American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-11-15
A PUBLIC LIBRARY.

where a puOllc library is more
needed { han i'll this of ours. With
population OF some four thousand,
there is not place where the Young
mind can seek relief from the daily
avu1ti fuus of life. NO library, no
.reading-rOOm of any description,
nothing, in short, TO entice the
mental faculties from the cares of
business, and furnish food for their
development and culture. Intell-c
tual food is Just as essential 10 a
healthy mental condition.. as ami
NAL n"uriShment is TO IA sanitary
condition of the body, AMI any
place that has the Iueans to supply
this necessary aliment and does it
no, is in the highest degree culpa-
BILE.
All history and observation prove,
most couclusiveiy, that public liber-
erty and private virtue depend large
~ upon the cultivated mind of CON
muniIies and nations, and as the
Alternating never endowed man
with thinking powers without a
purpose, it must be evident that
those thinking powers were con
tered for personal and general
good.
In all ages of the world ignorance
has been the bane and blight OF ma
lions, and to that cause, more than
ally other, may be traced the drgra
ton of our Countrywide filling of
our prisons and penitrntiaries-and
the low state OF morals that curse
our land and eople. This being
the case, it becomes our duty to aid
every movement that looks to the
moral and mental elevation of the
people.
Public libraries furnish effective
means for the diffusion of 'ntelli-
grnce in community, and should
be fOstered and encouraged by all
good citizens. The benefits arising
from access to Il judiciously selected
collection of books are incalculab.e,
especially to those who are debarred
from other sources of mental i'm
prOvement. The most valuable in
formation is by this means brought
within the reach of many who would
otherwise be denied so great source
of knowledge and adva- cement.
The knowledge acquired by mis-
cellaneOus course OF reading can be
successfully and directly applied TO
purposes of every day occurrence.
Not only this, but in the progress
which the mind will make, the fac
ulties will become excited by the
love of knowledge, and the senti
ments and tastes become refined
and strengthened by sense of the
real excellence and dignity Of hui
man nature. thus imparting TO that
nature it's highest moral and mental
development.
All young men are not willing tn
he mere drOnps in society. Some
few are ambitious TO store their
minds with useful knowledge and
cultivate those mental graceS and
accomplishments which will prepare
them to meet the demands that so
ciety has the right to exact of those
who seek its refining and purify
ing Influences. All these benefits IA
public library can bestow, and those
of our citizens who are able should
meet this necessity, and thus far
nish to our young men that oppor>
tunity for intellectual improvement
which we feel satisfied many earn
estly crave.
An enlargement upon all the adj
vHntages and benefits of public
library would occupy more space
than we can yield to the subject in
this issue. If our columns iusiitie
it. we might show the profitable EN-
ployment of time else wasted i'm
idleness and folly, if not in excssses
damaging to mind and morals. We
might show how the treasures of
knowledge TINS spread out before
the mental vision would entice the /
youthful aspirant to seek after them,
and bring up to the surface many |
gems of thought that had long been
in the soil Of ignOi ance .
and i'ileness.
Such library would he invalua /
i,le to our young mems literary as
ISOLATION, and under their auspices I
could be made lasting blessing.
Personal contributions of cOnpar-
atively small suD would meet the
necessary requirements, and thus
Effect a great good tor the youth of
our community. We earnestly de
sire to See library Of the chaIac
ter advocated established ia Canton,
and so long as there is the least
hope for the ultimate success OF the