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NOTES BY THE WAY
ON
*ree ^^
:i6rariea ani ISdcIs
WITH A PLEA
POR TUB
ESTABLISHMENT OF RATE-SDPPORTED LIBRARIES
IK TIIR
PROVINCE OF ONTARIO,
BY
JOHinsr H-A^XiL-A-]^
TORONTO :
PRINTED BY THE GLOBE PRINTING COMPANY.
1882.
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W
PREFACE.
jN preparing the following notes on free public libraries, I am
greatly indebted to J. D. Mullins, Chief Librarian of the
Birmingham Free Libraries, and to others who have written
on the formation and management of the greatest educational
machinery of our age. T visited many of these institutions in
England, France, and some of the People's Libraries in Ger-
many. Not knowing the language, I could get very little informa-
tion, only that they were in som'^ way under the management and
control of the municipal authorities, and " free to the people."
These notes are mere " shreds and patches gleaned on the way;"
simply a summary of what the writer saw and hoard about free
public; libraries in lands beyond the SPa.
Free public libraries, to be useful and successful, must be rate-
supported, and free from the tedious formalities of an educational
department, and represent every phase of human throught and
opinion, every class and condition of men, and be absolutely free
from all political and sectarian influences. They are the institutions
of the people. They must initiate, manage and pay for theii'
support.
LiNDKN Villa,
Toronto, 28rdDec., 1H81.
f w/
A PLEA FOR
Rate-Supported Libraries.
Taking part in any movement having for its object the en-
lightenment and lilting up of the people has always been to me a
source of enjoyment, and on this occasion I feel it a privilege as
well as a duty which, if realized, must not only secure ni'^ntal
enlightenment for many, but be an honor of high character to the
city of Toronto. I have seriously thought over the propriety of
having a free public library in Toronto ; and the more I have
pondered over the subject, the more have I been convinced that we
ought to possess one. The establishment of such a library has a
special claim on all clisses in this Queen City of tlie West, apart
from the direct bonetits it will confer on the couimunity. We all
feel a pride in our city and its many useful institutions, and would
feel more so if we had a free public library, for all must be
sensible of the fict that the foundation of a public library has in
all ages of the world constituted a claim on the grateful remembrance
of posterity, and added distinction to the place in which it has been
established. In all the chief and most vital departments of life there
is more practical intelligent action displayed now, and also a greater
yearning for such action, than at any former period of the world's
history.
Upon activity of this kind depends the welfare of man and the
true progress of nations. It is the force which moves the world : it
is THE only real power which can move it. Individually and nation-
ally, we each day become more alive to the fact that " Knowledge
is power" — that it is the very source, spirit and embodiment of
power the most lasting, and strength the most useful. As nations
emerge from barbarisui they resort more to brain and less to mere
muscle, aud the true superiority of the civilized man over the savage
consists in the former having secured more rational ideas as to the
conditions of life, the resources of nature, and the best way such
resources can be utilized. Education can alone fully supply and
sustain the power. ^*
6
A I'LKA KOIt
Some pewons have received a high and liberal education, but tlu^
majority, througli no fault of their own, have but a defective supply
of that light which we term education. The prevf iling notion of
education is, lo teach the young. Here the mother is the first
monitor, and then the schoolmaster. Education at this stage is
|)rimary and fundamental, and means drawing out the faculties of
the young mind and not the uiere cramming and accumulation of
things in the memory, which is too ofte.i the case now. ^The young
mind should not be a cupboard, and never was intended to be a place
for the storing of things without first knowing their meaning and
import. Children are like saplings full of tendrils ; they must be
trained before they are taught how to shoot. Here comes in the
difference between education and information. Education means all
this, and something more. It has been truly said, " Education i.s the
process of making individual men participators in the best attain-
ments of the human mind in general, namely, in that which is the
most rational, true, beautiful and good."
Tellier says : " Much of our education, even our best education,
is got out of school."
Then how are we to attain this desirable end ; for people cannot
always be going to school ( It follows that, in order to make up in
some degree for that which has been either neglected or but partially
performed, and to keep pace with the progress and requirements
of civilization, communities should, during their leisure hours, resort
considerably to books, and where books cannot be individually pro-
cured, then I hold that they should be obtained by combined action.
As sup[)lements to ordinary education, as means for supplying to the
masses what defective training or limited resources of money may
have deprived them of, and as counter attractions to the many ener-
vating allurements which have crept into modern life, I look upon
free libraries as the best possible agencies and material aids which
can be devised.
The words "Free Public Library" |)0sses.s a charm which scarcely
any others can claim, and there are few associations so pleasant as
those excited by them. To all lovers of books and poor students the
doors of these institutions are wide open, without money and without
price, to the rich and poor alike. They mean a place where they
may withdraw from the hurry and bustle of everyday life, from
the cares of commerce and the strife of j)olitics, and hold sweet com-
IIATK-SUPPORTBD LIBIIAKIES.
munion with the saints ami hnroos of the past; "and .where I can, "
says Edmund Waller, " call uji the ablest spirits of ancient times,
the most learned philosophers, the wisest councillors, and make
them serviceable to me. " The multiplication of free libraries, and
their popularization, is one of the pro^'ressive signs of the age in
which we live. Greater, <,'rander anil nobler in their aim and in
their ultimate results, are these institutions. They are designeil
at no distant future to take possession of the public mind. These
will be the future temples, where the ij;randost anil noblest of
the high priests of literature will sing ihcir sweet songs, to cheer
and console us through life's journey.
In a mental, moral and social sense, they are liighly useful : they
not only tend to enlighten und to uiak(! sharper men and better
citizens generally, but they involve a real pleasure which, if once
tasted, will never be wholly neglected or forgotten.
In the perusal i.f properly selected books— such books as ought
to Hnd their way into every free library— pleasure is intermingled
with proHt, and, I need hardly say, is a very admirable coml»ination.
An allusion to the history as well as to the advantages of books
will not, I think, be with »ut interest. Here let me give some testi-
mony as to the value of good books :
"Books rule the whole civilized worlil. " -Voltair>'.
"Books, dear books,
Have been anil are my comfort morn anil night.
Adversity, prosperity, at home.
Abroad, health, sickness, good or ill report—
The same firm friends, the same refreshment ricli.
And source of consolation. "~Dr. Doddx.
" Books are a guide in youth and an entertainment in old age. They
help us to forget the crossness of men and things, compose our cares and lay
our disappointments asleep. When we are weary of the living we may
repair to the dead, who have nothing of peevisluiess, pride or design in their
■convei'sation. "—Jeremy Taylor.
" Books are each a world, and books we know,
Are a substantial world, both pure and good.
Round these with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness will grow. ' — Wordsworth .
" A good hook is the precious life-blood of a master spirit embalmed, and
treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. "—Milton.
"Books are for company the best friends; in doubt, councillors; in
<ieep sorrow, comforters ; Time's prospective ; the iiome traveller's ship or
8
A PLEA FOR
horse ; the busy man's best recreation ; the opiate of idle weariness ; the
mind's beat ordinary ; Nature's garden, seed-plot of immortality." — Richard
Whitelock.
"Books, my sure solace, and refuge from frivolous cares; books, the
oalmers, as well as the instructors of the mind." — Mr», Inchbaid.
" Come my best friends, my books, and lead me on. " — Cowley.
" A book is a friend that never deceives. " — Ouelbert Be Pixerecourt. "
" My books are always at leisure for me ; they are never engaged."
— Cicero.
" Books are the legacies that genius leaves to mankind, to he delivered
down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those
who are yet unborn." — Addison.
The remotest facts we can get at show that man has always had
a special regard for books. Books are records of human feeling,
opinion, action and experience ; and though the mere form of such
records may have differed in different ages, the desire for and creation
of such records have been inseparable from the career of mankind.
Stones, metal, shells, leaves of trees, bark, skins, slabs of wood, sticks,
wax, ivory, parchment, papyrus, and ultimately paper, have been
used for those recording purposes. And the difficulty of production
or reproduction — through the absence of printing — was so great, that
the price of books, or, more properly, bound manuscripts, was in old
times most extraordinary. So great was the value of books in those
days, that the gift of one to a monastery or other religious place
entitled the donor to sundry raaspos for the repose of his soul.
In the lives of the Popes and some of the bishops of the Roman
Catholic Chirch, the donation of books to religious orders are
recorded as acts of signal generosity, and the gifts even inscribed on
the monuments of the departed benefactors.
Mention is made of a Homily which was once sold for 200 sheep
and five quarters of wheat. An Egyptian King once gave in money
the equivalent of $15,000 for the works of three Greek authors,
whose productions, or such of them as i-emain, can be bought for $1.75.
In the year 1 440 a book which we can now purchase for one dollar
and twenty-five cents would have cost $2,500. The first type books
were only printed onone side — as many nursery books now are ; and
the first book printed in English related to the " Game and playe of
the Chesse," and was printed by Caxton. In the old times some books
were deemed so valuable that money could not buy them. In the
monastery of Suabia the monks had a very rare copy of Virgil
which they could not be induced to part with for money ; but an
_J
KATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 9
Englishman soon found out that these pious old monks had a weak-
ness for hock, and this classical rarity, which could not be bought
for gold, was ultimately secured with hock to the value of about
$36 ; so that one may say they were completely hocussed out of this
literary treasure, which found its way into the famous library of the
Earl of Spencer. It is also stated that this famous and rich book
collector bought the whole library of the Duke of Cassano to got
possession of the Naples edition of Horace, printed in 1474 ; and to
show the scarcity and value of books in 1425, when the English
became masters of Paris, the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France^
sent the whole of the royal library to England. The collection
contained 853 volumes, comprising missals and devotional works,
valued at £2,250. The value of money then, it is needless to .say,
was very much greater than now.
So valuable were books, or so scarce — which is the measure of
value — were tliey, tliat some time iifter the introduction of printing,
volumes were deposited in churches for public perusal, and chained
to the desks or benches on which tlioy were placed so as to prevent
their more ardent or covetou^i admirers ste.ilin!^ tliem. In the
parish ..lurch of Leyland, which is about three miles from my native
place — Chorlny, in Ijancashire — there are novv founJ relics of this
old book-planting system. Tiiey consist of four hooks rehiting to
martyrology, &c., and they are bound in wood and fhained to the
bottout of a window. The people living when this sys!em was
in vrguc coidd not know much about books, owing to their rarity ;
but I pro.sunie they wouhl, at any late, know a little more as to the
meaning oi tlicir ccmtents than some literary speculators I have read
of, who once, to their apparent great delight, met with some volumes
written in Arabic, purchase<l them, then hur^i^■d home apparently
still more gleeful, and afterwards, on getting the said "works" ex-
amined by soniebo«ly, were as amazed as exasperated to find that
they were merely the old used-up account books of some Arabian
tiadesfolk or siiopkeepers — waste paper, like that wo buy now for
about two and a quarter dollars per hundred pounds. Amongst all
the leading natifUis there Las always been a desire evinced for book-
collecting and libi-ary-forming. The oldest or first library is said to
have been formed by an E,'yptian king at Memphis. The first
library of the Greeks was at Athens. In Western Europe libraries
were firat formed by Charlemagne in the eighth century, under the
I
10 A PLEA FOR
direction and nianageuKjnt of Alcuin, a leanmd 8axon, who, in
«arly life was a pupil of Egbert, Ai-chl)ishop of York, who got copies
of books, and thus transplanted into France the flowers ot Briiaiu.
The Anglo-Saxons manifested a disposition iavora'!)le to having
libraries in England ; subsecpiently, the first library in that country
was at York. Libi-aries were founded in Germany in the eleventh
century, and in Spain in the twelfth. The iirst lending or circulat-
ing library of which we read in well attested history, according to
i)r. Adam Clarke, was formed at Oicsarea about the year 309 A.D. by
St. Piiniphilius, and comprised about 30,000 volumes, a most extra-
ordinary number for that time. They mostly treated on religious
subjects, and the books were only lent to religiously disposed persons.
The first circulating lil^yary we read of in England was formed in
London about 1730, by one Wright, a booksjeller in the Strand.
Southey says that Samuel Fancourt was the first to start a circu-
lating library in London.
In 1745 there was a circulating library established at Cambridge.
In 1751, William Hutton, a learned bookseller, started a real
circulating library at Birmingham. This class of librai'ies ra])idly
extended, and were a great boon tcj those readers wh(j could not
atibrd to buy hooks. They were the means of effecting an immense
improvement in the bettor diffusion of (sducation and information
to the i)eople.
The success of these libraries was so great that some wise heail
proposed to tax them by license at a } early rate of tw(j shillings
and sixpence per 1 00 volumes.
In the year 1 799 an Act was [)assed reipiiring every one who
wished to start a news-room or circulating liljrary to take out a
license ; but let me quote the words of this Act, which are most extra-
ordinary : " Every house, room or place, which shall be opened or used
as a place of meeting for the purjtose of reading books, pamphlets,
newspapers, or other publications, and to which any person shall
be admitted by payment of mor.ey (if not regularly licensed by those
in authority), shall be deemed a disorderly house, and the persons
opening it shall be punished as the law directs."
The greatest libraiy of anticpiity was founded by Ptolemy Soter
at Alexandria, and with the contents of another, called its "Daughter,"
the total number of books of a j)ublic library character in that city
wtis about 600,000. Through the fanaticism of Caliph Omar chiefly,
IlATE-SUPPOKTEl) LIBRAUIES. 11
the gi-eut collection of books here was destroyed, liis arginnent being :
'* If the books agree with the Koran, the word of God, they are use-
less, and need not be preserved ; if they disagree with it, tliey are
pernicious ; let them be destroyed." Gibbon has, witli icy scepticism,
sneered away the romantic tale of the learned Albiipharagius as to the
burning of the famous Alexandrian Library by Cali[)h Omar. He is
strongly tempted to " deny that the 700,000 volumes, more or less,
collected by the learning and munificence of the Ptolemys, were dis-
tributed among the four thousand baths of the captured city." The
historian leans to the opinion that " the library had been dispersed ages
before the time of Caliph Omar." Omar evidently had as great a con-
tempt for books as Hobbes, the Malmesbury philoso[)her, who, though
greatly indebted to them, once said that he should like all the books in
the world to be put into a ship— a pretty big ship he must have had
in his imagination, to take such a freight — and then to have a hoK-
bored in her side and sunk. I suppose he would have excepted his
own great work, the " Leviathan ;" but I am not certain, for, having
such a name, he might suspect, like the writer of old, that the
•' Leviathan " could swim.
This one-book theory reminds me of a story 1 once heard lelated
about an old English lady. She had a very bad meuiory. One
book satisfied her ; and yet this was strange, for she was (piite fond
of reading, and liked to read something fresh ; but having such a
memory as that I have named, her one book was always a new one-
for, by the time she got to the end of the volume she had for-
gotten all the previous ])U-ts, and so kept reading it over and over
again, deriving each time the enjoyment of original perusal. She
was a woman of one book.
There is a very good story told of a respectable alderman of
Oxford, who was so fascinated with "Robinson Crusoe," that front
youth to old age he could read no other book except the Bible, and read
it through every year and believed every word to be true. Unfortu-
nately for him, a matter-of-fact sort of a friend told him it was little
more than fiction, and the hnro nothing more than a Scotch sailor
named Alexander Selkirk, whose plain story of his shipwreck on
the Islaml of Juan Fernandez had been embellished, and worked up
into the charming narrative he so much admired. 'Your informa-
tion may be correct, " said the worthy alderman ; *' but, in unde-
ceiving me, you have robbed me of one of the greatest pleasures of
my old age. "
18
A PLEA FOR
With respect to modern libraries, printing has of course done
very ranch for them. The greatest libraries in the world are in
London, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg and
Copenhagen. The chief libraries in America are the Congress
Libraiy, the public one at Boston, and that at K.irvard College, and
in Canada the Government Library at Ottawa, and the University
Lil)rary at Toronto.
That famous storehouse of learning, the British Museum, has a
wondrous collection of books, comprisinjj ovor 1,350,000 volumes.
The yearly addition of books to the library is over 35,000 volumes.
Antonio Panizzi, in his evidence before a Select Committee on
the British Museum, said : " I want a poor student to have the same
means of indulging his learned curiosity, of consulting the sime
authorities, of following the most intricate inquiry, as the richest
man in the kingdom, as far as books go." The noblest and most
costly bequest of books ever made to this temple of learuin<» wis
that of Thomas Grenville. This rare collection comprised 20,240
volumes, and had cost over $270,000. Rich and rare wei-e the
gems, and without a rival for beauty and splendor of binding. All
accessible to the public except those priceless rarities, Caxton's ''Game
and Playe of the Chesse," and Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and
TMgcdies, printed in 1623.
The memorandum to the codicil to the Right Hon. Thomas Gren-
villc's will, in which he gave his unique collection of books to the
nation, is very nobly worded tit us : " A gr.'at part of my library has
been purchased foin the pi'olits of a sinecure office given me by the
public, and I feel it to be a debt and a duty that I should acknow-
ledge this oblig.iiion by giving th^it library so acquired to the British
Museum, f«)r the use of the public."
With respect to frae public libraries, though they may seem
very novel to some persons and grate unpleasantly upon the cars of
others — those highly economical people, who consider that it is a
good deal more blessed to button up their trousers' pocket t!i m to
give anything out of them — I say, that while to these folks free
public libraries may look sinj;ular and by no means agreeable, they
are in one senate old institutions and in another sense institutions
which, in the Old World and especially in England, are bKComing de-
cidedly populiir. On the continent of Europe free libraries have
long met, in their establishment and protection, with the favor of
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 13
municipal bodies. In developing these libraries and keeping them
abreast of the times, some of the municipal authorities alluded to
may have been remiss : but they nevertheless have shown a praise-
worthy desire for their establishment and conservation. Private
generosity has, in many instances, been at the foundation of them.
Books given by lovers of literature to corporations, to be kept by
corporations for the use of the public, have been the origin of these
libraries.
FRANCE.
It is said that " they do these things better in France," and if I
may judge of the truth of this saying from the number of free public
libraries under the control and support of the different municipal
departments wherein tliey are established, I would say they did.
There are in France over 350 free public libraries ; of these about
300 are consulting or reference and lending libraries, the balance
lendiiJg libraries only. The number of printed books were estimated,
in 1&78, to have been over 4,250,000 volumes, and about 45,000
MSS. relating to the early history of France, and to ecclesiastical and
Church history. Not a few of these libraries had thoir foundation
at the spoliation of the monastic institutions of the country; and being
taken care of by the municipal authorities, to them can be traced
the beginning of the French free public libraries. To go into this
more jwrticularly : There are six provincial towns having over
720,000 printed volumes and MSS., and sixteen towns having
485,041 volumes and MSS., besides a nuniber of villages having
from 2,000 to 3,000 volumes each. Paris possesses the finest free
libraries in the country, rich in every department of literature, and
Laving many bibliographical rarities. There are eight free libiviries,
the chief being the National Library, and the whole stock of books,
maps and IvISS. is equal to about 2,000,000. The City Council of
Paris has a magnificent municipal library, which was lodged in a little
chapel of the Palais Luxembourg during the rebuilding of the Hotel do
Ville. This unique collection of books is bound in different colors,
according to the country from which they came, each nation having
a color assigned to it. There were books from Canada, United
States, England and Germany. Lyons has a noble free library,
creditable to the town of silks. This library comprises over 150,000
volumes and MSS., and is chiefly famous for the grand collections
bequeathed to it by Pierre Aubert, Claude Brossette, and Pierre
H
A PLKA FOR
Adamoli, who made it one of the conditions that tlie librarian should
be neither " monk nor bookseller." Rouen, a very large manufacturing
town, has a famous free library, and is notable as the birthplace of
Corneille. This library comprises about 200,000 volumes pud MS.S.
rich in French history, and some very rare works. Vire is a beauti-
ful village in NorraHudy, famous for its old castle and its library of
English books. The founder of this library was a Frenchman-
Monsieur Pichon. He was taken prisoner by the English at the
capture of Louisburg, in 1758 ; he then went to England, and got up
this library, and presented it to his native place, Vire. It was in
this collection that Dibdin saw a black-lettered Latin Bible, by
Proben, of the date 1485, and offered a gold Najwleon for this black-
letter diamond ; the librarian replied, " We are always pleased to
show our books, and even allow them to be read, but we do not sell
them."
GERMANY.
Berlin has a Royal Library liaving over 700,000 volumes and
about 15,000 MSS., 9 public libraries, and L') people's libraries, in
various parts of the city. These, as nearly as I could learn, not
knowing the language, were under municipal control, and free to
all comers, I also found good libraries at Leipzic and Dresden, free
to the people. Germany is a nation of book publishers and authors.
The catalogue of Leipzic contains the names of over 57,000 authors ;
and it is estimated that over 10,000 new publications are sent out
from the German press (;very year, comprising over a million volumes :
and it has been sarcastically stated that the time will soon
come when the number of (}erman writers will exceed that of
German readers. There is one very noticeable feature about the
German libraries which is very commend able, and which exists no-
where else : that of sending books from one city to another, through
the different libraries, to any student who may recjuire them, at thi-
trifling cost of the carriage.
GRE.VT BRITAIN.
Respecting the United Kingdom, the free library movement is,
especially in England, making commendable headway. For many
years libraries given by private individuals and rendered accessible
to the public by personal recommendations from mayors, aldermen,
etc., have been in existence in some of the older Imroughs. Bui
many of these libraries, though very good in their way, and substan
KATE-SUPPORTED LIBRA UIES. 15
tial monuments of the generosity of tliose wlio bequeathed them to
the public, have become too antiquarian or classical for popular
appreciation. Free libraries for the people, dependent on subscription*
and gifts of books from th*^ clergy and gentry, have not been a
success in England, for they had the branil of charity on them^
which was an insuperable hindrance to their becoming popular and
useful. Only by such stores of modern books as town authorities
can obtain by means of the Free Libraries Act of 1850 can the popu-
lar mind of the United Kingdom be attracted and tangibly operated
upon. By the English Legislature, several Acts of Parliament have
been passed in regard to free public libraries. The tirst had re-
(^•en ce to Englsmd, and was passed in 1850. Three years later the
Public libraries Act was extended to Ireland and Scotland. Since
then, so far as legislation goes, it has involved various amendments,
the last being made in 1877.
By the Act of 1850 the supporting rate could not exceed one-
lialfpcnny in the pound, and somehow it made no allowance for the
supply of books. By an amendment passed in 1871, all towns having
a population of upwards of 5,000 may, through their town coun-
cils, and with the consent of two-thirds of the ratepayers, establish
free libraries and support the same out of the rates to the extent of
one penny in the pound. Parishes with a .similar population, as
also local improvement districts, can, by a similar majority of rate-
payers, establish free libraries in their midst, and support them by
the .same means. The Act only applies in Scotland and Ireland to
boroughs with populations of 10,000 and upwards. I think this is
a mistake. Any town or district, whatever its population, shoidd,
if it is Avilling to tax itself for a pur ose so laudable as that of book
biiying and book reading, b(! allowed to do so. With respect to the
Irish, ])erhaps the Legislature thought that all communities with
10,000 were enlightened enough by nature — a compliment to Pat;
or that, like Jack Lofty, the creation of one of Ireland'.s and the
world's mo.'^t plea-sant writers (Oliver (Joldsmith), they did not care
about indulging in or ina!dng tlu; acipiaintance of very polished
people ; for it will be remembered that lack Lofty, who figures as a
character in (Joldsmith's " l.lood-natured Man, " said, when a modern
poet was mentioned to him, " Oh, a modern ; we men of business
desi)ise the moderns ; and as for th(j ancients, we have not time to
read them. " Then, so far as Scotland goes, the Legislature might
16 A PLEA FOR
conceive that the parochial school system, v/hich has so loujj wnd so
excellently prevailed there, would, in the less populous districts,
secure for the inhabitants as much education as they needed, iiut
the education which the system named confers is chiefly if not
entirely elementary; to the bulk it amounts to no n»ore ; and it
should have been remembered that in the matter of reading, say,
after people aie made efficient in that department, they then require
somethinii^ placed within their reach to read, otherwise it is simply
like giving a person brisk morning exercise, and then telling him
tiiat thei-e is no breakfast for the appetite created.
In the United Kingdom there are now about 100 rate-supported
free public libraries, possessing in the aggiegate upwards of one
million volumes ; and the great majority — nearly all of them, I might
say — Ituve museums connected with tiiem. equally free to the j)ub-
lic. Lixncashiie was the first county in Britain which took advan-
tage of the Public Free Libraiies Act of 1850, and Manchester was
the first place within that county which applied the Act. The
principal free libraries in Englaud are sit Manchester, Liverpool,
Birmingham. Sheffield and Leeds. Nearly all the free libraries
in the United Kingdom have reference departments, containing books
which can be iic "ly referred t((, but which cannot be taken off the
premises like the volumes in the lending sections. Works of fiction
form a considerable [lortiou jf the ctock of lending books at each
libiary.
The people of Leicester appear to be fonder of works of fiction
than those of any other borough in the kingdom wheie the Free
Libraries Act has been adopted. There, according to the latest re-
port, I have seen the issue ot books of fiction actually amount to 80
per cent, of the entire lot taken out of the library. Considering the
practical mauncr in which the people of Leicester devote themselvas
to he understandings of other people — their staple trade beiug boot
and shoe making — it is somewhat strange that they should attend
to their, own in this very "light" fashion.
Novels. — Many persons oVyect to free public libraries because a
large per-centage of the books taken out of the lending de|)artiuent
are novels ; forgetting that a great number of the books in our Sun-
day School libraries are works of fiction, moral and religious stories,
drawn with a delicacy of touch on the line of novel land —
" Truth severe by fairy fiction dressed."
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES.
17
The type of novftla in these libraries is best represented by " The
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain," " The Dairyman's Daughter," " Ccelebs
in Search of a Wife," " The Basket of Flowers," &c. These are novels
in every sense of the word — novels with a purpose to teach religious
and moral truths.
Gibbon says : "The constitution of minds differs like that of bodies ;
the same regimen will not suit all ; each indiyidual ought to study
his own tastes." Just so ; there are good and bad books on every
subject, as well as good and bad novels.
Charles Lamb says : '• I have no repugnance. ' Shaftesbury ' is
not too genteel for me, or ' Jonathan Wild ' too low. I can read any
thing I can call a book."
There would be a great many Sir Anthony Absolutes now if they
could have their way, condemning eveiything in books that did not
agree with their ideas. Thanks to the universality of reatlin^. which
is the true and sure test of good taste, they cannot have their wav
or our free libraries would be condemned, as the circulating libraries
were in 1775. In Sheridan's famous play, "The Rivals," Sir
Anthony Absolute says : " A circulating library in a town is an ever-
green tree of diabolical knov ledge ; it blossoms all the year ; and
depend or. it, that they who are so fond of handling the leaves will
long for the fruit at last."
The most careful folk regarding books in the kingdom appear to
be those of South Shields, for there I find they have only lost about
three books since their free library was opened eight years since.
All the free libraries in England seem to be much in favor by tlie
communities among whom they are situated. I heard of no sruniblinf
at their cost ; and they have come to be regarded as most pleasant,
convenient and necessary institutions, and the people cheerfully pay
to sustain them. Perhaps, however, I ought to except just one
place — the before-named place devoted so much to other people's
understandings — I mean Leicester ; it makes no headway at all ;
evidently thinks that in the mattei of progress there is and should
bo "nothing like leather;" for there I learn (if a chanjre has taken
place, it has occurred recently) that " the issues of books in both
lending and consulting departments have been stationary since the
opening of the free library ten years ago." One of the English free
libraries — that at Bolton— has a peculiar, and yet a quite advan-
tageous sort of inner circle department of reading. It has what I
2
18 A PLEA FOR
may term a central subscri[)tion library ; its government and mem-
bership are separate from those of the general free library ; the sub-
scription is one guinea per annum ; books are purchased and in no
case hired, and after a period of twelve months all prvate proprie-
torship in them ceases, and they pass from the subscription library
into the free library. A somewhat similar plan to this exists at
Dundee. In Wales there are about half a dozen free libraries ; in Scot-
land about eleven (there is one not so very far from John o'Groat's
house, it is at Thurso) ; and in Ireland there are only three places
which have as yet adopted and put into force the Free Libraries'
Act — Dundalk, Ennis and Sligo ; they ai-e of recent adoption, and
no particulars are yet within reach as to their success. There is one
fact which is self-evident to all who visit this unhappy island, that
in some parts they are sadly in rear of all kinds of educational works.
It is hopeful to see some signs of improvement.
BIRMINGHAM.
This magnificent free library was destroyed by fire in January,
1879. The Shakespearian Library, said to contain over 7,000 volumes,
and in which, by yeai's of labor, the most complete body of Shakes-
pearian literature had been brought together, was entirely lost. The
Cervantes' Library, containing all the known editions, and of books
relating to and illustrating them, was also destroyed.
Nearly the whole of the reference library, containing over 40,000
volumes, was destroyed, also a unique collection of works on War-
wickshire. These rare collections were gems of literature and invalu-
able ; most of them can never be replaced. There was much interest
manifested in the loss of this library, and for its restoration contribu-
tions were given, and in a very short time 390 persons gave $66,315;
working-men, $285 ; members of the Natural History and Liter-
ary Associations, $4,135 ; making in all $71,675. The report says,
on this sad literary calamity, " (Jreat sympathy was felt and expressed
throughout the country and abroad. Valuable gifts of books were
received towards the restoration of the library."
The present number of volumes is 80,000 ; the reference library
has recuperated itself wonderfully since the disaster named. It now
includes 44,000 books ; the monthly average of volumes lent out is
35,000 ; while the number consulted for purely reference purposes is
on the average 21,600 per month. The library system here is of the
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 19
•divisional kind. It consists of one reference, two central lendin".
and six town branch lemUnsf libraries, with news-rooms attached.
The maintenance is, of course, considerable, but the penny rate
meets the expenditure — must do so. It realizes £6,000 a year,
which sum supports the libraries and pays off the interest and pro-
])ortion of the capital borrowed. At Birmingham there are also an
art gallery and a museum under the management of the Free Library
'Committee. They are partly provided by gifts and partly by pur-
•chased articles. And they are well patronized by the public.
MANCHESTER
has a fine free library system. It consists of seven divisional lib-
raries, the total number of books being 147,031 — 64,077 for reference
and 83,554 for lending purposes. The monthly average of refei-ence
books consulted is 19,058 (this, at any rate, was the number referred
to in March — the month quoted in the return I have procured), while
the monthly average of books lent out (same month given) is 71,411.
The total annual cost of books and maintenance is £11,000. The
yearly costs of the newspapers, magazines, etc., of the reading room
department is £650. In connection witli the free library system there
is no museum department, but the inhabitants are not without gra-
tuitous accommodation in this respect. Thoy have, and for many years
have had, certainly one very tine museum. I refer to that at Peel
Park. It is a commodious, extensively patronized, well equipped
museum, and I should sav one of the most valuable and interestins
in the United Kingdom. This library has a most remarkable collec-
tion of pamphlet literature relating to trade, commerce, political and
religious questions which have agitated the public mind for the last
40 years, and must prove of immense value to the future historian ;
is rich to overflowing in English history and literature, county
histories, and a splendid collection of works on plastic arts and
textile manufactures. The library enjoys a most liberal and gen-
erous endowment, but this great educator was not left to depend
for its lasting success on the liberality of individuals, for when
it was put before the ratepayers for the adoption of the Library
Act, they voted 4,000 to 441 in favor of taxing themselves to the
extent of one penny in the pound for library purposes. All honor
to the town of calicoes and prints as being the pioneer in this noble
and regenerating movement. The people never grumble at being
20 A PLEA FOR
taxed for a good tiling. The Hon. Edward Everett, on the incidence*
of taxation in the States, told Lord Lytton, in a conversation a fe.w days
before the openini,' of this library, "that our largest tax of all is our
education rate. We nevergruinble at its amount, because it is in educa-
tion that we find the principle of our national safety." This library^
with its numerous branches, is the best and most successfully managi-d
institution in the world, and stands in the front rank for usefulness.
At the opening of thu lending department of this library, speak ing^
to a resolution, Monckton Milnes (Ijord Houghton) said : " These
books are to be enjoyed by all the inhibitants of this place in full
community, and thny will be shared alike by the wealthiest and most
intelligent amongst you, and by the poorest and simplest.^'
Lord Lytton said on the same occasion : " A library is not only a-
school, it is an arsenal and an armory. Books are weapons either for
war or for self-defence, and the principles of chivalry are as applicable
to the student now as they were to the knights of old. To defend
the weak, to resist the oppressor, to give to man the service and to
God the glory, is the student's duty now, as it was once the duty of
the knight."
LIVERPOOL.
The questions I submitted for answers could not, for want of time^
be replied to as they were formulated ; but from the Town Clerk's
office I received a copy of the last report issued. It is the 28th
annual report, and brings matters down to the present year. From
this I learn that '* the history of this in.stitution has been one of con-
tinued progress from its commencement, nor has the last year fallen
short in any department of usefulness." It has a well patronized
reference library ; the average daily consultations during the past
year being 2,057. The total number of volumes in the lending
departments is 43,285, and the issues during the past twelve months
have been 436,415. The daily average issue of magazines for the
same period has been 231, or 65,056 in the aggregate; the average
issue of weekly periodicals 213,975, or 760 per day. There is here,
as at other places, a stock of " Patents for Inventions" volumes,
which, during the year, have been consulted 13,913 times. There
are many dictionaries at the library of which no statistics are taken.
In connection with the library there is a large and magnificent
museum, which, during the 213 days it was open last year, had an
average daily attendance of 1,948 visitors, and a baautiful art gallery.
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES 21
•which last year had an average daily attendance of 2,349. The con-
tents of the former consist largely of given and loaned articles.
Those of the latter are to some extent of a similar character. The
building, I understand, with some pictures, was a gift of Sir A. B.
Walker. Exhibitions of pictures, independent of the ordinary stock
on view, have been periodically held in this gallery, and have attracted
much public attention ; 84,G50 of the 610,779 persons who went to
the place last year being visitors thereof In addition to the library,
museum and art gallery, an annexe for ethnological objects is now
beinjr constructed in the rear of the last named institution. The fact
that this combination of places r«;ceives the popular patronage which
the figures indicate, shows the way in which they are appreciated.
Indeed, as a simple matter of common sense, they would not be kept
open — certainly the free library and reading room — if the people did
not feel convinced that they were worth the money expended upon
them. The people of Liverpool are greatly indebted to Sir William
Brown for his unbounded liberality towards establisliing the free
library and museum. The first stone of the Brown Free Libraiy and
Museum buildings was laid on the 15th April, 1857. On this occa-
sion Sir William spoke as foUows : " When T proposed building the
library and museum, I considered that I was only performing an act
of [)ublic duty which Divine Providence had placed within my power,
and which deserved very little thanks." About one in three of the
volumes issued are novels. Next come travels, voyages, poetry, history,
biography, botany, and many magnificent works on natural history,
including the works of Catlin, Bonaparte, Audubon and Wilson.
What would not William Roscoe, one of Liverpool's noblest sons in
literature, have given when entering as a young and a poor student
upon the battle of life — before he bacame famous as the author of the
"Life of Lorenzo de' Medici" and the " Life and Pontificate of Leo
X." — for the opportunities and helps these institutions now afford 1
Those sad yet hopeful words he wrote on being forced by adverse
oircumstances to part with his noble library :
"As one who, destined from his friends to part,
Regrets his loss, but hopes again, erewhile
To share their converse and enjoy their smile.
And temper as he may sftVction's dart :
Thus, loved associates, chiefs of elder art,
Teachers of wisdom, who could once beguile
My tedious hours, and lighten every toil,
22 A PLEA FOR
I now resign you. Nor with fainting heart ;
For pass a few short years, or days, or hours,
And happier seasons may their dawn unfold,
And all your sacred fellowship restore ;
When freed from earth, unlimited its powers,
Mind shall with mind direct communion hold.
And kindred spirits meet to part no more."
PRESTON
has recently adopted the Free Libraries Act. In 1879 it opened a
small free libiciry for its inha bitants, the nucleus thereof being a lot
of cheaply purchased books from a semi-moribund local place called
the Preston Literary and Philosophical Institution. There are now
in this free library 9,073 volumes : 200 being of the reference order.
The monthly average of books referred to is 200 : the monthly
average of books lent out is 8,000. The annual cost of books and
maintenance is £1,000, and the cost of news room per year is X60.
Attached to the library is a reading-room, well stocked with news-
papers, niJigazines, etc., and, like the library, chiefly patronized by
working-class people. A sniall but neat and newly-organized
museum, free to the public, is located in a building belonging to the
Corporation, about a quaiter of a mile otf, and in immediate conti-
guity with it is a collection of books consisting largely of classical,
historical and biographical works, called " Dr. Shepherd's Library "^
— Dr. Shepherd, an old and now long-deceased local gentleman,
being the generous bequeather of it to the town. This is chiefly a
reference library, and gratuitous admission to it is obtained on th«
personal or written recommendation of any of the local aldermen.
The general free library is situated in the Town Hall. By and by
a tine new building will be erected in Preston. Acting in conformity
with discretionary powers invested in them as the trustees of a de-
ceased local gentleman (Mr. E. R. Harris)^ they have, on condition
that the Corporation will provide a suitable site, decided to give
jB90,000 for a new free library and museum building — £60,000 for
building purposes, £15,000 for endowment, and £15,000 for refer-
ence books and works of art. The Corporation have decided to give
the requisite site, the cost of which, in the demolition of rent-making
premises, etc., will amount to several thousands of pounds. Thfr
money granted by the trustees in question for endowment, reference
works, and museum articles, will not meet the whole of the provi-
sional and maintenance charges ; the deficit in this i-espect will have
RATE.SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 28
to be met by the ratepayers, and thus far, though the times have
for between one and two years been anything but prosperous or even
promising, tbey have, with very rare exceptions, given no audible
vent to anything like a grumbling spirit in reference to free library
expenditure.
BRADFORD.
This Yorkshire borough has a good free library, consisting of a
central reference collection of books, a central lending department,
and six divisional collections in different parts of the town, for the
greater convenience of the inhabitants. According to the last issued
annual report (for 1880), the reference portion of the library con-
tains 11,152 volumes, the lending department 13,401 volumes, and
other branches (that for patent specifications supplied by Govern-
ment being, I should say, the chief), about 8,000 other books. The
library was opened in 1872 for reference purposes ; in the following
year a lending department was added, and in 1874-5 the first of the
divisional places was opened. The total consultations of reference
books last year was 217,598 ; the issues from the lending depart-
ments during the like period were 1,081,871 ; and the specific it'ou
book were evidently fairly attractive, for during the year there were
11,355 consultations. The yearly cost of books and maintenance is
about £3,000. In connection with the free library there are news-
rooms for males and females. The cost of the newspapers, maga-
zines, etc., supplied to the news- rooms is about £120 per year. The
library rate of Id. in the pound yields at present about £3,200 per
annum. There is also in the town an art museum, established under
the Public Libraries and Museums Acts, and since its opening on
the 6th of December to the 11th of October — ten months within
five days, and the latest period reported upon — the number of pub-
lic visits was 132,261.
There has been more real suffering and poverty in Bradford,
through the change of fashions in women's dress goods, this last five
years, than in any part of England. They paid their taxes, and the
library and museum flourished.
EDINBURGH
does not possess a free library, for this simple reason : it has already
plenty of libraries, etc., virtually free to the public. It has also, as
anybody who has seen its " sights " must know, plenty of free
24 A PLEA FOR
museum facilities. Through methods of its own, and in consequence
of its special character — nationally and educationally — the capital
of Scotland has provided for its occupants means for mental improve-
ment, recreation, etc., which other places, as a rule, can only hope
to secure bv the aid of such a legislative enactment as that which
the Free Libraries Act constitutes.
IN DUBMN
there are collegiate, professional, and mechanics' institute libraries,
but none of the popular free order. The only approach to the hitter
are the Library of the Koyal Dublin Society, transferred to the Gov-
ernment by " The Dublin Science and Art Museum Act, " for the
purpose of being developed as a National Libraiy, and Marsh's
Library, which consists chiefly of works pertaining to theology,
ancient history, etc. As to museum facilities, there are many in
Dublin. A museum is part of the Science and Art Department. It
is now maintained by Government. It is almost exclusively a Mu-
seum of Natural History, and admission to it is fiee. The admission
to the University Museum is also free. Then thnre is a Uotanic
Museum at Glasnevin, also free. At the Royal Irish Academy there
is also a Museum of Irish Antiquities. With the.se facts before us
we can reasonably come to the conclusion that rate-supported lib-
raries are appreciated in Great Britain.
All has been said that is necessary in reference to the free library
movement in the United Kingdom and on the Continent of P^urope.
There can be no moral doubt that they have been j)re-eminently suc-
cessful ; their influence has been of the highest order, both morally
and socially, and they have been incentives to intellectual activity.
There is nothing better worth studying than success, when success
means something ; and the fact of its succeeding furuishes the clue
to a particular state of the public mind. The subject is full of mf rit,
and is worth ventilating and thoroughly threshing out, and would
not be complete without a reference to the United States, The
Americans are a practical and matter-of-fdct people. The free library
movement has taken deep root, and is flourishing in every State.
Commissioner Eaton, in his Special Report to Congress on Public
and other Libraries in the United States of America, gives a list of over
3,649 public libraries, besides the number of books in each, and the
name of the librarians. I can only in a general way refer to them.
RATE-SUPPORTED IJBRARIRS.
26
Some of these public libraries are very fine, and many of them free
and rdte-su[)ported.
The oldest and in some respects the finest library in the States, 1
mean the College Library at Cambridge, Mass., is free for all pt'rsons
living in or visiting that city for study. New York has the honor
of being the first place in the States where what is termed a " Free
Town Library" was formed; this was early in the last century.
There aie now several free libraries in New York city, the greatest
being the Astor Library. Boston has a splendid free library system.
Upwards of 20 years ago there were at least 153 free state, city
or town libraries in the United States, and since then, it is hardly
necessary to remark, there has been an onward and upward move-
ment in this great cause of civilization.
Aid. Ta} lor says in his neat circulars on Free Libraries in the
United States, that the people there have ceased arguing the question.
They accept the necessity of a free library as they do gas works, in
every town (for the fact is accomplished before it becomes a city),
and assess ai^.d build accordinglv. Here are a few cities taken at
random, showing how maintained, &c. :
Place.
Sour.,»; of Revfinue.
I
Cincinnuti
Chicago
Watertown,N.Y.
Lawrence, Mass.
Cleveland
Taunton, Moas...
Worcester, Mass.
Newton, Ma-ss. . .
Board of Eduration.
City Library fund.. .
City Library fumi
City a|ipro|>riation. . .
Dug tax
City a|ipropriation. . .
I Dog tax
I City appropriation. .
City appropiiution. . .
Dog tax
'City a|)i)ropriation . .
I Dog tax
City appropriation. . .
Amount.
18.991) (
33,703
2,500 I
•JOK
7,000)
1,;«0|
17,tJ72
3,200 )
1,1-27 )
8,000 )
9.H10 {
7,.50u
No. of
Volumes.
132,807
07.722
24,270
40,062
29,1.55
10.878
47,521
17,013
Circulation.
City's
Population.
769,307
374,806
27,233
134,062
130,443
61,347
150,398
83,393 I
289,0000
603,000
10,600
40,000
170,000
21,000
59,000
17 000
The worthy alderman goes on to say regarding the expense of cliis
educator: "Last year the sum of j£lG5,000 was voted for a now
"brary building in Sydney, New South Wales, and £6,400 for main-
tenance for the year. The income of the Hoston establi.«lnnent for
1878 was $124,200, of which |14,400 was spent in books. Our
country is too young, and the struggle for bread and butter too
general, for the princely becpicsts that grace the records of other
lands. To establish free libraries in Baltimore, George Peabody
donated $1,400,000 ; the Astors gave $700,000 for New York, and
Walter N, Newberry left $2,000,000 for a similar purpose in Chicago.
^26 A PLEA FOR
Philadelphia received from Dr. James Eush $1,000,000 to maintain
a library, and Asa Packer left, by will, $500,000 to the library of
Lehigh University. These are large sums from large-hearted and
long-pursed men. Let our men of means do their proportion. Never
before was there such a chance to live in the hearts and memories of
their countrymen as now offers, and though the city may, and un-
doubtedly will, establish a library, yet something more than the
proceeds of a fractional assessment will be required to put our city
in the same grade that cities of a like size and importance occupy in
other countries."
The far-reaching movement in favor of public provisions for the
establishment of free public libraries, seems likely to exten4 eventu-
ally to all the great mercantile cities and towns of the United States,
and the instances given go to show that in the States public and
private opinion as to the Value of free public libraries is very much
the same as in England. Their record of gifts and bequests of books
and money exhibits striking examples of the great good that wealth
may do in the hands of beneficent men. A few years ago I heard a
very rich man in Toronto say, that he was merely a trustee in the
hands of God ; but he died, and lost, it is said, from want of informa-
tion to guide his benevolent intentions, the opportunity and the
privilege of giving a part of his immense wealth for the establish-
ment of any institution for the public good.
CANADA.
Very little has been done in this great country for free public
libraries. The establishment of these institutions has a special claim
on every ratepayer who desires to see our country advance to the
front, and keep pace and progress in art, science, business, and every-
thing that goes to make a country great and augment the sum of
human happiness. The most potent secular agent next to our com-
mon schools is rate-supported libraries.
If the principle so ably and successfully contended for by the late
Chief Superintendent of Education in Ontario is right — that the^
citizens of every city, town and village should be taxed to support
common schools so that education should be free and accessible to all —
it cannot be wrong to tax in the same manner for free public libraries.
I believe he was the first to origiuate township libraries in Upper
Canada, supported by grants partly from the Government and partly
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES.
2T
from the townships, as well as the system of common schools. In the
year 1849 Dr. Egerton Ryerson made a report to Lord Elgin recom-
mending a grant of public lands for educational and library purposes ;
and pursuant to this recommendation, the School and Librar}'
Act was passed, settmg apart one million acres of public lands for
that purpose, thus providing a large sum of money annually. Free
public libraries under this scheme made very little progress, though
when Lord Elgin was leaving this country, ho said : ** I look
upon your township and county libraries as the crown and glory of
the institutions of this Province." According to the Repo't of the
Chief Superintendent of Education, 1880, the free public libraries of
Ontario received from the Education Department the following sums-
from 1853 to 1879 :
MONEYS.
as
"S tie
II
2 «
Number of libraries exclu-
sive of sub-divisions.
S
i
o
If
d
S
1
1
<
1
C
ID
4d
= i
I""
9 c.
142844 96
18874 76
13065 67
X
•3
"3 c
fr<
$ c.
145697 22
19289 29
13295 64
Total Counties and In-
corporated Villages. .
Total Cities
9 c.
1420 13
173 78
114 98
« 0.
1426 13
240 76
114 98
4 c.
2852 26
414 53
229 97
3281
393
138
3812
1486
17
63
257675.
24471»
Total Towns
1C681>
Grand Totals
1714 89
1781 80
3496 76
174785 39
178282 15
1.506
298743
1. The amount expended in library books during 1879 was
$3,496, of which one-half has been provided from local sources. The
number of volumes supplied was 3,812.
2. The value of public free libraries furnished to the end of 1879
was $178,282. The number of libraries, exclusive of subdivisions,
1,566 The number of vohunes in these libraries was 298,743.
3. The classitication of these books is as follows : History 49,648 ;
zoology and physiology 17,019 ; botany, 3,069; phenomena. 7,030 :
physical science, 5,236 ; geology, 2,499 ; natural philosophy and
manufactures, 14,414 ; chemistry, 2,701 ; practical agriculture,.
10,609 ; literature, 29,244 ; voyages, 27,545 ; biography, 33,071;
"38 A PLEA FOR
tales and sketches of practical life, 83,500 ; fiction, 5,041 ; teachers'
library, 8,118.
Surely if these books were well selected, and not too elementary
in their character, there should have beca no f tilure in this first
uttevipt at the establishment of free libraries in Ontario.
The Hon. Adam Crooks stated that the library system had been
practically abandoned. Then, should not the Ontario Legislature pass
a permissive Free Library Act, ami let the people themselves deciilo
the question of the establishment of rate-supported libraries'?
There is one fact worthy of notice just htu'e, that Upper Canada
had rate-supported schools lona; before they had them in England,
but England had rate-supportetl libraries first, and I believe that
rate-supported schools in England was the outcome of free public
libraries. I put the question, that if a municipal tax fi-eely voted by
the people for the support of common schools works wisely and well,
Burely a rate for libraries must work in the same way. No one will,
I think, be bold enough to deny this self-evilent truth.
The highest as})iration of man is to obtain knowledge and wis-
dom. The common schools are a'lmirably adapte I to train the
youth of our country, but what shall be done with them after they
leave school autl begin to battle with the practical realities of lite,
for many of them cannot afford to buy books any more than they
could affotd to pay for such an education as the common schools put
within the reach of the masses. Here, then, is a much felt want in
Toronto that can only be supplied by free public libraries. Then let
the masses have rate-bougKt books, and let them read and not fall
into the ways'of ignorance and drink, and into the dark prison-house
of thoughtlessness. Reading improves the inborn faculties, makes a
man a better citizen, and helps him to form correct opinions of what
is transpiring around him. With this in view, some one has said
" that reading was regarded as an agent in solvation, and a means of
applying the knowledge so gleaned more closely to the soul." Then
what is to be done to secure so desirable an end 1 Should not the
Council petition the Ontario L'^gislature to pass a Lil)rary Act
similar to that of Ens^land, enabling municipalities of cities, towns
and villages, on the vote of the peojjle, to impose a rate not less than
one-half mill on the dolla^ for the purpose of forming and maintain-
ing free public libraries and acquiring by bequests real estate, books,
and money, and the holding of the same by the people for librarj
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 2ft
purposes, with full power to hypothecate part of this rate for a num-
her of years, so that the money necessary for the wants of the people
in this direction should be supplied at once. Tiiis would give giand
and inmiedi<ite results, and not bo burdensome to the taxpayer. Such
a rate would [)roduce annually, Mccordinj; to our present assessment
of $34,000,000, the sum of $27,000. We could borrow say $225,000,
at 4^ per cent, interes', with | of 1 pei* cent, for sinking fund,
to pay the principal. The annual charge, at rate of o^ per
cent, (including sinking fund), would be $11,812.50, leaving a
balance of $15,1 S7. 50 for die purchaseot books, reviews, maga-
zines and newspapers, for paying salaries, lighting, heating, and
otherwise maintiining the library. We could spend for a central
site and a good handsome bnilding adapted for the requirements of a
city like Toronto, with reading and lecture rooms, say $150,000.
With the balance .S7i,000, we could purchase at once from tifty to
sixty-five thousand volumes of printed books.
This scheuje may be too comprehensive and costly at first sight,
and the oveicautious ratepayer may pause before he assents to any
such expenditure ; but on reflection, for the due encouragement of
learning by reading, and a free diffusion of knowledge by a good
reference library, he must consent to it. The establishment of .such
a library has a claim on all classes in Toronto apart from the direct
benefits it confers on the connnunity.
Thomas Carlyle, in a speech delivered before the students of the
Univeisity of Edinburgh, on "Books, study, life and duty," bit
the nail on the head and drove it right home, when he said :
" It remains, however, a curious truth, that the main use of
universities of the present is that, after you have done with all
your classes, the next thing is a collection of b )oks, a great library
of good books, which you proceed to study and to read. What the
universities have mainly done — what I found the universities did for
me — was, that they taught mo to read in various languag(!s and various
sciences, so that I could go into the books which treated of these
things and try everything 1 wanted to make myself master of gradually.
The clearest ami most imperative duty lies on every one of you to be
assiduous in your reading."
I am satisHed that the free library movement, on the broad-
est and most liberal basis, should be recognized in this city. Sec-
tarianism need in no way, and should in no way, bo allied with such a
30 A PLEA FOR
movement as this. Politics should in no form be associated with
it. In the United Kingdom the free libraries are entirely undenomi-
national and non-political ; and this is the only sure, the only
Wealthy and durable basis they can be worked on. I know
that, as compared with the days of our immediate ancestors even,
we have many splendid facilities for mental improvement xad
popular enlightenment. I am proud of numerous institutions for
ihe spread of education which we have in Toronto, and I wish them
God-speed ; and I furthermore desire to say that the tree library
cause which I am now advocating would be an auxiliary of them —
would supplement and in no way come into conflict with any of
them. Far too many of our young people, and not a few of our old
ones, are now in their leisure time simply wasting their existence.
Many of the liappiest hours of my life have been spent amongst
books : I am wishful that the pleasure I have felt, and the profit I
have derived, and the safety from external temptations I have en-
joyed through companionship with books, should be experienced by
others, by as many as possible of all classes — by those belonging
to what is called " the better end " as well as by the humblest
members of society ; perhaps more so by the former than the latter,
inasmuch as it is harder to " stand corn" than thistles. At any
rate, I am anxious to see the free library movement well and
•comprehensively inaugurated in our midst. I do not want to
bore people to death with reading ; I should not wish any of
you, even if you had time, to follow the example of that old
German book worm, John Christopher Adelund, who devoted
fourteen hours a day to books ; and yet he even did not take
very much harm, and somehow managed to squeeze out of
*< this vale of tears " sufficient time to look well after the " inner
man," for we are told that he loved the pleasures of the table, and
had " never less than forty sorts of most precious wines in his
•cellar." Nor, in the construction of a free library, should I wish to
give you dry and uninteresting reading. I think the ingi-edients of
such a library should be as general, as attractive and as fascinat-
ing as possible. I would have in a libraiy of this sort a grand and
durable foundation of solid, standard, fact literature. I would have
a choice, clean-minded, finely imaginative superstructure of light
reading. The vulgar, the sensuously sensational, the garbage of the
modern press, I would most scrupulously avoid, just as I would avoid
RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES. 31
<lirt and the devil. I would have everything in a library of this
kind useful and captivating ; mentally speaking, there should be
nothing nasty and nothing dull in it. Next to dirty reading, for
badness of effect, is dull reading.
" Some books were to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and a few to be
chewed and digested," — Bacon.
The most striking illustration of the effect of hard dull reading I
ever met with is given by Macaulay. He mentions the case of an
Italian criminal who was permitted to make his choice between
reading the works of an Italian historian and going to the galleys as
a slave. Ho decided to read the writings of the historian. He
began to read them ; he read on ; but when he got to a part referring
to the history of the war of Pisa he gave up the job, dished,
dead beaten. Rather than read any more of this history he decided
to go and be a slave on one of the galley boats.
I am at the concluding point. I want the ratepayers of this city
to go in for a free library, and in time such branches as the cir-
cumstances of the community may require. Libraries of this kind
excellently sustain and help on the cause of education and virtue.
Looked at from the commonest standpoint — viewed in the dollars
and cents light — I maintain that free libraries are profitable invest-
ments for ratepaying bodies. They develop a taste for reading ; they
keep people out of bad company ; they direct the rising generation
into paths of study ; they divert working-men from the street corner
and the low, corrupting dram-siiop ; they secure for the people an ac-
quaintance with the productions of the best and greatest minds ; they
tend to promote public virtue ; their influence is on the side of order,
self-respect, intelligence, and general enlightenment ; and by develop-
ing these virtues amongst the multitude, they must necessarily dimin-
ish the ranks of those two great armies which are constantly marching
to gaols and penitentiaries, and in the same ratio they must decrease
the sums of money which ratepayers have to provide for the main-
tenance of those places. And even if these libraries effected no saving
of money, nay, even involved an ultimate increase in public expendi-
ture (which they will not), then, I say, it would be still wise to have
them ; for I contend that it is infinitely preferable to pay for intelli-
gence than to tole^'ate ignorance. I want Toronto to pay for intelli-
gence — for popular education in the free library sense. If she does
so fairly and fully, her bill for poverty and depravity will bo mxteri-
^2 A PLBA FOR RATE-SUPPORTED LIBRARIES.
ally diminished, and with such diminution we shall all be benefited
and blessed. I know of notliin^r m )re useful, notliing more genuinely
ornunaiital or credit ible to a community, th^n the possession of a
good free library, by means of which mxy be enjoyed the productions
of the finest minds —
"Brilliant wits and musing sages,
Lights who beamed through many ages."
A cheap supply of good bjoks, a free supply ot them by mems of
a library, I advocate; for, with Thomas Carlyle, I believe that " in
books lies the soul of the wliole past time— the articulate, au.lible
voice of the past, when the body and material substance of it has
altogether vanished like a dream. Mighty fleets and armies, harbors
andarsenals,vastcities,liigh-domed,many-engined—thby are precious,
great ; but what do they becon J Agamemnon, the many Agamera-
noiis; Pericleses and their Greece— all are gone now to some ruined
fra'.;mcnts, dumb, mournful wrecks and blocks. But the books of
Gn-ece ! There Greece to every thinker still literally lives— can be
called up again to life. No magic rune is stranger than a book. All
that mankind has done, thouglit, gained or been — it is lying, as in
magic preservation, in the pages of books. They are the chosen pos-
sessions of men." I want this city of ours to be rich in this enduring
and splendid possession.
APPENDIX.
RULES FOR THE SELECTION OF A
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
1. That the library should, as far as possible, "represent every phase of
human thought and every variety of opinion.
2. That books of permanent value and standard interest should form the
principal portion of the library, and that modern books of value and import-
ance should be added from time to time as they are published.
3. That the library should contain those rare and costly works which are
generally out of the reach of individual students and collectors, and which are
not usually found in provincial or private libraries.
RULES AND REGULATIONS SUITABLE FOR FREE
LIBRARIES,
Used by the, Birmingham Free Library.
FREE LENDING LIBRARIES.
RULES AND RKGULATIONS.
1. The chief librarian shall have the general charge of the libraries, and
shall be responsible for the safe keeping of the books, and of all other property
belonging thereto.
2. The newsroom shall be open to the public, every day (Sundays, Christ-
mas Day, and Good Friday excepted), from nine o'clock a.m. to ten o'clock
p m., and the library from ten o'clock a.m. to nine o'clock p.m.
8
34 APPENDIX.
3. No person shall be admitted who in in a state of intoxication ; nor shall
any audible conversation be permitted in the rooms ; nor shall any person be
allowed to partake of refreshments therein. Any person who shall offend
against these regulations, or shall be guilty of any misconduct, shall not be
allowed to remain within the building,
4. No person shall be allowed to pass within the enclosure of the lib-
raries, or to take any book from the shelves, except by permission of the
librarian.
5. Persons enrolled as citizens of Toronto shall be entitled to borrow hooka
on their own responsibility. Persons not so enrolled shall be recjuired to
obtain the signature of one citizen to the following voucher, which must be
renewed annually :
•' I, the undersigned, being a citizen of Toronto,' declare that I
believe occupation age
of No, to be a person to whom books
may be safely entrusted for perusal ; and I hereby undertake to replace
or to pay the value of any book belonging to the Board of Management
, which shall be lost or materially injured by the said
borrower, "
Any person having signed this engagement, who shall afterwards desire
to withdraw from the same, must give notice thereof in writing to the lib
rarian, who will give a release as soon as he shall have ascertained tliat no
loss has been incurred.
This voucher must be delivered to the librarian three days before the first
issue of books to the person recommended.
6. All books borx'owed must be returned to the libraries within the time
specified on the respective covers, under a penalty of one penny for the whole
or any portion of the first week, and one penny for each week or portion of a
week afterwards.
7. The librarian shall carefully examine, or cause to be examined, each
book returned, and if the same be found to have sustained any injury or
damage, he shall require the person to whom the same was delivered, or his
guarantor, to pay the amount of damage or injury done, or otherwise to pro-
cure a new copy of the book of equal value, and in the latter case such person
shall be entitled to the damaged copy on depositing the new one.
8. All books borrowed from the libraries must be returned, irrespective
of the time allowed for reading, at the half-yearly dates specified on the
printed labels at the beginning of each book ; borrowers neglecting to com ply
with this regulation will risk the forfeiture of their privilege of borrowing
books.
9. Borrowers leaving town, or ceasing to use the libraries, are requested
to return their tickets to the librarian, in order to have them cancelled, other-
wise they and their guarantors will be held responsible for any book taken
out in their names.
APPENDIX. 35
10. Borrowers, when they change their residence, are required to hand in
their tickets with their present addrcds to the librarian, otherwise they will
lose their right of borrowing books.
11. Borrowers are cautioned against losing their tickets, as they will be
held responsible for any book or books that may be taken out of the library
in their names.
12. No borrower will be allowed to have more than one work at the same
time.
13. No book can be renewed more than once, if required by any other
borrower.
14. No borrower will be allowed to make use of more than one of the
lending libraries at the same time.
15. The librarian shall have the power to refuse books to any borrower who
shall neglect to comply with the rules and regulations of the library, but any
person so refused shall be at liberty to appeal to the Library Committee.
10. That the Free Libraries Committee shall not make any dividend, gift,
division or bonus in money unto or between any of its members.
By order.
Librarian.
RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE REFERENCE LIBRARY.
No person will be allowed to obtain any book without signing a "Reader's
Ticket, " and such signature shall be taken and considered to be an assent to
the rules and regulations of the library.
Readers giving a false name and address will be held re' ponsible for the
consequences.
Readers cannot obtain more than one work on the same ticket.
It is expressly forbidden to take out of the reading room any book, map,
manuscript, or other article belonging to the library, or to write or make
any marks upon the same.
Readers desirous of proposing books for addition to the library, or of
making any suggestions as to its management, may do so by writing the same
in a suggestion book, which is regularly submitted to the committee for con-
sideration.
No person will be admitted to the library who is intoxicated, or in a dirty
condition ; nor will any conversation be permi 1 in the room.
'p
36
APPENDIX.
No person is allowed to pass within the enclosure, except by special per-
mission of the librarian.
Persons under fourteen years of age are not admitted to the reference
library, except for special purposes to be determined by the librarian.
The costly illustrated works are i4iued only on written application to the
committee. f * »
Newspapers liaving been cut, and illustrated works disfigured, are in
future to be used on the large round tables near the desk. Copying is per-
mitted, but not tracing, as tliis has resulted in damage to the dlustrations.
Readers are particularly requested not to soil or injure the illustrations by
fingering or laying their hands on them.
The use of ink for copying extracts, etc., is not permitted, as seriom
^njury to plates and books has resulted therefrom.