Evening star., 1916-04-09

I'm HERE were over 100000 volumes
II circulated for home use from the
Public Library of Washington in
the past year. This number divided by
365 suggests the amount of work nee
essary each day at the desks marked
for the return or withdrawal of books,
and in the stocks At the head of the
adult circulation department is Miss
Grace B Finney. To her, however,
these figures represent, not SO much
the number of volumes being passed
over the counter as the number of peo
pie who are thus permitted to live in
world of books.
TT is at the information desk that l
have been most impressed by the fact
that a public library is common ground
for an astonishingly large variety of
people. with equally various tastes,
fand ready with questions ranging from
| the number of toothpicks yearly export
ed from the United States to requests
for books that easy for foreigners,
| declared Miss Finney.
There are reasons for seemingly
! foolish questions, however, and the
man who wanted to know how many
toothpicks were exported was a lumber
| merchant, needing statistics for his
! business AS for the foreigners. the
| greatest consideration is shown them
| because iey are frequently much ham
! dicapped by their ignorance of Eng
! Iish One Italian who came to the IL
: I,-a, haT ied
| vainly to make himself understood
! and was about to leave, discouraged
! Being able to say few words in Ital-
| ian. we managed, however. to speak
together. Why was he leaving" Be
! cause he was so ashamed.
| He said; When we people cannot
make ourselves understood, you Amer
| leans will look at one another and
smile. While poor. we have been edu-
Gated from early childhood. If you
Americans do not think our country
| stands for something, why do you all
| want to visit us? Here Is my little
| boy. ! cannot get him to speak his
| own tongue even at home, he has
learned to be so afraid of being called
| a dago
| Il remember another Italian" con-
! tinued Miss Finney, IAN old man, not
| at all prepossessing until he began to
quote from Dante, when his face
| frightened in his real appreciation and
| knowledge of literature. Shortly he
conf1ded in me something of his his
| tory In his own country he was an
! artist, a designer of mosaic jewelry.
| He had Joined Garibaldrs 1000, how
| ever, and lost a part of one hand. This
| misfortune, together with the bad ef-
| feet of several months spent in a
| prison in Rome, meant the loss Of his
| art Finally he drifted to America
! and Is now a chef at one of the clubs
/ of the city.
1T Is this meeting with the public
| that is the hardest and at the same
| time the most interesting part of
! librarians work. Individuals stand
out in most astonishing fashion
! when one thinks back over day at
the information desk. Sometimes
heroes appear, quite as romantic as
! those in the novels on the shelves. Not
long ago young Filipino was here
| taking out easy books for foreigners
He was valet for rich man in the
| city and had travelled extensively with
his employer. But at home this vounr
| man was no menfal. He was the son
of very rich man. self-exiled because
he had fallen in love with "a girl of
lower social order. which was consid-
cred by his high caste family a dis
| grace.
III my father live in America Won
call him man like Mr. President. he
declared. He wrote to his sweetheart
often. and when asked IL she wrote to
him he answered, oh. no. That break
my heart. She neve: write | tel her
10. My sister si1e see her. she .ta
! me long letters, but my fathe. not