New Britain herald., 1927-08-27
LIGHT LITERATURE
 ONCE STIRRED CITY
Library Once Considered Barring Noted Authors From Shelves
Banned from the New Britain In

stitute! What? "Oil," or Elmer Gantry," or Circus Parade?" No! Tempest and Sunshine" by Mary J. Holmes. ''The Opening of a Chestnut Burr" by E. P. Roe, and other works by these authors and by Amanda N Douglas and Rosa N Carey.
 This action came very close to reality in 1902, and, in fact, was taken by some libraries in other cities. Such steps could hardly be taken on grounds of immoral con- tent in the volumes, but the books in question were scorned by the llterati of the period as silly and frothy. unworthy of the time of even a casual reading. These su- perior personages held out for the classics as opposed to this light literature and started agitation here to have the works of these four authors removed from the shelves of the Institute. The clamor assum- ad such proportions that the follow ing uuestionnaire was sent out by the library to it's patrons and the answer awaited with ominous sl- lence:
 Some librarians think that public libraries should not keep the works of NJ. J. Holmes, A. M. Douglas, R. N. Carey, and E. P. Roe. They call them silly and poorly written and say that people will read better books if libraries do not keep them.
 Will you help the Institute by giving your opinion? Write the an- swers on the paper below each question or on the back:
 Il. Should the Institute give up keeping the works of any or all of these writers?
 %. Do you think that these au- thors make anyone better and teach anything: or do they only amuse and pass away time?"
 "3. Are not the works Of George Eliot, Dickens, J. NJ. Barrie, Wey- man. Hawthorne, Scott, Duman and Thackeray just as (a) restful when one is tired (b) entertaining Co helpful (d) full of people worth knowing?
 A. It is almost as hard to tell hy one likes book as it is to tell why one likes roses or strawberries. If you can think of any reasons why you like Holmes, Roe, and others, please give them.
 "5. Please name any authors whose works the Institute does not keep which you think should be kept.
 Kindly fill out and return soon to the library. Sincerely yours.
 ANNA G. ROCKWELL"
 Needless to say. the book found too many defenders to have the threatened action taken.
 Now, what sort of books were these to draw the ire of the cen sorso How did they compare with modern works which are forbidden in Boston and other Puritanically minded cities?
 The books. were in the main, written for that class of girl which today dotes on jazz novels. The diff ference was that the girls of those days were always dreaming of rich "princes" who were captivated by their beauties and married them, while the girls of today are more concerned with the immediate Irs,, betting. So there were no roadhouses or wild parties in 1902 novels. Most of them were variations of the same theme, the romance of a dry goods counter girl or simple country lass with the owners son of. big horse and carriage man from Syracuse. And. like the northwestern mounted policemen, these long-skirted dam sells always got their men.
 Bound in paper covers and sold for 15 or % cents apiece, these books were fairly devoured by the working girls of the period. They were the feminine companions of well, perhaps not exactly Dead wood Dick and Old Sleuth, but at least of Horatio Alger. So crammed with sentiment were they that it al most oozed right out from between the pages. There was a dear to every line, a Sweetheart" to every paragraph. and an honest kiss 10 every page. The couple may have met with obstacles from their par ents or some scheming villain. but in the end they were married. Oh, hes. they always married in the last chapter in those days. There never was any suggestion that couple might be married and then separate. or. worse yet, might not marry at all.
 Or perhaps. as in "Tempest and Sunshine" there would be two girls who were rivals for the same man. The Sunshine" always won out in the last ten pages. The rasCally tempest" was virtuous enough to be made heroine in these days, while the sunshine" was paragon of uprightness that in these days her adventures would be considered too tame 10 be read.
 As for SON, these books lacked it so completely that they would seem like children's primers today. About as far as they went in sex distinction was in those descriptive sentences where the heroine was character ized as wearing skirts and the vil- lain as having a waX"d mustaChe.
 There were no irrCligious or i'm moral characters (outside of the i'm possibly fiendish villains, who got anything from the gate to the cleo tric chair on the final pago) in those uld-time books. No, sir, The church was too watchfnl of popular fiction that time and would have stamped its anathema on the whole library if anything shady were sug- gestel The chautauGua and other 'uplift" movements were also in full swing, and reading which did not ip1Droyo mind was considered ,lO-