Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1855-08-04
COMMUNICATED.
A PARISH LIBRARY.

Anything that is for the public good, =! am
for i'll advocate i'll give it "material aid.''
This Isl good sentiment, and | dare assert
there can be few men found who will not say
it is their sentiment too. Few men are so
narrow minded as to refuse their aid to any
reasonable scheme for the good of the public,
merely because they can see no personal ben
eft resulting therefrom.
l wish to propose something so clearly for
the public good that don't think any man
will deny that it is SO; and another thing is al.
so clear in relation to it-that every man, wo-
man and child in the community will be or may
be personally benefited by it, if they choose.
propose that the public spirited men Of this
wealthy parish establish a Public Parish Libra
ny, based on private subscriptions.
After subscriptions are obtained sufficient to
insure that the Library will have no contempti-
bic beginning, its friends will multiply rapidly.
When established on a basis sufficient to make
it useful, it will, by proper management, con-
tinue to increase in many ways.
1t requires no reasoning to show that Pub
lie Libraries tend to promote the public good
none to convince that it is for the good of
all to have a store house of knowledge in our
midst from which all may learn who wish.
Every parish should esteem a Public Library
rs a necessary part of our public school sys-
tenn. In fact, the common school system can
not be complete without them. These schools
are founded by the State 10 educate the poor;
they are intended to be mere seminaries, places
where the seeds of learning are sown, but the
future cultivation of them is wrongfully left to
individual exertions. Who would sow seeds
and withhold the refreshing and invigorating
showers and not expect the tender plants
sprouting from them to sicken and die?
Yet how nearly we do this very thing in our
public schools, where we only sow the seeds
of learning without providing any public foun-
tain of knowledge from which they may be
nourished till maturity.
A Public Circulating Library established in
the parish, would be a fountain of knowledge
with a thousand streams flowing through the
community. irrigatiug and nourishing the seeds
sown by our public schools. VIII could cali
culate the beneficial results, were such means
of education, in addition to our public schools,
established in every parish in the State?
We would then have given liberty to the
public mind-have removed from it in a great
measure the letters of poverty, and afforded to
every individual an opportunity of indefinite
mental improvement.
If every man in the parish will subscribe to
the Parish Library with a liberality in propor-
ton to his means and in proportion 10 its wor-
thiness of public favor, we will soon have a |
Library of which We will be proud, bncause
it will be a blessing to the community for all
time.
Let the Library be commenced with a CAPT.
tai sufficient to erect a suitable and handsome
building, and to buy $40, 900 worth of books, !
then it will be permanent, will elevate the pub.
lie mind By begetting a taste for learning, and
it will then flourish. The money necessary
can be easily raised in TIE parish, and no one
need suffer from his contribution.
Books for subscriptions to this desirable en-
will be opened at the Sherif's Office.
Let all subscribe who desire to promote the
PUBLIC GOOD.