The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1902-03-21
A PUBLIC READING ROOM.

regard 20 the effort Of the Students
Club TO establish a public readinG
room and circulating library In Co
lumbIa We thought all that sort Of
thing had been abandoned in Colum-
bia. We thought the consensus OF
opinion was that the girls and women
should scream and get excited over
anagrams the boys smoke cigarettes
and the men work. We did not know
that the latent spark of mental inn
provement even smoldered. But it
seems that il does and for our part
we are glad that 1t does; and We
shall be glad if the ladies of the
Students Club can fan it into a flame
that will spread into every home in
Columbia
Whatever the Herald can do to assist
in this direction, it will do gladly.
The ladies are starting on a small
scale, but hope TO grow. 1t will not
be their fault, but the fault of the
public If they do not grow. Instead
of one room we hope soon to see them
have several rooms They should have
a reading room, ana writing room,
and talking room. To do the boys
much good it must be in the nature of
a Club, and their reading should not
be confined to books. Newspapers and
periodicals should be supplied them.
The best daily newspapers of the
North, South, East and West; and the
best periodicals for boys; such as !
THE American Boy" THE Youths |
Companion, )" etc. Once get them
into the habit of visiting and-call it
loahng if you ike-about these read
ing rooms, and the wholesome atmos.
phere will drive the nicotine from
their lungs and give their brain a
chance to work and think.
All this of course requires money.
Money is one of the necessary evils in
the world. And now that the ladies
have undertaken the work, the men
ought to furnish the money. They
ought to join the Club in such numbers
as to force them into larger quarters;
and they ought to contribute books
and magazines and newspapers. or
the money to buy them-plentifully.
We do not quite understand why the
ladies want to have the days ex-
to themselves. There should
be no exclusiveness about it. Night
)r day, any lady or gentleman, boy or
girl, should have the privileged being .
/ member-to drop into the Club to !
read or write or talk. Certain condi- {
ions of course should attach to mem
)ership; but among the members no
privileges should prevail. y
A number of citizens of Dickson |
lave obtained an injunction restrain s
ng the Mayor and Aldermen of that
lace from the eXtravagant use of the \
owns funds. Among the Irregular
les charged is one of appropriating $50
f fund that should have gone into t
he city treasury to the purchase of I
liquor which was given to the negroes
n Scufftown, a suburb of Dickson, last :
october, as an inducement for them to a
ssist in an election whereby a 49,, '
90 bonded Indebtedness was voted T.
pom the town ostensibly for the pur- - =
ose of erecting water works and cleo c
rio lights. Another is that SO reck- t.
ass has been the expenditure of money s.
nat no work has been done upon the :,
-reets of the town, and in consequence
1ese highways have become menace IT
, life and limb. Boards of Mayor y
nd Aldermen are very much lacking =,
l the authority they sometimes as r
lme. The restraining power of the Il
,urts will often stop the wasteful ex 81
avagance of the peoples money, if ~
le people will only demand their
ghts. l.
The Herald does not publish anony =;
GUS communications. News matter q,
mt to this paper for publication must T
signed by some reliable person or it tn
i'll be summarily consigned to the /.
aste basket, without even being read. az
n anonymous communication re- to
lived from Santa Fe this week calls
nth these remarks. "
M