Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-03-19
pom THE SPECTATOR.
IN qtteGl to tie good sense 70 the Cit
zens of 81. Clair county.

Some time in the winter of 1921, the
citizens OF Belleville, aided by few coun-
try gentlemen, organized +" The Belize
vile Debating and Library Society,"" and
in the spring of the same year, the Clin-
ton Library Company united with it
The legislature of Illinois, at its last ses-
sion, extended to this society, the benefit
OF an incorporating act, creating 1t body
polite. So active have been the opera.
tons of this institution, that in the short
space of fourteen months, its members
have swelled to upwards of fifty; 1913
volumes are already placed in the Libra
ry; semi-monthly it meets and de-
bates with an unusual degree of spirit and
harmony; and arrangements are rapidly
progressing to erect society hall, Ii
brary room, and q museum, in which 1t
is desigIed to place as many OF the ma
tural curiosities with which the great
valley so supereminently abounds, as can
be collected. These measures are the
result of a thorough conviction on the
part of the members of the association,
| that the institution will be transcendant-
| ly useful to society and posterity.
| II will be no difficult matter for the in
,elligent farmers of St. Clair to estimate
the great practical utility Of this society,
should their public spirit and thirst for
knowledge increase its numbers to one
hundred and fifty or two hundred. The
cost OF the contemplated buildings will
be met by subscriptions; and the collec-
ton of curiosities, it is anticipated, will
be obtained, like the bounty Of heaven,
without money. Then if we only calcu-.
late an addition OF fifty members in the !,
present year, as the price Of stock is now +.
fifteen dollars per share, payable in easy :
instalments, and the quarterly contribu.
ton is Fifty cents per share, We shall, next !.
year, End ourselves possessed OF dis
possible library fund OF nine hundred and
| fifty dollars, which fund will; increase,
annually, Two hundred dollars, without,
an accession of members. But should
our neighbors consult theirtrue interest,
and the improvement and happiness OF
society, as they doubtless will, and aug
ment its numbers to 200, our disposable
I fund next year will be S2,65O, with an
annual addition Of S4oc, without any fur
Their increase Of numbers. Thus il is
shewn tina, large and permanently use-
iul library may be collected in short
time, without expressing the stock!ol-
ders. A few dollars saved from the
purchase Of superflui.ies, and the trifling
saving of 81 per annum, will purchase
and retain share--and thus, we secure
| Il ali
benefit, without feeling the weight Of the
expense. a.
Country gentlemen need not object to
joining this society because their resi-
dence happens to he some fifteen or TWEEN.
ty miles from town. There are but few
| thus situated, who would not wish to We
sit, CT who would scelit announcement. to
visit Be..eville once month; and books
may be retained that long. We may
then say, with truth, that it is the interest
OF every citizen Of St. Clair, who reads,
and surely every man ought to read;
to purchase stock in this society. But
even if you cannot read, yet you wish,
or ought to wish, to teach your children
to read, and therefore, you should buy
stock. Perhaps YOU will say that you
design having your children taught to
read at school; true-that you should
do; still your children have much leisure
time during the season they are kept at
home; a useful book to read at unem-
,ployed intervals, would improve them,
and keep them out of mischief.-Take
a share then, and you may always keep
Them supplied with proper, books, for
their ediiication, at a cheap rate.
r. With all these, and many more induce.
ments not enumerated, staring them in
the face, and soliciting their understand
ing and interest, it cannot be believed
tina, the ST. Clair farmers will hesitate to
patronize this fourishing society. Our
country friends are generally as solici-
tous to ELL all the various offices OF CO.
vernment, as any other ctizens-why not
then, take all the necessary possible steps
to qualify yourselves to manage.its COM
plicated machinery? 1t is your into.
rcst--it is the interest Of your country
that requires you should do SO. The
farmers are the bones, ssine,ys, muscles,
nerves, marrow, and blood of this coun-
TRY. Why should they not be the brains
also! Should any. of these bones or
parts, get broke or cut of order, you
should know how to set things TO rights.
Then you would not be compelled, so
frequently, to entrust the management Of
your affairs 70 artists, whose operations
YOU cannot, always, fully compartments.
Brush the film tI..... , soiiir ewes. e,,,zens
and All doubts Of the rapid growth Of The
Bei'cyiile Library will disperse like a
summer cloud before a n.e-!disa ~.