our shores.

The public library offers common ground to all. There are no social
lines to bar the entrance; the doors open at every touch, if only the
simple etiquette of quiet, earnest bearing is observed. No creeds are to
be subscribed to, the rich and poor meet together in absolute
independence. Even the aristocracy of intellect does not count in the
people's university. The ideal public library realizes the true spirit
of democracy.

WALLER IRENE BULLOCK.

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY AS THE CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY

In more than one locality the local public library has come to be
recognized as the natural local center of the community, around which
revolve the local studies, the local industries, and all the various
local interests of the town or village. Here, for instance, is the home
of the local historical society; here also is the home of the local
camera club; of the natural history society; of the study club and
debating societies. Why is this? It is because those in charge of the
library have so thoroughly realized the fact that in a community the
interests of all are the interests of each, and that while this is true
of other institutions as related to each other, yet there is no one of
them on which the lines of interest so invariably converge from all the
others--as "all roads lead to Rome."

W. E. FOSTER.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

The very presence of a public library has a meaning and exerts a power
for good. Especially is this the case when this presence is made evident
by a separate and worthy building. The building which stands for books,
for knowledge, for the records of human experience; a house not just
like other houses but with marks of permanence, dignity and grace, and
evidently so contrived as to call the people in and to distribute freely
to them these wise and entertaining books, must be a positive influence
in itself.

The children know it for what it is. Old and young, rich and poor,
recognize its meaning. It embodies the great idea of a man learning and
growing by his association with the wisdom and experience of other men.
It is the great clearing house of human intelligence where knowledge is
mutually exchanged and every one can learn what the rest know. It tells
the lowest and meanest and most ignorant that here is the opportunity
open to everybody to know, and therefore that books are a common concern
of the village, by which it sets great store.

If, on the other hand, the public l