Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-05-21

private munificence Of the hour may sug-
gest
As a mechanism. as masterpiece of
convenience. the library is believed to be
without equal in the world. II has facili-
ties both ordinary and extraordinary
never before attempted. There is a read
ing room for the blind. There is a charm
ing little room for children. with diminu-
tive chairs and low tables, quite in the
manner OF a nursery, over which a moth
erly superintendent will have charge
There are eight private rooms for the use
of scholars II was remembered for in
stance, that Rear Admiral Mahan wrote
his monumental works on the influence of
sea power almost entirely in the public
rooms Of the Astor library.
Largest Reading Room In world.
But the browning glory OF the edifice
is the great reading room, the largest in
the world. on the top floor at the rear.
surrounding the stack room. 1t runs 295
feet in length, seventy-seven feet in width
and stands fifty feet high with ceilings
painted to simulate the cloud-drifted sky.
Bisecting It is a double. rood screen, eighty
four feet wide and divided into arches;
the purpose of which is to serve the deliv-
cry staff to each member Of which one Of
the arches is apportioned. Gustave Kebbe
has described this screen in part as fol-
lows:
Elegant in proportion, simple and digni-
fled in design, with beautiful carved Cor
inthian columns and gracefully arched
doors. It carries the beholder back to the
old English abbeys. The material is quar-
tered American oak" Woodwork plays a
conspicuous part in the color scheme OF
the whole building. It blends with the
mi rbI NJ
tone of the gorgeous ceilings. Nearly
half a million square feet of C1rcassian
walnut, French walnut and Indiana oak
have been used, but the proportion of ma
tive to foreign wood is as five to one.
The care spent upon this detail work was
one OF the causes that contributed to the
length of time 1t took the library to rise.
"A century hence said John Carrere, 1.-The
classic perfection attained by the artisans
who executed this carving. then softened
by the prime of time, will have rendered
this work an antique that will be much APP
preciated. How could such a result have
been hastily attained? Time is indeed
precious, but It is economically expended
when the result is so satisfactory"
The books themselves, the treasure
ground on which the rest of the library
is built, are housed in a stack room di-
rectly Deneath the main reading room,
comprised of seven stories each seven
feet high. They have an impressive mon
otony of perspective, regular, severe and
almost surgically asceptic. The frame
work is latticed steel and the shelves of
bronze. No reader, however privileged,
will be allowed inside. His call slip will
come down to the attendants through one
Of many pneumatic tubes, and elevators
will carry the book he wishes back to him.
There are sixty-three miles of shelves in
the stack room alone and twenty-seven
miles more in other rooms devoted to spe-
cial departments, making ninety miles of
shelf room in all
Unlike so many modern buildings the
New York public library is built as the
ancients built, for eternity. The vault of
the rotunda is a true vault, not a veneer
hung from supports above. The walls are
solid masonry. The roof is masonry, thing
and metal. Steel has only been used where
the ancients would have used wood. The
millions that went into It will endure, and
as the library is enriched from year to
year by gift and legacy 1t will grow in
beauty and usefulness.