Thomas Carlyle once remarked that after all the best University was a collection of books. But books unread even in attractive libraries cannot make an educated person. One must read them, reflect upon them, and build them over into his mental and emotional life. Some are to be read and forgotten, some are to be read and thought of for a time, and a few will be read over and over again until they enter into the very life and character of the reader. Books of the last kind are not numerous, President Eliot of Harvard reduced them to a library shelf five feet in length. One will want to own some of these that he may have their constant companionship. Books of the other classes may always be had at the library, and the great books will be there also. The library is thus, the community university, college, or the continuation school, for here are the master minds of all the ages ready to impart their wealth of learning, experience, thought, feeling, and character to all who will present themselves. It is a silent class-room, this library university, but a most effective one.

The books of the Public Library are purchased to be used. There are plenty of people who have still left some of that divine thirst for information which inspires the young. They continue to read and study. There are others who long for wholesome recreation, and in the best fiction they find it. Some need inspiration, and in the volumes of poetry they find it. To all the library has its message, and its great books by the master minds of the ages, that literally cry to be read.

An old rhyme says that: Reading should to one of these four ends conduce,

"To wisdom, delight, to piety or use.

The library serves all of these needs, and they all need serving. One can go to the reference room and consult the best minds, the greatest authorities, and the most reliable of instructors. He can find history, biography, science, travel, and every sort of wisdom, and all he needs to do is ask for them. He can find delight in poety (sic), drama, fiction, and essay. He can find religious books that will help solve his great religious problems and keep alive the tender faith of his fathers. He can find handbooks of instruction in almost every field or human endeavor from automobiles to butterflies.

The most common reason assigned for not reading more is that of lack of time. Men and women find time for everything else without much effort. A few minutes a day given to the best of books of the kind one really cares for will accomplish wonders. With a reasonable degree of persistence one acquires the habit of rapid and intensive reading. Roosevelt was a fairly busy man, but there have been few men who read as widely as he. Most of the men and women who accomplish things find time to read books. The real reason is not lack of time, it is lack of a thorough-going determination to read the best. One can find time and he should.

The only other reason for not reading is the lack of books. Here the Public Library comes along and offers without money and without price not only the best books, but help in selecting them. It extends every privilege to readers, and it attempts to serve any reasonable need for books It offers a thorough course in almost any line of human knowledge, and many a man who has obtained his education in the University of Hard Knocks comes along and takes his post-graduate course in the Public Library.

There is no need to argue as to the benefits of reading. It is admittedly a splendid habit. Why then must the Library continually "sell" itself to the public? Why must it call again for readers to come? Perhaps the day will come when all of the people will recognize that education does not end with school days, and that in the library they may continue their days of studying so long as they can read.

Taken from the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune dated February 10, 1921.