The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-12
n THESE days of magnificent libra

1 AtSSs SPtehdidiN equipped anu
springing up on every hand. it
would almost seem as if there were no
place left for the modest little book
club. Every town of any size and
many small villages may at this time
point with pride 10 a building wholly
devoted to literature. with reading
rooms, alcoves, goodly shelves properly
labeled and classified as to their con-
tents and attended by librarian, who
has taken her course and gained her
diploma according TO the latest meth
DDS.
Yet, there are still a good many of
US who would like to own our books
rather than depend on having them
temporarily when our turn comes with
the great competing public. Very ike
~ We cannot afford 10 spend a large
monthly or annual sum 10 crafty this
expensive personal taste. II. however
eight or ten neighbOrs and friends COM
bine and organize themselves INTO
small informal and cOngenial group de-
nominated a book club, they may be
able in the course of a twelVe-month 10
read a gOodly number Of the new pub
LEGATIONS, and at the end of the year
they may add something substantial if
they wish, to their individual collection.
Very little machinery is requisite in
the IDItilA AlOtl u d DOOR t4ub. AtAA
persons uniting may pay each "a mem
bership fee of perhaps s. each, With
$50 in hand. taking into account the re-
ductiOn made by booksellers to those
who are purchasing in a quantity
enough books may be obtained To cir
culate freely and even rapidly through
a neighborhOod for the first year
Rules should be few and simple.
child will willingly undertake the task
n hnnvg hnnga
another, or one person may be selected
who shall have the distribution. Prob
ably one of the number viii have the
supervision of the whole enterprise.
This person will naturally be a woman,
as men are much too busy to be eT-
pected TO look out for the small matters
of detail connected with little societies
and clubs. Indeed, the members Of
village or ueighborhOod book club are
usuqlly women. The idea does not ap-
peal TO the ordinary man. II Is too inti-
mate too domestic, and belongs too eX-
Clusively TO the province of minute
economies. TO be pleasing to husbands
and brothers.
The lady at the head of affairs will
make a list of the names and residences
Of those who belong to the club. This
list in duplicate should be placed in
every book that goes out. By a pre-
determined plan, arranged to the sat
isfaction OF all so that nobody need
complain, the books may be sent from
house 10 house and hand 10 hand. either
in alphabetical rotation or by reference
TO cOntiguity of residence.
Each lady. when she has finished
reading a volume, is supposed To cross
off her name and then pass the book
on to the person whose name is just
below hers on the list. In case of ill
ness in family, absence from home,
or any other occasion that may render
IL necessary, a member may change
places with some one else. The allotted
time for keeping a book is as in other
libraries, a week or a fortnight. Even
very deliberate readers can manage to
get through with q book of fiction
travel or biography in fourteen days.
Careless people who detain book be-
yond the proper limit should pay a fine
of two or three cents a day for every
day in excess of the allotted time. These
fines. though small. are the little rillS
which form river and their amount
after awhile will be sufficient to add
something new TO the clubs lending
library.
That books may not too soon lose
their freshness, they should be covered
and no home reader should take upon
herself to remove the cover while the
book is in her possession. Nor should
ot4tl hUOhG bt- OK iltiSttA ~ AllE L-tQttc0
handling of children or other irveSpon-
sble people, who, not being book low
ers. fail TO give the printed page the
Difference it deserves 1t Is enough TO
make a book lover shudder to watch
the ruin that comes too soon uDOn
hooks that are shabbily treated, left Is
ing face downward and open. or with
leaves turned down to keep d place, OF
are racked by having the bindings
Carelessly loOsened and warped Al
thoughr books are tlSe poperty of a
club, every club member has something
at stake in their preservation.
At the end Of six or of twelve
months, as the club may elect. there
may be an auction. at which the books.
having been read by every one, may
, De- bought in by those who wish 10
y possess them. The money obtained in
this way, and the annual membership
fees, viii enable any little coterie of
friends il a place where there is no
library, or any group of families who
wish something more personal than the
library affords. 10 have in a compare
lively short time an excellent oppOr-
tunity for becoming familiar with all
that is falling from the press. All.
that is, which seems worth while.
When new books are almost as nu-
merous as autumn leaves or spring
blossoms. nobody can hope i'm a short
lifetime TO keep i'm touch with every
thing. There must be selection and in
some cases Remuneration.
In choosing volumes for "a book club,
fiction probably viii claim the first
place. and be the most popular. our
fiction at present ranges over an i'm
mense field. The social problems of
the day, the varying phases OF life IN
what We. call for want of a better
name, the smart set the antasOnisms
between labor and capital, the shifting
aspects of modern life, are presented
in our novels.
Then. too. we have novels of ro-
nance. Of hair-breadth escapes and
thrilling adventures: We have historical
pictures in a medieval setting. or, as
in the work Of Mrs. Humphrey (ard.
we have reincarnations iu fiction Of
we'll known characters who occupied
the stage a century ago. No one can
afford 10 neglect current fiction, and
in reading fiction no one need be afraid
that she is wasting precious time. The
time spent on good novel is time
We'll invested
But one cannot always choose TO
advantage by depending on the cril,-
cisms furnished to the newspapers by
professional book tasters. Sometimes
the people whose business II is to read
professionally for the press grow blase
and weary and seem untitled To rem
der fair judgments. We all wish To
read whatever book is for the moment
on the top wave. IL cannot be an alto
gether unworthy book which wins its
way into the homes Of thousands We
also all want 10 read the latest work