The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-02-17

ant. your boy may become full at
tendant, at $50 a month, providing a
vacancy has occurred; then, in anoth'
er year, third assistant, at $50; then
second assistant at $50 to $50; then
first assistant at 500.
Before he goes on up to first assist
ant, however, he must have acquired
what might be known as full Il.
brary education, which means that he
must be able to answer substantially
the following specimen questions,
taken from an entrance examination
to one of the leading library schools:
Mentional nationality and century
and characterize briefly an important
work by ten of the following: Tasso,
Marlowe, Ibsen, Maurice Hewlett, Le-
Sage, Balzac, Sir Francis Bacon, Mon
taigne, Sir Thomas Mallory, Leasing.
Walter Pater, Tame, Swinburne, Ian
dor, James Bryce.
State briefly what you know Of the
literary work of the following: Saint
Beuve, Turgenieff, Dante Gabriel Ro-
setti, Heine, Thomas DeQuincy.
Write an account of the poets and
poetry of England at the end of the
eighteenth and the beginning Of 1.-The
nineteenth centuries.
Name five important writer's of an
cient Greece, and specify in what de-
partment each is famous. Of ancient
Rome
Describe (only about five lines each)
the character of the following: "The
Faerie Queene," "The Rubaiyat,' -
'1dylls of the King"
Name five of the greatest American
essayists; characterize briefly the lit
erary work of each, and mention the
title of their greatest works.
Name two famous allegories; three
famous histories of the United States:
five great world epics; two famous
satires; five children's classics.
Write criticism of one of the fol-
lowing; Thomas Carlyle. Victor Hugo,
Robert Browning.
Then followed other questions on
the Donkhobors, radium, Henry Clay,
the Hauseatic league, Pestalozzi, ETC.,
and reading in German and French.
One thing that enables your boy to
do this Is that he is encouraged by his
superiors to read good literature dur
ing every moment he can spare from
his work; and he should also attend
night school, and absorb everything
possible that he can concerning stand
ard and other literature. He must
also have a good reading knowledge
of French and German, and he will
find 1t to his advantage If he acquires
other languages. He must know how
to analyze and index new books,
whether in his own or in another
language. In the New York public
library, for example, from $4,000 to
10000 cards month are added to
the index, and it may be necessary to
have as many as 20 cards on one vol.
ume to cover the contents adequately
He must know the shelves where new
books should be placed.
Your boy also must know the i'm.
portant characteristics of new vol
umes that are issued, and be able to
forecast the probable popular demand
for them. Considering that there are
100000 new volumes published in the
world every year, and that the 10000
libraries of the United States have
100.000,000 volumes in them, the mag.
nitude of this task may appear ap
palllng; but the nearer your boy ap
proximates to it the better librarian
he will be. It is up to him to make
good as in everything else, and he
has ahead Of him the important posi-
ton of librarian in a large city at a
salary of from $4,000 to $4,000 year
or even that of librarian of congress
who draws $4,000. Far more import
ant than the salary, however, is the
honor and comfort and mental devel
opment and general satisfaction to be
obtained in his calling, which is prob
ably not excelled in any branch OF
lifewOrk.
Copyright, 1910, by the Associated Lit
erary Press.)