University of South Carolina Libraries
RU< | Make you bthose prettj ^ your selecti p Furni Come in a p fact, we ha^ Y and can pies & nicke sectio: P on this spac i ?53 | WANC In our lin< J have it mad What is a Book Address by Dr. J. H. Boldridge at a Meeting of the Lancaster Public Library Association. Itejiorfcil for The News by Mh< bene Swarinuen. I think \* e have h.nl k ? roan.. goi i thing* from our excellent v \ M?.yor l!i . t ir if flnperilnous lot me to u mTrta ice to rohl inythin. more. 1 r- ::iv v< v\ i m<- that I h>vr b( : r. : ? iv-> t bo Ij! r moi 1. t i; ;io tIns year. I h: v been n charge r? . some extra WO. i. <1 r:. i i his vt r h t !;.? kept in . el . right I u y : and fheu, in addition io that. I hav - irnl a lino of reading of m\ own that I have trier! t<> keej tip; hut I am interested in thr work, and hope to ee this material ellieien'ly and gradually multiplied in tnis work. iSo I thought 1 YSoUill i (l 1 k J U.S I a leW UliliUt< on Lijih theme: What is a book i, withou undertaking to criti. A ? . 4 I . I I.. I A II I II uih ui oooh;- nere at an, snouid Uul [j(5 rliJ'prif>C ll then a ft) liwi some books m this Library thai are not books. In every library there are books that are nol bo .vn ; h b; ,fIi11and the paper ami the pi.i, itu ii constitute a book. iNow, if wc can net. ihe correct colic ptionot what a book ifl, and if we can popularize thai conception by talking about it and by speaking about it and by writing about it so as to get the proper idea of a book into the heads of our people in the com muuity, I think we shall not ^fe? HI JO H| ? j ^ i r sitting ana living r new Rugs just re on before they are ture! WM nd see the handsoi e any and all kind ise any kind of po< nal Book Cases ? e, for it will pay y 3 of Carpeting you e all ready to put lack either for financial or other support ho far as reading is concerned. Now Home people have an exaggerated idea of what books are; then some people pit) ' too Utile stress on books. A r gentleman out hero in the coun try told nio some time ago that | h.e told his lamily it a book a_ 1. 1 came there to net the dogs on . I him; ho tint not v an! anything ! to no with a man who sold boohs | at ad. Now a good many people [have Unit same idea, and tiny came by it honestly. It grows out tit h v' >ncept on ot what ? j b'?: lv IS. i here are many books on thei mar! et ?so cal.od books?wh'.ca ait nor worth toe paper ihey << > printed up n, and <i v?e are to i im in ou x?? 11 iija m 01 ;i ??uuk uwui , iflii'i sort oi a specimen, wo shall I not have much faith 1:1 libraries.; Now there are Rome nooks that 1 ( have read that I wouid not read , again; 1 would not. like for any body in connection with me to reau them at all. 1 remember a lew years ago when I was on a visit to Virginia, all the ladies were raving over a book called The Four Feathers. I do not I know whether it has reached the reading circles here. By one of the audience: ''We r spoke of getting it." Speaker: "Well, its a good tliii'K that yon didn't. The book i is oor harmful at ail, but utterly ! worthless." liy Mr. Wylie: "lYrhaps the the ladies found out wliat kin 1 of feathers to use in their hats." Speaker: "That was not the j idea. The hook is utterly worth i less." i Then, we have hooks that we . value in some respects. They j I ?? . . , ? , I room look fresh i ceived They are all gone. mniTMi me new Chairs, Be Ls of Furniture, fr jketbook. Do you Come in and ask t ou to keep up wit! Yours foi MERC. can select any pa down for you. have a temporary value; they are worth something for the lime being ami their worth rapidly passes away ; and there are some hooks which are standard for all I t i niPR nt n in u /i 11 ir cnlna I'rum 1 ti u fii.t conception up to the present time aim will r?*neh out as 1oiih as man lives. And books are so ! numerous and multiplying at such a rapid rate if we are to an eornpii !i anv tinn_ at ail, \v<> inn -t have i h proper conception of what a book is. I lit n l>;\. k to the th n. gain : | j What is a book. 1 would like to \ ui> t-oncen ion 01 11 itn>I Ji I i t .ere is anything in 11, let uwork along that line. Drop the th me lor a mom nt, J then conio back to u again. All of us are obtaining knowledge from our contact with men and 1 tilings and wit.ii the relations that subsist between men and tin11^s and men and men and things and men. Now if a man obtains by observation some new fact and sits down by the lire side and tells us of it, we are very much interested in.it be cause it is a new tact and because it has a direct relation to life, l'hey may be facts with regard to the heavens or earth or animals | or crops or trees or birds and | when a man accumulates quite a hody of facts, which is natural by means of his observation, why we want him to impart to us those facts. We like to hear* him tell these things. A true book is simply a record of the experience which a man Ion had in the accumulation of knowledge, and a book then is a record of experience, and the more of life or life experience in it the better ; I mean real, true, genuine experience. A book that _r? JGS I. K Rt KF I md inviting by b i beauties, so con \ Furr id Room Suits, Ch om the cheapest i know we sell the ;o see them. Kee 1 our offerings. * business, S.NTIWE ttern you want i has no experience in it?has not the imparting of any valuable knowledge?is really no book. A book which has any heart exper ience of a man in it has experience in it. You will allow me o draw illustrations from law. ab< ur which I do not profess to know anything at all,but our dis tingui t ( President will bear me out in ir, but tie eommon law is ba .don ih1 experience of the K . inn ppt ..;mir peop e for more than a thou.'tad years. A distiiig;i.htn! member of the Supreme tf >urt Ol" lie Unit' d States iiio written it, and a number of others have written on it, and the Hiimo point is made?tneaccumu lation of the expi rienre of ages. A distinguished lawyer told nie a few year.? ago that when a point of law was looked up,if the mind could see the reason ol the law, it was founded on common law; and it no reason could be found, you could make sure it had its origin 111 some statute. I he English law is the common law. It is the condensed criticism and experience of the J uil^es and Magistrates for a thousand years or more. When yon read a book like Blaekstone or Kent, you have got something. Now take another illustration ?take arithmetic. The knowledge which is contained iu one of our high school arithmetics is knowledge which has been in proofs of accumulation for thousands of years in different countries, and professors and teachers use it because it contains thn BcciimnlaU^ ? V.. v MvvM?iutiit?ir\| TAJin IDIlUr of the wiaewt of men for many yearR. Take hiatory?the name thing. HiRtory i? a record of the exper ience of different men of differ I uying one of e le and make ^ ? liture I >) lifFoniers?in ? to the best, y i Globe-Wer- X p your eyes ? ? CO? | TIZX V ,* ent ages in different conditions. It applies to fiction as well as anything else. I suppose the greatest historic novel is Scott's Ivanhoe, every part of which comes within the range of actual experience of some one or wore individuals in different places in the middle ages. Charles Kingslev's ' Hypatia" takes you b ick in the time of the over turning of inc Human Empire by the f ir- " onri . iih. livery pari of that in >k has the accumulated experience of different people during that age. Kingsley had read widely of the authors during that period. That ifl mv conception of a b <ok. So tiiat my conception of a book will rule out a great deal at one sweep. And so if you can get a man to see that if he reads the right kind of a book, he haft something in his heart and in hie mind w 1 < i c h no one can take away from turn. I tell you what my mother used to say : "If I give you money, Homebody might take it away from you; if you have knowledge, no one can take it away from you." And I have always ruled my life on that idea. I spoke a few minutes ago of a gentleman Who does not like book?, i I thick he is one of # the heft farmers in the County. I suspect for the size of his farm, and for the force of Ins work, ho i e t ho Koot f'\? ?v? * 1 ,..v ?cot miuitu iii me uounr.y. Why ? II e ?s not a reading mail, A but he basin hi? house a book on agriculture and it is one of the most scientific books that baa ever been written in this country, lie gets valuable knowledge out of that book on how to prepare and cultivate the soil. It is the accumulated experience of scientific farmers not only in thia country but in every country of ^