owever,
interest their members in the "best-sellers" and pass these books from
one to another. Some members may always be depended upon to purchase
serious books as their contribution to the club. The number of public
libraries in the South is considerable, and the educational
administration of several of the States is striving to put a
well-selected library into every public school[1].

[Footnote 1: North Carolina has established over five thousand of these
school libraries. The State pays one-third of the cost, the county
one-third, and the patrons of the school the remainder. Additional
volumes are furnished by the same plan.]

The Southerner is not only reading more books, but he is also writing
more. A man or woman who has written a book is no longer a curiosity. In
the closing decade or two of the nineteenth century the work of a group
of Southern writers led a distinguished critic to rank them as the most
significant force in American letters. Such a high valuation of the
writers of the present day could hardly be made, but there is a much
larger number than formerly whose work is acceptable. Members of college
faculties, and others, produce annually numerous books of solid worth in
science, history, biography, economics, and sociology. Volumes of
recollections and reminiscences interesting to the student of the past
appear, and much local and state history has been rescued from oblivion.
Some theological books are written, but there is little published on
national questions. The output of verse is small, and few essays are
published. As few Southerners are extensive travelers, there are
necessarily few books of travel and description. Though most of the
people live in a rural or semi-rural environment, very little is printed
dealing with nature. There are many writers of fiction, though few can
be called artists.

The New South is full of contradictions and paradoxes. It is living
generations of social and economic changes in decades, and naturally all
the people do not keep an even pace. One may find culture that would
grace a court alongside incredible ignorance; distinguished courtesy and
sheer brutality; kindness and consideration of the rights and feelings of
others together with cruelty almost unbelievable. In some sections are to
be found machines belonging to the most advanced stage of industry, while
nearby are in operation economic processes of the rudest and most
primitive sort. One who knows the S