The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-07-20
Gift of Late Ira C. Calef
to Town of Washington
Opened Last Night
COMPACT STRUCTURE
is WE'LL DESIGNED
Large Crowd Attended the
Exercises Connected
With the Opening

ton were unlocked, and the building
was thrown open to inspection by the
general public, under the supervision
of NJ. W. Chamberlain. The hour of
"open house" was followed by the ded
icatory ceremony in the high school
hall, at which Mayor +. L. Langley,
Prof. o. X. Hollister and Hon. John
w. Gordon, all Of Barre, spoke. The
hall was filed to capacity.
The various speakers, throughout the
course of the evening, emphasizes the
important roads which this gift OF Mr..
Calef opened to young and old, and
urged that it be so used as TO intensity
''the spirit of loyalty and service for
which Ira Calef was so noted during
his life"
The ceremony at the school hall was
opened by prayer by Rev. Mr.. Sim
mons, followed by a musical selection
by local trio. Throughout the eve
ming musical selections filled the in.
tervals between the various addresses.
II wish ! might impress upon the
young people the great benefit to be
derived from the early and constant
use Of a library" said Mayor Langley,
the first speaker of the evening at
is the reading Of books, not necessarily
the having of them that counts he
continued. Mr.. Langley spoke in praise
of Mr.. Calef, stressing the fact that
the latter always wished a thing un-
dertaken to be done as quickly, and
with as little bother, as possible. II was
with this in view that he instructed
the selectmen Of the town to draw up
plans for the new building, The war
conditions prevented the immediate
erection Of the building, but as the IL
brary stands to-day, to use Mr.. Lang
lev NDluNs ~ Nuhiu AhoAt NhHh 9hNtN
fy Mr.. Calef if he were alive
The two characteristics, which, ac'
cording 10 Prof. Hollister, we need in
our citizenship. are the two so well
typified BY Mr.. Calef throughout his
life. loyalty and service. 1T is upon
a basis formed of these two standards
that the questions of the present day
can be satisfactorily solved said Mr..
Hollister; little later he said THE
fact that this man lived with you, and
was a member Of your community,
will help TO bring out these qualities
in YOU. II cannot but make for a good
community"
Mr.. Hollister then turned his attention
to the good the library would do the
people of Washington, but directed his
remarks more to the older people than
TO the young ones. Il was his belief
that the elderly people, those denied
an education in their youth. forced to
work continually a. they grew up.
marrying early and tying themselves
down with large families, never being
free until these children grew up and
married in turn-it was his belief that
these would find consolation in the
books they learned to read IN thcir
later years They would be tho ones
who would really appreciate the gift
that MIR. Calef had left the town.
Mr.. Gordon. the final speaker, EN-
phasized the necessity Of reading books
Of all kinds and of ali nations. Get
books not only Of American authors" !"
he said. but Of foreign authors as well,
and YOU will then get a clearer un-
derstanding of what other people are,
and Of what we appear to be in the
ewes of foreigner. A foreign au.
thors view of us is our looking glass ="
During the course of his speech, Mr..
Gordon scored bitterly the excessive
novel reading Of the present genera
tion. quoting figures from the Barre
public library showing that at the pres
ent time. Of the books in circulation
among both adults and Juveniles, 50 per
cent was fiction. and only II per cent
was non fiction. THE only people who
are reading worthwhile material to
day.~ hc asserted, "are the socialists
and the women's clubs The rest of
Us are. on the whole. de-icient in seri-
on, thought" And later on he said;
-You can educate hoy Of the present
generation 10 read serious literature
and enjoy It. Il i not there that the
fault hes. Il i in the fact that We
have brought our teachers to the point
where they arc not capable of mi
tisting the Young mind into iiteTa
ture-
The dedicatoTy service was concluded
by = 6nal musical number, followed
by dancing until midnight
Il vas through q donation Of Sl2.-
coo. left BY Mr. Calef to the town Of
Washington for the purpose Of erect
ing q library, that the present building
has h.en established Uncertain ls-
l,rr corditions. a. wsI a trsnsPorta-