Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-05-23

simple, dignifed and yet rich. 1t has
been much admiAed by foreign visitors
to whom woodcarving at its best is
familiar. There are pendants and
wreaths OF fruits and flowers, finely
frescoed ceilings, the inevitable cupids
and mermaids. rosettes, octagons oyer
laying octagons and other effects that
I could not describe were 1 to try ex-
cept to lump them all by exclaiming
like q schoolgirl. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
d-fulr' Best Of all. the fruits repre-
scented are American fruits just as
most OF the woods used are American
woods.
Throughout there is the same unity
and harmony OF design found in the ar
chitecture. There are, as yet. few
mural paintings such as have made the
Boston Public library and the Con-
gressional library famous. but these
will come in time. Now that the build
ing is actually completed and occupied
the attention of its trustees can be
concentrated on perfecting the int
rior decorations and charging the book
collection. By the way, the chairman
OF the board is John Bigelow, now
past ninety, whom some people regard
as the grandest old man in the world.
The moving of the books from the
Aston and Lenox libraries to the new
building occupied weeks of time. On
the Forty-second street side there was
seen constantly a string of moving
vans extending the entire width of the
edifice. The moving men were only
allowed to approach a certain line.
There the library attendants took the
boxes and disposed of their contents.
1t required a pull stronger than that
of Tammany alderman to get into
the structure at any time up to the
opening day. After that it was ac-
cessible to the humblest hobo. The
highbrow foregathered there with the
Russian Jew, the millionaire with the
Socialist, the east slider with the scions
Of the Oldest and proudest Van" fami-
lies Of Dutch lineage. The only aris-
tocracy Of a library is that of brains.
History of the Building.
The history of the building was one
Of litigation and vexatious delays.
After two contests the architects
chosen were Carrere 6 Hastings. Be
cause their bid was not the lowest
suit was brought, which was in the
courts for a year. There was another
suit over awarding the contract for
the steel frames of the cases. Then
much of the marble did not come up
to specifications and had to be reject
ed. The result justified all the time
and trouble, however, for it furnished
the world its noblest library building,
one that will stand for centuries and
will grow more beautiful with time.
One pathetic incident attended the
completion of the work. A few weeks
ago John NJ. Carrere, the Senior men,
Der of the firm Of architects in charge.
was fatally injured in an automobile
accident. He died on the very eve of
the dedication of the building that
will perhaps be known as the greatest
monument of his genius.
By Way of Comparison.
The largest library on earth. meas
ured by the number of books, is the
British museum, and second to this is
the Bibliotheque Rationale of Paris.
The Congressional library at Wash
ington and one in st. Petersburg are
next in rank The New York Public
library stands fifth, not counting its
branches. In the matter of indexing
it surpasses all those abroad, since the
foreign libraries have not introduced
the system Of card indexing. The
great library in Paris has no complete
index, and the British museums index
is unwieldy, consisting of hundreds OF
volumes.
America now has at least three
great Libraries Of which she may be
proud-the Congressional library, al
ready mentioned; the New York Pub
lie library and the Boston Public IL
brary. 1t is at the Boston library that
Sargent's celebrated paintings Of '"The
Prophets" are among the mural dec
orations. In the size and capacity of
the building and perhaps in nobility
OF architecture the New York edihce