Litchfield enquirer., 1880-02-05
BOOKS AND READING.
BY. REV. W. S. COUPON.

Mr. Editor. The long winter evenings now
 passing, and yet to come for many weeks. are
 an important factor in our Nations life. What
 our young people are about, and what they
 are solidly doing for their own near future the future also of our country-is worth con- sidering. There is in use well worn phrase,
 ''the rising generation" but not So cant a term as to have emptied itself of all signif- cation. It may turn out generation to be
 ''rising" in way quite unwelcome, and likely
 to upset things generally. Influences are at
 work. and trying to do their best. which, partly indigenous, and partly coming in from
 foreign shores, are ominous in their tendency, and sufficiently alarming in their present ef-
 feet. The setof the current can be seen in the drift on the surface and what is drifting
 there is quite enough obvious. Assaults right and left on the ballot box l; covert and increas- ingiy bold attacks by the Papul hierarchy on | our system of common schools; attempts,
 more or less aggressive, to undermine and sweep away the Christian Sabbath, or Sun- day. whichever one prefers to call it; to say nothing about certain frivolous and f1ippant tone about all really .weighty and serious things, far too prevalent everywhere, are signs of the times which "whoso runs may read, " and which whoso. reads at all will do well to read thoughtfully as he runs.
 Now. without waiving my function as re- ligious teacher, only suggest just now one mainly secular phase of the subject and urge as one most important and counteracting agen- cy, the well-selected village and private libra ry, to be, the one the possession by joint 1 stock association or ortherwise of every par l ish or community, and the other, >on a smaller scale, of individuals. No more salutary infu- ence, save that which is thoroughly religious, 1 can be exerted ill any town than that flowing from the quick circulation of the best books | by the foremost writers on all living themes l of the Past and Present. A writer in late number of the Nation remarks that lat a time when the public conscience is debauched, and disorderly foreign element threatens to over Awhelm American society and politics, it be- hsoves our colleges to do their share towards creating an enthusiasm for learning, and an appreciation for culture among as large num- Der as possible, and develop American thought, so that it shall be broad, generous, and rever- ent." Allvery true, but multitudes of our youth will never go to any college; wlll have little or no academioal instruction in fact, of any sort whatever; and must limit themselves to common school education, an article of- ten, as every School Visitor knows, of very poor quality. What can be done for that large class in all our towns whose education
 technically speaking, is narrowed by their cir cumstances, whom yet it is of the first impor- tance to train by every right stimulus, and prepare by all suitable appliances for those duties to which the new age now opening will soon call them? Very much can be done In various ways, notably by Village Lyceums or debating cubs in which young men can meet weekly, not to air vapid rhetoric in hearing themselves talk, but to do good honest work ill hard-fought debate on themes requiring earnest preparation, and putting them on their mettle in the encounter No one can doubt, either, the value of courses of lectures by able thinkers on leading literary topics, or on the vital issues of the times, such as our own land now 80 abundantly fur nishes. It is quite possible that the lecture system may have passed it's prime, as I notice that the pubic now gives it relatively less at- tention. Still the platform must always be an efficient agent in stimulating and shaping the public mind. Then there is the drama
 which am quite willing to admit may be, and is, when judiciously managed, valuable educational influence in any community. But peculiarly liable as the drama is to misuse and abuse, it must be conducted with great care in order not to degenerate into means of social demoralization, rather than of benefit But none of these nor indeed all of them con- bined, are equal, fundamentally, to our good and thoroughly used circulating library. Hundreds of towns and villages are witnesses of their importance in elevating the general standard of thought and culture, imparting higher intellectual tone to the entire con- 'munity. The things spoken of, the lyceum, the lecture, the drama, have their valve, but after all they are the uddenda not the sub- stance; the plum pudding and ice-cream of life, good now and then, but not well for ''steady diet"
 And how easy the formation of such libra " in any community if only there exists an intelligent appreciation of it's importance, and willing mind to set about ie Let few pub lie spirited men contribute fund, say two or three hundred dollars ; buy through well se- lected committee, hundred first-class books to begin with as g nucleus secure room, ap- appoint a Librarian and Treasurer, require membership fee, say of one dollar, with an annual tax of firty cents-and the thing is done. Judlciously managed, such library will go on increasing every year. By and by it will be felt to be power in that communi- ty. The books. receiving continual additions of the best freshest thought of the times, will be drawn out monthly or weekly, and circulating from family to family will stimulating the whole intellectual life of the place, be a tonic in its atmosphere, and gradually come to stamp certain impress of mutual superiority on the whole people of the town and it's vicinity .,..,
 Imagine, Mir. Editor, such alibrary. grown we will say to the very moderote dimensions of 800 volumes, and containing in history, euch vcrks co H,,pao,o pd Mooo,,lo x-,, E,,1ov5