jo THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



it, nor do I ever feel elsewhere the burden and 

 mystery of life coming in upon me with such 

 an awful and subduing power. There are 

 times when these laden shelves seem to me like 

 some vast organ upon whose banks of keys an 

 unseen hand plays the full harmony of life. 

 [Then is my being thrilled and every sympa- 

 thetic chord throbs with new interest for all hu- 

 man need. It is this clear and definite percep- 

 tion of the relation of things which turns a 

 library into a place of inspiration and impulse, 

 instead of a place of memory and repose. 



The library is a necessity, mind and spirit 

 crave it as body craves food. Books feed and 

 nourish and impart vigor and equip for en- 

 deavor. Books are goads to thinking, not 

 couches for dozing. Books are gateways 

 through which come great minds laden with 

 the wealth of thought. Books open up new 

 fields for exploration and cultivation, disclose 

 new mines rich in possibilities of pure gold, re- 

 veal new methods of imparting and enriching; 

 yes, one's library stands for knowledge, for 

 culture and power. Here is history, biography, 

 travel, science and politics, art, philosophy and 

 religion, and in it all what a world of thought 

 and emotion and life. Because of my library 

 and its use the world has extra claims upon me. 



