St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1871-12-01

he plC~tl!' N''N MT NV "
,,,n,l one lor IT. lohn>huiN. he
lnne-chrlishcd plan of one "i "nr hon
nird citizens. al crcrtin" i Free Public
l.ihraiy AID presenting ii 10 his native
town. has this week been contaminated.
Fellow We have rmdcaNmrd tn chr"ni-
lie IN. events - fiaught with interest
10 all uur citizens. i'll The order i'll which
they occurred.
.ls announced in the last fdirI""'"".
:, ,Loll course of Lectures WIS COM
lutnced III AilcnI.Iim Hall. OH hiila-
dny evening. Nov. I'D. PREPARATORY /"
the opening Of the library to the public.
A1 the ho,u appointed the hall WAS fill
ed solid full with an audience of about
>i\ hundred of "nr citizens. attracted
together with the treble Thought OF
hearing the lecture. seeing the new hall:
and doing honor Ia the giNer. The an
dicnrt. WAS surprised at the outsrt 10y II
flute irin. after which MIR. Horace Far
banks welcomed those assembled III Il
few choice words. expressing his graf
i,iraIion III their attendance. and nitro
duccd the lecturer fnr the evening. Mr..
A. T. Rankin.
LECTURE EN MI. !. /. Et\kI\.
Mr.. Rankin began by saying that the
Arabs had IL provcrh. PLANT tree. dig
Il we'll. write Il book. and got" heaven.
\ tine book i the cmhalmmcnt Ola NV
ing soul lie who Pounds and furnishes
i library crcct> the uohlcsi and most
III nicely monument III the w"iid : hl>to-
~. Through the singular nlInliiccn"c
If Il trlluw-t nwn>mam this great gin has
COME To H.. Ii i becoming i'll lis 10
consider some of the relations We >t>-
tain tn This new institution. HE
speaker divided literature int" w."
,la->r> that "f knowledge and that of
culture. The end of all reading l. edn-
cation "t some sort. Popular ignorance
vas compared I" llu""'> ''devil fish.
Experience has demonstrated that ed
ucatiun i cheaper than standing armies
ur Il police force The library supple
mcnIs the school 1t is not only the
means of culture and intelligence. hnt
an army and arsenal also. This WAS
shown la the late Franco German war.
when educated Germany devastated IL
lrnlant France. In this other nations
lmaV read Il lesson. Dur own danger as
.. nation j. from i@mnlamrc 10y Il foreign
pnpllatiun. ignorance l. gaining upon
rs. In lSGu. only unc-tcmIh OF ON pop
ulali"m could neither read n"I write.
Now. with Il million and a-half more of
foreigners added to "rlr population. one
sixth can neither read nor Wiitc.
fine lecturer said ii WAS an erroneous
impression that education should stop
with ,rhooi days. or that simply men of
leisure could lac educated. Men of lci>-
urc III, not the forces i'll the w"lld>
economy. tie brought ont i"lrihly the
difference between educated and umcd-
u,.:.tcd Labor. and dvrlI At length upon
imaginative literature. especially poe
TRY. lie brought nlt >trihingly the
effect ON the world OF the ant "t print
ing. the inNrutim" "t the telegraph and
itiii.rng of steam. We attempt II" alb
>iracr of the lecture. hut give SOME
heads and hints ~ We recall them. The
lecture WAS choice in language. Nig"ious
IN thought. and wa, listened to with
close attention.
IE'Tl III. El ElN. /. -. rLN~r"N.
The second Lecture i'll the .ithrnaum
course was given ON saturday evening.
/" Il fun house. Before the lecture
commenced the audience were favored
with Il very pleasant piece of mnSic by
Il few members of the rornct band. after
which Mr.. Fairbanks introduced the
lecturer fnl the evening. Rev. l.. g..
i.IaStoW.
Mr. Erasr"v began lay SAYING that Il
book WAS the most characteristic thing
Of modern times. Ideas rule the moral
world. Without books We have no
lion. no popular civilization. Litcia-
tuc WAS born when Gutenberg invent =
I'd his printing press. y popular liter
aiurc was unknown to the :mricnt>.
When Dante wrote his Inferno the pop
ulare laughed III him. Gutenberg.
Faust and Schet1cr undermined i"no-
Il 4 Il,
The Great civiiIcr Of the world. The
lecturer here gave some history of mod
,ln literature. He said this Republic.
with its public schools. public press and
puhlic libraries. ought to I've the rcpuh-
lie of letters. lie here divided his lee
turc into two heads: LIST. the object
ID. the merh"d of reading: and gave the
ordinary way in which people read. and
the way they should read. Where one
10 read specifically hcsiles il he read
solely for recreation he will lose tast,
for the better works he reads Mark
Twain and Charles Rcadc. which the
lecturer evidently lhouGhr worse than
no reading III all.
one who is NOT hahituated IT, readin.
LOSES one of the choicest luNulicS of life
When hooks were few the people flock
I'd t" the dr.m->hop for recreation
For one he gloiicd III this library a>
recreation for our hari-worked people
II will not ii" however To make rcadin
:, drudgcry. hence the Necessity tor cul
tivating taste tnl reading while young