The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-11-08


E A vigorous attack on the reading of fctio
r and its encouragement by public libraries wa
2 made by Mr. j. Taylor Kay, the librarian &
; Owens College Manchester, at the second al
nual meeting Of the Library Association G
/, the United Kingdom, recently held in tina
r city Under an act of Parliament, passed il
} 1851, free libraries have been established il
r seventy -four towns and cities in England, Scot
f land, ireland and Wales. They are maintain
: ed by taxation in their respective districts a
the rate Of penny TO the pound sterling anC
their aggregate annual income from thi
source is about $3JO,00O. They are also con
stantly in receipt Of gifts Of money land anC
books, Mr. Kay commended that novels, tale,
and romances should be excluded from sLcl
institutions, and moved that the Association
adopt Il resolution to that effect. This propo
siton not only gave rise to an animated con
rovcrsy on the spot, but has since been widely
discussed throughout Great Britain
II was wrong, said Mr.. Kay, to tax the peO
pie Of any community in order to provide
them with mere means of amusement But
novels he argued are even worse than this
they are actually injurious. They illustrate
none Of the noblcr principles of human ma.
turc,' he continued; they contain no true
chlyalry, and are nuisances to mankind at
large. Who ever heard of dcvourers of Aim
InJ ,n snhy,,n,j,i Ii,er"trny q" '''"s
AstntLo niioc,inn Thar fc,,nn !, . ,,,v,,r,,
which .l,nrld no, ma rnrniohod Of ,h , uy
eynense the answer in ,hn casa of rr.d fI,hra
ries III Great Britain is obvious These insti-
,axnavcrs who snnnort Them and smrIv ,h",
ought to te allowed TO choose Their own reoj
inT Tho f,ct that fction constitutes .,vcntv
five per cent of the matter read lndica,es Thar
novels tales and romances are inst what ,hr
sunportcrs Of tbe libraries most want and
they have the b,rbest claim to constellation
since they nav HE cyncnsr
But the additional assertions as 10 the char.
acter of novels may nrrbons deserve attention
from the m0ralist They have called ont n
strong and ms, protest NV Cant Mavno Reid
who truly saws that If his own wrtinr, have
anv merit tits inst that which Mr. Knv world
deny them of LEADING their readers r. moro
literature. We can think of no Sc
ries of books for bows which are more truthful
IN splrit and manly in tome than those of GIANT
Mavne Reid. and while thev NAV oycitn a
e,;r;, 81 o,i.o, t,,n ,I iIy r
v, wy Wv no' ho'u guy iaise
w o''' a'' oon,oit ~ I,,e a''aiTiiicil'
VI f suI,esS. me icaucrs vi Wayne req
raw frn,, h ,.'I ~ ~ s MS last .eI
vel from tllc "iius VI central AFRICA; are me
,,ay ""iomS ''ie 'lesn'y hiieu shel'es ei 'he
,, "ens . ,, i.'"'ai!, mas co,i,e " tie con
~ nv 'ilHs W.. No a. '"lS sDi, Illustrate none
u ,i.c Hor'ci PrlhclPles VI hu'h'h ha'ule ana
loInlns VI lluc chlvany. -,
h'eiy american ieaue[ VIII appreciate the
~, .J"s.icc Vi inc hihS a' cooper novels ana
VII: Nay "as ALMOST equally "lue OF 'he marx
~, lnJ,uu'1s hlarTya' IN MS concentration
, nc ''lc N"'"ii hlhsSiey was propaoiy as
ieice W. oPPohcil. oi all 'hal Is iaise anu I'M
many a. iiieta'ure anu morals as any man
iia' has ii.eu III EhRiahu IN modern ,iihes
ll,u no" inherent was MS estimate OF Marry
u ) influence appears IN lheloIioWing passage
rom olc vi ms iel'eis concerning MS own ca
:, as hoNe,ls': 1 KNOW, ne says, 'tliat
,ou nas nlauc me parish priest, ana that
ma. ~ ,he uuly WIilch lies nearest me- ana
ilat l may seem 10 DC leaving my calling IN
,oVei Wriuhg., hut has lie not taught me all