he library does not possess. This affords him a text for lecturing
the librarian and the managers. If the librarian's sentiments are not in
accord with that idea of his he threatens to expose him in the
newspapers.

The curiosity-hunter is another representative reader. He is brother to
the rummager, but he does not despise catalogues. They exhibit the
oddities of the library, at least the odd titles, such as Luther's
"Vagabonds and Beggars," "The Foundling Hospital for Wit," or "The
History of the Tread-mill." He passes quickly from one to the other,
gleaning here and there till curiosity is satiated.

Another reader helps the librarian materially in his statistics; if he
calls for one book he calls for an armful. The subject he is
investigating may require all the light the library can focus upon it;
but he disposes of his armful so quickly that the query is, by what
alchemy knowledge is appropriated so rapidly. It must be put to the
credit of this age.

The intelligent tramp is another _habitue_ of libraries. He is sometimes
a desultory reader, sometimes he is a specialist, and he investigates
with a profound air the most difficult problems; but that is as far as
he goes. He is constitutionally lazy. He has some love for literature
and science, but a far more appreciative love of leisure. He does
nothing, produces nothing.

Then there are walking encyclopaedias. You cannot name any author or work
that they have not an acquaintance with. They can talk glibly on any
subject; they absorb like sponges, but they give out nothing. They have
a passion for reading; but they either do not, or will not, make their
knowledge available to others. The colored man who not long since
applied to me for something on the toothache, as he was to deliver a
lecture upon this interesting topic, was not of this non-productive
class. If his monograph has been published it will be a good book for
close classification.

The librarian who feels the obligations of his position realizes that
his influence as an educator is far-reaching, telling effectively upon
the community in which he lives, and destined to extend far down the
years to come. It becomes him, therefore, to fully equip himself for his
work, and to give to his constituents the results of his ripest
experience and his most unselfish attention.

THE USEFULNESS OF LIBRARIES IN SMALL TOWNS

A few books in a small town may exert as much influence as
many books in