UP TO DA TE. 519 



1832, but probably existed for two years before that. The 

 trustees in 1832 were five women,* who hoped to increase 

 the amount of good reading in the town. Seventeen dol- 

 lars' worth of books were purchased and loaned out under 

 a set of library rules, one of which declared that " any 

 proprietor suffering a book to be carried to any school 

 shall forfeit the value of his or her share." 



Only the proprietors could draw books. In 1834 the 

 purchasing committee consisted of Thomas Tower, Levi N. 

 Bates, and W. E. Doane, and the number of books at that 

 time was somewhat over a hundred. As more books were 

 needed, assessments of twelve and one half cents or 

 twenty-five cents per member were levied. 



In about twelve years from its founding, this Washing- 

 ton Library gave up its life to be merged into its rival the 

 Social Library. The record of this fact reads as follows : — 



CoHASSET, January 15, 1844. 

 Agreeably to previous notice the proprietors of the Washington 

 Library met at the store of L. N. Bates. The meeting being 

 called to order, George W. Stoddard was chosen moderator. It 

 was then voted that the Library with all its rights and titles be 

 transferred to the members of the old Social Library, on condi- 

 tion that each member of the Washington Library be entitled to 

 as many shares in said Social Library as he or she held in the 



Washington. 



LEVI N. BATES, Sec. 



One of the prejudices which these early organizations 

 suffered was that against novel reading. There were 

 many conservative persons who hated fiction very cor- 

 dially, because, in tlie first place, a narrative which was 

 false in the facts narrated seemed to insult one's whole 

 capacity for truth ; and in the second place, it was an 

 unwarrantable indulgence of idle fancies to read for the 

 pleasure of it. Better be doing housework or fishing or 



* Sarah Collier, Deborah N. Bates, Jane Endicott, Jane Snow, Ophelia Whit- 

 tington. 



