nds of
the young who resort to them for guidance, as their parents are to
provide wholesome food for their bodies.

But the question returns upon us--what is wholesome food? In the first
place, it is that great body of fiction which has borne the test, both of
critical judgment, and of popularity with successive generations of
readers. It is the novels of Scott, Austen, Dickens, Thackeray, George
Eliot, Cooper, Hawthorne, Kingsley, Mulock-Craik, and many more, such as
no parents need blush to put into the hands of their daughters. In the
next place, it is such a selection from the myriads of stories that have
poured from the press of this generation as have been approved by the
best readers, and the critical judgment of a responsible press.

As to books of questionable morality, I am aware that contrary opinions
prevail on the question whether any such books should be allowed in a
public library, or not. The question is a different one for the small
town libraries and for the great reference libraries of the world. The
former are really educational institutions, supported at the people's
expense, like the free schools, and should be held to a responsibility
from which the extensive reference libraries in the city are free. The
latter may and ought to preserve every form of literature, and, if
national libraries, they would be derelict in their duty to posterity if
they did not acquire and preserve the whole literature of the country,
and hand it down complete to future generations. The function of the
public town library is different. It must indispensably make a selection,
since its means are not adequate to buy one-tenth of the annual product
of the press, which amounts in only four nations (England, France,
Germany, and the United States) to more than thirty-five thousand new
volumes a year. Its selection, mainly of American and English books, must
be small, and the smaller it is, the greater is the need of care in
buying. In fact, it is in most cases, compelled to be a selection from a
selection. Therefore, in the many cases of doubt arising as to the fit
character of a book, let the doubt be resolved in favor of the fund, thus
preserving the chance of getting a better book for the money.

With this careful and limited selection of the best, out of the multitude
of novels that swarm from the press, the reading public will have every
reason to be satisfied. No excuse can be alleged for filling up our
libraries with