through whom he gets the most money for the least cost in labor and does not try to comprehend and to further as best he may, even if incompletely, the purposes of that chief for their institution, he also loses all personal power, he acts like a thing, he is a thing, and verily he has his reward. Wisdom clears our eyes to see our purposes and ideals and selects the means we use; justice controls our use of persons in winning toward our ideals; courage, one step further, is wisdom controlling our own souls, giving us the hardihood to do and to dare the very possible pain encountered in accomplishing our purposes, for courage is wisdom teaching us what is and what is not to be feared. The Athenian confirmation vow, as one might call it, began, "I will not disgrace my shield nor desert my fellow soldier." To return without his shield meant disfranchisement, run with it he could not, it was so heavy, so the Athenian soldier took the alternative that he feared last and fought to the death rather than to return no longer a freeman. Courage today rarely points one Up the large ways where death and glory meet, she rather tests faith and patience over little things in our endeavor to make straight paths toward those ideals which Hold their shining poise afar. President Hyde's own illustration of the courage that cheerfully faces the pain of subduing the obstacles and limitations of time and space are peculiarly appropriate to librarians; the courage of space being order, the courage of time being promptness. The poor housewife who cried out in despair that she should "die of things" was pretty well worsted in the struggle. Emerson's "Faculty for the destruction. of rubbish" would have been her efficient weapon of offense and defense, and it may prove to be. in wisdom's hands, Pan's own ploughshare in the thick of our fight. The collecting libraries may, perhaps, lift holy hands of horror at the suggestion and exclaim, ""There is no such word as'-rubbish!" but it may, nevertheless, prove, in wisdom's way of looking each one at his own end, that much of what accumulates on our hands is, for our purposes, rubbish, and not worth reducing to order. The courage to select, the courage to endure the pain of making and keeping that order which permits peace and effective accomplishment is no mean courage. There is another courage, too, in facing cheerfully, with no undue sensitiveness, criticism, both just and unjust, that follows on action. It is bound to follow and must be borne, either with courage or without, and it is better to face the music. Just so the foresight, the expenditure of immediate energy in cutting off unes, sentials in order to have ready "what he wants when he wants it," which is the courage and conquest of time, is not to be smiled at. "Orderliness and punctuality are not usually regarded as forms of courage. But the essential element of all courage is in them-the power to face a disagreeable present in the interest of desirable permanent ends." (William DeWitt Hyde. The college man and the college woman, p. 66.) President Hyde's last definition of temperance as the power to cut off excess of even legitimate pleasures for the sake of the large ends of life is too personal an interpretation for our purpose, and study of the original discussions does not help much, for the beautiful example of temperance himself fails of any satisfactory wording of hist own virtue. May we venture to define "temperance," in our work, as wisdom applied as a conserving check controlling the expenditure of power within such limits as shall best allow that power to accomplish the ends whereunto it is sent? And would not this definition point most directly to a wise and conservative, a sane use of that most valuable asset of the library, the strength and health and physical well-being of the staff, beginning with the chief and ending with the least? And when the chief and the least of the staff meet in one person who is The cook and the captain bold, all in one, is not there all the greater need for temperance in the use of power? And further, do we not sometimes get confused as to where power resides? A newly hired clerk of some experience in a book shop rested on his experience and in the eyes of his mates shirked work. Being taunted by his fellows for laziness, he assumed a lofty demeanor and exclaimed, "I am not paid for what I do-I am paid for what I know!" Do we librarians sometimes think we are paid for what we know, and is it not pretty sure that that idea is a mistaken value, and that what we really are paid for is what we are? A very acute employer of teachers. says that he has known many teachers to succeed and some to fail, but he has never known one to succeed by scholarship and training alone, nor seen one failure which could not be accounted for on other grounds than the lack of these things. (William DeWitt Hyde. The college man and the college. woman, p. 248.) He sums up the qualities which make for success under one word, personality, which another defines as "the ultimate reality of our being persisting in each of us as the basis of all that he appears to himself, or to others." (E. M. Caillard. Progressive revelation, p. 99.) It is true that the roots of personality lie away deep in the foundations. of humanity, of nationality, of family, below the threshold of consciousness, beyond the power of will, but, never theless, much still may be done by cultivation. If we can once recognize that the union of body and soul, which is personality, is the power through which each of us works, and that knowing and willing are but means and modes of its working, we shall have recognized its worth, and that worth will inspire a search for ways to nourish and to nurture it. The time is exhausted for which I asked your patience. In closing, may I sum up and paraphrase once again? The librarian will ever approach perfection in proportion as he grasps the permanent ends of his work, and subordinates all means to those ends; the justice with which he weighs the interests of the persons for whom and with whom he works in the same scales as his own; the courage with which he greets all pains incidental to the prosecution of his ends; and the temperance with which he controls and expends the powers and resources at his command. Looking the Gift Horse in the Mouth* It is generally regarded as one of the fundamental principles of library economy to acquire as many books as possible. But if this principle were followed, hardly any library would have room enough for the increasing mass of books-so enormous is the literary production of our day. No book should, without due consideration, be added to a library, as is too often done. It is, indeed, no easy matter to exercise the required critical. critical power of selection, but that certainly is no reason why criticism should not be exercised; a difficulty should not be made to appear as if it were an impossibility. The faculty to determine the value of a book for a library is, in fact, a necessary requirement of a welltrained librarian. It is his function, on going over a lot of books sent for inspection from a bookseller, to make his selection with due regard for the importance of each single book. The same criticism should be exercised when a book is offered as a gift. It does not seem right to accept every book that is offered as a gift without exercising precisely the same critical judgment as in the case of books offered for sale. To care for a book that is given to a library involves as much expense as the book that is paid for; the very which it will occupy on the space shelves must be taken into consideration, then the expense of cataloging it and the cost of caretaking (cleaning, inventory, etc.). money value, therefore, comes into play when the librarian determines the value to the library of the possession of a certain book. The same standard of valuation should be exercised in the case of books that are given. Only if the price of acquisition were the only financial condition could it be justifiable to accept any book that is offered as a gift. But this is not the case. Even when the book itself is given to a library, its cost is by no means zero; to keep it involves definite expense, both once for all and constantly, and only if this expense is smaller than the value of the book to the library can its acquisition be called rational. Library Book-Stacks Without Daylight Contribution to Science, June 18, 1909 To the editor of Science: I was greatly interested in the short abstract of Mr Bernard R. Green's address on "Library book-stacks without daylight," which appears in Science for April 9, 1909, p. 592. I remember very well, probably five or six years ago, a conversation that I had with Mr Green in connection with the new library building of the College of physicians of Philadelphia, when I made the following suggestions, which I would like to put on record for the consideration of others: It seemed to me that the ideal bookstack should be built with solid brick walls, without any openings of any kind, and that even in the roof there should be no skylight and no openings except for the chimneys and ventilation. Artificial light could be turned on and off at will and would provide amply and inexpensively for the light. Forced ventilation would keep the air pure. This method of construction would have the following advantages: 1) A wall of solid brick is much cheaper than one with openings for windows, which must be filled with ex pensive wire glass, to which must be added the cost of iron shutters, with some automatic device for their closure. 2) It is a much better protection against fire. 3) It excludes all dust. 4) The book-stacks can be placed in the stack-room at any distance; farther apart or nearer together, as required, irrespective of their relation to daylight through the windows. 5) As Mr Green has pointed out, daylight is injurious to books. 6) The temperature of the room will be more equable, the internal heat being retained in the winter, and the external heat being excluded in the sum A librarian-yes, she was a timid librarian when she took to the woodsBretton Woods, with about 600 others of her kind—at least she supposed they were her kind-for she had been first of all 10 months in a university library and then eight months in a large public library. After a few brief lectures in a summer school of library science she found herself in charge of a small public library in a growing town. eight years she had watched her little library growing and expanding-as only the E. C. can expand. She had come to have two assistants; she had trained several other would-be-assistants for other libraries. Yet knowing that she was not a Pratt or an Albany graduate, For a good Wisconsin product, she felt very timid, and did not dare lift up her voice to speak in meeting, but like the Irishman's parrot she was kept busy with her thoughts. Among the sessions she attended at the A. L. A. conference was the one on "Library training." Here she heard that some of the powerful ones thought that a graduate school was needed; that not one year or two years' training was sufficient, but that one should be soaked in theory for three solid years before taking a position, and she returned to her work just a wee bit disheartened. Home again and at her desk on Saturday night, taking in books and giving them out at the rate of 95 v. in 35 minutes trying to satisfy everyone-even four at a time all wanting to take "Holy Orders!" The fact that she was getting more practice than theory didn't seem to matter so much. Glancing up from her work she saw a librarian enter the door-a charming lady on her way home from the postconference, who had stopped over a train to visit this library. Leaving the charging desk to the care of an assistant the timid librarian hastened to welcome the visitor. What would she like most to see, the catalog, the shelf list, the music section? No, the visitor explained, she was an instructor in one of the training schools, she thought the charging system, she would like to watch it in operation, for she had taught the Browne charging system in theory to many classes. Might she be allowed to help with the filecount out the tickets? That would be delightful! Just exactly how the charming visitor made that file, the timid librarian doesn't know; but the next week, when they tried to discharge books from it, they were reminded of their visitor. After all, shouldn't a graduate school be to get to work? We may read a book on "How to swim" until we know it word for word, but until we take the plunge, how can we learn to breast the stream? M. S. S. A change of price-Beginning with the January, 1910, issue of PUBLIC LIBRARIES, the price will be advanced to two dollars. The inquiry in the recent number as to which was more desirable, a return to the original size or an advance in price, brought a unanimous vote for the latter. The quality of the contributions, the extent of the field covered, the service rendered and the labor required, all justify the advance in price, while the rise in cost of production demands it. Increased effort will be made to advance the standard of excellence in every way and to render such service as will continue PUBLIC LIBRARIES in the lead in library development. A. L. A. headquarters in ChicagoThe central machinery of headquarters has been duly installed in commodious space on the fifth floor of the Chicago public library building. Mr Hadley assumed the duties of his new office September 1, and the outlook is most promising already the calendar is full of things waiting to be done. The current income is not sufficient, however, to do very much at present, but a good be ginning will be made this year toward what it is firmly believed will become a strong power for good in library extension in America. Library workers of every degree are urged to get in touch with headquarters either as inquirers for, or contributors to, library information, assured of prompt and cordial response to every communication. Library spirit-Many library workers in the ranks took advantage of the meeting at Bretton Woods to visit the branch libraries of Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Newark, Buffalo and Cleveland, and almost without exception all speak in the highest terms of the courtesy and good-will shown them by the librarians and library staffs of the libraries visited. As various visitors were looking for various things, the summing up of the compliments on each department and each person would probably bring the verdict that the institutions visited were above reproach. The Chicago librarians, some whom visited these branches for the first time, were most enthusiastic over the courtesy received, and one hears constantly from others, also, of the extreme kindness shown by Mr Wadlin, Miss Doyle, Mr Hill, Mr Johnston. Mrs Elmendorf and Miss Eastman in a way that would indicate that new discoveries in library spirit had been made by the uninitiated, though to those who have had the pleasure of making these visits, year after year, it is a familiar chapter out of their own pleasant experience. Where here and there something less agreeable prevailed in the form of welcome, it was accompanied by extenuating circumstances, which prevented any feeling of embarrass |