Omaha daily bee., 1895-11-24

marked 100, Miss Halbert's 80 and Miss
Williams 9S. Marked on scale of 100, Miss
I. Egbert's paper would receive 70 per cent.
! After these three papers there was quite
| a drop, but the fourth. fifth and sixth papers
were closely punched in the race for first
| place.
UNDER CIVIL SERVICE RULES.
The examination was more thorough than
any heretofore held. The questions were
| proposed by Librarian Barrows after q care
full study of examinations held by the Libraries
| OF other cities, and 1t was fashioned after the
| systems used in Chicago and st. Louis
There the public libraries are under the same
civil service rules as other institutions Of
the municipal government and the examina-
tions are In every sense civil service examina-
tons. The questions given the applicants on
wednesday cannot be given here, as the
ilprarian hopes to use some of the questions
at future date First of all there were
several questions concerning the personal
quallhcations Of the applicant for the position
Ihirty minutes We're allowed for answering
this declaration, although the applicant could
put the time ON other questions il she chose
Then there were four searching questions in
tended to test the applicants knowledge of
general literature. So thoroughly did these
cover the broad field of literature that the
correct answers made mention of works of
az, az Kinds and various language. from the
good, Old Canterbury Tales down to
.Trilby." from Faust" to Balzacs "Droll
stories" Following these came eleven uues-
tions, of which the applicant was required
TO answer but six. In case more than six
were answered the first six only were counted.
For instance, in Miss Egbcrt's paper, following
the answers to six questions were correct
replies to two other questions,' but no ad-
ditional credit could be allowed her.
PLEASED WITH THE RESULT.
Atosether 1t was most successful ex-
animation. Librarian Barrows Is more than
Pleased with the splendid showing made by
and ...tt-.
three He feels that each one had fair
ana equal chance. and that the best scholar |
won While unexpected familiarity with the |
old authors was shown by a number, there |
were many mistakes that were amusing to |
say the least. One celebrated poet of Scot
iand, VINO lived several centuries ago, was
said to have lived in the nineteenth CEN
lury while one OF the most prominent figures
IN French literature was placed among the
best English writer's, whose works had been
read by one young woman.
TWO months ago Librarian Barrows in
iugurated children's department OF the
public library. That 1t has proved tre-
nehdous success is shown by the increase in
me volumes drawn out by the youthful
leaders. Before the establishment of this
department 1t was thought to be heavy
when 300 books should be called for
On Saturday, November 0, All books were
aken out. and on the following Saturday
~, The circulation of chldren's books for
he month of October was 4,O6S. For the
irst two weeks of November 1t was over
900, and the total for the month is expected
o be something near 800 The fact is now
hat the children draw out nearly 30 per cent
the books taken from the public library 4
This department Is under the supervision | /
4 Miss Dora Heimrod. The greatest care
) taken in the purchases of books for this !
apartment, and the very best reading matter {
hat can be placed In a young readers hands
J provided. The advance notices of all the !
,adinA publishers are carefully watched, and
rders for all new works thought worthy of !
place in the library are placed before The I
rst book leaves the press.