Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-02-17

his home by illness. a brief abstract
oc each sermon follows:
Rev. G.. X. Palmer, pastor of rhe
Methodist church, said in part:
Reading is Il power in this world.
Eminent men have attributed the sue
cess Of their career to brief essays and
some to less than q paragraph. a N
ltence has quenched Il vital spark in r
soul, and Il pamphlet led to a rcyulu-
ton.
with literature in piles about us
the selection of reading is an imlior-
tant question. and 50 much hapha&.Ird
reading is to be deprecated.
Some attention NAV be proHtG bly,
given to the important department. Of
literature. as biography, history. es-
sayc and poetry, but the character and
tone of the book is more important
than its form.
while some attention may be given
10 the great masters. the toiling thou
sands may well content themselves
with works of merit on their own plane
of thinking. and with special adapta-
ton to their needs.
Worthless books should be disca I'd
ed. also the pernicious that lead boys
to daring deeds and then to crime.
Here the library comes 10 our aid
and supplies good books free and thus
helps to displace the corrupting pro-
auctions to easily found. The best peo-
pie of the place should give their infiu-
erfce TO this enterprise, that it may be
kept upon a plane worthy of its prom
Using beginning. For your own good
and the success of the library call for
the best books and help to supply them,
and this institution will stand for the
elevation of the community through
coming generations"
Rev. J. F. Rhoades, pastor of the
Universalist church, took for his SUBJ
ject: The Man and the Book" and
for his text: And Jesus increased In
wisdom and stature, and in favor with
God and man."
We have here a clear statement that
Jesus was Himself an exemplification
of the universal law of growth. We
have right to assume that He availed
Himself of the means essential to
growth, For the physical He was fed,
for the mental He was instructed. He
learned from day TO day just as He
grew from day to day. Books are
found to be essential to mental growth.
The mind must have food or il cannot
grow. Exercise is just as essential 10
the mind as TO the body. The exercise
OF the mind consists in thinking. but
jst as the body cannot eat without
food, so the mind cannot think with
cut something TO think about The
rind must have that whereon to be-
stow itself. or il ceases to expand II
l. is confined TO q narrow horizon il
becomes provincial in its scope. The
mind that is tethered to the events and
gossip of its own immediate neighbor-
hood must, III the Very nature. of things.
fa!l OF A full and symmetrical deye1ope-
ment. Since we cannot travel every
where and see everything. men have
sought TO obviate the effects of this
limitation by writing descriptions OF
everything and sending them every
where. And in order that these de-
scriptions may serve many people in
different chimes they are. enshrined i'm
the more permanent forms which we
call books.
Books are The windows through which
u.
open gates through which We may go
out over the world and see by the way.
not only what men are doing now. but
also what they were doing in the cen
turIeS ago. even from the morn
ing time of the race. Tie book. then.
sustains much the same relation TO
the man who reads, that travel does
to the man who goes. The man who
travels far with 4 mind alert and an
observant eye tits himself for the most
agreeable and helpful companionship.
He is furnished with such information
as will enable him to minister to the
mental needs OF all. We can readily
see that the man is more because of
his travels than he otherwise could
have been. Now with equal truth
there is Il real and AN obvious relation
between the man and his books.
Without reading. in the absence OF
travel ones knowledge of the world
must be melgre indeed. But without
travel and with books neglected the re-
suit is just the same 1t is insisted that
ordinarily the man without his book
is incomplete. He may be unconscious
Of his 1imita tons. He may satisfy
the demands of those who are the VIE
tins of a like disqualification, but none
the less is such a life unbalanced, and
in large and important sense want
ing. The necessity of the book to
the man. is, just now, receiving a fresh
demonstration. 1t is not the buying Of
books but The reading of them that
helps the world. In harmony with the
spirit of this book-buying book giving
age. we have our 6wn library. 1t. is
set here among US as a-man- making
agency The library is born of the
belief that the man, needs the book.
1t is mute but forceful declaration
Of the belief that in a vital seuse the
book makes the man. i
The men who are Just now making such
wonderful contributions to Libraries tel
us that they are conscious of the limita.
tons imposed upon them because of the
difficulties they met in their efforts to
find books TO read. Coming to orr own
beautiful library we need first of all I'd
appreciate its value. We need to feel
that 1t comes to us inspired with a pUr.
pose. 1t did not just rain down. This
material did not just happen to fail int
this graceful shape. This beautiful plot
of ground was not given simply becaus
its owner hal no other use for it. This
bestewmeny is made with the purpos,s
and intent of promoting the best welfare
If the community. 1t becomes las to put
an enthusiastic interest into the use n