Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1897-10-28

| In 1866 a small colony of Vermonters
took up government lands in Buffalo coun-
| ty, Wis, which had been coionized by
| Germans and Swedes previously, founding
| what was at first known as "Yankee set
| Element" and was later called Gimanton,
in honor OF one of the pioneer leaders.
Among other settlers W no followed from
the Green Mountain state as a young
man named Knowlton Peck Howard, son
of Sidney Howard, who formerly lived on
the j. g. Mann farm in this town.
At the out break of the civil war he re.
turned to his native place and enlisted in
the Twelfth Vermont regiment. After a
short service he died at Alexandria, Va,
early in '62 and was the first soldier OF the
late war whose body was buried in the
Randolph cemetery.
Toward the close OF the war Knowlton
Howard's father went West to settle his
sons estate and visit former neighbors
who b td migrated there. He was charm
ed with The picturesque scenery and quiet
rural lie of Gilmanton, and the thrift and
intelligence of the people and was pleased
to find his sons memory held in high es-
TEEN. Before returning home he Salled
together three or four old neighbors and
said to them: ~ have sold nv boys land
for something more than $500, bat don't
like to take his money for my own use. 1t
seems to me a sacred trust and | want TO
memory. / want TO put il into something
that will do good for years TO come to his
old neighbors and their children, ana al
the same time keep his memory green
when am gone"
In the consultation following some one
recalled an old circulating library In
Brookfield, VT, from which his father and
grandfather took books, and II was finally
decided to establish one on similar plan
and call it the Howard library.
The fund brought ten per cent at FIST,
then eight, and now il is loaned al six and
brings an annual income OF s32. Life
memberships have always been sold at 81
each and no member now owns more than
one share, but extra shares sold In '65 gave
q good fund for the purchase OF books.
In this quiet hamlet of less tban rs peo-
pie there is now a well-chusen library OF
fully 3, 900 ooks, with an annual circula-
ton OF 5000 volumes. For thirty two
years this library has been scattering
among the quiet valleys OF the Buffalo riv-
er the best OF the popular classics and the
best OF the freshest publications. The
books are kept in what is called Union
church, which is used by all denomina
lions. The library is open only four times
a yeRr-on the first Saturdays in March,
June, September and December.
AT these quarterly meetings the men,
bers gather and return their borrowed
books. They hear the officers reports,g get
fresh books and adjourn. AT the winter
meetings they have day sessions, with
picnic dinners. Members and their fam
lilies gather in the morning, some driving
six or eight miles bringing their borrowed
books in satchels, bushel baskets, soap
boxes AZ d other convenient and inconve
nient receptacles. These books are exam
ined by the officers and proper penalties
/ posed for misuse, etc. NhuD the list OF
fines il imposed the first one called may
be a woman who vows with some asperiIy
that she never had the book charged to
her. IL the list is a long one the excuses
are many and varied but are soon settled
as they are all neighbors and willing TO
be generous as well as Just. Then the
loaning OF books begins and there may be
fun at any time.
Mr.. A. brings up an armful of twenty or
thirty books, which he wishes to borrow, |
and piles them on table beside the pres
ident, who is now eX officio auctio
The titles are called and it's easy sailing at
first, no one bidding on some OF the older 1
hooks, but when the auctioneer holds up
- Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush,n which |
Mr.. b. and Mrs. G. want, the bidding /
starts and before MIR. A gets the coveted /
volume he has agreed to return a good /
share OF its cost to the common treasury I
lash young man has boosted /
{ hat he would take a certain book home /
with him, and his comrades, wi many 1
sly winks, quietly raise the bids to the /
limit OF prudence before letting him nave I
it. On a number OF occasions a husband |
and wife, separated by the crowd, have I
bid against each other and |
paid a round sum for a book they had I
long been talking sbout. The humorous
incidents of a winter meeting furnish
much seasoning for the firesde converse
tons OF long December evenings, and the
fun of bidding has keener twang when
bystanders remember that every cent falls
into the common fund for new books. A
volume describing life in Unreasonable
prison brought more than s. TO the treas
nry before IL was worn out. This was two
or three times its cost. After books have
gone the rounds they are frequently sold
at auction and thus many have secured
small private libraries.
The literary tastes OF the members are
very like those of their city cousins. Fic-
ion is most in demand, with travel and
adventure next in order. The book com
mittee has found it useless to buy any
poems except those of Burns, though the
X perience of the free travelling libraries
proves that country people generally en-
10Y will Cartoons EARN Ballads and
he poems OF James Whit. omb Riley.