The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1891-10-10
SCHOOL LIBRARY DAY.
An Earnest Appeal to Raise a Small L.
brary Fund on November 81, 1891. In All
the School DistrIctASDf the state.

An Earnest Appeal to Raise a Small L.
brary Fund on November 81, 1891. In All
the School DistrIctAOf the State
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo-, Sept 2s, 1891.
To THE EDIroR-I fondly look for
ward to the time when a majority OF
the country schools of Missouri will
have at least small library Of choice
books suited to the pupils of the first,
second, third, fourth and fifth readers,
respectively. Probably not one in forty
of the school districts of the state has a
library of any kind. OF those having a
library, probably not one in five has
library of choice books suited to the
capacity of the pupils of the respective
grades. If you will examine the school
libraries and also the books found in
the homes, you will find that most of
them are suited to grown folks. These
libraries, as a rule, are composed of re-
ligious debates, difficult works on his
tory and large per cent. of rubbish
patent Office reports, etc In the build
ing of these libraries very little atten-
tion has been given to securing books
suited to the children. Isuppose it was
thought that if these children were not
grown they ought to be. and would be
If they lived long enough and were well
fed.
But why should the more than 500. 900
children of school age in Missouri have
access to good books? Have not they
open eyes and ears to all the occur
rences around them? Can not they read
nature? Suppose they do not have ac-
cess to books, have they not access to
nature and man? Yes, but access to
what nature? the little patch of earth
called the neighborhood-to Mr.. Jones
and Mr.. Smith's farms; to Turtle creek;
to a stretch of prairie; to few hills
hardly to be dignified with the name.
In good Juvenile books this neighbor-
hood stretches away over continents
and seas, and brings the reader
in contact with the great educator
nature in her most diversified and
wonderful forms. Turtle creek be-
comes the lordly Mississippi, making its
way from the melting SHOWS in the
mountains to the Eads jetties at the
gulf; the Hudson with its palisades and
its highland; the Nile with its cata-
racts. The miniature falls down in the
meadow becomes the Yosemite, the
awful niagara. The little knolls and
hills of the neighborhood become the
sublime panorama of peak and pass,
spur and canyon, guarded by Pixies
Peak, the sentinel of the Rockies. The
corn and wheat and oats are earnest of
bewildering variety of tropical and
temperate productions. Through these
books the reader is enabled to clasp
hands across the continents and down
the centuries, to annihilate space; to
make the knowledge of the race his.
Through the reading of history and
biography the commonplace and every
day occurrences are replaced by grand
achievements of peace and war; by the
deathless deeds of a Caesar, n CrOn-
well, Wilberforee. The gossip of the
peighbsrhood becomes the annals of
empires, statesmen and warriors
But said that these children come
in contact not only with nature, but
with man. With what man? With the
man of the neighborhood-with Farmer
Simpson and Squire Hawkins" both
model men of their kind and perform
ing well their part. Each with his own
little round of thoughts and feelings
and aspirations, with his conversation
about corn and cattle and hogs, each
important in its place.
But during the centuries past the
Creator has dealt out sparingly here
and there great and gifted souls whose
lives are an inspiration-men and wom-
en- full of lofty thoughts, high purposes
and noble aspirations. These, in their
best moments, when standing upon the
peaks of high courage and unselfish
purposes, with divinity streaming
through their souls. when thus upon
The delectable heights they wrote, and
there in their books is crystallizcd for
all time the best thoughts and feelings
that stirred these great souls in the dead
centuries past. Few of these great char
acters lived in any one state or in any
one generation, but through choice
books the reader is enabled to come
into spiritual contact with these char
acters across the continents and down
the centuries. ! read book by an au-
thor who may have been dead for cen
turtles, and my mind is enlightened and
my heart kindled with the thoughts
and feelings that stirred that author
when he pcnned that page. Such is
literature. II brings the reader in con-
tact not with the commonplace of the
neighborhood. but with the marvellous
and diversified of the world; not with
mediocrity, but with the literary giants
and the inspired of all times.
Patrons of Missouri. and especially
the country schools, shall the children
of Missouri he denied this inestimable
privilege? Through the School Journal
and the institutes every possible effort
has been made to reach the teachers
upon this subject This article is writ
ten to reach the patrons through the
columns of this paper, In order to Sc
cure success the teachers and the pa
irons must cooperate. Finally, per-
nit me to appeal to the patrons who
shall read this article not to fail to
raise at least small library fund in
their district by private subscription or
entertainment. What you need is CO.
operation-twenty-fiv cents or fifty
cents from every patron; five dollars or
more from some who are able to give
that much.
In the confident hope that this Lii
brary Day, Friday, November %, 1921,
will prove great day for the children
of Missouri. am. very respectfully,