Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-22
They Are a Special Necessity to
Workingmen.
SOU R &c OF PLEASU R E.
The Library Takes the Place of a
University.
JOHN LUBBOCK'S VIEWS

scientist, Sir John Lubbock, spoke as fol-
| lows on books:
more imam 400 years ago a great country
man OF ours, Richard de Bury, Bishop of
Durham writing in praise of books well
SAID: These are the masters who instruct
us without rods and ferrules, without lard
words and anger, without clothes or money
III you approach them, they are not asleep.
II, investigating, you interrogate them. they
| conceal nothing; il you mistake them they
never grumbe; If you are ignorant they
| cannot laugh at you. The library, there
fore, OF wisdom is more precious than all
| riches, and nothing that can be wished for
is worthy to be compared with it, Whose
ever, therefore, acknowledges himself to
be Jealous follower of truth, of happi-
ness, of wisdom, of science, or even of the
faith, must of necessity make himself a
| lover of books
And if he could say so with truth 400
years ago how much may We do SO now!
| Consider how much better off We are now
than he was then. In the first place, to say
nothing of the advantages of print how
much cheaper books are now. You may
| buy for the price of pot of beer or one or
two pipes as much as you read in a month
| In his day. on the contrary, books were
very expensive. Again, while our books are
small and handy, theirs were ponderous
| immense-very inconvenient either to hold
or to read. Even our deepest books are, in
sense, light. But what is far more i'm
| portant We have INST only all the most in
| tereSting books which De Bury could COM
! mand, but many more also. Even of an
| Gent literature much has been discovered.
/ Again, in his day, one might almost saw
| that the move, was unknown. In poetry he
| lived before Shakespeare or Milton, Scott
| or Byron. In science, chemistry and geol-
| ogy have been created, and indeed, the
progress of discovery has made all the rest
| natural history, astronomy, geography
and others-far more interesting. l have
| already mentioned novels, and think those
| who cry down public libraries because
many novels are read in them make a great
mistake. Nonsense is very refreshing; and
| believe we have most of us. to confess the
| truth. learned more English history from
| Shakespeare and Scott than from Stubs
| or Green. Moreover, good novels teach us,
| what Is very important knowledge of hu-
| man nature. At a recent school eXamina-
| ton the inspector asked little girl. as
| question in arithmetic. My dear. if lent
| your father 100 in June, and he promised
| to repay me 40 on the first of every month.
how much would he owe me at the end of
| the year," The little girl. after some hest
tation. said 'floo." NV dear, said the IN
| spector. Il am afraid you do not know the
rudiments of arithmetic" "Oh, yes" she
said, but you don't know my papa"
True Mental Relaxation.
| Books are peculiarly necessary to the
working men in our towns. Their life is
| one of much monotony. We look down
| upon less civilized races, but yet the savage
| has far more varied existence. He must
watch the habits of the game which he
hunts, their migrations and feeding grounds
| He must know where and how to fish.
Every month brings him some change of
occupation and of food. He must prepare
his weapons and build his own house. Even
| the lighting of fire. so easy now, is to
| him a matter of labor and knack. The
| agricultural laborer turns his hand to many
| things. He p,ows and sows and mows and
| reaps. He plants at one season and uses
the bill-hook and the AK at another He
| looks after the sheep and pigs and cows.
To hold the pillow, TO lay fence or tie up
| n sheaf of wheat is by no means so easy as
| il looks. 1t is said of Wordsworth that a
| stranger having on one occasion asked TO
| see his study. the maid said: This is mas
| ter's room, but he studies in the fields"
| The agricultural laborer learns a great deal
| in the fields He knows much more than
we give him credit for. only II is field learn
ing, not book learning-and none the worse
| for that (Applause)
| But the man who works in shop or
mandatory has much more monotonous
| existence. He is confined perhaps to one
process, or even one part OF process, from
| years end to years end. He acquires no
doubt. a skill little short of the miraculous.
but. on the other hand. very narrow. If he
/ is not himself to become a mere animated
machine he must generally obtain, and in
/
| sary variety and interest from the use Of
| books. And IL reading is an advantage
| anywhere. ii is especially and peculiarly so
in London. Our climate does not permit us
| to sit out in the open air so often as in
| southern countries, our river is not so pure,
| our air not so clear as in the country in
smaller towns. Nor can you escape to the
woods and fields so easily the people of
villages and smaller cities. but you are en-
| circled and, so to say, imprisoned. by a
| desert of streets and villas, by some five
miles of brick walls Books. however. will
| transport you to the green fields and downs,
the woods and rivers, mountains and sea-
shores. They will even take you abroad
| and bring before you other countries-the
sunny shores of the Mediterranean. the
| lakes and mountains of Switzerland, the
| beautiful islands of the Pacific; you may
| travel all over the world without suffering
| from the heat of the tropics or the cold of
| the poles; you may visit Rome and Greece
| and the wonderful cities of Egypt.
| Nowhere again, is IL possible to read with
more profit than in London. because IN the
| British Museum-the most magnificent
| museum in the world-in our picture gal
leries. and elsewhere. you have specimens
and monuments and pictures which do
4 much to illustrate the books as for
instance the gigantic quadrupeds and beau
tiful birds of the Natural History Museum
| the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments re-
mains of Roman and Greek art, the antiqui-
ties of our own country, the exquisite gems
and coins, china and glass: that we can
1
| about which IL is so Interesting to read
| We hear much now about the creation OF
great university for London, either by
| founding a new one, or. as 1 hope. by giving
| new powers to our own. But after all, as
| Carlyle well said, YOU have a university
| where you have a library (applause).
| The WOrkfngman as Student.
| 1 have been subjected to some good
| humored ridicule for having said that
believed the time would come when working
men would be the great readers. But
adhere to the OPINION tcneersD. You nave
| shorter hours than doctors, or lawyers, or
merchants. and when you have done your
days work you have had plenty of exercise
| while We still have ours to get There is an
| oriental story of two men; one was a king
| who every night dreamt he was a poor beg
| gar, the other was a beggar who every
night dreamt he was a prince and lived in
a palace Well, | am not sure the king had
very much the best of ii. Imagination is
| sometimes more vivid than reality. But
| however this may be- when We read We
may not only be kings and live in palaces.
but, what is far better, we may transport
ourselves to the mountains or the seashore
and visit the most beautiful parts of the
earth, without fatigue, inconvenience or ex-
pense
Why should not they. moreover them
| selves add something to the sum of human
knowledge? However humble their lot in
| life. they might DO so. They did NOT VET