16 



OUR COLUMNS. 



MarcK 21, 1891. 



^^I^E may remind our members that Mr. George Hurst, who is still one of the most 

 W^fwi ^cti^'^ Vice-Presidents, has lately passed his ninety-first birthday. 



^"^'^ Probably no one amongst us has taken more trouble at any time in catering 

 for new books than the retiring President, Mr. J. S. Phillpotts. 



May we congratulate our President, Dr. Poole, on the presence of his son in the 

 Oxford Boat? 



If I sit upon Mr. Punch, while Mrs. Jiidi/ reposes gracefully on my lap, do I not 

 interfere between a man and his wife ? And is it not a sorry thing to do ? 



Theee are two time-pieces at work in our newsroom : one is appointed to tell the right 

 time, the other to tell the wrong. Both have their uses. 



One of our Subscribers, being of a sporting turn of mind, asks us ^he name of a work 

 suitable for reading on the eve of the races. We hear that The Ring and the Book is 

 most likely to meet his wants, but we do not guarantee the correctness of our information 

 in matters of this character. 



^yHEXEYEIl you know of a new book worth buying, down with it on the appropriate 

 "Proposal Card," and please do not forget to add the necessary particulars. If you are 

 rather shy, you may have recourse to the " Proposal Book." 



" A SuBscKiBEii " suggests that the lofty commodious room over the vestibule 

 (formerly containing the Witt Museum, &c.) should be used for the purposes of the Library. 

 Access to it might be provided by two spiral iron staircases, one on each side of the 

 Library at the west end. As additional book-space becomes every day a more pressing 

 necessity, the suggestion, on this ground alone, is worthy of consideration, to say nothing 

 of the great boon which such a notable addition to the accommodation for readers would 

 afford. If this improvement is carried out, the wooden partition, which at present shuts 

 off the upper room from the Library, should be removed, and the handsome open wooden 

 arcade restored to its original state. This would not only add greatly to the architectural 

 beauty of the Library, but materially improve the ventilation. 



Will the Council offer a reward for some feasible plan which would produce order out 

 of chaos among the papers in the Reading Room, so that it will be possible to find the 

 paper we want with the least possible trouble to ourselves and inconvenience to others ? 

 The search for Punch and Judy, for example, very frequently involves the turning over 

 of all the broad-sheets on the tables and trying the temper and the toes of a dozen readers. 

 It is always painful to contemplate the anxious faces of the searchers, seeking in vain 

 for their favourite periodical. Would it not be possible to have racks for each of the 

 principal dailies, or if this plan involved taking up too much room, might not some 

 effectual system of classification be adopted, e.g., a Conservative rack for Government and 

 Unionist, a Liberal rack for the Gladstonian and Progressive, a third for the weekly 

 prints, a fourth for the comic papers, and so on ? The existing state of things is anarchical 

 and demoralizing. 



The next numher o/" " Our Columns" icill he published on June 20th. 



Communications for the Editors (Mr. Elger and Mr. Dymock) may he addressed to 

 the care of the Librarian, Bedford Rooms. 



Apjolications for space for Advertiseme?its may he made to R. Hill k Co., Mercury 

 JPress, Bedford. 



