Good Reading Free!

There are men doing business on Hala Street to-day, who are not aware that there Is a i'ree public library in our city, from which any pelttn over tlio age'of 14 years is tüowed to draw books without money or witliout price, and yet such is the tact. Tliis lilrary is situateU i the southwest corner of the high school balkling, on the first tloor, and contains 2,500 volumes of standard works, divided as follows : Anatomy, Physlology and Hygiëne „.. 17 Anclents Classics: Texts, Translatlons, Etc., Etc 31 Astnmomy - S Blography... Botany 25 Chemlstry - 22 K.hu-iitlon 74 ¦ imd Mltioellanles 168 Kllinology and Kvolutlon 1 l'lci Ion 516 Ueology j Hlstory 417 LanguHRe Literatura 72 MatliematUiK - 1 Mental und Moral Science 35 Meloorology. 6 Myiliolony aud Folk-Lore 10 Perlodloftu 's l'hyslcs. 70 l'oetry 114 rlltlc:il and Social Sciences 25 Praotloal BtblM 2 Pabilo Documenta - - 75 EtefereDoa Books loo Science 66 Theulogy and Ueliglon 2(J Travel UB Zöology 48 In looklnK over tlise, books we,tfind that most excellent Judgment has been used in their selection. There is almost an entire absence of what is known as "trash." The works are nearly all standard, and their well-worn condition aml absence of dust accuniulation upon their upper edges, prove how falthfully they are serving the purpose for which they vare ntended, of enlightenlng the minds of the people who use them. Wlnle this library is a free one, there are rules to be observed by its patrons which might serve the public interest to publisn : 1. The library shall be free to all residente of the m-IumiI üiHtriut over fourteen years o: age, and to all pupila of the grammar and tugo schools. L Xo person shall draw more than one book at a time. a No une shall lend a book drawn from the Library. 4. BookH must not be kept out more t hm two weeks; and no person wlll bo permlttec to draw u.book whlle standing eharged witl anotner, or wlth noes and damages. 5. Auy person faillng to return a book wlthln the tiuie above speclSed sball pay a Una "1 ten cents for enen and every week tlnrcalter untll the same be returned. i;, lf ¦ book be kept lenger than four weeks the librarían símil land for U, and shall add 1U cents U) the line under rule 5. 7. Any person who shall lose, destroy, or for 'it;hl weekl fall to return h honk, slnill be Hable for its valae. aud ir the book be une o sel be símil be Hable for the vulue ol the bet. x. Perrons oharged wttb books shall bella hln for uny lujury to them uutil returned the amount to be estinoated by the librarían 9. Whi-ii books are drawn by minors, their parenl or Kiiardlans shall be Hable far any tlmsor cliinage8 occuring under the above On all school days the library is open froni 8:30 :i. in. to 1 o'clock p. ui. These liours ïuostly for. the students in attcndance upon the schools, though the good natu red librarian attends to calis at any time. Jïnt the hours for the general public is ea'--h Wednesday iifternoon, froin 4 to 5 o'clock p. m. It would seem as though many books uoiilil be lost by illowing the public free u?e of theno, bat Supt. Perry tells us that the averugu OÍ losses bas uot been over one or iwii a year. Of course, the libraria has to be alert, and keep an accurate account, md occasionally send noticesand impose unes. Miss Loving, the librarian, says that the number of books drawn for the past two years, (outside of those used by teachers and pupils in the building) reaches 10,000 per year. As there are 2,500 books In the entire library, tbis would ladtcate that each book in the library had been drawn four times. No wonder thut the more popular works are well worn and diacolored. The works of tiction show the greatest wear, perhaps, yet the librarian thinks that the general readers who draw frora the library are uot more partial to fiction than to biogmpliy, travel and general literature. In the fiction, however, will be found Scott, Dickens, Thaekery, Hawthorne, Cooper, MacDonald, Lytton, and other standara works. The history of this library would be hard to give. It was started away back iu the early days, and for a number of years was kept by E. B. Pond in the office that Justiee W. J. Clark now occuples over II. J. Brown's. In 18G3 or thereabouts, it was moved to the high school building .¦md has been kept there ever slnce. It is kept tip by the fine monies coming to the district, by the dog tax money, and occa¦ionally by appropriationsof $200 or $250 at the annual school meetings. It is one of the libraries that Is used. Not a book in it but wbat shows wear. It ought to contain doublé the number of volumes that it does, and some scheme should be invented by our citizena to produce a permanent fund for its benefit. The small admission fee for the high school junior exhibitions have been used to supply the library,,with the current beriodical literature, so that the Ceutury, Harper's and iu fact all of the good periodicals may be found on its shelves. Even i f the dog tax could be more thoroughly collccted it would be a God-send to this worthy object. Then when the new school building is erected a room lor the library would be tlioiimglily ippreciated by librarian, patrons, and every other person interested. TKlí ís a great age. Whcn the Unitec States first adopted the plan of makin good citi.ens out of the lower classes o Europe, all the world looked aghast anc prcdicted a liad follara. But it has bee a great success, so far. Whether we wi succeed with the recent importation known as anarchists, and composed of th scuin of Europe, is a question yet to be se tled - with Chicago as a leader - to whom the entire nation is looking wltli intei est. T hen another great feat was per formed. We began to take up ward pol ítk-iaiis and make statesmen out of them and the nailon appears so strong thatit i standing lt pretty well. And wonder have kept increasing, railroails over sccín ingly Impossible regíons, ocean cables telephones, great bridge?, electrlc lights (juininc from poplar bark, gugar frotn oh rags, and now comes a New York chera ist witli n product of coal tar far sweete tliau silgar. Jiist thlnkof it! Something sweet out of ooal tar! the worst binelling Ituff aside from shoemaker's cement, eve hetrd of ! The next thing to expect i rost' water from asafetida - or perhaps calm reMonlng out of a professionial prohibí tioniít. Eider Davls' time as superintendent o the poor expires December ,31, wlien he will be succeeded by E. P. Masón. Mr Davis will be tnuch missed for he has been onc of the best superintendente the coiinty has had in years, and we sincerely hope his successor will be as acceptable as the ilder has been. - Democrat. If it is wrong to tax saloons it is wrong to Jine tlicm for violating the laws, thereton the "blood moncy'' put in our libraries ought to burn in the hands of the school oftlcers.