Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-11-06
Town Libraries.


The Rutland Glots mentions the existing
town Libraries in Vermont a. follows
For q quarter OF century. at least.
these institutions have been disappearing.
uri.I srarcri, ore remains to record the
's..i # III, IT. existence IN the earlier history
ct The STATE. No voluntary or legal pro
Visions have Teen made 10 replace them,
nui they Rave vanished. 4 lew noble. PHI
IlrihrHplc in,n v ho appreciated the bless
iul- h4uIIL nom. a library upon cUuimu-
my. have rom their abundance provided
ih-ir immediate communities with Sub-tan-
tlai and well ~ele ted Libraries Hon. T.
" Park and seth L Hunt. in remembrance
# their own carly struggles and OF the lack
81 the privileges @! having ready access to
h.-fk>. have provided Bennington with a
library The late George Peabody, OF Lon
DIN. er,cIed Il building and donated the
hn,s- iDr uie At Post Mills, in the town of
ih,t ord. Hon. Isaac Fletcher, At his de-
cca~c. by All gave hi~ miscellaneous IL
brirY to hIs native town OF Cayendish and
lae latc Thajdeus Fletcher. of Burlington.
made provision in his Will Tor tdc establish
neut oil a public library IN that city. How
aver, the must munlhceut gift was the
'i,cIIuu Of the Ather eum building at 81.
Johnsbury. by Hon Horace Fairbanks,
honor long alter be shall have passed away
The Mcclure library at Plttslord, the town
library at Cornwall, and "A few agricultural
libraries, constitute, mainly, the list OF
public libraries.
The G1o5e is slightly in error in regard TO
the fund for the Fletcher Library of this
city. 1t was the gift OF Mrs Fletcher,
widow of the late Thaddeus Fletcher. ami of |
their daughter, miss Mary Fletcher.
The list Of town Libraries is a sadly short
one, and the want Of pablo libraries in most
of the smaller towns is not compensated by
the existence of private Libraries. The facts
relating to the dearth of useful books in
very large proportion of the rural commu-
mites Of oar State, would be both surprising
and notifying, if accurately set forth 1t
is want which can be soonest and most
widely reached, no doubt, by State action.
The bill before the Legislature, intro
duced }y Senator Allen, of Rutland
County, authorizes the Governor to
borrow on the credit Of the State. on
bonds payable in twenty years, at six per
cent. interest, Sl75,O0O, for establishing
town libraries, the money to be distributed
IL the several towns in the State in
the ratio Of population Each town IS
TO provide a suitable room and elect
a librarian. The town is to elect
three trustees, who shall make the selections
and purchase the books and have general
charge Of the library. The whole propo-
sition is to he submitted to the next annual
March meeting, the freemen to vote On it
Library or no Library by ballot, and fla
majority Of the votes shall be for library
the act shall take effect from and after that d
late e
This bill is 50 guarded, that there is no d
'hanee Tor any Job" in it 1t simply gives Z
The people Of the State, as whole. the op- t
o)rtunity to say whether or no they will DO Il
something in this way for the promotion of a
Intelligence among the people. We can sec f.
10 possible harm, and much possible good, "
n adording such an opportunity. tt