The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-04-06
~ EDGAR iLIFF,

The Rev. William Owen Stovall, of
the First Baptist church, is reported
to have said In a recent sermon:
II have no doubt that If an investi-
CATION were made 1t would be found
OF the thousands and thousands Of
books In the Morrisson-Reeves library
that those which are the most popu-
lar and most eagerly called for are
ones that are trash. Some of these
books are perhaps not harmful. Others
are positively dangerous. Readers of
them will say they read them for
pastime or for entertainment, or to
pass away the time looking at the H.
Illustrations. All the time the contents
of these books are filling their minds
with that which is making character"
To prove his contention the Rev.
Stovall draws comparison between
the Morrisson-Reeves library books
and the muddy water of the Ohio
river, which, if allowed to settle de.
posits so much dirt that you can't
see through the glass, and that the
contents of these library books, SO
popular and trashy, are leaving a dir.
ty sediment of the same kind in the
characters of the readers.
1t is always safer to investigate
! first and then draw your conclusions
afterward. 1t is never safe to make
your assertions first and then investi
gate.
Big Book Collection.
In the first place, the Morrison
Reeves library is one of the best bal
anced collections of books in the United
States. OF course it is not so large
and liberal in choice as the Boston
in ioh hov
| happy hours. 1t is not as grand anG
magnificent as the great libraries, but
for wise and harmonious selection il
can not be excelled. 1t tries to fill
all the wants of city like Richmond
This is a difficult matter, because
every human brain is a separate world
in itself, and the old saying that "wha
Is one mans meat Ia another man.
poison" may apply to the mind a!
we'll as the stomach.
If there is any trash among tn.
$4,000 volumes in the MORRISON
Reeves library it rests in peace upo1
the gloomy shelves of ancient and out
grown controversial and sectarian the
ology. Trash is something we n,
longer use: something we have sen
to the attic, or turned over to tn
trash man or junk pile. In the realm
of literature, trash can never be agail
popularized. 1t belongs to the "curi
osities of literature" and is fished u
by the antiquary to serve as a guide
post against human follies and menta
vagaries. To make these books poI
ular and eagerly called for you woul
have to use the rule of Mrs. Pipchin'
school when children were denie
everything they wanted and forced t
swallow everything they mortally d.
spised. That was "disciplne.' Thi
rule is based upon the old theologics
law that we are all totally deprave
and can not be trusted, and shoul
all be regulated by Calvanisti
Court of Ecclesiastical Discipline"
food, drink, dress, thought and speecl
Also Interesting.
How about this Court of Eccles
astic Discipline" so famous in il
petty tyranny, SO infamous in it's sp,
ing and meddling. that history ha
given it the privilege to name itse
in capital letters?
It was composed of five Germa
pastors and twelve laymen who ha
graduated in piety and the smelling
evil. 1t exercised Jurisdiction over a
those affairs of society which shoul
. be left to individual taste and priva,
, judgment. 1t could demand explain
tions from male or female, young
old, whom it dragged before it's a
gust body. 1t could hold trials, exto
. confessions. use the swef box on SUI
, piston, force retractions and apologize
and had the power to fine, impriso