s of methods to popularize it, to advertise it. We have
asked for and listened to the criticism of outsiders, and by the light
thrown upon it through this prism have separated our work into its
elemental parts and seen its various hues.

We used to erect a library as an altar to the gods of learning; now, to
use Mr. Dana's words, we erect it as an altar to the "gods of good
fellowship, joy and learning." So you see, our ideals are constantly
rising, our horizons ever broadening, and our work continually
increasing, both in extent and in depth. We might well have considered
our hands fairly full to have dealt alone with this god of learning, but
we find ourselves embracing the opportunity for additional service to
the gods of good fellowship and joy.

It might do us good to consider tonight what we are doing for the cause
of learning, what the library has done to increase serious reading and
study, and how it may further the educational work of the world. This
question is ever present with us, and can stand any amount of
discussion. But it is the gods of good fellowship and joy that we are
discussing tonight, the library not as a center of learning but as a
social center.

We are dealing with a small crowd of people whom we call "our public."
Who are the public? Why, you and I, and my family, and others just like
us. They want just the same things that we do, and to be accommodated in
just the same way that we do. The public is no indefinite, intangible
somebody, it is just "we."

We talk about the people being hungry for books and information. Have
you found it so? Then why do we have free libraries and free schools?
People are willing to sacrifice for something that they are very hungry
for. Do you hunger and thirst to read Homer and Shakespeare, and Emerson
and Arnold, and good histories and literature? Do you, when you are
tired after a day's work, take home a scientific work or a treatise on
civics? No, you are just a little sample of the public, and you think
you need to read a pleasant, entertaining, restful book. You aren't
hungry for information, and, as a matter of fact, the person who
delights in study and has a fine taste for the best in literature has
one of the "gifts extremely rare." Most of us are practical, everyday,
working people, with a very limited time for reading, and this public
whom we serve is just like us. A few of them will love to read the best,
many of them will want information at inter