The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1874-12-03
THE ST. CLOUD READING ROOM.

THE ST. CLOUD READING ROOM.
EDITOR JoURNAL.-ls our free reading.
room secular institution p inquiries cor
respondent in last weeks issue of the Press.
Certainly, our free reading room is . secu-
lar institution, We answer. What else
should it be, providing, as it does, week
day periodicals. for weekday reading2 At
the same time, it il not At all purely secu.
lar, since it is open on Sundays, and is pref
~ fairly provided with religious papers
adapted to Sabbath perusal.
1t is just past comprehension Why the
correspondentabove quoted should put him
self into print, in an appeal to tho public,
upon point at once 80 obvious aud 70
trivial ~ this. Allow me to hazard the
conjecture that he does not fully compre-
bend the epithets Of which he makes
choice, and that, consequently, in
unmistakable English, he does not mean
what he says. For instance, the term secu-
lor does not appear to signify to him what
it does to Noah Webster and "the MAORI
IT," I guess that the sonorous epithst
secular" stands in his screed for some other
word, vaguely like it in sound. Had he
not been over-hasty to assume the role OF
martyr, he would perhaps have made out
to charge the reading-room with sectarian-
ism aud to denounce ito lady Directors ~
seetorian tyrants.
Tho correspondent is aggrisved, 1t any
rate; and he is very pungently indignant.
The Directors have seen 1T to discard his
particular selection in the way Of a proselyt-
ing journal. His selection happens to be
the Rel;g'o, ETC., one Of the most abusive
aud-1 speak advisedly-one Of the most
outrsgeoualy blssphemous Of sectsrian
sheets.
The facts of the case are a. follows: Ger
tain ladies, some time since, projected our
free reading room. Precisely what I mean
by . free reading room is this-one that il
open to readers Of the town and vicinity,
resident or not, and which invites and vel.
comes all to its facilities Uithout payment. I
rsmark in passing that our reading room is
certainly free in these two senses, and i,
vas never proposed that it should be 20 in
any other. I suppose it never entered the
head ofauy body but this correspondent,
that whoever pleasss may bringinto it what
ever vicious literature he pleases. The
projected reading room become the roiso,'
d etrs Of the Ladies' Temperance League
A committee wss appointed to solicit sub
soriptions and donations for it. Thanks "a
the tact and pluck Of the ladies, the necesr
cary funds were soon raised, and the insti.
tuition Wa at once put upon An established
footing.
This done, it began to appear that certain
periodicals had crept into the room which
were quite below average in moral tone,
aud which were, for this reason, decidedly
Objectionable.
The-Temperance League, under the aus
pices Of which the whole thing had grown
up, appointed the Directors, whose duty it
was made to superintend the reading room,
and to watch over ito general interests.
The Directors were anAci.lly instructed to
weed OUT undesirable publications. and to
purchase such new ones Is it might, from
time to time, seem wise to secure.
In compliance with orders, the ladies
promptly revised their list of periodicals,
and cut off such as they considered it un-
advisable, for any reason, to retain. Among
these was Days Do;ngs. Police New, las
this correspondent had been informed by
Nh. Hill) was never, strictly speaking, on
file 1t the rooms, but had once been drop
ped upon the tables by an unknown per.
son. The Religio was excluded for reasons
which must be obvious to those know the
sheet.
Our reading room is, At present, in the
hands of its origin.ters, the Ladies Temper
ance League. Tint organization has, Of
course, an indi.put.ble right to assert itsen
through it's agents, he Directors. 1t is un-
true that the room il run in the interest OF
under the direction Of any sect Whatever
The ladies supply approved religious peri.
odicals, published by Baptist, Catholic, Con.
gregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Presby-
terrain, Unitarian, aaf perhaps other de.
nominations, and by no denomination q
all just as they provide prominent seculs,
periodicals, scientific, literary and political
According to this correspondence own show.
ing, the Spiritualist element is also well
represented upon the reading room tables
but Of this I cannotspeak from observation
The ladies, both principals and agents.
are, respectfully submit, doing good
work. They put their time, enterprise and
literary culture At our disposal, quite with.
out possibility of reward. hold that 90,
generous public, untrammeled by church
dogmas," will scarcely coincide with thi.
correspondent in biz somewhat peculia,
conclusion that the action of the ladies il
secular tyranny" "monopolizing narrow
mindedness" and "bigotry which can only
be equalled by the dark ages" though
| exactly how dtgotsy can be equalled BY
ages, light or dark, remains to be discover
ed. AN OUTSIDER.