ent of the laws enacted to that end. The consequence
of leniency to the majority of book thieves would be not only an indirect
encouragement to the culprits to continue their depredations, but it
would also lead to a lax and dangerous notion of the obligations of
readers, and the sacredness of such property, in the public mind.
Enforcement of the penalties of wrong-doing, on the other hand, tends
unquestionably to deter others, both by the fear of publicity which must
follow detection, and by terror of the penalty which is or may be
imprisonment for a considerable term, besides the imposing of a fine.

At the Worcester, Mass., Public Library, a young man of twenty-two was
detected in stealing a book, obliged to confess, and prosecuted. Much
pressure was brought to bear by his family and friends, very respectable
people, to save him from the penalty. The Court, however, imposed a fine
of thirty dollars, and it being represented that his relatives would have
to pay the amount, though innocent parties, the judge suspended the
sentence until the young man should pay it in instalments from his own
earnings, one of the family giving bail. The valuable lesson was in this
way not lost, either to the offender or to the community; the law was
enforced, and the young man perhaps saved from a life of wrong-doing,
while if he had been let off scot-free, in deference to the influence
exerted to that end, he might have gone from bad to worse.

At the Pratt Institute Free Library in Brooklyn, books had been
disappearing from the reference department at intervals of about a week,
and a watch was instituted. After some weeks' fruitless watching, a young
man who came frequently to consult books was singled out as the probable
offender, and the eyes of the library staff were centered upon him. The
janitor watched his movements for some days, from a concealed post of
observation, as the young man walked back and forth between the book
stacks, and one day caught him in the act of slipping a book into his
pocket, and arrested him as he was leaving the building. He had stolen a
dozen books from the library, all but three of which were recovered. He
claimed to be a theological student, and that he had taken the books
merely for the purposes of study. Much sympathy was expressed for him by
people who believed that this was his motive, and that it was some
partial atonement for his offense. The grief of his relatives at his
disgrace was intense.