The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-10-16

But lie Starts a Boom ia the village
Reading Room.

winter evenings and AZ thr same time
y help g expand lheir ulna. So
ifsfpll ! am privileged u announce, haze
thfady presented ., ulth a copy 81 tls
Encyclopaedia britannica"
~ that doesn't do, nothing will," 4
ialn.
We shall lern N = small was viii
nne e two q the popular dailies, and
md work upward may -ay ihai
fm confident that We can make the
thing 4 sueeeEs 1 have spoken 10 on0 ~
Two u The men about Il, and they Nfft
enthusiastic, oh. hy the way. Ar Tom.
You might mention Il 10 any ~ o'F
ads you may come across. They would
lpthlless take II better coming ifem
y younger piaa. Yes. On Monday We
ahall START
On Monday. then. the reading room
was opened. As The vicar said. they BE-.
gan IN a small way. They began with
two papers only shall not advertise
them here. but ! may remark that
ihey are sold at what the pfopddnfs
sall the purely nominal price 81 one pen
MS. A. the aamiitancc ~ the reading
room was one penny the advantage ~
Il may not seem obvious. bat Il must
b. remembered that the Encyclopedia
kfitanuiea slapd Ia aue corner, that
there was always 4 burning FIRE, and
ihefe WAS jug II water on the table.
The Scar asked mo 60 attend on the
opening evening You are not without
lulluenee III the village be- said and
Il the people see you reading The papers
there Just & one u themselves, they viii
feel more Il home" ! don't know " I
have said set that the vicar q an ar,
-Aayhow, Il vii bear repetition.
On The opeuinR night then, there were
twenty eiglt Villagers there and The VI.
car aud myself The vicar made little
speech and declared that the room. and
The Encyclopedia was open for reading
Then, quite IN friendly way. and 70
pat the people ~ their ease. he sai down
N the best armchair and opened one Of
the papers.
looked around and cav that there
were still one or tvo persons who didut
sem quite at horne. 80 Tor their sakps
took the second beat armchair and the
other paper The villagers, in little com
panies Of i've Or six. shufilcd uneasily
and talked IN whispers
4 don't know how il a." I said IN n
low voice to the tlenr. but even nov
they don't seem quite At their case. 'it
emit be because we got all the papers
can itfH
The vicar who had dropped into the
middle Of serial story, merely grunted
let me know when you've finished"
! said. eand ven change"
After ten minutes the vicar courteous.
" handed me his paper, and ] gave him
mine Roth dailies having had this way
good sendog, and Cobb the farmer
looking stiil rather miserable. | thought
Il time 10 give the Encyclopaedia
chance So, | walked over 10 iis corner.
and. 10 show that there was no compul
sion Is 70 the order in which you read
The volumes, took down one from the
middle. ~ ~
This turned ONT an excellent move.
Everybody tailed after me and took !
down a volume J forget hoW many /
volumes there were but / know there |
were quite en0ngh TO 20 around Con
yersation. too. Became more general
i sag, Any. what number you got z" |
] heard Bill say. sa.
Twenty seven. What q you"
sixteen
"0le Fred here got nine
All, that's is modesty. + always
was modest, was Fred"
Think | shall change mine"
600 on them
"spose | may well"
Come on, then.
Thing- were really getting quite home.
like. | took out q cigarette. and out /
came twenty pipes. The vicar was deep /
ii another serial story, | wish that sir
Joseph could have seen US then
! must b. OIL. said the vicar at last
stay here a little longer. II you win
and see that the men have all they /
want.
AZ soon as he had gone, ! closed Vol.
% with a snap. and stood up and stretch
Cd myself. Il was the signal for gen
eral swapping ! picked up my cap and
went Go the door,
Which way we're goin' Mister Tom
said Mr. Cobb
4 am going ] said, TO cal on Mr.
King, publican.
"Mestef Tom be giving Of a party ats
the Fox an '0unds said Cobb. who
be goin along o Mester Tomi0
There was a general shout II seemed
that the vicar was right when he said
that | had q certain influence and pcpu
larity in the village
Come on them | said
called on the vicar the next morning
A success beyond my widest hopes.
"a said enthusiastically. When my din
Ties called me away from the room there
we're twentw men twenty, was i not,
Mr. Toni enjoying 50 far as mortals
Tan enjoy, the blessings Of good liter
aturen
"Wel, it keeps them out 81 the public
house, anyway, said his Wife
Indeed YES" said the vicar. ION my
way back tn the Vicarage, looked
ii at the Red Lion and II was quite
empty
THE heer Ii better at The Fox and
the Hounds" | said forgetfully.
II have no doubt should have found
he same thing there"
Well, Just looked in, ! said.
@And was 1t not sat-
When left, ! said, there was not .
nan there
4 thought So Well, hope we shall
rave even greater attendance tonight
II dout think YOU win, ! said,
And why notg'
4 can't quite explain but homehow
think not
Well | was wrong The evening came
md we had nearly forty readers.
eeognized the fast bowler from neigh
,oring village, the news seemed to have
pread. As before, everybody sat stiffly ,
round with q volume Of the encyolopae-