Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-10-14
: BRONSON LleRARY MATTERS.

Church Street Scholarships Award. d. | Annual Report of Librarian Bassett. The board of agents of the Bronson | library met yesterday afternoon in an- nual session and accepted the reports of | the treasurer and librarian. The home scholarship in the freshman 1 class at Yale was a. arded to Henry P. | Driggs and it was recommended to the Yale faculty, that if consistent with the | terms of donation, the senior scholar ship be given to Hubert Stocking, son of George Stocking, formerly of this city. The scientific school scholarship
 was awarded to David Griggs.
 Action upon the report of the build ing committee was deferred. The mat ter was informally discussed and it was
 the general opinion that the building | should be of stone, to cost not more than $50, ,00O or $60,000. The committee was instructed to employ Architect J. c.
 Cady of New York to prepare the plans
 The board refused an offer made for
 the Church street lot of S23, ,000, of which
 $8, ,000 was to be paid do - "' I the bal
 ance on April 1 next. h. II4 of the board was, that the land was Mu. h
 considerably more.
 r. The following resolutions, offered by Librarian Bassett, were adopted. | Voted, That each teacher in the pub lie or private schools of the city and town shall be allowed to have six cards,
 and the use of which shall be limited as
 follows: The teacher holding them may draw a book on each or any of them, but the books drawn must in every case
 be such as illustrate or explain
 the subject being taught in the
 school at the time of drawing. These
 cards shall not be lent or transferred,
 and shall only be used for the purpose
 specified. and only while the schools are
 in session, and the teachers holding
 them shall be responsible the same as
 other card holders are, for damages and
 fines, and shall return the cards to the library when their schools shall close or
 when their connection with them shall J cease.
 Voted, That one copy of the Finding list of the library is offered, free of cost
 to each school in the town and city, on
 conditions that it will be for the use of
 said school, and shall be and remain the property of the school and shall not be
 removed from the school room.
 In his annual report Librarian Bassett says,
 "The additions reported last year were 996 volumes making a total of A, 1S3 Two thousand and one volumes have
 been added during the year closed mak-
 ing the present number-exclusive of duplicates ,184.
 OluC0 Lu0 OlU CdTuS were Call6Q III
 February 1, 1888, .862 cards have been 3 issued to borrowers, and of these 1858 r were issued the last year. Of the whole , number now holding cards, 2,450 are held by females and 2,410 by males, a
 difference of only one and one-half per
 cent. From the 17th annual report of
 the Chicago public library just received,
 it appears that the number of males that have taken cards exceeds by almost | krryn frrn nSrr1+ C 5 females. Such facts are perhaps more 3 curious than valuable.
 ''The population in 1880 was 20, ,269
 and the aggregate of the circulation for
 the preceding ten years was 639, ,00O
 volumes. The. population in 1890 was 7 3,202 and the circulation for the ten
 years preceding was 545, ,000 volumes,
 or more than %, 1000 volumes less than in
 the first period. The period of small cir
 craze for those years falling below A,
 900. Since that time the average has been little over 60,0O0 a year. Some
 of the causes that produce such fiuctua
 tions in the use of the books of a free
 library may not be hard to find, but :: others are obscure and it would be idle r to form theories based upon the exper
 fence of a few years or of sin gle Ii
 brary. Even the fact that 5000 people
 used fewer library books from 1880 tc if 1890 than 20, 900 did from 1870 to 1886
 does not prove that the 10000 were # greater readers than the 33,OOO, but il n does look as if the 65 per cent increase " in our population since 1880 could moi '. be, to any great extent, a reading class ;s But this is the era of cheap literature 70 and it may be cheaper for many to pur s chase their reading than to seek it ever # in. a free library. The fines received n for books kept over time this year, $350 [ would pay for $500 dime books. The 7. circulation was 64,774, a gain of IF; :, volumes.
 h "The library has been open BOA days and the daily average circulation wal ,r 213. Of the thirteen books reported los . or unaccounted for last year not one hal ss yet been found and this year we have tC = report twenty volumes as not found." 10 In conclusion MT Bassett speaks O. re the wanton injury to books by certain 10 parties who draw from the library ,o urges parents to discourage the reading r r' of story books by school children, ant y- draws the inferen' that we are an over worked people bee use of the large per ;s centage of fiction d manded by readers i; ACCIDENT AND INCIDENT. 70 Four Men Crushed at the Berlin Bridg, " Company's Works.
 ;oI A heavy car used in transporting iron lt work, was allowed to run off the ope1 !. end of track at the Berlin Bridge
 works, Monday, and fell on and injured
 four men who were working in a pi y underneath. One of the four, Middle h town man named Shea, was fatally sr injured.
 l- J. c. White, aged 70 years, is about tc is bring suit for $5, ,0O0 against the Bridge Il port Horse Railroad company in conse 8 quence of injuries received two years W ago by the falling of a car while he wa, 1t stepping off. The recent success of the B. plaintiff in a similar suit against the E. company leads him to bring proceeding Y at this late day.
 n Blood poisoning has terminated in the in death on her nineteenth birthday of Mis- er Sophia Burnett of Burlington. Abou t, three months since her sister. Mrs My 1 CTS of New Hartford, was effected witt