The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17
The Library as An
 Educational Force
By C. C. TEACH. Auburn.

opinion. conduces more tn the ,ueH.ai luplift and general atmosphere ot cult ure and refinement Of college or town that a well equipped library.
 | Libraries have long since passed the experimental stage. In all the older communities of Europe and America they have proven themselves the hest instrument for higher culture and in ltellectual advancement That great literary activity and general advance ment of sound knowledge that for a lcentury has shed refulgent lustre upon the name of New England is largely the outcome of the excellent libraries
 scattered throughout her borders. In levery newly founded town immediate ly. and hard by the church. was set uo a public library. though never so 1 small. to spread its refining influence from year to year in overwhelming circles. The late Senator Hoar de- clared that the paramount influence Of | Boston and Cambridge in the history of Massachusetts is to be attributed T directly to their excellent public H. braries: and every student of history knows how the mighty resurrection of the intellectual life of modern Europe, which we call the Renaissance. was through the miraculous hfe-givinS power of those books of ancient know ledge and wisdom opened up in the en- frightened cities of Italy. The intel- lectual predominance of France goes hand in hand with the great library of Paris, while equally true it is that the strength and splendor of our own great English language and iitera- ture march equally with the develop ment of the great libraries in the mon- asteries of England and the great uni versailles of Oxford and Cambridge. Certainly, I would not offer idly any word of censure against my native fa hut vvarla hA admitted that the lack of libraries in our larger centres of population is a fatal defect in our intellectual development. There are perhaps not more than half dozen regularly organized free libraries in the State of Alabama, though. In my opinion there should be public IL brary. absolutely free. not only In every city, but in every country town and hamlet in our State.
 Library a Benefactor.
 A library is not a luxury; 1t IS not for the cultured few; 1t is not merely | for the scientific; 1t is not for any in l tellectual cult or exclusive literary set. It is a great broad. universal public | benefaction. It lifts the entire com- | munity; it is the right arm of the in- | tellectual development of the people. ministering to the wants of those who are already educated and spreading a universal desire for education. It is | the upper story of the public school
 system, while it is a broad field where | in ripe scholars may find fuller | training for their already highly de- | veloped faculties. It is above all a
 splendid instrument for the education and culture of those vast masses of boys and girls that are denied the high privileges of the systematic training
 of the schools.
 Carlyle calls the library the great university of books, and he assigns to the library of the University of Edin- | burgh a much more potent Influence | in the moulding of his wonderful ft-
 erary abilities and brilliant career
 than to all the faculties of the uni | versity combined. Indeed the greatest
 boon that the system of public schools.
 or the college. or the university can confer upon any boy or girl is to teach him or her to use great collection fof literature,s to teach them how to
 read; and to plant within their hearts
 an Irresistible impulse and an inde-
 structible delight in so doing. What
 profits 1t man to learn how to read if he does not read? For what pur-
 pose is the mind trained and develop ed by the process of systematic study in the schools If 1t Is not inspired to go farther into the realms. of know ledge? Is 1t a rational procedure for one, upon the completion of his course Aa
 investigation and to lay aside what little love for learning and literature
 and philosophy and science that may
 have been aroused in his bosom by
 school or college inspirations. And
 how, I ask, is this advancing and wid-
 ening of ones horizon by means of the
 accumulated stores of Knowledge
 gathered by the~previous generations
 of the worlds strong thinkers and
 beautiful writers to be secured, other
 than by a collection of good books. by
 a library?
 Now. of course. so far as the founda-
 tions of. education, the establishment of
 the awakening of the original
 forces of the boys spiritual nature
 are concerned, the training of the
 schools and of the college must be
 the best agency. Indeed. these insti-
 tutions are the best means yet devised
 for imparting the elementary princi- pies of liberal education; but re- peat. even the college fails of it's highest mission if 1t has not begotten
 in the student a hungering and thirst
 ing after more knowledge. While, as I have suggested. there is alsU~that vast mass. or 90 per cent of
 the people. professional men as well as workmen. who have not enjoyed the privileges of the college. nor even of the high school. but who must pick
 up the scraps of their education and mental food either in the byways or the hedges, or find them in some sys-
 tematic form in the collections of a well-regulated and well-ordered libra ry.
 really believe that literature wise ly chosen and wisely read may be
 made one's education, and through I this agency one who has not enjoyed the privilege of the higher education sense
 How To Read.
 Now. first. there Is kind of reading that we cal desultory, the evils of l which are often emphasized. but a good word for which can also be sug- gested. Certainly. one cannot con sume with profit to himself all of his l time in mere discursive nibblinR of books. With some people of intellect ual bent reading often becomes a mere dissipation. an opiate, a stimu- lant, drug to soothe, to excite, to ! while away the time; but. withal, read ing may be to a degree spontaneous, easy and delightful recreative and yet be at the same time educational in its nature. Old Doctor Samuel John son confessed to a love for browsing fin library, which suppose would be in contrast to what Is called system atic pasturing, of grazing in the fields of literature. We are told, too. that all the good things of the Kingdom of righteousness do not come entirely bv observation;
 ''Nor less l deem there be powers.