Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-02-04

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'There are a curious lot OF folks come here. "
said an cmploye in the Congressional Library to
STAR man who stood near, watching the silent
| readers with their heads bent over their vol
umes. 1t was like feast of learning, a ban
| quet of books-six to eight people at a table
with the feast of calfskin and morocco bindings
spread out before them, and the attendants
passing about with books piled up on the fiat
of their hands, like walters. Not a word i:
spoken at the tables. ALI are intent upon the
pages before them. and they neither feel. see
nor hear anything about them. The hours
| creep silently by; the red morocco backs and
gilt letters grin down at them from the shelyes
| above, and the sun shines In between the huge
marble columns, casting long streaks of gold
across their faces, all unnoticed. '.They're a
queer set. some OF them" said the attendant In
whisper. people with appetites for books
are the most ravenous in the world. They
don't want anything but books, and they can't
get enough of them. They never say a word
those who come here regularly-they come here
early In the morning, fill out the blank checks
with the name OF the book they want and hand
it to the librarian without word. Then get
ting the volume. they sit down at one Of the
tables and never look up Or move until it ia
time to close in the evening. They seem to
know when that time comes, but it's all they
know that amt in their book. One man has
been coming here this way every day for eight
cen years. and there are lots of them who have
been coming as regularly for shorter periods"
What do they read?" asked the scribe.
Each regular has his peculiar CROCHET. Some
read science only. Some won't read anything
that amt in verse. Others read travels fiction
| and old newspapers. There are more old news
paper files here than any other place In the
world, and the lovers Of that sort of research
can just bury themselves"
do they appear TO have any purpose In read
ingl'
them have something they are reading up on.
They get through sometimes. These regulars
never get through. expect that when they
first come it is in many cases to get information
to be used in writing some book. But they get
so surrounded with the subject that they never
get through collecting data. There is always a
little more to get, and they go on and on 'eOl-
lecting material for the book they are never to
write. until they lose all account of time and
don't know that their lives will be worn away
before they have finished collecting It's kind
pitiful They don't seem to have anything to do
with anybody, and seem to have lost them
selves. The net gets bound tighter and tighter
about them each year, until they are bound
down to one idea. What was once probably a
dream of fame-an ambition, becomes habit
as hard to break off as any other that takes
hold on the appetite. Their books are never
written; their tame never won. They come
here every day, and no one knows who they
are,
Some of the habltues are investigating the
Christian religion for the purpose of clearing up
all doubts aud mysteries and fastening the mill
lenium. They send to the very top of the house
for curious old books on all sorts of creeds and
sit here and read day after day. Some of them
may satisfy their search. But the most devOut
student never does. If he finds what he wants
he never gets it in the form to impart and
whatever Information he gets probably dies
with him. The deeper he enters Into the study
the more he withdraws himself, and the cost of
knowledge is silence.
''There is one man, l have said who has been
| coming here every day for eighteen years.
| There's another who has been coming for three
| or four years and Is always here when the doors
| open in the morning. There are others who
| have been coming much longer than he. but he
| attracts more attention because he always car
| ries large round magnitying glass in his hand
which he uses when he reads instead of SpeCta-
| Giles. He reads great many biographies.
| There is another man who comes and
calls for very deep scientific works chiefly works
on geology. he sits with the book open in his
| lap all day and turns the leaves over about as
fast as good reader would, but his eyes are
| shat all the while and he appears to be asleep.
| don't know whether he is reading In some
| mysterious way by second sight OF whether he
| is repeating the books from memory, rs school
| children sometimes do when getting their les
| sons don't think he's lOafer.
There are women as well as men who are
habitues OF the library. What's curious to me is
| that they don't get hungry. They sit here all
day without any lunch. and don't know that
| they ever eat anything but books. That seems
| to be all the nOurishment they require"