7 



If the assistants have hitherto been unable to make 

 their voices heard, it may be supposed that the attendants 

 have been kept mute. But that does not prove that they 

 have not suffered. As a general rule, they die, and the 

 world knows nothing of their sufferings. Here is a typical 

 case : An elderly man, named Knight, formerly a sailor, 

 has long stood sentry at the door on the right-hand side 

 of the Reading Room, leading into the Iron-work Library. 

 There he has been exposed to the full force of the cutting 

 draughts. No one who passed could fail to see that his 

 position was a very painful one. Of the draughts to which 

 he was exposed he complained to anyone who would listen 

 to him ; but no notice was ever taken, except that Mr. Rye 

 seeing the great coat he had hung over his chair to screen 

 his loins a little, wished to take it away, saying it did not 

 " look nice." At length Mr. Cowtan, of the Printed Book 

 Department, expostulated with Mr. Jones on the subject. 

 Mr. Jones, whose thick skin had just begun to feel the arrows 

 of outside criticism, finally consented to have a porter's 

 chair put up for the sufferer. But his scruples were over- 

 come too late ; for meantime the sufferer had to be taken 

 home, where, having undergone two lithotomic operations, 

 he lies on which may not unlikely prove his death-bed. 



Numbers of similar cases will most likely crop up if 

 men once dare to speak. 



Into the whole subject of the management of the 

 Printed Book Department a searching investigation should 

 be made. It is said that not only are lives unnecessarily 

 sacrificed, but the public money is scandalously wasted. 

 There are men in the Department whose names are a 

 guarantee for scholarship and acuracy. Let them be asked 

 what is their opinion of what is going on daily around 

 them. It is no use asking the small circle of jobbers, who 



