Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1872-08-14

ceeded though not very perfectly but ou
of that rude invention grew the presen
perfection of the Fairbanks S platform bal
lance, which was the creation and is still
the property Of the family in which i
originated. The three brothers all tool
part in the business of manufacturing anC
selling the new scales; two of them are
now dead leaving sons and grandsons il
the business, and only Mr.. Thaddeus Fair
banks remains of the inventors of the
balance and second founders Of St. Sobns
bury. The Russian hemp fever passed
away, but the scale-making industry ha;
more than made up for the loss of tnat
crop. Since 1885 St Johnsbury ha.
grown fast and steadily, and millions oil
wealth have been amassed here by the
Fairbankses and other. The scale works
now employ 800 skilled workmem, and 50
constant are the building operations of the
partners that they annually buy more than
100000 feet of lumber for their mills,
houses, etc. They own many Of the ten
ement houses in which their workmen live,
and, as we shall see, commonly have some
large public work on their hands-an
academy, a church, a library, or something
of the sort.
Mr., Thaddeus Fairbanks, who is the
only survivor of the three brothers, and
who is worth his millions, has taken the
St Johnsbury academy under his special
charge he built large brick dormltory
for It few years since, and is now re-
building the academy itself on a grand
scale, of stone and brick. His nephew,
Mr.. Horace Fairbanks, son Of the late
Gov. Erastus, has done quite as much for
the cause Of education n this part of
Vermont, by the building Of a magnificent
free library on a new plan both in its
| architecture, choice of books and manage
ment 1t was opened nearly a year ago
with about 5000 volumes as costly as
handsomely bound, and as judiciously
selected as can be found in any gentleman's
private collection, and two thirds of them
are lent out TO the inhabitants of the town,
without fee. and without restriction except
that they shall keep each volume covered
while it is out. In the library no book is
covered, and the beautiful bindings, red,
green, blue, purple, black, etc, with the
! gliding and uniformity Of arrangement,
give a splendor TO the book shelves that
will venture to say cannot be seen in any
| public library in the country. Nor is
there any known to me which has so fine
a selection in so small a compass, or Is so
useful to the student as well a. to the gen
eral reader as this would De Mr.. Fair
| banks who gives the use Of the library to
the town, but retains the management in
board Of trustees which will pay It's ex-
penses buy its new books and control all
the details Of its direction and enlargement,
has his own ideas about popular reading
and the use OF books, and one Of these is
that the handsomer books you keep in
free library the less they will be injured
by the borrowers. Hence he has taken
great pains to have his books put into !
costly bindings, which he does not disfg- !
ure by brown paper covers, but lets them
have their full effect on the eye. He also |
believes that it Is not necessary to give |
the public all that they crave in the way |
of dime novels, juveniles and Sunday |
school library books,-any more than one
would indulge a lad 10 all the candy and /
apples he Graves, or give 4 schoolgirl the
diet of DR., Holiness heroine" pickles
and pencils and chalk and Goals He
knows that the appetite for reading grows
with what it feeds on, and that the family
which gets taste for good books will not
90 back to Mrs Southworth and Sylvanus
Cobb. Therefore you will never find in
his library the data for figuring up how
many more readers Mrs. Holmes and Mrs
Southworth have than Hawthorne and
Dickens and the first class writers,-for
he does not admit the ladies' aforesaid or
many of their class to his book-shelves.
Of vubo 30, q |
Johnsbury library will be in the condition
Of the cherubim when invited to take
chairs-the wherewithal will be found
wanting, But all the best English books
are here-or as many as could be COM
pressed into a collection Of 5OO0,-there
are three or four editions Of Shakespeare
editions Of the E.izabethan dramatsts,
of Milton and the writer's of his period
two or three sets of the British poets from :
Piers Plowman to Browning-the old
novelists, the best modern ones, the his
tories and biographies old and new-all
Bohn's publications, all the Tauchnitz
a fair representation of +
French, German, Italian and classical :
scientific works that are best J
for popular reading and for Reference ;
hundreds of Illustrated volumes, the works
Of the best designers and engravers, and
more English printed books than l ever +
saw in a collection no larger \ cousin ,
of the founder of the library, Rev. Edward
I. Fairbanks, a scholar and a man of
taste, had the most to do with the selec- !
ton Of books, but he was aided by the
Vermont photographer in London, Henry
Stevens, and by many other men Of ex- .
perience in America and Europe. At the ;
opening Of the library last autumn, Mr..
Edward Fairbanks gave lecture descrip- ,
tive Of its character and purpose, which +;
is soon to be printed along with the cata- g..
logue, and will be found to bear out all =
that have said and more. | have never
seen library SO satisfactory and delight 3,
ful as this is and when Charles Sumner
comes to Vermont to make the one cam !
Daign speech which he will be asked to a..
give In this State, he should refresh his :
eyes and his mind with the sight of this
gift to st. Johnsbury, which is Just what
ne wants the millionaires to make to the :
people, instead Of giving horses and things
10 Gen. Grant. ,
The library building, that is by-and by t
10 be enlarged so as to admit an art col :
ection for which there is now no suitable II
,oom, stands at the head of the street
leading up from the railroad toward Fair !
banks Village, where the scale works are, .
and faces Meade's fine statue of Peace or
Victory lit would answer for either on I
the soldiers monument of the town. The :
building is large enough for twice as many :
books as it now contains, and has over the !
oookroom hall for scientific lectures, ETC..