The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-02-25
OLD SOUTHERN LIBRARIES.
FIVE COLLECTIONS or RARE BOOKS
yHiT ARE SCATTERED.
The Old Plantation Library and It's
sacred Charnrtrr-Naricty Of the Books
Tho Oid.Tims "southrrn Gentleman
md His Delightful characteristics.

sacred harnrtrr-NRricty Of the Books
The Oid.Iins ''southrrn Gentleman"
and His Delightful Characteristics
ALEXANDRIA,, La, Feb - One Of the most
marked changes produced IN the South by the
u,.fortunes Of the Clyil War crd invasion Of ON
.srcisiism is to be- seen IN the dispersal or gradual
disappearance Of the Old family library as II was
in plenty. even SO late es n quarter Of a century
ago The home Of the Southern planter, who
looked over his barpnial acres and counted his
hundred slaves, might be- furnished with a sim.
plclty that in instances approached rudrness,
The house might be- large and poorly built For
that matter. a tightly fitting window frame or
door Is not known in M,leland 10 day, The
structure might and probably did lack all
modern improvements as sewerage, bathing
and lighting facilities have come To be known.
The table might b. richly ~ poorly furnished
and served. the grounds about the big house"
might b. clean ~ dirty, accordingly as the mis-.
tfess Of the establishment was much or little OF
Q housewife. The baron himself might be- az
independent as a mud turtle, or lie might owe
money ~ SO many men in New Orleans that he
kept away from there altogether. But, what
ever his Ill or we'll estate, his library Was likely
10 BE- a thing Of beauty and worth and infinite
comfort
~ IN ~ itihu hubi' ''nlNl'tIlHk III dHlluIt
u reading done by old Southerners. the char.
actr Of that reading and the preparation they
were subjected to before beginning 1t that the
old South had such a pauci,y Of literary output
II Is to b. explained only by the fact that the peo-
pie OF the upper grade were undoubtedly sloth.
full. Love OF the sweet do-nothing was born
into them. and, for fear that it might not be strong
enough, il was exampled before them through
all Of the years Of their lives
The room in which the books stood recondits
upon their long shelves was calm. 1t was in a
quarter OF the house whsrs no noise was II
was q sacred room Long windows, known
as French windows plenty Of them came
down to the door. Outside in proximity a pecan
or oak ucs cast its grateful shade and the rustls
Of the summer wind in the yerdnrous branches
was soothing. There was all necessary light,
OF a clear. soft, subdued kind, the ideal light for
reading. At night, upon the large mahogany
table that stood in the centre Of tho room two
lamps OF latest pattern stood, They were lamps
that a modern would throw away, but they were
great things in the days when no man thought
OF putting on spectacles until past sixty. The
walls Of the room on all four sides were lined with
shelves TO the ceiling. These shelves were filled
with volumes, many Of them in sheep
There were no glass doors to the shelves. The
backs Of the books we're open 10 the air. II was
o theory in the South that closed shelves made
bookworms. However that may have been,
II is true that the volumes in q Southern library
we're never bored through by the little paper teredo.
This may have been due largely To the fact that,
however large the collection, there vas not a book
IA il that would not have be taken down and gone
through at some time in the year On the floor Of
the library" as the room was always called, was
Adark red carpet in the winter and in the summer
. light cool mating, pale yellow and showing a
fain, red or blue stripe. The carpet was taken
up and the mating put down in April. the mat,
ting was taken up and the carpet put down in
early October, With the exception Of these two
dates, the library" was exempt from the biennial
terrors Of housekeeping
There was never a mistress stern enough, never
a negro maiden bold enough to invade that apart
ment with scrub broom and bucket Of s~oapsuds
Upon oath 10 be excessively careful, they were
Permitted to come in twice a week and To go over
everything, the backs Of the books included, with
a fea Their buster or soft towel. That far they
might venture, and no farther As we'll might
one Of the impolite sex have attempted to invade
the holy gun room and trine with the new muzzle-
loader which cost fifty guineas in London. In
either case retribution, swift, unspeakable, would
ho'' '''"'hs isNNN ihi wv 'hSitS VI fdNy |
chairs stood about this library" Some Of them
were Of strange forms and materials, products
Of the leisure hours Of the black plantation car
penter, but they invited to rest and gave it when
the invita- ton ives accepted. On one side Of the
apartment was a long, low, springy, leather
covered lounge, upon which, when mental alb
sorpuon or dinner set too heavily upon him., the
master Of the house and the land and the human
chattels slep, profoundly. a red silk bandana
covering his face and only a wisp Of his gray
hair showing under its folds.
The library may have contained FIVE thousand
or ten thousand, volumes, but i, was never cat
alogued. The Catalogue" was a fiction in every
such place. When the planter entered into head
ship OF the saCrO-sanct room, he was probably
a young man, or, at least, on the sunny side Of
middle age. lie made up his mind that the books
must be catalocucd and he began to do IT, lie
wrote five pages Of manuscript and then desisted.
Thereafter, through all the years, cataloguing
the library was his one task never finished. lie
returned 10 it or rather returned 10 talk about
doing II time and again, but he never did it.
When he died his eldest son also began a cata-
logue, which had a similar ending.
The composition Of the library was, as Mr..
Venus would say, various" II was certain to
contain. among other things, all Of the more ad-
vanced t'xt books Of the males Of the family who
had graduated from Princeton, or William and
Mary, or the University Of Virginia. This kept
II reasonably supplied with the Latin and Greek
classics, though, in case a llorac" or Sappho
had been expurgated by the doctors Of the schools,
the enasculated copies were apt 10 b. RELOCATED
10 the lumber closet and in their place the full,
unmarried, unmoralled editions would b. found.
1t was one uf the prides Of the plant RS life that he
l. -. ~ H.