Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-09-21
BOOKS AND LIBRARIES.

The public library, In American
cities r. said 10 represent tho best
aspirations of the community With
us. IL Is no longer, as 1t once was. the
city hall and the courts, because the
deterioration In the tone of political
life has cooled the popular ardor for
merly felt for them. Nor is IL. as In
older countries. the church that Is the
real center of the most enlightened
popular interest; for the churches have
become here merely the spiritual habi-
tations OF the few-the higher frag-
ments OF the society OF the average
American town. II Is far otherwise
with the library-the one truly demo-
cratic institution that serves all alike
with equal fidelity and constency
The Architectural Record maintains
that the typical American aspiration
IS embodied In the word education"
The most popular organ of education
is the public library, for IL alone be
longs to the entire community. II ~
the common property Of all. and Is
rapidly winning the title of the most
appreciated of American institutions.
This fact is well attested by the
success OF the Packard public library
I'm this city and the enormous contribu-
ton which II makes daily TO the en-
tertainment of the people and to the
cultivation Of the reading habit among
the youth.
One suggestion we would make Is
that the taste of readers should not
be tho solo or even the main criterion
In the purchase of the reading mat
ter. We suspect that the recommend
ing or purchasing committee is not
large enough nor sufficiently differen-
tlsted to procure exactly the class Of
books most needful for the intellectual
an spiritual upllft OF the large and
diversified patronage Of these institu-
tions. There should be one commit
tee for the selection OF work on art,
another for each Of the divisions known
respectively as fiction, history. Bible
study, biography. physical science.
natural science, research In various
scientific lines. agriculture, architect
ure. arts. crafts, trades. and so forth.
Only thus can we get the best.
A committee on Juvenile fiction
should be most carefully selected, also
another on historical novels and sci
entihc works attractive 10 young peo-
ple. In fact the services OF several
hundred OF the most Intelligent, SYM
patheuc and scholarly people of our
city should form the advisory com
mittee on the purchase OF books. Not
all attractive and pure fiction should
be placed before the eager mind OF
vouth. Fiction must be not only clean
and interesting. hut It should portray
truth. in order 20 Justify its place
among selected library books.
The London Times, in recent arti-
Gle, shows clearly the difference be-
tween mere Imagination and real
knowledge on the part " the writers ~
fiction. Some novels are made out Of
nothing and arc relatively worthless.
Others deal with real characters. true
emotions. and actual possible situa-
lions in life, ana are as true as real
history or exact science. The COM
monest fault OF novels is lack OF
knowledge: and 1t Is just because Of
this that they fail IN Imagination Says
the Times:
THE great dramatist makes none "
his characters out OF nothing,
"If they i've, they must all be based
upon what he knows Of other men and
what he knows OF himself And his
knowledge 81 other men u.s. IN turn.
based upon his knowledge Of himself.
For that is the only complete knowl-
edge Of human nature that he can at
tain 10. lie observes, and divlnes the
meaning % what ne observes by a
scientific process, FOR in other men he
sees only outward symptoms.
For Imagination " encouraged
and enriched by knowledge OF all
kinds. and flags for the want Of H.
knowledge is. as IL were. the soil by
which the flower Of Imagination. T.
nourished. and. the greater the writer
the greater his passion for know
ledge and the more use he can make
OF all that he knows
Scott Is perhaps the most magma
tive Of all our novelists. and none OF
them has had a knowledge so vast
and diverse. 1t h the same with
Tolstoy. His novels interest rs s0
much. even when the story seems los,
in them, because he Is always telling
Us OF what he knows. He can interest
us In Levin moving. because he has
moved himself. or IN Andrew
Bolkousgy flghtins, because he has