have been written to tell one what works to read have been of great service4 ,the simple reason why they are not very helpful is that to advise one what to read1 you should know something of his aptitudes and taste and something of his plans of life4 ,general advice is a shot in the air4 ,it may hit nothing4 ,but a competent person may give helpful counsels to the young concerning useful methods of reading whatever one does read1 and may indeed specify what are some of the best books on certain topics4 ,a good librarian1 if leisure enough is left him1 may attract and help willing auditors by occasional lectures or informal talks on how to read in a library4 ,but personal suggestions1 to meet particular needs1 are the most fruitful of good4 ,and just here the school teachers1 if competent to advise1 can be of the utmost service4 ,in no way can the library be made so valuable as by the hearty and systematic co-operation of the librarian and the teachers4 ,it would be very useful if they could from time to time meet to confer upon the best methods of securing harmonious action4 ,for it is the generation now coming on to the stage who are chiefly to profit by the use of this library4 ,it is through them that the city is to receive its chief benefit4 ,to incite them to read1 to train them to right habits of reading1 to inspire them with high ideals of what one should seek and love in reading1 should be the aspiration of parents and teachers1 if this library is to yield its largest harvest of good4 ,like all good things1 this library may to some persons bring no good2 it may even be made an instrument of harm4 ,it may bring no good1 because it may be utterly neglected4 ,no doubt there are many families who have never drawn a book from its shelves4 ,it may bring no good1 it may even cause intellectual1 not to say moral injury1 if it is misused4 ,it is possible to choose from any great library such passages from works and to peruse them in such a spirit as to gratify and stimulate prurient desires1 or if one does not descend to so unworthy and shameful an act1 one may read in such a manner as to be guilty of intellectual dissipation4 ,what we may call the desultory readers are exposed to this danger4 ,they pick up whatever book or magazine comes first to hand1 provided they are sure that it makes no tax upon their mental powers4 ,they spend their time dawdling over a chapter of this book1 then over a chapter of that1 as men of the town now join this gay companion for an hour and then another for the next hour for frivolous talk and profitless gossip1 and so wander aimless through the day without any fruitage to show for their time4 ,they lose the power1 if they ever had it1 of consecutive study and thought and discourse on any theme whatever4 ,i do not mean to intimate that we should never come to this library to read for pleasure and entertainment4 ,one of the great and proper uses of books is to refresh and amuse us in our hours of weariness and depression4 ,like the society of our choicest friends1 they may wisely be sought for the sole purpose of diverting our minds from the flood of cares and troubles which come in upon all of us4 ,the library may well be ,the world's sweet inn from care and wearisome turmoil4 ,or in our happy and merry moods we may seek congenial company in the creations of ,cervantes and ,moliere and ,shakespeare and ,dickens and ,mark ,twain4 ,reading for pastime is a commendable occupation1 if wisely followed4 ,lowell in his paradoxical style tells us that what ,dr4 ,johnson called browsing in a library is the only way in which time can be profitably wasted4 ,but to browse profitably one should have an appetite only for what has some merit4 ,i have known lads born with a literary instinct as unerring as that of the bee for finding honey1 to have the free run of a large library and come out with a wonderful range of good learning4 ,such instances show the unwisdom of having the same rules to guide every one in his reading4 ,in such cases as those just cited1 the example and taste of the parents often determine the success of the experiment4 ,the books they talk about fondly at table and quote from freely and appositely are likely to arrest the attention of the child4 ,therefore we may say that the home as truly as the school may largely determine what advantage shall be gained in this library4 ,parents who for their children's sake are careful what guests they admit to their house and what companionships they counsel the children to form may well consider what reading comes under their roof and what literary tastes they encourage in their household4 ,in these days when reviews and magazines and school histories of literature abound1 there seems ground for one caution to youthful readers4 ,it is1 not to be content with reading about great books and great men1 but to study the works themselves of great men4 ,many of the outlines of ,english literature1 for example1 which pupils in school are required to study1 contain dates and names and brief descriptions of masterpieces1 and from the nature of the case can contain little else4 ,but cramming the memory with these is not learning the literature4 ,reading1 mastering1 and learning to appreciate and love the great works of a great author is better than to learn the dry facts in the lives of a score of authors4 ,so our magazines and reviews treat us to criticism sometimes wise1 sometimes unwise1 of many authors4 ,but all these are of little value until the works themselves of the authors have been studied4 ,with the works the biographies of the authors should be read in order to appreciate the conditions under which the works were produced4 ,but far better is it to gain a thorough acquaintance with one great writer's life and works than to learn a few fragmentary facts at second hand about the lives and writings of many4 ,one of the most difficult questions to settle in these days in the selection of books for a library or in directing the reading of the young is1 how large shall be the proportion of fiction in a library or in the reading of any one4 ,just now we are flooded with fiction1 stretching from the short story of the magazine to the two-volume novel4 ,i observe that nearly two-thirds of the volumes drawn from this library in #aija-jb are classed under the two heads of juvenile fiction and fiction4 ,and ,i suppose the experience of other popular libraries is similar to yours4 ,this shows at least that there is a great craving for fiction4 ,that craving a library like this must to a fair degree strive to meet4 ,nor need we regret that there is a strong desire for sterling works of fiction4 ,they stimulate and nourish the imagination4 ,they give us vivid pictures of life4 ,they portray for us the working of human passions4 ,they give a reality to history4 ,sometimes they cultivate a taste for reading in those who would otherwise be inclined to read little1 and so lead them to other branches of literature4 ,but1 on the other hand1 ,i think it must be confessed that a great deal of the fiction which is deluging the market is the veriest trash1 or worse than trash4 ,much of it is positively bad in its influence4 ,it awakens morbid passions4 ,it deals in most exaggerated representations of life4 ,it is vicious in style4 ,it is a most delicate task for the authorities of a library like this to draw the line between the works of fiction which should be and those which should not be found on its shelves4 ,as to the individual reader1 the best we can do is to elevate his taste as rapidly as we can by placing in his hands fiction attractive at once in its matter and in its style4 ,we must hope that with the cultivation of taste to which our best schools aspire1 we can rear a generation which will prefer the best things in literature to the inferior4 ,that is the reason why the teachers of languages and literature in our schools should be not mere linguists1 but persons of refined literary taste1 who will imbue their pupils with a love for the truest and highest in every literature which they can read4 ,i would like to commend to my young friends who desire to profit by the use of this library the habit of reading with some system and of making brief notes upon the contents of the books they read4 ,if1 for instance1 you are studying the history of some period1 ascertain what works you need to study and finish such parts of them as concern your theme4 ,do not feel obliged to read the whole of a large treatise1 but select such chapters as touch on the subject in hand1 and omit the rest for the time4 ,young students often get swamped and lose their way in ,serbonian bogs of learning1 when they need to explore only a simple and plain pathway to a specific destination4 ,have a purpose and a plan and adhere to it in spite of alluring temptations to turn aside into attractive fields that are remote from your subject4 ,if in a note book you will on finishing a work jot down the points of importance in the volume and the references to the page or chapter1 you will frequently find it of the greatest service to run over these notes and refresh your memory4 ,if you are disposed to add some words of comment or criticism on the book1 that practice also will make you a more attractive reader1 and will make an interesting record for you to consult4 ,,community ,,center ,,service ,this is the newest phase of library work and the most convincing evidence of its socialization4 ,there is little in print about its early stages2 its classics are still in the making4 ,we quote only three papers here4 ,,the ,,library ,,as ,a ,,social ,,centre ,the opening address at the ,red ,wing meeting of the ,minnesota ,library ,association1 ,oct4 #ab1 #aije1 by ,miss ,countryman1 librarian of the ,minneapolis ,public ,library4 ,the public1 ,miss ,countryman thinks1 is no indefinite1 intangible somebody2 it is just 'we'--the statement of library socialization in a nutshell4 ,gratia ,alta ,countryman was born at ,hastings1 ,minn41 in ,november1 #ahff1 and graduated1 with the ,b4,s4 degree1 at the ,university of ,minnesota in #ahhi4 ,in that same year she entered the service of the ,minneapolis ,public ,library1 and she was assistant librarian at the resignation of ,dr4 ,james ,k4 ,hosmer in #aijd1 succeeding him as librarian4 ,during these latter days of enormous library activity1 we have been conscientiously examining the functions of a library2 we have been trying all sorts of methods to popularize it1 to advertise it4 ,we have asked for and listened to the criticism of outsiders1 and by the light thrown upon it through this prism have separated our work into its elemental parts and seen its various hues4 ,we used to erect a library as an altar to the gods of learning2 now1 to use ,mr4 ,dana's words1 we erect it as an altar to the gods of good fellowship1 joy and learning4 ,so you see1 our ideals are constantly rising1 our horizons ever broadening1 and our work continually increasing1 both in extent and in depth4 ,we might well have considered our hands fairly full to have dealt alone with this god of learning1 but we find ourselves embracing the opportunity for additional service to the gods of good fellowship and joy4 ,it might do us good to consider tonight what we are doing for the cause of learning1 what the library has done to increase serious reading and study1 and how it may further the educational work of the world4 ,this question is ever present with us1 and can stand any amount of discussion4 ,but it is the gods of good fellowship and joy that we are discussing tonight1 the library not as a center of learning but as a social center4 ,we are dealing with a small crowd of people whom we call our public4 ,who are the public8 ,why1 you and ,i1 and my family1 and others just like us4 ,they want just the same things that we do1 and to be accommodated in just the same way that we do4 ,the public is no indefinite1 intangible somebody1 it is just we4 ,we talk about the people being hungry for books and information4 ,have you found it so8 ,then why do we have free libraries and free schools8 ,people are willing to sacrifice for something that they are very hungry for4 ,do you hunger and thirst to read ,homer and ,shakespeare1 and ,emerson and ,arnold1 and good histories and literature8 ,do you1 when you are tired after a day's work1 take home a scientific work or a treatise on civics8 ,no1 you are just a little sample of the public1 and you think you need to read a pleasant1 entertaining1 restful book4 ,you aren't hungry for information1 and1 as a matter of fact1 the person who delights in study and has a fine taste for the best in literature has one of the gifts extremely rare4 ,most of us are practical1 everyday1 working people1 with a very limited time for reading1 and this public whom we serve is just like us4 ,a few of them will love to read the best1 many of them will want information at intervals1 a large proportion want recreative reading1 and the vast majority use the library not at all4 ,now the former1 who want and love the library1 you need not be troubled about4 ,they will naturally come to the library1 and you will find pleasure in serving them4 ,but these latter classes who either come for pleasure or come not at all must be drawn and held through the social instincts1 and through their desire for pleasure4 ,every human being must have social life4 ,we seek company and companionship with whom we can find mutual pleasure4 ,we may find it in friendly gatherings1 social clubs1 or music or conversation or games1 but social pleasure of some sort is sought by all of us1 great and small1 in town and country alike4 ,in the city there is usually plenty of opportunity--,i might almost say that there is a surfeit--and one must pick and choose4 ,but in the towns and villages it is often different2 good amusement and profitable pleasures are not always to be had1 and being social beings1 the social craving is satisfied with whatever means may be at hand4 ,young people especially can not isolate themselves1 or live unto themselves4 ,just where is the library going to stand in this matter8 ,is there anything which we can do to satisfy these natural desires and to enter more vitally into the lives of the people8 ,this is the question to take home and think about4 ,as individuals1 we are coming to have an enormous interest in other human lives1 there is a sense of social obligation upon us2 we have come to know that personal righteousness is not all that is required of us1 but that we must help to realize the social righteousness4 ,the library has the duty of being all things to all men4 ,it is no longer simply a repository of books1 it is exactly what ,mr4 ,carnegie calls it1 the cradle of democracy1 filled with the democratic spirit1 and it endeavors1 as far as circumstances permit1 to minister to all the needs of the community in which it dwells4 ,the library stands for progress1 the progress of its town1 and this does not mean increasing the material prosperity of the people1 though that may follow1 but it chiefly means the raising of the moral1 social and intellectual standards of all its people1 and helping men and women to be more effective in every way4 ,the library does not exist for one side only of the life of the people1 but for every side1 and if it fails to provide for those who seek amusement1 it shirks a duty and renounces a privilege4 ,the sooner we unveil the gods of joy and good fellowship in our library the better2 the sooner we make the library a centre for all the activities among us that make for social efficiency the better4 ,of course there are natural limitations to the kind of work which a library can do1 and in helping to further the spirit of good fellowship and to furnish pleasure1 we must keep within such limits as are consistent with the spirit of a library4 ,the library can appeal to people in other ways than by books alone1 as we shall consider later1 yet as books are our chief tools1 it is natural to think first of giving pleasure by that method4 ,one of our chiefest ways of late years has been through the children's room4 ,the children get book instruction and supplementary reading and enforced book interests1 all of which are needed for their development1 in the schoolroom4 ,but in the children's room at the library furnished especially for them1 with low tables1 picture books and low shelves containing fairy stories and all their favorite authors1 they settle down to satisfy their own especial individual tastes4 ,then there is the story hour1 of which we shall hear to-morrow4 ,many of the children have never learned the pleasure of reading4 ,they do not belong to cultured homes and the presence of books4 ,many of them never heard a ,mother ,goose jingle or a nonsense verse1 and a book is an unlearned delight4 ,but what child1 even of this kind1 does not love to hear stories1 and listening breathlessly1 would not come again and again4 ,somehow it seems as if we could not discharge our social obligation until we had gone into the by-ways and hedges and gathered in these scraps of society1 and taught them the pleasures of a book4 ,the children1 once acquainted with the library1 will always count it among their friends1 and it will forever remain a social centre to them4 ,we grown ups are not so different from the children2 we1 too1 like a story1 and we1 too1 want to read the things that cheer and entertain us4 ,we agreed a moment ago that we1 as well as our public1 were liable to leave the serious books for the infrequent study hour and to spend our leisure evenings with the fascinating novel4 ,well1 ,i do not know of any better way to give amusement and pleasure than to furnish the people with the books they want1 in which they can be interested and absorbed4 ,the cares that infest the day will fold their wings better under the spell of a good story than any other way4 ,i think we need not be frightened when libraries are accused of being only fiction distributors1 for it is a library's function to amuse as well as to instruct1 and if people will seek amusement through the library1 so much the better for the people4 ,it is natural that the people should feel a curiosity about the newest book and want to read what other people are talking about4 ,this adds also to pleasant social intercourse1 and gives people a common subject of conversation4 ,fiction is bound to be more and more an interpretation of life by which we see the motives and the currents in other souls4 ,we need not be afraid to supply good1 wholesome fiction and to use it in establishing social relations with our people1 so that the adults as well as the children shall feel a real pleasure in coming to the library4 ,many of our libraries are now housed in beautiful buildings1 in which case1 the building as well as the books becomes a means of social influence4 ,if there is need of a home for social intercourse and amusement1 the library may legitimately attempt to furnish such a home within its walls4 ,if there are social or study clubs1 organized labor guilds or missionary societies1 or any other organizations1 encourage them to meet at the library1 find out what they need1 let them find out that the library is their cooperative partner4 ,and so with the schools and industries1 of which ,i have not time to speak4 ,the whole building at all times should be managed in the broadest spirit of hospitality2 the atmosphere should be as gracious1 kindly and sympathetic as one's own home4 ,then do away with all unnecessary restrictions1 take down all the bars1 and try to put face to face our friends the books and our friends the people4 ,introduce them cordially1 then stand aside and let them make each other's blessed acquaintance4 ,some have tried smoking rooms1 had boy's club rooms and games1 and many have tried simply to make the rooms homelike and cheery1 and all of their experience is valuable to us4 ,it may be that no one of the plans used by other libraries may fit your case1 for it is not necessarily good for you because some one else has used it successfully4 ,but with any plan do not expect immediate results1 for almost everything that succeeds permanently has a slow1 gradual development2 that which flashes up quickly usually dies down suddenly4 ,be willing to work out a good plan if you have one1 and be willing to study your people and all of their interests before you shape your plans4 ,,the ,,library ,,and ,,the ,,social ,,centre ,by a great expert in library field-work as done by one of our most active library commissions4 ,miss ,lutie ,e4 ,stearns1 of whom a sketch will be found in ,vol4 ,i4 of this series1 is now a lecturer at large1 but at the writing of this paper1 which is reprinted from ,the ,wisconsin ,library ,bulletin for ,may1 #aiaa1 she was in the service of the ,library ,commission of that state4 ,it is coming to be an axiom in library economy that the worth of a book is in its use4 ,for this reason1 librarians everywhere are devoting themselves to what is called library extension through the building of branches1 and the establishment of deposit stations in schools1 factories1 stores1 club-houses1 police stations1 fire-engine houses1 etc4 ,experience has shown that where no efforts are made along the line of library extension only #aj per cent4 or at the most #bj per cent4 of the people are reached in any given community4 ,if we wish to have wholesome literature become the burden of the common thought we must place good books within easy reach of all4 ,libraries should be quick to realize that the social centre offers a most excellent opportunity to reach those that might not otherwise take the time to avail themselves of library privileges4 ,the free public library should therefore be made an important part of social centre work through active and sympathetic cooperation4 ,where libraries can afford proper facilities1 there is no reason why the library building should not serve as the social centre for the community1 as this institution differs from the schoolhouse1 in cities where parochial schools exist1 in being neutral on the religious question and therefore acceptable to all denominations4 ,wherever the social centre may be1 whether in library building or schoolhouse1 strong emphasis should be placed on the use of books4 ,a special librarian1 of peculiar fitness1 should be appointed either by the library or the social centre authorities4 ,this man or woman should be earnestly altruistic in his or her desire to fit the right book to the right person at the right time4 ,it may be that this will mean the issuance of a primer in ,english to an adult ,slav who has recently arrived in this country1 or it may be the loan of a novel more wholesome in tone though just as sentimental as one by ,bertha ,m4 ,clay1 the author requested4 ,again1 the leader of the boy gang may be persuaded to give up the reading of the lurid nickel library in favor of ,custer and ,grinnell's truthful ,indian experiences4 ,such selection involves a wide range of books in the social centre library1 from well-bound and attractive editions of the classics down to the latest1 most wholesome novel4 ,the boys that frequent the gymnasium may be won by ,barbour's latest football story4 ,the raffia worker should find interest in ,priestman's ,handicrafts4 ,an up-to-date and authoritative encyclopedia1 a good dictionary1 a ,world almanac1 and other popular reference books should be supplied and instruction given in their use4 ,debating material should be sought and every inducement offered for individual research4 ,those who cannot afford to take correspondence courses in the various trades and crafts should find material in the social centre library for self-education4 ,james ,russell ,lowell has said that the best part of every man's education is that which he gives himself1 and it is for this that the library at the social centre should furnish the opportunity and the means4 ,again1 there should be books of a cheerful sort for tired workers so that1 as in ,william ,morris's ,earthly ,paradise1 they may ,forget six counties overhung with smoke1 ,forget the snorting steam and piston stroke4 ,wholesome novels should be found in plenty for both men and women1 together with books that inspire with courage for life's daily round1 such as ,hugh ,black's ,work1 ,gannett's ,blessed be drudgery1 ,hyde's ,art of optimism1 ,emerson's ,character and heroism1 and ,wagner's ,courage4 ,each book in the library's collection should serve one or all three purposes--to inform1 to inspire1 or to refresh4 ,the rules for the issuance of books should be made as simple as possible4 ,borrowers should not be restricted to one book at a time if more can be used2 that is1 a novel should be loaned with a book for study4 ,no guarantee should be required except the borrower's signature4 ,a reading room should be made an attractive feature in connection with the issuance of books4 ,the library and reading room should be well lighted and heated1 and order and quiet should be insisted upon4 ,the reading table should be supplied with an abundance of the best of the popular magazines4 ,the ,technical ,world1 ,popular mechanics1 ,amateur work1 and the ,scientific ,american1 will be found to be strong magnets for attracting the interest of the boys and young men4 ,the ,world's work1 ,collier's weekly1 and the ,american magazine1 are the three great exponents of optimism in our national life which should find a place on the reading room tables1 as should ,mc,clure's1 ,everybody's1 ,hampton's1 ,scribner's1 ,harper's1 ,century1 and the ,atlantic4 ,in the small towns the local paper and one or two of the near-by metropolitan dailies should also be taken4 ,attractive libraries and reading rooms make less attractive the seductions of other places4 ,george ,eliot said long ago1 ,important as it is to direct the industries of men1 it is not so important as to wisely direct their leisure4 ,it is indeed true1 as a critic of our national life has said1 that ,the use of a nation's leisure is the test of its civilization4 ,to win people to a love of good literature1 to bring back the old days of reading and meditation1 are two of the great problems that confront the present-day librarian4 ,in the words of one earnest library worker1 ,the modern library movement is a movement to increase by every possible means the accessibility of books1 to stimulate their reading and to create a demand for the best4 ,its motive is helpfulness2 its scope1 instruction and recreation2 its purpose1 the enlightenment of all2 its aspiration1 still greater usefulness4 ,,where ,,neighbors ,,meet ,extracts from a special report on the social work of the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library made in #aiag by ,margery ,quigley1 then librarian of its ,divoll ,branch4 ,margery ,closey ,quigley was born in ,los ,angeles1 ,cal41 ,sept4 #af1 #ahhf1 and graduated from ,vassar ,college4 ,she entered the service of the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library in ,february1 #aiji1 studied at the ,new ,york ,state ,library ,school in #aiad-ae1 and in ,august1 #aiah1 became librarian of the ,free ,library in ,endicott1 ,n4,y4 ,the experience of the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library goes to prove that no matter what the neighborhood may be1 and however well-supplied it already is with meeting places1 there is always room for the library auditorium and club rooms without subtracting in any way from the business of the other agencies4 ,in fact1 they seem to increase each other's use4 ,of our six branch buildings1 one is located in the heart of the older ghetto1 one in ,carondelet1 two in purely residential neighborhoods1 one at the ,soulard civic center1 where nine or ten ,european languages are represented1 and the sixth in the older ,german section of the north side1 near the river4 ,about each branch is the full quota of meeting places required by any given neighborhood--moving-picture houses1 community halls to let for dances and entertainments1 churches1 saloons1 ,turnvereins1 settlements1 club houses1 running the gamut from lid clubs to the ,artists' ,guild1 ,masonic temples and public schools1 which are now managed on the community-center plan4 ,several of the branches have all these within a radius of five or six blocks1 and still they must show the standing-room-only sign to many of the clubs that apply for the use of the library halls4 ,the remarkable feature of this wider use of the library is that in spite of the increase of meetings1 there has been no spirit of competition4 ,between the community halls and the library1 for example1 there has been no rivalry for statistics of use4 ,cabanne branch1 in the heart of perfectly equipped institutions which foster all sorts of clubs1 shows more than #eb meetings a month during the last nine months1 while our report of #aijg said of this branch3 ,there has been an average of nearly six meetings a month in the building4 ,neighborhood clubs meet in the halls which best suit their purposes1 and no agency seeks to move any one of them to a different roof4 ,in the ,crunden ,branch neighborhood1 the ,socialists meet in a synagogue and a ,yiddish church meets in the library4 ,the city recreation department reports that the library's work and the department's community work at the ,patrick ,henry ,school and on the playgrounds1 far from duplicating one another are supplementary4 ,in giving the free use of its meeting-rooms to any reputable group of persons1 the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library acts upon two principles which it cannot emphasize strongly enough4 ,they are the same on which it buys its books2 first1 that the library stands for no propaganda but seeks to house all opinions1 and second1 that it makes no obvious attempt to reform or uplift4 ,although the books it buys must meet a certain standard in style and content1 the day is past when library assistants seek to force down readers' throats books which will be good for them4 ,in the same way1 the meeting which it shelters must meet the standards of the community2 but the ,library has ceased to initiate or direct clubs and meetings1 cultural or otherwise4 ,community work can be successful only when it embodies the spontaneous expression of the neighborhood's own demand1 whether it is from children1 or women1 or men4 ,a chain of suffrage groups was successful1 if numbers were an indication1 in one neighborhood and a failure in another--from the same cause4 ,in a neighborhood of illiterate foreign women with large families1 one suffragist lecturer on the common law of ,england was greeted by an audience consisting of one deaf old lady and fifty ,jewish children under twelve1 who had heard that candy was to be given away4 ,many of the meetings that wither and die are conceived in the finest spirit of service4 ,if they aim to interest the whole neighborhood1 irrespective of cliques and prejudices1 they almost always fail--if1 as we ,americans are supposed to do1 we figure failure and success in terms of quantity4 ,utopian schemes cannot long survive to-day1 housed or not in the scholarly and friendly surroundings of the library4 ,a united ,ukraine cannot absorb the attention of its supporters half as continuously as the possibility of a new job in ,ford's factory1 and a decent dancing club cannot always endure in the face of profits to be made from a river excursion4 ,probably of all municipal institutions1 the library1 while maintaining its dignified and quiet atmosphere1 may become the least formal and most neighborly4 ,it is a library truism that a librarian can tell from repeated experiences just when a borrower is calling at the library to announce her engagement or to proclaim that his new job has been secured4 ,countless other bits of everyday news are exchanged over the desk with real profit to the library and to the visitor4 ,we feel in ,st4 ,louis that the so-called wider use of the plant is only a tangible expression of this same friendly relationship1 justified on the one hand by its economy and on the other1 and to a far larger extent1 by its contribution to the community's legitimate social life4 ,very fortunately for the tax-payer1 and for the average reader1 the public library does not look upon its branches as intellectual clinics for the poor4 ,like the public schools1 its problem is to serve all the children of all the people1 and consequently in localities other than those where foreigners live1 the same sort of branch building is erected1 with an auditorium open under the same regulations and used to meet the needs of the particular neighborhood4 ,the so-called middle class has as fair a chance and as good a time in the library auditoriums as the foreign poor4 ,when there are public meetings at the ,carondelet library1 speakers from other parts of the city invariably come late4 ,they begin their addresses with long apologies1 saying that they have never been in the neighborhood before1 and did not know where to find the library4 ,they always seem amazed at the size and beauty of the building1 and comment particularly on the pleasant club-rooms4 ,one ,west ,end woman could not say enough in praise of everything1 repeating continually1 and all this down here6 ,practically this same comment is made again and again in the main library1 and in the other branches throughout the city4 ,all this down here1 is equally true of seven auditoriums1 each with a seating capacity of #bjj1 and of club rooms and offices to the number of fifteen4 ,in these halls were held1 during the past year1 practically as large a number of meetings as our equipment will permit4 ,omitting the meetings at ,crunden and ,soulard1 practically all are held by the average sort of person--average financially1 socially and intellectually4 ,the very absence of the feeling that the club must make money1 or must at least pay expenses1 probably accounts for the long list of small clubs and board meetings which could almost as easily meet in the homes of members4 ,there are those who think that no one uses the auditoriums except very wealthy club-women1 who set up ,christmas trees for the poor4 ,there is no more truth in this than there would be in saying that all the inhabitants of ,st4 ,louis are either immigrants or millionaires4 ,in the total number of meetings at the library1 what ,ida ,tarbell has termed the shirtwaist crowd1 is far in the majority4 ,at practically every branch1 the ,simon-pure woman's clubs form at least fifteen per cent4 of all the meetings4 ,at the ,cabanne branch1 about fifty per cent4 are made up of women4 ,the ,barr ,branch ,mothers' ,circle1 ,the ,queen ,hedwig ,polish ,women1 and the ,carondelet ,women's ,club are three names out of a list running almost to a hundred4 ,the masculine of shirtwaist crowd is shirtsleeves crowd2 and this is equally well represented upon the schedules of all the branches4 ,miss ,griggs1 of the ,barr ,branch1 writes3 ,we seem now to have a number of new meetings that are held for discussion--but not many for study--casual1 one-meeting-only affairs4 ,for instance1 the ,royal ,arcanum met to discuss what could be done about the increased rates4 ,all the premiums were raised and those for older men raised far out of reason1 so all the older members had a meeting down here1 to discuss what action they could take4 ,i am glad people come casually that way--and feel that we are open for something beside the regular study meetings4 ,they sit around very informally1 smoke1 come in and out down stairs and do not have any very formal session4 ,in common with the other branches1 ,barr has had political meetings4 ,some have been held just before elections and have been quite warm4 ,on one occasion1 the library was made a buzzing community center by a series of bombs that were set off in the street4 ,other and quieter meetings have been held by party committees1 judges of elections and the like4 ,the ,state ,socialist party has twice held its conventions here1 and each time the session lasted for four days4 ,the meetings were opened with hymns1 and the delegates had all-day sessions1 from #i3jj a4m4 to #i3jj p4m4 ,i think most of the partisan leaders feel that they are a little handicapped when they meet in the library--still1 they come back occasionally4 ,there are coming to be more purely social meetings of younger grade pupils4 ,in some cases1 these children are not organized1 but merely claim to be in order to get the halls4 ,in other cases1 relatives who come with them to make application are frank to confess that they want the hall to avoid inconvenience at home1 especially the protracted house-cleanings which are the pre-requisite at most home parties4 ,one mother said that the last time there was a birthday party in her house1 the man who lived upstairs1 after rapping repeatedly on the floor to stop the children's noise1 came down and said1 that 'the party would simply have to bust up4' ,she wanted to hold this party in the library1 because her husband had such a bad temper1 that she was sure he would murder the man if such a thing happened again1 and1 of course1 it would happen again1 for no children's party would ever be quiet enough to suit the man upstairs4 ,adult clubs as a whole ask very little of us beyond the occasional use of the telephone1 and they often come and go without our being conscious of them4 ,this is especially true of day-time meetings4 ,it must be admitted1 that in addition to those who are very friendly and those who do not make either criticism or appreciation articulate1 there are some who break the monotony of the librarian's existence by thinking 'they owns the place1' to quote the janitor4 ,the younger social meetings need considerable attention1 too4 ,they overflow upstairs1 are always noisy and sometimes not as agreeable as they should be4 ,a member of a new club of girls said1 ',i guess we rented this building for the evening--we can make as much noise as we please4' ,within certain limits1 particularly the powder-cans and lead pencils of the staff1 we want the clubs to think that they do own the place4 ,the surest proof that the ,st4 ,louis plan works1 is to have the scions of our democracy feel that they are getting their money's worth from the institution that their taxes support4 ,a group of young socialists was formed too late in the season to secure a regular meeting night4 ,they finally decided that they would have to be satisfied with meeting1 for the winter1 at ,k----'s--a delicatessen store a few blocks away4 ,k----'s has an advertisement every week in the ,jewish ,record1 inviting men to come and read the papers there and make use of the free meeting-room4 ,like all ,jewish delicatessens1 this shop contains everything that any patron is willing to buy1 and in addition1 elaborates the coffee-house idea into any shape that circumstances may suggest4 ,when the young men said individually on later occasions that they were not contented at the delicatessen1 they always added1 ,it's because we feel so at home at the library2 because we've always gotten books out there4 ,the next winter their application was handed in several months in advance4 ,in a neighborhood where conditions are the exact antithesis of ,crunden's1 the same feeling exists4 ,miss ,pretlow was talking one evening to a young man who belonged to a group giving a dancing party at ,cabanne ,library4 ,she said that she could not but remark how well-dressed and well bred and altogether prosperous the dancers were4 ,they very evidently could have met in any one of a number of large homes or could have paid for one of the best halls in the city2 so she said to the young man1 ,how is it you do not rent ,blank's ,hall1 but use the ,library instead8 ,i know it can't be the difference in cost that influences you4 ,the young man answered in very evident astonishment3 ,why1 we like this place2 we all grew up in this ,library4 ,when adolescents of both sexes meet together1 their meetings are purely for a good time4 ,their behavior is extremely immature from the social side2 either very wooden or very uncontrolled4 ,this is the period when the librarian must insist upon strict chaperonage1 and it is also the period when resentment of discipline1 or even of suggestion1 runs high4 ,they would no more follow the advice of the ,librarian in the matter of invitations1 introduction of wall-flowers and how a dance is to be run off generally1 than they would copy her taste in dress1 which they invariably consider very old-maidy4 ,the standards to which social clubs adhere rigidly are those observed in places of commercialized amusement4 ,one group of boys met to teach each other dancing1 where the girls would not see them4 ,as it was a case of the blind leading the blind1 a volunteer who had been teaching folk-dancing to the girls all winter1 offered her services4 ,after one trial she was persona non grata1 because she wouldn't let them rag4 ,some of the dances are quite grim4 ,one will not hear a note of laughter all the evening4 ,five or six girls will often come together4 ,those who know boys will dance with them1 and between dances will not make the slightest effort to introduce their friends to possible partners4 ,the friends1 instead of resenting this inactivity1 often sit all the evening on the side lines watching and chewing gum1 apparently perfectly satisfied4 ,at the opposite pole is the wild desire for rough house4 ,in the early stages of auditorium work and before these days of ,h4,c4,l41 pieces of cake have occasionally gone flying across the hall4 ,as soon as branch libraries recognized these facts1 and it was very soon1 the application for dances became fewer and of better quality4 ,leavings from other club rooms no longer apply1 and disgruntled alumni associations in schools have ceased to contemplate a move to the nearest branch library4 ,no effort has been made to advertise the club rooms1 beyond these statements of the branch librarians in passing1 except the exhibiting of the rooms themselves to visitors who stop in to show our library to cousin ,sarah1 from ,davenport1 or ,illinois1 or ,oklahoma1 as the case may be4 ,word-of-mouth publicity accounts for the gradual steady growth in the use of the rooms4 ,one of the many examples began with a stenographer who sewed1 in secret1 as she said1 at noon in the club room4 ,she was embroidering an engagement present for one of the girls in her office4 ,needless to say1 she scattered information about the rooms1 and the rules governing them1 wherever any one would listen4 ,eventually a ,sunday ,school class1 to which her cousin belonged1 gave a ,st4 ,patrick's ,day party in the library4 ,as an indirect result1 a ,school ,patron's ,association now holds five or six meetings each ,spring1 to make preparations for its annual picnic4 ,so the ball of publicity rolls along of its own momentum4 ,at branch libraries1 the auditorium and study rooms are as a rule closely connected architecturally with the reading rooms1 and club members usually pass through the main part of the library to reach the meetings4 ,one or two at least from each group stop to chat with the workers1 or to read4 ,at ,crunden the assistants say that whenever a ,yiddish meeting is to begin at nine1 the men come at eight and read4 ,then there are the isolated individuals from the club who stumble on the resources of the library quite by accident1 and later grow communicative4 ,occasionally some one rushes up stairs to borrow the telephone book1 and when1 after an unsuccessful quest1 he is offered the city directory by the librarian1 he finds it hard to realize that any library can contain a book as useful as that4 ,one man who saw a magazine lying on the desk while he was asking to be directed to the auditorium1 said1 ,i had no idea the library handled magazines4 ,libraries try as faithfully to reach every one as if they were commercial enterprises1 but there will always be a certain number of persons who have never been in a library building1 not to speak of knowing the location of the nearest branch and realizing its resources4 ,a ,harvard graduate said he had walked past a branch every day for a year and had thought it was a branch post-office4 ,if there were no other arguments in favor of adding auditoriums to the library's list of activities1 there is this3 that they introduce to the library large groups of people who have had no connection with it before4 ,the horse at least has been led to the water4 ,if clubs meet regularly1 there is always a small proportion who make meeting-night their library night4 ,they consequently read and want to calculate all fines with reference to the night of the last meeting4 ,i once heard one young woman telling another how she finally had her reading doped out into a system1 by beginning on her seven-day book just as soon as she reached home after the meeting1 and using the fourteen-day book only on the street cars4 ,with the establishment of libraries in small towns and rural communities1 there is at present a tendency to make social centers out of library buildings1 even at the sacrifice of the books1 rather than to establish libraries in connection with social activities4 ,this is also true in those cities where field-houses in parks are well developed4 ,without holding a brief for either school1 we may properly emphasize three principles4 ,the first is that a librarian holds her position by virtue of being a librarian1 and that her duty and training require her full time for the purpose for which she is employed--the fitting of the proper book to the individual4 ,the second is that if the community needs to have the social center stressed more than the books1 a social worker must direct the center and the librarian must contribute in a subordinate capacity to make the center a success4 ,for example1 the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library has equipped a room with books and is furnishing an attendant at a colored social center in a church building at ,garrison and ,lucas ,avenues1 but it does not thereby put forward any claim to control and stimulate the social activities of the neighborhood4 ,the third principle is that if the library plant is already in operation1 it is a waste to exclude neighborhood groups from rooms not being used directly for the reading and circulation of books1 inasmuch as overhead expenses continue4 ,,what ,,of ,,the ,,future8 ,a forecast1 not of library progress alone1 but of civilization itself1 by one who declares himself a simple-minded visionary optimist4 ,it is of the warp and woof of visions like this that the fabric of a better world is woven4 ,frederick ,morgan ,crunden1 who delivered this address at the public session of the ,philadelphia ,conference of the ,american ,library ,association1 #ahig1 was not1 it is true1 the technical founder of the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library1 but in his thirty-year administration of it1 he originated and kept in motion the forces that have given it the position that it now holds in the community4 ,these forces and their results were both social1 and his address forms a fitting conclusion to this compilation of material on ,the ,library and ,society4 ,a sketch of ,mr4 ,crunden appears in ,vol4 ,i of this series4 ,the present ,victorian jubilee has naturally brought out a fresh group of reminiscences comparing conditions at the beginning of the reign with those now existing4 ,the most striking contrast between the two periods lies in the advances made in the material comforts of life--improvements in lighting and heating1 in locomotion and intercommunication4 ,the progress of applied science has been so rapid that some of its most notable achievements have come within the memory of young persons still at school4 ,telephonic conversation between ,new ,york and ,st4 ,louis is only a thing of yesterday2 aerial navigation is evidently near at hand2 and already daring scientists speak hopefully of electric communication with the planets4 ,but it is not only in this line that the world has advanced4 ,to note great changes in social customs1 we need not go back to the last century4 ,sir ,algernon ,west in a recent magazine article refers to the matter-of-course manner in which his chief was in the habit of announcing to the head clerk that he would not be at the office the following day1 as he was to dine out that evening4 ,as an indication of the social changes brought about in his lifetime1 he quotes this significant sentence of ,mr4 ,charles ,villiers3 ,in his young days1 said ,mr4 ,villiers1 every young man1 even if he was busy1 pretended to be idle2 now every young man1 even if he is idle1 pretends to be busy4 ,there is great import in this4 ,when every member of society is usefully employed1 our social problems will be well on the way to solution4 ,to note progress in another direction we need not turn back to the acts of the #adth century1 which made it a crime to give or receive more than the wretched wage fixed by law4 ,at the beginning of the ,victorian era boys and girls as young as six years worked in mines and factories longer hours than are now required of strong men2 and the masses of people were compelled to pay an artificially high price for their bread1 in order to increase the unearned wealth of the few4 ,and in our own country we need not go back to the ,salem witchcraft or the persecution of the ,quakers4 ,there are still eye-witnesses to tell us that men and women in this land of the free1 were lawfully sold like cattle or flogged to death at the will of their owners4 ,it was a few months after ,queen ,victoria's accession to the throne that ,elijah ,parish ,lovejoy was killed for daring to say that human slavery was wrong--for advocating1 not forcible abolition1 but gradual emancipation as the free1 voluntary act of the master1 performed from a conviction of its propriety4 ,for maintaining his right to express his opinions on this or any other public question1 he was driven from place to place and finally shot down in cold blood4 ,in the city where #fj years ago he fell1 a martyr to the cause of free speech1 a stately monument--one of the most imposing in the country--was the other day dedicated to his memory4 ,no ,american better deserves a monument4 ,no leader in the ,revolution or the ,civil ,war was a greater hero4 ,in my opinion1 the unquestioned courage of the great ,union commander is dwarfed and paled by the simple heroism of this young preacher-editor1 who gave his life to a greater cause than even the preservation of the ,union4 ,yet for some years after his death1 in many cities of this country1 it would have been hazardous for a man to utter his eulogy4 ,here1 then1 is a marked advance4 ,but we have not yet obtained entire freedom of speech on live topics4 ,was it not as late as last year that we hear of two librarians holding opposite political views1 whose positions were rendered insecure by an unfortunate misadjustment of longitudes and political opinions8 ,and not many miles from here a score of good1 earnest men were jailed for advocating1 disinterestedly1 and at considerable self-sacrifice1 a method of taxation that did not meet the approval of the city authorities4 ,still we have made great progress toward a broad tolerance4 ,we not only permit the practice of all religious forms1 but we even allow a man to deny himself the consolations of religion in any form if he chooses to do so4 ,in science1 at least1 there is absolute freedom of thought and expression4 ,one may publish arguments to prove that the world is five thousand1 or five hundred million years old1 and no one will molest or denounce him2 or he may announce a new theory of the universe with our moon as the stationary centre1 and no state or church will anathematize him or compel him to recant4 ,it is not till he enters the field of politics1 i4e41 the discussion of economic and sociological questions with a view to immediate practical results1 that the advocate of new ideas reaches the danger-point4 ,here he finds vested interests--self-styled vested rights1 but as often vested wrongs--on guard and alert to repel intrusion and resist inquiry4 ,these summon to their aid the legions of unreasoning conservatism2 and the innovator is made to feel the truth of the saying that there is no pain so keen as the pain of a new idea--from which1 therefore1 mankind has always shrunk1 as a child shrinks from the surgeon's knife4 ,we have passed the period of rack and stake2 but social and business ostracism are pretty effective1 while occasionally there are suggestions of tar-buckets or bullets4 ,for the most part1 however1 we content ourselves with denouncing the proposer of any marked departure from existing political or sociological conditions as a socialist1 a communist1 and an anarchist1 using these terms indiscriminately as abusive epithets without any definite knowledge of their meaning4 ,from the beginning of time every social advance--and until recently every forward step in science or religion has been regarded as menacing the very foundations of society4 ,the ,reform ,act of #ahcb1 which simply took the first step towards correcting the grossest political abuses1 was looked upon by the ,duke of ,wellington and other good men as threatening the very existence of the kingdom4 ,the condition of affairs then existing1 they considered1 if not the best possible1 at any rate vastly better than the political chaos that would be sure to result from change4 ,speaking on this blind conservative opposition to the ,reform ,bill1 ,dr4 ,arnold1 of ,rugby1 said3 ,all the resistance to these natural changes can effect is to derange their operation1 and make them act violently and mischievously instead of healthfully1 or at least harmlessly4 ,the old state of things is gone past recall1 and all the efforts of all the tories cannot save it2 but they may by their folly1 as they did in ,france1 get us a wild democracy or a military despotism in the room of it1 instead of letting it change quietly into what it is1 merely a new modification of the old state4 ,one would think that people who talk against change were literally as well as metaphorically blind1 and really did not see that everything in themselves and around them is changing every hour by the necessary law of its being4 ,there is nothing so revolutionary1 because there is nothing so unnatural and so convulsive to society1 as the strain to keep things fixed1 when all the world is1 by the very law of its creation1 in eternal progress2 and the cause of all the evils of the world may be traced to that natural but most deadly error of human indolence and corruption--that our business is to preserve and not to improve4 ,in his retrospect of the ,victorian reign1 in the ,june ,review of ,reviews1 ,w4,t4 ,stead says3 ,it is to the stoutest conservatives of our time almost inconceivable that rational beings could ever have defended the system that prevailed in ,britain sixty years ago4 ,i am no more assured of the rising of to-morrow's sun than ,i am that to the stoutest conservatives of #aiej1 it will appear almost inconceivable that rational beings could ever have defended the system that prevails in ,america to-day4 ,they will1 however1 resist further progress as doggedly as do the conservatives of to-day1 even while these see plainly how absurd was the attitude of their predecessors of sixty years ago4 ,your genuine conservative ever holds doggedly to things as they are4 ,he clings tenaciously--and vainly4 ,he belongs to a party whose defeat all history teaches is foredoomed4 ,now he stands for the divine right of kings2 and notwithstanding he is a man of irreproachable character and able1 moreover1 to show that he is much less autocratic than most of his predecessors1 he loses his crown and his head4 ,again1 he stands for the parent country's unlimited power of taxation1 and he forfeits his most flourishing colonies4 ,at another period he urges long sufferance as a justification for continuing--even extending--the crime of slavery1 and he meets defeat amid slaughter and devastation4 ,no repetition of the lesson will ever teach him to consider what is abstractly right--what ought to be without reference to what is4 ,but the conservative has to be1 in accordance with the law of nature1 so poetically announced in the song of ,willis in ,iolanthe3 ,that every boy and every gal ,that's born into this world alive1 ,is either a little ,liberal1 ,or else a little ,conservative6 ,or1 as ,emerson's prose expresses it-- ,the two parties which divide the state--the party of conservatism and that of innovation--are very old and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made4 ,this quarrel is the subject of civil history4 ,the conservative party established the reverend hierarchies and monarchies of the most ancient world4 ,the battle of patrician and plebeian1 of parent state and colony1 of old usage and accommodation to new facts1 of the rich and the poor1 reappears in all countries and times4444 ,there is always a certain meanness in the argument of conservatism1 joined with a certain superiority in its fact4 ,it affirms because it holds4 ,its fingers clutch the fact1 and it will not open its eyes to see a better fact4 ,the castle which conservatism is set to defend is the actual state of things1 good or bad4 ,the project of innovation is the best possible state of things4 ,of course conservatism always has the worst of the argument1 is always apologizing1 pleading a necessity1 pleading that to change would be to deteriorate4 ,it must saddle itself with the mountainous load of the violence and the vice of society1 must deny the possibility of good1 deny ideas1 and suspect and stone the prophets2 while innovation is always in the right1 triumphant1 attacking1 and sure of final success4 ,but though doomed to defeat1 conservatism is not to be denounced or condemned4 ,it is not without its uses4 ,it often keeps us from following untried paths that open out alluring but end in thickets or quagmires4 ,a brake is sometimes as necessary to safety as motive power is to progress4 ,but the usual tendency of conservatism is to keep the brakes on all the time1 causing either stagnation1 retrogression1 or a smash-up4 ,the real revolutionist is the rock-ribbed conservative4 ,it is the boulder blocking the onward flow of the stream that causes the eddy and the whirlpool4 ,those who think on this subject and who really desire the improvement of society--unfortunately a very small class--are divided over the question whether mankind shall progress by the path of individualism or by that of collectivism4 ,extremists assure us that these paths go in opposite directions1 or traverse each other at right angles4 ,the truth is they run parallel2 and we have been travelling both1 now advancing more on one and then on the other1 towards the ultimate goal of humanity--the perfection of society through the elevation of the individual1 the perfection of the individual through the improvement of society4 ,each helps the other2 neither can be independent of the other4 ,it often happens that organized society cannot await the slow process of individual perfection4 ,it must accelerate the operation by changing standards and ideals4 ,there is no telling how long it would have required to convince each individual slave-owner of the wrong of human slavery1 or each individual mine and factory owner of the wickedness of child-labor4 ,society had to take the matter in hand and force individual development--in one case by law1 in the other by the sword4 ,many thoughtful persons are raising the question whether society has not more work of this kind ahead of it4 ,there can be no individual perfection or progress under certain social conditions4 ,ceremonious politeness was not to be expected among the victims of the ,black ,hole of ,calcutta4 ,starvation has often led to cannibalism among men who would shrink with horror from the thought of it under ordinary conditions4 ,society can create conditions favorable or unfavorable to the improvement of the individual4 ,the inevitable outcome of the struggle between individualism and collectivism is the triumph of each in its own proper field4 ,a line drawn from the past to the present shows the trend of the future4 ,we find this embodying two distinct1 and apparently contradictory1 tendencies--one towards greater individual freedom1 the other towards a constant extension of the principle of cooperation1 or collectivism4 ,that is1 organized society leaves ever greater freedom to the individual in all those things that concern only him1 while at the same time it extends farther and farther its supervision and performance of those things that pertain to the welfare of all1 and which society can do for the individual better than he can do for himself4 ,a man may kiss his wife on ,sunday without scandal or fear of prosecution2 and he may dress in any manner he pleases within the bounds of convention1 which is still an unreasoning tyrant4 ,he is generally glad to avail himself of the more convenient water-supply provided by the community2 but he may1 if he wishes1 have a well in his yard1 until1 with the growth of the city1 this becomes a menace to his neighbors' health2 then it must be closed4 ,he may still mould his own tallow candles and use no other light if he prefers2 but cooperation among consumers supplies him with a much superior illuminant2 and when this cooperation is extended to embrace all the citizens--i4e41 when gas or electricity is furnished by the municipality1 the cost is reduced1 and he becomes a partner in the profits4 ,of the benefits of municipal cooperation we had a signal illustration in the introduction of municipal sprinkling in ,st4 ,louis4 ,formerly1 the occupant of a fifty-foot lot paid a private contractor from #f to #ab a season1 while he suffered from the dust blown from his neighbors' frontage and from unsprinkled streets all over the city4 ,now the owner of a fifty-foot lot pays about #a a year and enjoys sprinkled streets throughout the whole city4 ,municipal cooperation in libraries brings the same kind of benefits4 ,the average well-to-do reader1 instead of a five-dollar subscription fee1 pays a dollar tax2 and for that not only he and his family1 but also the families of his neighbors1 have access to a superior library4 ,and it is almost as necessary for your comfort that your neighbor's children have access to a library as for your own4 ,while social evolution tends to relieve the individual of the compulsion of law1 and also to lessen the pressure of public opinion1 in those affairs that pertain only to his own life1 correlatively his action is more and more restricted in so far as it affects his neighbors and society in general--though here1 too1 law and custom tend more and more to individual freedom4 ,it was once regarded as a public scandal not to go to church2 and #ej years ago in ,st4 ,louis ,unitarians were shunned as suspicious characters4 ,but pari passu with the growth of individual liberty has grown the recognition of the duty of society to see that all persons have equal liberty--to protect the weak against the strong4 ,nothing in ,victoria's reign has done more for the progress of ,england than the series of acts that have been passed to curb the greed of mine and factory owners1 to prevent them from coining the muscle and manhood of ,britain into gold--in a way that1 at one period1 threatened to exhaust the vitality of the race--to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs4 ,the whole history of mankind is a continuous struggle of the weak and ignorant many to secure the rights withheld from them by the superior strength and cunning of the few4 ,the oppression and injustice of the past are apparent to all2 but many of us1 like the conservative antagonists of ,cobden and ,bright1 fail to see anything seriously wrong in the present2 and1 like them1 we fear change4 ,but it is the part of wise men to welcome change as the natural order of the universe--to see that it is a change for the better4 ,it does not by any means follow that every new idea is a good one1 that every proposed change would be an improvement4 ,but as progress is the law of the universe1 it rests with the old order to show why it should be continued4 ,wisdom1 therefore1 urges us to give careful consideration to new ideas1 however contrary they may be to prevalent opinions1 bearing in mind the frequent lesson of history that the stone which the builders rejected1 the same is become the head of the corner1 and approaching all questions in the spirit of ,st4 ,paul's injunction3 ,prove all things2 hold fast that which is good4 ,for all political and social problems1 which are the burning questions of to-day1 there is1 it seems to me1 a simple test in ,herbert ,spencer's first principle3 ,every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberty by every other man4 ,legislation that does not square with the self-evident truth and justice of this dictum is bad legislation1 and must prove maleficent to the nation1 state1 or city that enacts it4 ,i need not offer any modern instances4 ,reasoning in reverse order1 i4e41 from effect to cause1 we may be sure that when we see in a country abounding in natural resources1 as ours is1 inhabited by the most intelligent1 energetic1 and resourceful people the world has ever seen--when we see in such a country millions of willing workers in enforced idleness2 when1 to account for the idleness and its attendant want and destitution1 we are offered the absurdity of over-production of the very things for which millions are suffering2 when we see men and women who toil not revelling in luxury1 while others who labor sixteen hours a day are barely able to keep body and soul together1 we may know absolutely1 without further investigation1 that there is something fundamentally wrong in our social organization4 ,this is not the time or place to point out these wrongs specifically1 or to advance1 even in the most general terms1 what1 after much thought1 ,i believe to be the remedies4 ,i merely urge the thoughtful study of social problems without bias or prejudice4 ,this state of openmindedness is not easy to achieve4 ,we think that we think our own thoughts2 but as ,tarde1 the ,french psychologist1 says3 ,what the individual hypnotizer is to his sleeping and abnormally plastic subject1 such1 almost precisely1 is society to the waking and normally plastic man4#g ,on the solution of social problems1 ,ibsen says3 ,there is only one thing that avails--to revolutionize people's minds4 ,this was a difficult task about so plain a matter as the ,copernican system1 which was opposed by the combined learning and piety of ,europe4 ,how much more difficult must it be when the change affects the every-day life of every individual8 ,as ,nitti says3 ,had the propositions of ,euclid affected economic interests they would still appear doubtful hypotheses of arduous solution4 #g ,as1 then1 in philosophy the first step is to begin by doubting everything1 so1 in social philosophy1 the first step is to throw aside all supposed absolute rights4--,,jevons4 ,the public library is destined to play an important part1 to exercise an incalculable influence in the solution of the social problems of to-day1 and through this on the future of the nation and the race4 ,the wisdom needed for this task is not to be obtained from schools or colleges1 but from the higher education of mature minds--the masses of the people--which the public library alone can give4 ,the preparation for this higher education of the masses devolves on the schools and colleges4 ,their curricula should be so arranged as to arouse historic consciousness in the youngest child1 to awaken social consciousness1 and to provide for its continuous development by starting every boy and girl on a career of self-culture--by matriculating every child in the ,people's ,university1 the ,public ,library4 ,in affairs that concern society as a whole1 it is better to trust the well-informed common-sense of the people than the learning of the schoolmen4 ,it is not knowledge of mathematics or physics1 or ,greek and ,latin1 or modern languages2 it is not the study--academic study--of history1 or philosophy1 or even political economy1 that will solve the great social problems that now confront us4 ,these will help in various degrees1 directly or indirectly1 some more1 some less1 some1 perhaps1 not at all4 ,a knowledge of the general course of history is essential2 some acquaintance with philosophy is useful2 dogmatic theology serves only to confuse1 but the true religion that lies in a vital acceptance of ,christ's two commandments as a summary of the law and the prophets--that is the greatest aid of all4 ,such1 however1 is the influence of established order on men's minds that no investigation will avail without a determination to take nothing for granted1 to re-examine what have been considered basic principles1 to accept no postulates that do not square with reason and justice4 ,this cannot be done by confining our reading to the accepted standards of a generation or a century ago4 ,we must keep abreast of the thought of the time2 we must keep our eyes and ears1 and still more our minds1 open2 we must scorn no aids to enlightenment2 but we must do our own thinking2 we must consider the idea1 not the source from which it came1 remembering that good may come out of ,nazareth2 we must live up to the motto2 ,truth for authority1 not authority for truth1 and we must lend a hand4 ,my faith in the efficacy of the education offered by the public library is not without foundation4 ,in more than one case ,i have seen a course of lectures or the reading of a single book lead to a course of reading in economics and sociology1 which has entirely changed points of view4 ,new ideals1 higher standards1 have made new men with higher lines of action4 ,their natures have not been changed1 but their visions have been clarified4 ,one of the stock arguments which conservatism always brings out to give a final quietus to any proposal for social reform1 is--,oh1 that's impossible2 you'd have to change human nature6 ,this mental attitude1 which1 ,i am sorry to say1 is the prevailing one with the great majority of mankind1 is admirable satirized in some verses which ,i had great pleasure in printing in the ,april number of the ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library ,magazine3 ,there was once a ,neolithic ,man1 an enterprising wight1 ,who made his simple instruments unusually bright1 ,unusually clever he1 unusually brave4 ,and he sketched delightful mammoths on the border of his cave1 ,to his ,neolithic neighbors who were startled and surprised1 ,said he3 ,my friends1 in course of time we shall be civilized6 ,we are going to live in cities and build churches and make laws6 ,we are going to eat three times a day without the natural cause6 ,we're going to turn life upside down about a thing called ,gold6 ,we're going to want the earth1 and take as much as we can hold6 ,we are going to wear a pile of stuff outside our proper skins2 ,we're going to have ,diseases6 and ,accomplishments66 and ,sins666 ,then they all rose up in fury against this boastful friend ,for prehistoric patience comes quickly to an end4 ,said one1 ,this is chimerical6 ,uptopian6 ,absurd6 ,said another1 ,what a stupid life6 ,too dull1 upon my word6 ,cried all1 ,before such things can come1 you idiotic child1 ,you must alter ,human ,nature6 and they all sat back and smiled6 ,thought they1 ,an answer to that last it will be hard to find6 ,it was a clinching argument--to the ,neolithic ,mind6 ,yes1 great progress and reform can be accomplished without changing human nature4 ,the elemental forces in the heart of man are the same now as in the earliest recorded ages1 and they are likely to remain the same for all time to come4 ,we cannot change the elements of man's nature2 but by changing conditions we can improve the product of reaction4 ,we can elevate conduct by elevating ideals4 ,there was a time when the man who could wield the heaviest battle-axe was the greatest man2 and there are still circles in which ,corbett and ,fitzsimmons are regarded as the greatest men of the present day4 ,but the men who now excite most general admiration are our captains of industry1 the men who succeed in getting money and the luxury and power it commands4 ,how shall we elevate our national ideals8 ,selfishness is a mainspring of human action4 ,a like motive1 desire for happiness1 sets men to fighting dogs and to founding hospitals4 ,nero found pleasure in one way1 ,marcus ,aurelius in another4 ,charles ,i4 and ,louis ,,xvi4 were not bad men2 but they were controlled by outgrown standards4 ,elizabeth1 ,napoleon1 ,peter1 and ,catherine of ,russia sought their own pleasure in accordance with their personal characters and the standards of their times4 ,but how much higher and purer pleasure the devotion of their talents to the service of their fellowmen brought to ,washington1 ,jefferson and ,lincoln1 ,cobden1 ,bright and ,gladstone--and ,john ,pounds6 ,false standards1 low ideals1 now lead many good men to find their pleasure1 not in cruelty1 not in sensuality1 but in the accumulation of wealth1 partly for the luxury1 chiefly for the power it brings4 ,superfluity comes sooner by white hairs1 but competency lives longer4 ,with the spread of intelligence and thought1 and the consequent elevation of popular ideals1 men possessed of millions will not seek to add to their large legitimate gains by legalized robbery from their fellow-citizens2 and people calling themselves ,christians will not rejoice in the distress and starvation of their fellow-men across the ocean4 ,men will still be selfish but their selfishness will at least be on a higher plane--less intense1 less destructive of essential rights4 ,how shall we most speedily bring about this desired consummation8 ,by what agency can we most effectively elevate our national ideals8 ,by extending and improving our system of popular education1 by reversing the usual order and beginning where school curricula now end1 by placing our school-children from their earliest years in close and familiar contact with the life and thought of the race as expressed in literature1 by exciting in every child admiration and emulation of the world's true heroes1 by feeding the imagination and cultivating the moral faculties1 by putting every child into the way of acquiring a social and a historic perspective4 ,i suppose ,i am one of those simple-minded visionary optimists of whom ,prof4 ,royce speaks4 ,but ,i do not dislike economic facts in the sense of ignoring them1 and ,i am not blind to the persistence of the elemental forces of human nature4 ,but as the abolition of slavery changed men's mental attitude towards this social crime1 without at all changing human nature1 just so ,i believe that the adoption of other social reforms would in a generation cause all men to look with horror and wonder upon social injustice that nearly every one now ignores or regards as irremediable and inevitable4 ,i share ,ruskin's scorn of the word ,utopian4 ,a thing is either possible or impossible4 ,as ,carlyle says1 ,the actual final rights of man lie in the far deeps of the ideal4 ,every noble work is at first impossible4 ,in the ,a4,l4,a4 we have heard the word ,utopian1 or its equivalent1 on more than one occasion met by the motto1 ,hitch your wagon to a star2 and we have seen the impracticable an accomplished fact4 ,if time permitted ,i might risk ridicule by presenting some features of the vision that ,i see with the eye of faith in an all-wise and all-powerful ,creater and belief in human perfectibility as an infinite progress4 ,die ,zukunft decket ,schmerzen and ,gluecke ,schrittweis' dem ,blicke2 ,doch ungeschrecket1 ,dringen wir vorwaerts4 ,new occasions teach new duties2 ,time makes ancient good uncouth6 ,they must upward still and onward ,who would keep abreast with truth4 ,,index ,abbott1 ,abiel1 library pioneer1 #agb4 ,adams1 ,brooks1 quoted1 #ha4 ,adams1 ,charles ,francis1 trustee of ,crane ,library1 ,quincy1 #cjh4 ,adams1 ,john ,quincy1 quoted1 #bid4 ,adams1 ,matthew1 lends books to ,franklin1 #acc4 ,adams library1 ,quincy1 ,mass41 #caj4 ,adaptation of ,libraries to ,constituencies1 paper1 by ,s4,s4 ,green2 in full1 #cjg4 ,addingham1 ,eng41 home of ,robert ,collyer1 #aje4 ,addison1 ,joseph1 quoted1 #chi4 ,address at the dedication of the ,library of the ,university of ,pennsylvania1 by ,talcott ,williams2 in full1 #cfe4 ,alexander the ,great1 quoted1 #afa4 ,alexandrian ,library1 destruction of1 #cgg4 ,allegheny1 ,pa41 gift of conservatories1 #db4 ,alternatives to tax-support2 general editorial introduction1 #bea4 ,american ,antiquarian ,soc'y1 #cac4 ,american ,library ,ass'n1 work of1 #gj2 catalogue praised4 ,american ,magazine of ,civics1 article from1 #afi4 ,americans1 book by ,munsterberg1 chapter quoted1 #gi4 ,americans as lovers of books1 #ah4 ,americanization1 a library function1 #cbf4 ,ames1 ,ohio1 ,public ,library1 #bf1 #afd4 ,anderson1 ,col4 ,james1 praised by ,carnegie1 #ci4 ,angell1 ,james ,burrill1 address at ,grand ,rapids library opening2 in part1 #dbe2 sketch of1 #dbe4 ,arbor1 ,mich41 library1 #bg4 ,arguments for public support of public libraries1 paper by ,william ,e4 ,foster1 in full1 #bae4 ,arnold1 ,matthew1 introduction to ,wordsworth's poems1 #bii2 quoted1 #cch4 ,arnold1 ,dr4 ,thomas1 on the ,reform ,bill1 #def4 ,art ,gallery and ,school1 ,hartford1 ,conn41 #adh4 ,art ,school1 ,boston2 ,b4,f4 ,butler's attack on1 #fe4 ,art works as donations1 #dd4 ,association ,libraries1 #ba4 ,astor1 ,john ,jacob1 library gift1 #di4 ,astor ,library1 #cj1 #aje4 ,atkinson ,free ,library1 ,southport1 ,eng41 #bjh4 ,atlanta ,conference1 talk by ,melvil ,dewey at1 #ge4 ,auditoriums as donations1 #de4 ,author's ,league1 ,n4,y41 ,carnegie dinner1 #cc4 ,bacon1 ,francis1 quoted1 #id4 ,baird1 ,henry ,carey1 quoted1 #chd4 ,bakala1 ,wallachian peasant1 legend of1 #ib4 ,baltimore1 ,md41 ,enoch ,pratt ,library1 #ci2 ,peabody ,institute1 #cj4 ,barber1 ,henry ,hervey1 article by1 #afi2 sketch of1 #afi4 ,barnard1 ,henry1 anecdote of1 #gf4 ,barr ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis1 #ddf4 ,baths as donations1 #de4 ,bellevue ,hospital1 ,n4,y4 ,city1 gift to1 #db4 ,bequests1 effect of1 #cd4 ,bergen1 ,norway1 parks in1 #dc4 ,berkeley1 ,gov41 opposes free schools1 #agf4 ,billings1 ,dr4 ,john ,shaw1 article on public libraries1 in full1 #cbi2 biog4 sketch of1 #cbi2 pioneer in interlibrary work1 #che4 ,birge1 ,edward ,asahel1 address at ,madison1 in full1 #aji2 sketch of1 #aji4 ,birmingham 7,eng47 ,free ,library1 #da1 #age1 #bjg4 ,blackpool ,free ,library report1 quoted1 #bjf4 ,blair1 ,rev4 ,james1 library of1 #bj4 ,boards of ,trustees2 general editorial introduction1 #bfe4 ,see also ,,trustees4 ,bodleian ,library1 rule of1 #cec4 ,boers1 characterized1 #bbg4 ,bolton 7,eng47 ,free ,library founded1 #bij4 ,book ,committee of library board1 #bge4 ,book-readers1 who are8 #bbb4 ,book-selection1 #cea4 ,books and ,life1 address by ,edward ,a4 ,birge2 in full1 #aji4 ,books and the ,public ,library1 address by ,james ,russell ,lowell1 in full1 #hg4 ,books1 cheapness of1 #bjd4 ,booklovers among the colonists1 #ai4 ,boston ,art ,museum1 #cac4 ,boston ,common ,council advocates library1 #ec4 ,boston1 libraries in1 #hj4 ,boston ,public ,library2 address at its dedication1 by ,edw4 ,everett1 #abg4 ,boston ,public ,library1 #bhj1 #cag2 children in1 #djh2 its building1 #ha2 gifts to1 #aec2 facilities of1 #cbg2 fiction purchases in1 #cba2 praised1 #aea2 ,george ,ticknor on1 #ej2 statistics in #ahhe1 #bcd4 ,bowditch mathematical collection1 ,boston1 #cbg4 ,bradford1 ,wm41 booklover1 #ai4 ,brashear1 ,john1 #cg4 ,bright1 ,john1 quoted1 #da4 ,bristol1 ,eng41 library report quoted1 #bjh4 ,british education acts1 #bjb2 library law1 earliest 7#ahej71 #ci1 #aea1 #agb1 #bhi2 amendment of 7#ahff71 #bij4 ,british ,museum1 fiction policy1 #cbb4 ,brockton1 ,mass41 reading-room in1 #djg4 ,brougham1 ,lord1 approves travelling libraries1 #aga4 ,brown music collection1 ,boston1 #cbg4 ,brown1 ,samuel1 founds ,scottish itinerating libraries1 #aga4 ,brown1 ,squire ,sam1 buys books for ,coon-,skin ,library1 #bf4 ,brown ,university1 paper by ,pres4 ,faunce1 #cdc4 ,brownwell's writing-school1 attended by ,franklin1 #aca4 ,browsing commended1 #cdf4 ,burnham1 ,t4,o4,p4,h41 book-collector1 anecdote of1 #cac4 ,burton1 ,r41 ,historical ,collections bought by ,franklin1 #aca4 ,business enterprise1 library as a1 #bca4 ,butler1 ,benj4 ,f41 his attack on the ,boston ,art ,school1 #fe4 ,butler1 ,james ,davie1 address by1 at ,madison1 ,wis41 #adj2 biog4 sketch of1 #adi4 ,byrd1 ,william1 library of1 #bj4 ,cabanne ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis1 #ddf41 #ddh4 ,california1 anecdotes of pioneers1 #aei2 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,calvinism as encourager of reading1 #hj4 ,carlyle1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #fc1 #cce1 #dfe4 ,carnegie1 ,andrew1 article by1 #cc2 sketch of1 #cc2 praised by ,melvil ,dewey1 #ge2 quoted1 #dcc2 library gifts1 #cbi4 ,carondelet ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis1 #dde4 ,cassell's ,national ,library1 praised1 #bje4 ,castine1 ,me41 library1 #be4 ,catalogues1 uses of1 #ia1 #dje4 ,censorship1 do libraries exercise it8 #cbc4 ,chamberlain1 ,mellen1 ,supt4 ,boston ,public ,library1 #bhj4 ,chamberlain autograph collection1 ,boston1 #cbg4 ,charity1 so-called1 #cf4 ,charleston1 ,s4,c41 ,library ,society1 #bd4 ,chaucer1 ,geoffrey1 quoted1 #afb4 ,chelsea1 ,mass41 address by ,lowell at library-opening1 #hg4 ,chetham1 ,humphrey1 library founder1 #cec4 ,children in reading-rooms1 #djg2 reading of1 #cjc2 work with1 #aae1 #cah1 #dce2 pioneer work of ,mrs4 ,sanders1 #dja4 ,chicago1 library growth in1 #afi4 ,chicago ,public ,library1 #cag2 statistics in #ahhe1 #bcd4 ,churches as objects of philanthropy1 #df4 ,cincinnati1 ,o41 ,springer ,hall1 #de4 ,cincinnati ,public ,library1 #bf1 #cda 7note72 statistics in #ahhe1 #bcd4 ,circulation1 proposed by ,ticknor1 #ea2 expediency doubted by ,everett1 #ec4 ,clark1 ,charles ,hopkins1 opening address at ,hartford library1 #ade2 biog4 sketch1 #adg4 ,classics1 meaning of term1 #e4 ,cleveland1 ,grover1 address in favor of the ,n4,y4 ,free ,circ4 ,lib'y1 #aci2 biog4 sketch of1 #aci4 ,clinton1 ,de ,witt1 advocates libraries1 #bg4 ,club1 library as a1 #abb4 ,club-rooms1 use of1 #ddi4 ,colden1 ,cadwallader1 library of1 #bj4 ,coleridge1 ,samuel ,t41 quoted1 #fd4 ,collection of ,information3 general editorial introduction1 #cgi4 ,college1 increased attendance1 #aaj4 ,college libraries1 #bj4 ,collyer1 ,robert1 address given in full1 #aja2 sketch of1 #aja2 his story of his own life1 #ajd4 ,colonies1 libraries in the1 #djb4 ,colorado1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,columbia medical school1 ,vanderbilt gift to1 #db4 ,committees of ,library ,board1 #bge4 ,community ,center ,service2 editorial paragraph1 #dca4 ,community relations1 general1 #ae4 ,community's ,service to the ,library2 editorial introduction1 #ahc4 ,connecticut1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,conservatism1 deplored1 #deg4 ,contents1 ,table of1 #g4 ,control and ,guidance of ,reading2 general editorial introduction1 #cie4 ,coon-,skin ,library1 ,ames1 ,ohio1 #bf4 ,co-operation ,between ,library and ,community2 paper by ,m4 ,anna ,tarbell2 in full1 #beg4 ,cooper ,union1 ,n4,y41 #cj1 #da4 ,cornell1 ,ezra1 bequest1 #cg2 anecdote of1 #ih4 ,cost of libraries1 #agf4 ,cotton mill1 first in ,u4,s41 #djc4 ,countryman1 ,gratia ,alta2 paper on social centres1 in full1 #dcc2 biog4 sketch1 #dcc4 ,crane ,library1 ,quincy1 ,mass41 #cjh4 ,crunden1 ,frederick ,morgan1 paper by1 in full1 #ccc2 address on library's future1 #dec2 quoted1 #agi4 ,crunden ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis1 #ddd4 ,curtis1 ,george ,william1 quoted1 #ih4 ,cushman1 ,robt41 booklover1 #ai4 ,cutler1 ,mary ,salome1 paper by1 #fg4 ,cutter1 ,charles ,a41 quoted1 #cab4 ,cyclopedia on cards1 proposed1 #cgi4 ,dana1 ,john ,c41 on interlibrary loans1 #chc2 quoted1 #dcc4 ,dances at libraries1 #ddi4 ,davenport1 ,john1 booklover1 #ai4 ,defoe1 ,daniel1 ,essay on ,projects1 read by ,franklin1 #acb4 ,democracy applied to books1 #bc2 an unworked theory1 #dad4 ,detroit ,society ,library1 #bg4 ,dewey1 ,melvil1 on the relation of the state to the library2 in full1 #ahe2 editor of ,library ,congress papers1 #cjg2 talk at ,atlanta given in full1 #ge2 advocates card encyclopedia1 #cgi4 ,dickens's novels commended1 #bid4 ,district ,school ,libraries4 ,see ,,school ,,district ,,libraries4 ,dix1 ,john ,a41 establishes libraries1 #bg4 ,donne1 ,dr4 ,john1 quoted1 #hi4 ,dresden1 beautification of1 #dc4 ,drury1 ,gertrude ,g41 aid acknowledged1 #e4 ,dudley1 ,gov41 booklover1 #ai4 ,duties of trustees1 #bgc2 and their relations to librarians2 paper by ,s4,s4 ,green1 in full1 #bgi4 ,easter1 ,george1 quoted1 #baa4 ,education ,acts1 ,great ,britain1 #bjb4 ,education1 lengthening of1 #aaj2 from libraries1 #gh1 #aae1 #bch1 #bdd1 #cje1 #cca1 #ccd1 #ddj4 ,educational influence of the librarian1 #dbj4 ,edwards1 ,edward1 quoted1 #bif4 ,eliot1 ,charles ,w41 suggests reservoir libraries1 #cjg2 quoted1 #cce4 ,eliot1 ,george1 quoted1 #aib1 #dda4 ,elmendorf1 ,mrs4 ,henry ,l41 paper by1 #cei2 biog4 sketch of1 #cei4 ,emerson1 ,ralph ,waldo1 quoted1 #ccg1 #cga1 #chi1 #deg4 ,endowment of libraries1 #cj4 ,england1 see ,,british4 ,entertainment a function of libraries1 #bba1 #cah1 #cca1 #dba1 #dbg4 ,everett1 ,edward1 letter to1 from ,george ,ticknor1 #ej2 answer1 #ec2 dedication address of ,boston ,public ,library2 in full1 #abg2 biog4 sketch of1 #abg2 opinions on libraries1 #agf4 ,evolution of libraries 7,dewey71 #ahe4 ,ewart1 ,william1 moves library inquiry in ,house of ,commons1 #bhi4 ,ewing1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #bf4 ,fairchild1 ,mrs4 ,milton1 paper by1 #fg4 ,fairservice1 ,andrew1 quoted1 #ajc4 ,faunce1 ,william ,herbert ,perry1 paper by1 #cdc2 sketch of1 #cdc4 ,feminization of the library1 #aaf4 ,fiction1 use of in libraries1 #aed1 #bbd1 #bid1 #cbj1 #cca1 #dbh2 circulation discussed1 #ahj2 discouraged by ,j4,p4 ,quincy1 #ee2 commended by ,lowell1 #ig2 policy of ,british ,museum1 #cbb4 ,finance ,committee of library board1 #bge4 ,financial ,support2 general editorial introduction1 #aii4 ,fiske1 ,john1 quoted1 #cfa4 ,fletcher1 ,william ,i41 quoted1 #agg4 ,flint1 ,mich41 library1 #bg4 ,flower ,band in ,pawtucket1 #dji4 ,foss1 ,sam ,walker1 paper on inspiration1 in full1 #dai2 sketch of1 #dai4 ,foster1 ,william ,e41 paper on securing community interest2 in full1 #aic2 paper advocating public support of libraries in full1 #bae2 quoted1 #cad1 #cef4 ,franklin1 ,benjamin1 autobiography quoted1 #aca2 ,everett's gift of autobiography to ,boston ,public ,library1 #acd2 anecdote of1 #ai2 founds ,phila4 ,library ,co41 #ba1 #agj2 education of1 #acj2 quoted1 #bb1 #afe4 ,free access1 adopted by ,mrs4 ,sanders1 in ,pawtucket1 ,r4,i41 #dja1 #dje4 ,free ,libraries3 an argument against public support1 by ,m4,d4 ,o',brien1 #bja4 ,free ,public ,library1 essay by ,thomas ,wentworth ,higginson1 in full1 #fc2 article by ,henry ,h4 ,barber1 in full1 #afi2 evolution of1 #cj4 ,freedom of thought1 #dee4 ,freeport1 ,ill41 ,public ,library1 #chg4 ,freiberg1 ,saxony1 tanning school1 #chb4 ,froissant1 read in rural ,n4,y41 #ea4 ,function of a ,town ,library1 paper by ,josiah ,p4 ,quincy1 in full1 #ee4 ,future of the library1 #dec4 ,georgetown1 ,s4,c41 library in1 #bd4 ,gilbert1 ,sir ,humphrey1 #ah4 ,gilbert1 ,w4,s4 7,iolanthe7 quoted1 #deg4 ,grant1 ,ulysses ,s41 funeral of1 #ajh4 ,glasgow cathedral1 anecdote of1 #ajc4 ,grand ,rapids1 ,mich41 address at dedication of building1 #dbe4 ,greece1 smallness of1 #cgb4 ,green1 ,samuel ,swett1 paper on duties of trustees1 in full1 #bgi2 on adaptation of libraries to constituencies1 in full1 #cjg2 address at library-openings1 in full1 #cha2 pioneer in library educational work1 #bci2 praised by ,col4 ,higginson1 #ff2 praised1 #agg4 ,greenough1 ,william ,w41 ,pres4 ,boston ,public ,library ,board1 #bhj4 ,greenwood1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #baa4 ,griggs1 ,lilian 7,barr ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis7 quoted1 #ddf4 ,hale1 ,edw4 ,everett1 quoted1 #bfh4 ,harper1 ,william ,r41 quoted1 #cce4 ,harris ,collection of poetry1 #cad4 ,harris1 ,william ,t41 quoted1 #cce4 ,harrison1 ,william ,henry1 a founder of ,vincennes ,library1 #bg4 ,hartford1 ,conn41 addresses at opening of ,wadsworth ,athenaeum ,library1 #ade4 ,harvard ,college library1 #bj1 #hj4 ,harvard ,university donations1 #ch2 bequest of ,john ,harvard1 #ij2 rule for trustee's terms1 #bgb4 ,haston ,library4 ,n4 ,brookfield1 ,mass41 address at dedication1 #cha4 ,hatboro1 ,pa41 library in1 #ajf4 ,hawthorne1 ,nathaniel1 praised1 #ajf4 ,herschel1 ,sir ,john1 quoted1 #dja4 ,hewins1 ,caroline1 praised1 #adh4 ,higginson1 ,thomas ,wentworth1 essay by1 #fc2 sketch of1 #fc2 quoted1 #bfh1 #cac4 ,hingham1 ,mass41 library1 #be4 ,historical ,evolution of the ,free ,public ,library in ,america and its ,true ,function in the ,community2 sketch by ,moses ,coit ,tyler1 #ag4 ,historical ,society1 ,hartford1 #adh4 ,history defined1 #ie4 ,home use1 advocated by ,ticknor1 #ea2 doubted by ,everett1 #ec4 ,homer1 praised1 #cff4 ,hood1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #aeg4 ,hooker1 ,thos41 booklover1 #ai4 ,hosmer1 ,james ,k41 praised1 #agg2 resigns1 #dcc4 ,hospitals as donations1 #da4 ,how to ,make ,town ,libraries ,successful2 paper by ,f4,b4 ,perkins1 cited1 #bgd4 ,how to ,use a ,library1 addresses by ,james ,m4 ,hubard2 in full1 #big4 ,howell1 ,james1 old writer1 #ij4 ,hubbard1 ,james ,mascarene1 addresses by1 #big2 sketch of1 #big4 ,huxley1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #ahh4 ,idea of a ,popular ,library1 letter from ,george ,ticknor1 #di4 ,if ,not a ,tax-,supported ,library1 ,what8 paper in ,iowa ,library ,quarterly2 in full1 #bec4 ,ignorance1 power of to-day1 #dac4 ,illinois1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,increase of libraries1 results of1 #ig4 ,independent1 ,the1 quoted1 #aai4 ,indiana1 school libraries in1 #bh ,trustee's ,association1 #bfe4 ,indigo ,society ,library1 ,s4,c41 #bd4 ,influence of ,good ,books1 address by ,robert ,collyer2 in full1 #aja4 ,information ,bureau1 library as an1 #cha4 ,information-desk work1 #chg4 ,inspiration from libraries1 #dai4 ,insurance of a library1 #bdj4 ,interlibrary loans1 #cab1 #cha4 ,international ,library ,conference1 ,london1 ,second1 #ahe4 ,international ,congress of ,arts 7#aijd71 paper before1 #ccc4 ,iowa1 school libraries in1 #bh2 ,library ,commission1 #bdf2 ,library ,code1 #bec4 ,iowa ,library ,quarterly1 paper from1 in full1 #bec4 ,ireland1 ,alexander1 book praised1 #hg4 ,irving1 ,washington1 commended1 #aje2 anecdote of1 #afc4 ,jefferson1 ,thomas1 quoted1 #bic4 ,jerome1 ,jerome ,k41 quoted1 #aag4 ,jevons1 ,william ,stanley1 approves free libraries1 #bcj2 commends travelling libraries1 #aga2 quoted1 #age1 #ccf1 #dfa4 ,johns ,hopkins bequest1 #cg4 ,johnson1 ,samuel1 quoted1 #eh4 ,kalamazoo1 ,mich41 library1 #bg4 ,kansas1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,kentucky1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,kittery1 ,me41 ,revolving ,library1 #be4 ,knox1 ,john1 quoted1 #bde4 ,laboratories as donations1 #da4 ,lancaster1 ,mass41 library in1 #be4 ,langley1 ,samuel ,p41 discoveries of1 #cg4 ,larned1 ,joseph ,nelson1 ,a4,l4,a4 address1 in full1 #daa2 biog4 sketch of1 #daa2 quoted1 #gj4 ,lawrence1 ,abbott1 #ej1 #eb4 ,lawrence1 ,james1 pres4 ,boston ,council1 #ec4 ,lea1 ,henry ,c41 library gift1 #agj4 ,leamington ,free ,library 7,eng471 #bjh4 ,learned1 ,john ,calvin1 paper by1 in full1 #bfg2 sketch of1 #bfg4 ,lecture courses in libraries1 #abc1 #aeg1 #bfb4 ,lenox ,library1 ,n4,y41 #cj4 ,lessing1 quoted1 #aei4 ,levy of ,library ,tribute1 paper by ,henry ,m4 ,utley2 in full1 #bdc4 ,librarian and his ,constituents1 paper by ,reuben ,b4 ,poole2 in full1 #cea4 ,librarian1 qualities necessary in1 #ga1 #bha1 his relations with his ,board1 #bga1 #bgi2 who reads1 #dbj4 ,libraries as ,bureaus of ,information2 address by ,s4,s4 ,green2 in part1 #cha4 ,libraries as ,leaven1 inauguration address at ,madison1 ,wis41 ,public ,library1 by ,james ,d4 ,butler1 #adi4 ,libraries1 growth of in ,u4,s41 #aac2 as donations1 #ci4 ,library2 a plea for its recognition1 paper by ,frederick ,m4 ,crunden2 in full1 #ccc4 ,library and ,society2 general introduction1 #ac4 ,library and the ,social ,centre2 paper by ,lutie ,e4 ,stearns1 in full1 #dci4 ,library as a ,factor in ,modern ,civilization1 paper by ,w4,h4,p4 ,faunce2 in full1 #cdc4 ,library as a ,field for ,philanthropy1 article by ,andrew ,carnegie1 #cc4 ,library as a ,social ,centre2 paper by ,gratia ,a4 ,countryman2 in full1 #dcc4 ,library as an ,inspirational ,force2 paper by ,sam ,walter ,foss2 in full1 #dai4 ,library ,association of the ,united ,kingdom1 opposed1 #bjg4 ,library associations1 local1 #bec4 ,library buildings1 imposing1 #cdc4 ,library ,commission1 ,iowa1 #bdf2 ,massachusetts1 #aha1 #bfc1 #che4 ,library ,friend1 paper by ,winifred ,l4 ,taylor2 in full1 #chg4 ,library ,journal recommended to trustees1 #bgd4 ,library of ,congress1 #gi2 advice to weed out1 #cji2 weeding out1 #cga4 ,library ,schools in ,u4,s41 #hd4 ,library ,work from the ,trustees' ,standpoint1 paper by ,john ,c4 ,learned2 in full1 #bfg4 ,library's ,service to the ,community2 general editorial introduction1 #bhe4 ,lick ,observatory donation1 #cg4 ,lincoln1 ,abraham1 educated by reading1 #big4 ,liverpool ,free ,library1 #bjh2 founded1 #bij4 ,logan1 ,jas41 library of1 #bj4 ,london ,daily ,news1 quoted1 #bjg4 ,london ,library ,conference 7#ahig71 #ccg4 ,loomis1 ,elias1 ,yale donor1 #ch4 ,louisville1 ,ky41 no free public library in 7#ahhe71 #bcc4 ,lovejoy1 ,elijah ,p41 death of1 #ded4 ,lowell1 ,james ,russell1 address by1 #hg2 sketch of1 #hg2 quoted1 #bbf1 #ddj1 7,hosea ,bigelow71 #dji4 ,lowell1 ,mass41 statistics of1 #djc2 reading-room in1 #djg4 ,luther1 ,martin1 quoted1 #afb4 ,lynn1 ,mass41 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,mc,glynn1 ,father1 quoted1 #ajh4 ,mackay1 ,thomas1 editor of ,plea for ,liberty1 essays1 #bja4 ,madison1 ,wis41 library1 inauguration address1 #adi2 ,boston man's opinion of1 #aeg4 ,maine1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,manchester 7,england7 ,free ,library founded1 #bij1 #cec2 library use in1 #age4 ,manchester1 ,n4,h41 statistics of1 #djc4 ,mann1 ,horace1 advocates libraries1 #bh2 favors school libraries1 #agb4 ,manners1 ,lord ,john1 opposes ,british library act1 #bij4 ,manufacturing towns1 libraries in1 #dja4 ,marietta1 ,ohio1 library1 #bf4 ,massachusetts1 passes first free library act1 #ca1 #agb1 #bhi2 growth of libraries in1 #agc2 ,library ,commission1 #aha1 #bfc1 #che2 school libraries in1 #bh1 #aga4 ,mather1 ,cotton1 ,essay to do good1 read by ,franklin1 #acb2 library of1 #bj4 ,mazzini1 on education1 #ccd4 ,mawtucket of ,pawtucket1 #dja4 ,meadville ,city ,library1 #agi4 ,medical ,schools as donations1 #da4 ,melbourne1 ,australia1 travelling libraries in1 #aga4 ,men and ,women1 by ,t4,w4 ,higginson1 essay reprinted from1 #fc4 ,men1 library work with1 #abj4 ,methods of securing the interest of a community1 paper by ,wm4 ,e4 ,foster2 in full1 #aic4 ,metropolitan ,museum1 ,n4,y41 #da4 ,michigan1 libraries in1 #bg2 failure of district libraries1 #bi4 ,milk ,st41 ,boston1 ,franklin's birthplace1 #ace4 ,milton1 ,john1 quoted1 #ajh1 #adf4 ,milwaukee1 school attendance in1 #aaj2 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,minnesota1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,minnesota ,library ,association1 paper at1 #dcc4 ,missouri1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,monks as librarians1 #cea4 ,moore1 ,tom1 quoted1 #aed4 ,morris1 ,william1 quoted1 #ddj4 ,mullins1 ,mr41 ,birmingham1 ,eng41 librarian1 quoted1 #bjg4 ,municipal ,cooperation in ,st4 ,louis1 #dei4 ,munsterberg1 ,hugo1 chapter quoted in full1 #gi2 sketch of1 #gi4 ,nashville1 ,tenn41 ,vanderbilt ,univ41 #ch4 ,national ,municipal ,league1 article written for1 #cbj4 ,new ,bedford1 ,mass41 library opened1 #aea2 statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,new books1 necessity of1 #bcb4 ,new ,england town meetings praised1 #ajh4 ,new ,englanders1 practicality of1 #ij4 ,new ,hampshire library law1 #agb2 mandatory1 #caf2 library growth in1 #agd4 ,new ,jersey1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,new ,orleans1 wishes no free library1 #bcc4 ,new ,york ,city1 no free public library in 7#ahhe71 #bcc4 ,new ,york ,free ,circulating ,library2 address in its favor by ,grover ,cleveland2 in full1 #aci4 ,new ,york ,public ,library1 #aci4 ,new ,york ,society ,library1 #be4 ,new ,york ,state1 libraries in1 #bg2 failure of district libraries1 #bi2 public libraries department1 #aia2 travelling libraries in1 #agd1 #aia4 ,newburyport1 ,mass41 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,newcastle-on-,tyne library1 #bji4 ,newport1 ,r4,i41 library at1 #be4 ,news1 triviality of1 #ic4 ,newspapers as aids to libraries1 #bfa2 influence of1 #ahf1 #dae4 ,nitti1 quoted1 #dfa4 ,north ,american ,review1 quoted1 #cc4 ,north ,brookfield1 ,mass41 opening address at ,haston ,library1 #cha4 ,northwest ,territory1 ordinance of #aghg1 #bdd4 ,norwich1 ,eng41 library report quoted1 #baa4 ,notes1 making of1 on books1 #dbi4 ,objections to libraries classified1 #bia4 ,o',brien1 ,m4,d41 argument against public support of libraries2 in full1 #bja2 answered by ,w4,e4 ,foster1 #bae4 ,ohio1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,old and ,new1 paper quoted from1 #ee4 ,olneyville1 ,r4,i41 reading room in1 #djh4 ,oregon1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,organization of trustees1 #bgd4 ,osborne1 ,mr41 gift to ,bellevue ,hospital1 ,n4,y41 #db4 ,osborne1 ,mrs4 ,c4,j41 ,yale donor1 #ch4 ,packer1 ,asa1 bequest1 #cg4 ,page1 ,father1 ,n4,y4 library pioneer1 #agb4 ,palmer1 ,sir ,roundell1 opposes ,british library act1 #bij4 ,paradise ,lost1 ,j4,q4 ,adams on1 #bid4 ,parks as donations1 #db4 ,peabody ,library1 ,baltimore1 #cj4 ,peabody ,museum1 ,harvard1 #ch4 ,penn1 ,william1 booklover1 #ai4 ,pennsylvania ,library ,club1 paper reprinted1 #fg4 ,pennsylvania ,university ,library1 address at dedication2 in full1 #cfe4 ,peoples ,university1 library as the1 #abf4 ,peoria1 ,ill41 ,mercantile ,library1 #agi4 ,periodicals1 use of1 #cef4 ,perkins1 ,frederic ,beecher1 paper given in full1 #bca2 biog4 sketch of1 #bca2 quoted1 #bgd4 ,peterboro1 ,n4,h41 free library1 #agb4 ,philadelphia ,centennial1 effects of1 #ade4 ,philadelphia1 no public library in 7#ahhe71 #bcc4 ,philadelphia ,liby ,co41 founded by ,franklin1 #ba2 #acc4 ,phillips1 ,jonathan1 #ej4 ,phillips1 ,wendell1 on education1 #ccd4 ,phipps1 ,henry1 partner of ,carnegie donations to ,allegheny1 #db1 #ch4 ,pierce1 ,bradford ,kinney1 paper by1 in full1 #cig2 biog4 sketch of1 #cig4 ,pittsfield1 ,mass41 library addresses at1 #big4 ,pittsburgh technical room1 #aba4 ,plea for ,liberty1 essays1 extracts from1 #bja2 quoted1 #baf4 ,plutarch1 quoted1 #cf4 ,political meetings in a library1 #ddf4 ,poole1 ,reuben ,brooks1 paper on choice of books1 in full1 #cea2 biog4 sketch of1 #cea4 ,poole1 ,william ,frederick1 paper on objections to libraries1 #bhg2 sketch of1 #bhg2 library study plan1 #bci4 ,poole's ,index1 #bhg2 value of1 #cef4 ,portland1 ,me41 library1 #be4 ,possibilities of ,public ,libraries in ,manufacturing ,communities2 paper by ,minerva ,a4 ,sanders2 in full1 #dja4 ,pratt1 ,enoch1 praised by ,carnegie1 #cc4 ,pratt ,institute technical room1 #aba4 ,pratt ,library1 ,baltimore1 #ci4 ,preface1 #e4 ,presidential ,address 7,a4,l4,a471 by ,joseph ,n4 ,larned2 in full1 #daa4 ,pretlow1 ,mary ,d4 7,cabanne ,branch1 ,st4 ,louis71 quoted1 #ddh4 ,private libraries in the colonies1 #bj4 ,probable ,intellectual and ,moral ,outcome of the ,rapid ,increase of ,public ,libraries2 paper by ,rev4 ,dr4 ,b4,k4 ,pierce2 in full1 #cig4 ,protection of ,majorities and ,other ,essays1 by ,j4,p4 ,quincy1 quoted1 #ee4 ,providence1 ,r4,i41 ,public ,library1 #be1 #hd1 #cad4 ,provision of ,books2 general editorial introduction1 #cdi4 ,public ,library and the ,public1 paper by ,frederic ,beecher ,perkins2 in full1 #bca4 ,public ,library in ,american ,life1 extract from book by ,hugo ,munsterberg1 #gi4 ,public ,library2 its ,uses to the ,municipality1 article by ,dr4 ,john ,s4 ,billings2 in full1 #cbi4 ,public ,library1 functions classified1 #cdj4 ,public1 desires of1 #aic4 ,public ,support of libraries opposed1 #bja2 advocated1 #bae4 ,putnam1 ,herbert1 paper on libraries and the community2 in full1 #cae2 biog4 sketch of1 #cae4 ,qualifications of a librarian 7,dewey71 #aia2 7,green71 #bha2 of trustees 7,green71 #bgb4 ,quigley1 ,margery ,closey2 report on social centre work in ,st4 ,louis2 in part1 #ddc2 biog4 sketch1 #ddc4 ,quincy1 ,josiah1 suggests ,mass4 library act1 #bhi4 ,quincy1 ,josiah ,p41 paper in full1 #ee2 biog4 sketch1 #ee4 ,quincy1 ,mass4 ,crane ,library1 #cjh2 plan of weeding out1 #cji2 ,adams collection1 #caj4 ,racine1 ,wis41 school attendance in1 #aaj4 ,raleigh1 ,sir ,walter1 #ah4 ,raphael1 ,italian artist1 #aff4 ,ray1 ,dr4 ,isaac1 quoted1 #eg4 ,reade's ,griffith ,gaunt condemned by ,j4,p4 ,quincy1 #eg4 ,readers1 classes of1 #cja4 ,reading1 encouragement of1 #cdf2 of librarians1 #dbj4 ,reading-rooms1 #daa2 as educators1 #djf4 ,reclus1 ,elisee1 quoted1 #bbg4 ,recreation1 see ,,entertainment4 ,redwood ,library1 ,newport1 #be4 ,reference work1 #chi4 ,reform ,act 7,british7 of #ahcb1 #dee4 ,relation of ,free ,public ,libraries to the ,community1 article by ,herbert ,putnam2 in full1 #cae4 ,relation of the ,state to the ,public ,library2 statement by ,melvil ,dewey2 in full1 #ahe4 ,reservoir libraries1 suggested by ,pres4 ,eliot1 #cjg4 ,revolving ,library of ,york and ,kittery1 ,me41 #be4 ,rhode ,island1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,richard ,sugden ,library1 ,spencer1 ,mass41 opening address1 #aja4 ,ripley1 ,george1 anecdote of1 #ajb4 ,rousseau1 ,confessions1 favorite of ,emerson1 #ie4 ,ryerson ,library ,building1 ,grand ,rapids1 ,mich41 address at dedication1 #dbe4 ,st4 ,louis1 fiction purchases in1 #cba2 no free public library in 7#ahhe71 #bcc4 ,st4 ,louis ,library ,school1 #e4 ,st4 ,louis ,public ,library1 social centre work at1 #ddc2 ,library ,board quoted1 #cdj2 ,public ,library ,magazine quoted1 #dfc4 ,st4 ,louis ,world's ,fair1 #ccc4 ,st4 ,paul1 quoted1 #dfj4 ,salem1 ,mass41 ,social ,library1 #be4 ,san ,francisco ,public ,library1 paper about1 #bca2 statistics 7#ahhe7 #bcd4 ,sanders1 ,minerva ,amanda1 paper by1 in full1 #dja2 biog4 sketch of1 #dja4 ,scholastic libraries in the colonies1 #bj4 ,school and library co-operation1 #dbf4 ,school attendance1 increase of1 #aaj4 ,school ,district libraries1 #bg2 failure in ,n4,y4 and ,mich41 #bi2 described by ,barber1 #aga4 ,school versus library1 #ccg4 ,schools1 free1 opposed1 #bja4 ,scotland1 travelling libraries in1 #aga4 ,scott's novels commended1 #bid4 ,seaver1 ,mayor1 advocates library in ,boston1 #ec4 ,seneca1 quoted1 #afd4 ,sentiment1 part played by1 in public institutions1 #cbi4 ,sever ,hall1 ,harvard1 #ch4 ,shakespeare1 ,william1 #afc4 ,shakesperiana in libraries1 #cbg4 ,sheffield ,scientific ,school1 #ch4 ,sibthorp1 ,col41 opposes ,british library act1 #bij4 ,simon1 ,jules1 on education1 #ccd4 ,smith1 ,capt4 ,john1 booklover1 #ai4 ,smoking in libraries1 #abb4 ,social ,centre1 library as a1 #dcc1 #dci2 in ,st4 ,louis1 #ddc4 ,social consciousness1 growth of1 #ac4 ,social ,libraries1 foundation of1 #agj2 in ,salem1 ,mass41 #be4 ,social meetings in a library1 #ddg4 ,socialism opposed1 #bja4 ,socialization1 trend toward1 #ae4 ,society ,library1 ,n4,y4 ,city1 #be4 ,some ,popular ,objections to ,public ,libraries1 paper by ,william ,f4 ,poole1 in full1 #bhg4 ,soule1 ,charles ,carroll1 paper by1 #bga2 sketch of1 #bga4 ,south ,carolina1 colonial libraries in1 #bd4 ,southey1 ,robert1 quoted1 #ib4 ,southport1 ,eng41 free library1 #bjh4 ,spencer1 ,herbert1 opposes free education1 #bja2 opposes free libraries1 #agh1 #bib2 quoted1 #dfj4 ,spencer1 ,mass41 ,sugden ,library1 #aja4 ,spenser1 ,edmund1 quoted1 #ig4 ,spofford1 ,a4,r41 quoted1 #eg4 ,springer ,hall1 ,cincinnati1 #de4 ,springfield1 ,mass4 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,springfield ,republican1 paper from1 #beg4 ,stages of libraries1 six1 #ag4 ,stanford1 ,leland1 bequest1 #cg4 ,statistics of ,american libraries 7#ahgf71 #bhi2 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,stead1 ,william ,t41 quoted1 #def4 ,stearns1 ,lutie ,e41 paper on social centres1 in full1 #dci4 ,stevens ,point ,library1 #abc4 ,story1 ,chief ,justice1 quoted1 #aej4 ,street1 ,augustus1 ,yale donor1 #ch4 ,subscription libraries1 #ba4 ,sugden1 ,richard1 gives library to ,spencer1 ,mass41 #aja2 sketch of1 #ajb4 ,sunday opening1 ,allegheny parks1 #dc4 ,swimming pools as gifts1 #df4 ,tarbell1 ,ida1 quoted1 #ddf4 ,tarbell1 ,m4 ,anna1 paper by1 in full1 #beg4 ,tarde1 ,gabriel1 quoted1 #dfa4 ,taunton1 ,mass41 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd4 ,taxation1 dread of1 #bia2 for library support1 #bdc1 #ccj2 use for fiction circulation opposed1 #fj4 ,taylor1 ,winifred ,louise1 paper by1 in full1 #chg2 biog4 sketch of1 #chg4 ,teacher1 librarian as a1 #cie4 ,teaching1 ,n4,y4 investigation of1 #gg4 ,technical rooms in libraries1 #aba2 use in libraries1 #bch4 ,technical training1 growth of1 #aaj4 ,term of office of trustees1 #bgb4 ,thaw1 ,william1 ,pittsburgh donor1 #cg4 ,ticknor1 ,george1 extract from ,life and ,letters given at length1 #di2 sketch of1 #di2 letter to ,edward ,everett1 #agf4 ,ticknor ,spanish collection1 ,boston #cbg4 ,tilden1 ,samuel ,j41 bequest1 #afi2 will-contest1 #cd4 ,tom ,sawyer's fence1 #dbb4 ,translations commended1 #if4 ,travelling ,libraries1 ,scotch1 #aga2 ,australian1 #aga2 ,new ,york state1 #agd1 #aia1 #caf4 ,treasurer of ,library ,board1 #bgd4 ,trumbull1 ,j4 ,hammond1 librarian1 #adh4 ,trumbull collection1 ,hartford1 #chc4 ,trustees1 ,boards of1 #bfe2 duties of1 #bgi2 standpoint in library work1 #bfa2 ,a4,l4,a4 section1 #bfe4 ,trustees of ,free ,public ,libraries1 paper1 by ,charles ,c4 ,soule1 in full1 #bga4 ,two ,fundamentals1 paper by ,mary ,salome ,cutler ,fairchild1 #fg4 ,tyler1 ,moses ,coit1 paper by1 #ag2 sketch of1 #ag4 ,union ,st41 ,boston2 ,franklin's house1 #ace4 ,unitarianism in ,st4 ,louis1 #dfj4 ,universities1 foundation of1 #cf4 ,university libraries in ,u4,s41 #hj2 without a library1 #cgj4 ,use of the ,public ,library1 address by ,james ,b4 ,angell2 in part1 #dbe4 ,usefulness of ,libraries in ,small ,towns1 paper by ,theresa ,west 7now ,mrs4 ,elmendorf7 in full1 #cei4 ,utley1 ,henry ,munson1 paper by1 in full1 #bdc2 sketch of1 #bdc4 ,vanderbilt gift to ,columbia1 #db2 to ,vanderbilt ,university1 #ch4 ,vested rights1 influence of1 #dee4 ,victorian ,reign1 retrospect of1 #def4 ,villiers1 ,charles1 quoted1 #ded4 ,vincennes1 ,ind41 library1 #bf4 ,virginia1 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,wadsworth ,athenaeum1 #adg2 addresses at the opening of its library in ,hartford1 ,conn41 #ade4 ,wallachian legend1 #ib1 #bbf4 ,waltham1 ,mass41 statistics of1 #djc4 ,warner1 ,chas4 ,dudley1 opening address at ,hartford library1 #ade2 biog4 sketch1 #ade4 ,washington1 ,life of1 inspiration to ,lincoln1 #big4 ,washington1 ,d4,c41 libraries of1 #hj4 ,watkinson1 library donor1 #adh4 ,watkinson ,library1 ,trumbull collection1 #chc4 ,wausaukee ,library1 #abc4 ,wellington1 ,duke of1 opposes ,reform ,bill1 #def4 ,wesley1 ,john1 quoted1 #dba4 ,west1 ,sir ,algernon1 quoted1 #dec4 ,west1 ,theresa1 see ,,elmendorf4 ,what a ,library ,should be and ,what ,it ,can ,do2 talk by ,melvil ,dewey1 #ge4 ,what of the ,future8 address by ,frederick ,m4 ,crunden2 in full1 #dec4 ,where ,neighbors ,meet2 ,st4 ,louis report by ,margery ,quigley1 in part1 #ddc4 ,wigan1 ,eng41 ,library report quoted1 #bjh4 ,wilcox1 ,william1 ,english bookseller1 friend of ,franklin1 #acc4 ,william and ,mary ,college library1 #bj4 ,williams1 ,roger1 booklover1 #ai4 ,williams1 ,talcott1 address at library dedication1 in full1 #cfe2 biog4 sketch of1 #cfe4 ,williamson bequest to ,phila41 #cd4 ,winslow1 ,edward1 booklover1 #ai4 ,winslow1 ,dr4 ,forbes1 quoted1 #eg4 ,winsor1 ,justin1 ,sup't ,boston ,public ,library1 #bhj2 promotes interlibrary loans1 #chd4 ,winthrop1 ,robert ,c41 quoted1 #acd4 ,winthrops1 the1 booklovers1 #ai4 ,winyard1 ,s4,c41 library1 #bd4 ,wisconsin ,library ,ass'n1 address before1 #aji4 ,wisconsin ,library fund used for military purposes1 #aea2 school libraries in1 #bh4 ,wisconsin ,university1 #aji4 ,women as library founders in ,michigan1 #bg2 library work with1 #aaf2 clubs in libraries1 #ddj2 aids to libraries1 #bfj4 ,worcester1 ,mass41 library statistics 7#ahhe71 #bcd2 ,public ,library1 #ff1 #bci1 #bgi2 disposition of old books in1 #cac4 ,wordsworth1 ,william1 quoted1 #hi2 poems of1 #bii4 ,workingmen and libraries1 #bji4 ,world's ,library ,congress of #ahic1 paper read at1 #cjg4 ,wyer1 ,james ,i41 ,jr41 suggestion acknowledged1 #e4 ,yale ,art ,school1 #ch2 college library1 #bj4 ,yarmouth1 ,eng41 ,library report quoted1 #bjh4 ,york1 ,me41 ,revolving ,library1 #be4 ,yorkshire1 ,eng41 home of ,richard ,sugden1 #ajc4 ,young ,men's ,institute ,library1 ,hartford1 ,conn41 #adg4 ,young ,men's ,society ,library1 ,detroit1 #bg4 ,zion's ,herald1 paper by editor1 #cig4 ,zosinius1 history1 inaccessible1 #aea4 ,transcriber's ,notes ,this book consists of multiple contributions by various authors4 ,inconsistencies in the spelling of ,proper ,names have been retained4 ,other instances of questionable spelling and even more questionable grammar have been retained4 ,however1 the following typographical corrections have been made4 ,page #h 7,orations and ,speeches1 ,boston1 #ahei2 ,vol4 ,,iii4 7,orations and ,speeches1 ,boston1 #ahei2 ,vol4 ,,iii4 ,page #ef taxation of towns and small muncipalities4 taxation of towns and small municipalities4 ,page #eg physicians have agreed as to the influence they exert physicians have agreed as to the influence they exert4 ,page #ia short-cut to learning1 but that there may be1 and is1 such a short cut short-cut to learning1 but that there may be1 and is1 such a short-cut ,page #ih most strict and sacred bond and convenant of the ,lord1 of the violation most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the ,lord1 of the violation ,page #ace every ,frankln medal boy shall be entitled to its privileges2 and every ,franklin medal boy shall be entitled to its privileges2 and ,page #ada the daily recurring routine of effort for mere existence1 canont escape the daily recurring routine of effort for mere existence1 cannot escape ,page #agj brillant triumphs for the free public library1 unparalled in the brilliant triumphs for the free public library1 unparalleled in the ,page #baj the task will be an easy one4 the task will be an easy one4' ,page #bde secondary1 or betwen secondary and higher education1 there is where the secondary1 or between secondary and higher education1 there is where the ,page #bgb year4 ,this provision secures stability by preventing suddent changes of year4 ,this provision secures stability by preventing sudden changes of ,page #bib maintenance of public health1 the introducation of water and gas1 the maintenance of public health1 the introduction of water and gas1 the ,page #bie whole in the new ,centennial edition4 ,the accurage student of specialties whole in the new ,centennial edition4 ,the accurate student of specialties ,page #cag with a two millon dollar building1 studded with costly mosaics1 and with a two million dollar building1 studded with costly mosaics1 and ,page #cbj who are avid to read the latest novel by ,mr ,x4 or ,mrs ,y4 while it is who are avid to read the latest novel by ,mr4 ,x4 or ,mrs4 ,y4 while it is ,page #cbe denounce this or that publication4 ,yet is is to be remembered that a denounce this or that publication4 ,yet it is to be remembered that a ,page #cbf cheap silver prints and the ,art ,museum is but a hundred feet distant2 cheap silver prints and the ,art ,museum is but a hundred feet distant72 ,page #ccd deep1 controlling anxiety of the thoughful man4 ,education1 exclaims deep1 controlling anxiety of the thoughtful man4 ,education1 exclaims ,page #ccf ,but is it worth while to consider a unversity without a library8 ,but is it worth while to consider a university without a library8 ,page #cgb panolpy of learning on whose myriad rivets so many hammers have rung1 panoply of learning on whose myriad rivets so many hammers have rung1 ,this exalts the miscroscopic municipalities of ,greece4 ,this abases the ,this exalts the microscopic municipalities of ,greece4 ,this abases the ,page #cge its compass and sound1 measure the confines thereof or phophesy its far its compass and sound1 measure the confines thereof or prophesy its far ,page #cha part of an address delivered a the dedication of the ,haston part of an address delivered at the dedication of the ,haston ,page #djb ,it is morally impossiblle but that the manners should take a tinge of ,it is morally impossible but that the manners should take a tinge of ,page #djd practical worth and preserverance either in mechanical1 civil1 or practical worth and perserverance either in mechanical1 civil1 or ,page #djf ',tis a wise community that enables its trustees to give to their ',tis a wise community that enables its trustees to give to their ,page #dab well for a reason4 ,democrary was fairly equipped with a spelling-book well for a reason4 ,democracy was fairly equipped with a spelling-book ,page #ddj boys that frequent the gymnasium may be won by ,barbour's lastest boys that frequent the gymnasium may be won by ,barbour's latest ,page #dfc a final quietus to any propsal for social reform1 is--,oh1 that's a final quietus to any proposal for social reform1 is--,oh1 that's ,page #dfg ,boston ,public ,library2 address at it dedication1 by ,edw4 ,everett1 #abg4 ,boston ,public ,library2 address at its dedication1 by ,edw4 ,everett1 #abg4