THE LIBRARY AND KNOWLEDGE AND LIFE 215 



of time, with his self-reliant individuality; the ancient Greek with 

 his sense of beauty; the Roman with his skill as lawgiver; the Japan- 

 ese with his feeling for color; the Negro with his cheerful endurance; 

 the Englishman with his power of association; the Hebrew with 

 his deep religious instinct, are familiar instances of special gifts 

 and aptitudes. These are mirrored in the literature and history of 

 the races of mankind as we may read them in the halls of a great 

 library. Each race may have its own ideal, the French love 

 equality, the English love liberty, and the interaction of all these 

 influences upon each other modifies the thought of the world and 

 makes for the progress of mankind. 



The duty of the library in relation to learning is to garner with 

 sedulous care all the fruits of knowledge, to record what is known, 

 and to provide material from which future knowledge may be wrought. 

 The mission of the library to the individual is to place before him for 

 his use and benefit all the knowledge and all the wisdom and all the 

 inspiration that the ages have accumulated. The summons of religion, 

 the efforts of philosophy, the warnings and incitements of the moral- 

 ist, the historian's long record of endeavor, of failure, and of success, 

 the varied wonders that the physical sciences have to reveal, the 

 investigations of the geographer, the narratives of the traveler, 

 the inventions of men for the comfort and ease of existence, the 

 pictures of life drawn by the novelist and the dramatist, the melody 

 of the poet's song all these the library places before the individual 

 for delight, for instruction, and for guidance. The library has also 

 its international mission. Paul's declaration that God " hath made 

 of one blood all nations of men " finds its realization in the library 

 to which East and West and North and South, the Old World and 

 the New, have alike contributed all those things that they deem 

 most precious and beautiful, the holiest and the wisest that they 

 have been able to fashion and express. The library is the symbol of 



. . . Truth, 



Knowledge and Duty, Virtue, Progress, Right, 

 And Reason scattering hence delirious dreams. ' 



1 Victor Hugo, translated by Mathilde Blind. 



