Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-07-06
Fourth Article.]
Our Free Public Library.

! Novel reading sooner or later pals up
on the taste Of most people, whether
young or old, though Of course there
will always be exceptions, cases of hy-
drocephalic development, aggravated and
accelerated by the milk-and- water diet
to which they persistently confne them
selves. These extreme fictional cases
are generally incurable; they present sad
instances OF perverted mental gastrOno-
my. 1t would be useless to call the at
tentiOn of these weak-dieted victims to
the richer and more nutritious viands
close at hand and equally at their COM
mand, for with their weakening powers
of mental assimilation comes decreas-
ing interest in whatever would arrest
this atrophy of the brain and restore it's
wasted tissues On the other hand the
great mass Of the library patrons relish
an occasional change of mental diet and
will be glad to have their attention call
ed to interesting books which they may
have overlooked, especially those re-
Gently added.
In the department Of History, the IL
brary has fair start, with such works
as Curtius Greece, Humes and Macau-
ly's England, Gibbons decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire" Prescott's
Peru and Mexico, Bancrofts United
States, Diapers " American Civil War;"
D'Aubigne's Reformation, &c. Among
the lesser works Fosters $ Pre- Historic
Races of the United States" Baldwin's
:" Pre- Historic Nations" Abbott's Ro-
nance of Spanish History" and Creasys
Decisive Battles Of the World will
be found especially fascinating. For
the benefit of those who have no time
to wade through the larger standard
histories, number of minor condensed
histories, written by the best authors,
have been recently added. With the
aid of these our library will enable the
reader to obtain correct general view
of the national life of Greece, Rome,
France. Germany and Italy, and the ear
lonia and Persia. "The Milkado's En-
pre-" by VIM. Elliott Grifis, finely il
Illustrated work just issued, gives the
best history of Japan yet written, to-
gether with large fund OF interesting
information concerning the present man
ners and customs of that remarkable
country, newborn to civilization. ''The
Boys of rs, another new and beauti-
fully illustrated work, by Charles Garlic
ton Coffin, makes the heroic events Of
a hundred years ago seem almost liv-
ing reality.
In Biography our collection is not
large but includes, besides other inter-
esting works, Irving's Washington, Frank
Inns Autobiography, Sherman's Me-
moirs' Amely Bolte's Madam De Stael,
English Statesmen, and five
volumes of the Bric-a-Brac Series in
Guiding interesting "reminiscences OF such
literary stars as Thackery Dickens, Choir
ley, Young, Lamartine, George Sand,
Hardness, &c. No lately issued minor
has excited greater interest
than Samuel Smiles Life of a Scotch
Thomas Edward, the sub
ject of the sketch, is one OF the most
of line Of Scotch natural
lists headed by Hugh Miller-men whose
native enthusiasm and ability laughed
at every obstacle interpOsed by poverty
and want of educational opportunities.
Edwards almost superhuman persist
ency in studying the marvels of nature
and forming immense collections III va
tious departments of natural history in
the intervals between one days work
and the next upon his shoe-bench, is
portrayed in such a manner as not onl y
to intensely interest the reader, but al
SO to aptly illustrate, by most conspic,
uous example, the immense value and
Importance of intense devotion and I'M
industry in the pursuit of any
important life-work. Every young man
and woman will be benefited by reading
this book Whitaker's Life of Geo.
A. Gustav" and Agnes Strickland's
Queens of England, abridged edition,
have also recently been added.
Not to prolong this article | leave
'urther book references till next week.
i l. LOOMS