Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-03-15

measured, not by his crops, but by his /.
contribution to the civic life of the COM
munity.
With the advent of the public library
into rural communities, one great means
of culture becomes as accessible to those
dwelling in the country as to those who
dwell in cities. 1t is much the fashion
to make light of book learning and book
culture, nevertheless it is true that our
most progressive thinkers and wisest
guides have been men who have en-
riched their minds with the lore of the
ages as handed down in books; and many
of them have been in habits, tastes and
mode of life, essentially rural.
Too often rural life is dull and plod-
ding. New views of life, variety of ex
perience. strange beliefs and customs,
stimulate interest and freshen the flag
ging spirits made dull by monotony and
reiteration. But where shall we coun-
try folk of small orbits find these new
views of life unless it be in books? |
Biographies, travels, essays, poetry, |
novels, - through these we visit all
lands, live with all men, converse with |
the wise and the garrulous, dream with
the lotus eaters, laugh and weep over
the fortunes and vicissitudes of such as
never were on land or sea. Thus we
get temporary detachment from times
that weary and scenes that have lost
their color; thus we fortify our spirits
with new zest for the days work and
the days play; thus we come to see
with clarified vision, to find new beauty
in common things, to meet the ext
gencies of life with more faith and
hope, to face disaster with smiling
front, to deal more justly, to live more
! generously. And this, suspect, is the
very best that education and culture
can do for US.
The public library is no longer the
/ cloister of books, the retired haunt of
r bookworms and scholars, the center of
! a restricted circle of bookish culture.
1t is, indeed the home of books, but
they keep open house. 1t is the fire.
81 quenting place of bookworms, but also
p of wide-awake people who associate
4 with live books. 1t is the center not
4 only of literary culture, but of a culture
I that touches all sides of life. 1t is a
business institution whose work has a
+ definite value to the community. 1t is
p not merely to stand as an opportunity
O for those who seek it; it is to move
aggressively as a moulding factor in
= community life.
c have an exalted hope for the library
q of the future! | would have the public
library business institution for the
=, circulation of good books and good
! works of art; the librarian the business
!, manager whose duty shall be to make
i public library a temple of beautiful
:, thoughts; the librarian a priest or
= prestess to guard the shrines from pol
luton and to replenish the fires.
would have the public library a light
- house set at the gateway through which
- provincial souls and landlocked minds
might escape to the open sea, catch the
:, winds of heaven in their sails and learn
= that there are other lands and times
6 and ways and thoughts than theirs, and
- all are Gods. would have the public
library a school where happy children
might learn the joyous paths by which
their souls may soar upwards with the
skylark and dance with the daffodils.
l would have the public library, in fine,
the parish house of culture and the IL
!, brarian the pastor of his flock.