Evening star., 1901-11-02
BOOK VALUE IN BOSTON

W0nuery said refiectiye-io0klng man
who stood gazing at the Carnegie library
edifice. If fellow III be able to get book
out OF that library when It's in operation
without having the police authorities of
Washington on his tfail?'
That remark - said his companion, 'is
about six and a half fathoms too deep for
me. Elucidats1'' II
Well said the fredericksburg man,
I tried to get book out of the Boston
Public Librarg1a while ago, and it honestly
looked to me for fEhile as If 1 was going
to get jugged-u I've more than half an idea
yet that they've gotimy picture and Bertil-
Ion description at tire headquarters OF po-
lice in Boston. Never felt so criminal and
degraded In my life as l did on that occa.
sion, and all because / felt the neeo Oh
something to read.
II was up In Boston on a couple of
months business. and took up my quar-
ters at boarding house In the Back bay
district had my evenings to myself, ana,
as there isn't much worth speaking or go
Ing on down town In Boston after dark,
soon began to feel the need of reading ma
teriaI. l remembered the name OF a GER
tain book that had been recommended to
me. and tried to get 1t at the Boston book
stores. l couldn't get 1t, however, because
1t was out of print long ago. So, one at
ternoon. hiked over to the Boston public
library to see If I couldn't get the book.
Have you got such-and-such book!
| asked the gloomy-looking man at the IL
brary desk.
Yes. we have it, said he, suspiciously.
Good said 1. I'D like to read it,
=" .Um-you would. ehT said the man be-
hind the desk. Very WELL
He got out pile of blanks and handed
me one of them to fill out. 1t contained
about as many questions as census sched-
ule appertaining to the iron and steel IN.
dustry. AS matter of fact, the blank
in M toll no. ritz
blank handed to applicants for civil service
examinations. I had to give my name In
full, age, habits, occupation, residence toi
the past fifteen or twenty years, state OIL
my health and all that sort of rubbish, anu
1t took me a good twenty minutes to digest
that bunch Of questions and fill in the an
swers. Then pranced up to the desk with
the filled-up blank, and patiently waited
another twenty minutes for the solemn
looking cuss to pay some attention to me.
l handed in the carefully prepared blank
to him.
There you are said I, cheerfully. 4
did the best could with 1t. Now. would
you mind getting the book or sending toi
1t for me, for I've got lot Of things to
attend to before dark
"'Um-you don't get the book today, you
know said the suiky-looking chap behind
the counter. Just leave this blank with
me, and you're case will be attended to-.
But said I, don't you issue books u
the public here? And If you don't what
have been spending all this time for I'LL
ing out that blank?'
"'You shall ascertain the reason later
on said the man. with stern reproof in
his tone. We shall perhaps be ready tc
issue the book to you some time tomorrow
If you call around then.
well, l was so sore that l clomped out
without saying anything more. 1t was all
beyond me, the way that library was run.
and I determined to let the book slide and
to forget all about that repository OF print
ed knowledge as soon as possible.
II was sound asleep in my boarding
house bed at II o'clock that night, and
guess everybody else in the house was in
bed, too. when there came the most infer
ringing was so angry and determined that
I slid out Of bed upon being awakened and
went to the stair landing and rubbered
down below to see what the trouble was
The landiady finally slipped on bath robe
and went down to answer the bell. When
she opened the door, my heart came into
my mouth when saw, dimiy. in the door,
way the huge form pf a gigantic cop, and
when he inquired OF the landlady, in a
"'is there imam named Ta-ra-rum liv-
ing here? MENTIONING my name. Say,
wouldn't that have deferred you? I fell
into a tremor and began to wonder what
I'd been doing, anyhow, to get the law
after me. 1 hadn't been up to any criminal
devilment thatiI was aware of, and yet,
there was the big cop inquiring for me,
and there wasfa donjon keep staring me
square in the face.
"'Yes,' replied the slandlady, there is a
Mr.. Ta-ra-rum living here and I could
see her freezing SOLID over the business. 1t
was 10 to l, figured then. that she would
conclude that I was a celebrated counter
feiter or confidence man or some sort of a
crook that the police were after and that,
even If I managed to- evade arrest, she
would order me out Of her house In the
middle of the night.
mildly, to the landiady. Library, you
know and then he executed swift dis
appearance into the darkness.
Now, I've always believed that the best
way to meet trouble is to go right after ii
and give it hug when it comes your way
and so 1 slipped on bathrobe myself and
went to meet the landfady as she came up
stairs.
Madam" said I. T overheard your COL
loquy at the door with that guardian Of the
law. and l heard my name mentioned
am not conscious of having violated the law
in any respect, but feel compelled, in case
you have conceived any suspicion of me, to
freely volunteer to give up my room here.
You would be wholly mistaken in supposine
that you were harboring a criminal, yet
dislike to put you to any inconvenience
Then the landlady held on the banisters
and laughed loud and long. 1t was about
ten minutes before she was able to con-
troll her voice sufficiently to tell me that
was simply victim Of the Boston Public
lLlDrdryS meluou Ol l-luVeStlSdt1ng It's ap-
plicants for reading material. Every night
the library issues to the police department
as I understand, the filled-in blanks of
those who have applied during the day for
books, and these blanks are sorted over and
given out to the cops on the various beats
1t is a part of the duty of the policemen
to ring up the addresses given by the ap-
plicants for books and thus to ascertain ii
they actually live at the addresses they
have given. And 1t was this that came Sc
near to giving me the heart-disease finish
never went back to the Boston Public Lii
brary after that book. Was afraid they
might man-handle me and lock me up in
the coal cellar and never let me out again
in this life. l hope they won't suspect
everybody wanting a book Of being a sec
ond-story worker when this Carnegie Lii
brary gets to going, that's ALL"
GeOrxia's Public Schools.