Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-09-09
ADDRESS
At DEDICATION OF
BELONG LIBRARY

At the dedication of the Milo M.
Bedding Library at Ashield, Mass,
August %, one Of the noted speakers
of the occasion, Or. Robert Ellis
Jones canon bursar Of St. Johns
Cathedral, New York, spoke on the
Uses of a Library in a Rural Com
munity"
The address by DR.. Jones was so full
of good thoughts which TO a great ex-
tent are applicable to our own city Of
Belding that we print herewith the ae-
count of the address given by the
Springfield tMass.) Republican in it's
account of the dedicatory exercises.
The address in part follows:
The value Of a library to any com
munty and its uses are matters too
obvious for discussion, but a rural
community has special library needs
which we must sharply realize before
we can enter fully into the joyous
significance of this occasion. Broadly
stated, the special value of a library to
rural community is that it di-
minishes and removes many of the
disadvantages of rural life some Of
which we shall discuss by and by. We
shall hear less and less of the monot
ony and stupidity of country places
and people because the telephone and
the motor bring the countryside into
the main currents of life. Back to
the land" is cry of the hour, and we
are on the verge of a burst of Develop
ment of country life still there will
always be shady places and back ed
dies of rurality and a library will al
ways have its fields of special
ministration.
First, a library lessons the isolation
and remoteness of country life, by its
means the loneliest farmer may con-
sort with the masters of human
thought, the classics open for him a
vista into the past and into the great
world. The core of a public library
should be that literature of ideals
which the world accepts as classics.
rural community needs familiarity
with that idealism which is also the
highest utility. In the second place
"a good library varies and illumines
the monotony OF rural life. To "A tired
mother or hard worked farmer a
bright novel is an unspeakable re-
freshment of spirit; the literature Of
fancy, whether in novel, play or poem
holds in country library a closely
second place to the literature Of ideals
Our friend, Charles Eliot Norton, once
said to me, You cannot overload a
rural library with fiction or with the
literature OF fancy. observation-disclosures
is one Of the best results Of rural novel
reading"
In the third place, a good library
dispels that lack of information in
separable from many rural situations.
A library fails unless it is rich in the
literature of knowledge; the library
should be SO equipped that anyone
needing information on any matter,
practical or theoretical, should first
of all turn To the library with it's
reference books. l need hardly say
that a rural library should be strong
in books on scientific agriculture and
farm mech, MICS. Domestic science
should be at hand for women and
girls, and also the abundant guides
for boys Unintelligent mistakes are
without excuse where there is an
abundant supply OF the literature Of
knowledge.
. one other kind of books is
specially needed i'm a rural library, the
literature of childhood. Juvenile
books are now so varied and stimulat-
ing that a bookless child is a neglected
child and often duh and stupid child.
In the country there are so many
beautiful things to be understood and
admired that 1t is cruel to let children
live among them uninstructed and un-
informed. BY means Of many struggles
in the way OF small things our library
has grown strong and has developed
a noble soul and our generous friend.
revering the memory Of his honored
parents and loving native town, has
riNen that soul a heanfifnl hndN