The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-03-20
n the Children's Reading Room
Of the Indianapolis City Library
!. Place Where Many Little Folks Come to Find
Enjoyment in the Books and Periodicals That
Appeal to Their Tastes and Stir Their Vivid
lmasinations to Realms Beyond What the ~
Writers Of the Stories Ever Dreamed

winter that the room apart from being a
place where entertainment may be found,
becomes a refuge and q place or lateral
good to many a small lad who finds things
bleak enough without Cold weather drives
many of the waits OF the street into the
reading room, where they are welcomed as
kindly as are their little brothers and sis
tiers of brighter fortunes. Frequently on cold
Saturdays or days when school or other du-
ties do not claim them, they spend their
whole days porting over the illustrated mag
azines If they go home to lunch or din
ner they return in the afternoon and then
as likely not drift in again in the even
ing to stay until the reading room closes
for the night OF the habitues of the room
many are from the foreign colonies of the
city. the little pleasant-faced, melting-eyed
Russian Jews being among the brightest of
the company. They read voraciously and if
their absorption of the spoken language
does not always keep pace with their APP
probation of what is written that circum-
stance makes them none the less interest
ing to the attendants and visitors After
/ done get my books picked out already
was the way one small broWn-eyeS quail
ified q promise to the interested young
woman TO do something the other day.
They are not always merely amusing these
bits of human driftwood from other shores.
More often than not the little stories in
which they actors have touch of
pathos to those whose hearts are reSpon-
sive. One small chap who is known to all
the library attendants comes from a home
where a brood OF seven of whom he is the
second make ii impossible for the hard
working fathers slender earnings to reach
all the way round any part of the time.
There is nothing of complaint in the att-
tude of the father or mother or any of the
brood however. One bitter day in the win
ter the small fellow drifted in with a blast
of cold air and spent the morning absorbed
i'm stories. Noon came and went and the
last of the attendants came in from
luncheon at half past and there the small
boy still sat bent over his book He looked
up with bright smile as the young women
passed him.
teered cheerfully. There was nothing of
the mendicant in his tone. He knew she
had been out to eat, and he thought it was
just a bit of information which was ap-
proprfate TO the hour, and he showed every
white tooth in his head as he gave it.
There happened to be a big, bright-cheeked
apple on the young woman's desk and she
brought that. together with a little change,
to the boy after she had taken off her
wraps. Now you take this money and go
around the corner to the bakery" she said.
She told what to buy for fear that the I'M
INDUCED sweet-tooth might lead him to
the ildigestible cake and pastry, and then
she went back to her desk while the small
boy gathered up his books and slipped him
self into his threadbare coat. Presently he
came up to the desk shyly. please m, .
he began, with his brown eyes glistening
bashfully through their long lashes would
you care f L wasn't to come back agin?"
1t was easy enough TO trace the workings
of the generous little mind which lOnged
10 carry home the bright apple and the
bakery luXuries which were usually I'M
known delicacies in the starved larder at
home.
One small lad who came into the library
last week was a source of much interest
to the attendants because of his unusual
appearance. He came from of the
houseboat families that form about the
only craft on White river. His mother had
evidently started with the idea of forming
him the Little Lord Fauntleroy plan
and his wide-ruffied collar was picturesque
even in its soled condition. His grimy lit
tie face shone through a tangle of long
yellow curls that had evidently had hardly
a more recent acquaintance with the comb
than with the scissors, but the mistaken
gentility of his curls and collar oddly con-
trasted with the swagger of the sturdy
rough-rider top-bOots which dumped heav-
lily into the room. The little householder
wanted book with the tale of Jack the
Giant Killer in it, and went off perfectly
happy when he had obtained il.
Among the comedies of the library life
are those played by the small truants who
take a day off from school and come to
the reading room to spend ii happily. 1t
does not occur to them that in coming into
the library building they are literally