The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 9, 1902, Page 2

[ %7974 (5 7 2 W NT a book that would be interest- an 40 years old and wound- as all the data given to whereby to judge the e ¥ and wounded.” a soldier. Yes; the for the book The librarian suggested w speare?” said the yut about zzled-faced mean ything to w and he will remen to lea and will be very e some ready ireau, a rary is a chapter t d San rari yuted it to t n their reater line In the d the street ize question fiend. every day,” s just found out that n a local newspa- you to- 1 been laid on the “And the eir back ' who es- throughout went over scthing that might e color question. I de- for 1 in which t of all meeting S y they rub f Arg arian d 16t me see his That list ranged all the chilblain cure to interna- He was asked to decide were ided in court. e best method of pre- pickled lim “When was the first child born in Colusa and what was liquid air be purchased in 0? Shouldn’t the bride’s par- or the carriages at the wedding whole expense of the aftatr - to he groom? Please answer soon, as the man wants his money.” asked for i the “Sometimes I have to send away for an answer,” said the query man. “I have sent as far as Rome. I sent to Paris to- day to find out about certain pictures in {lisd the French salon, of which there is no record kept here. But here is a letter I would like to get some one to answer.” It read: “Dear Sir: Last week I answered an advertisement in your paper and have heard nothing since. Did the lady get my Jetter, and if so why did she not answer it?” Poor query man! Suffrance is the badge of your tribe! The next request of the librarian was for a dictionary to find the meaning of a bad name a man had been called. He was going to sue the man if the name meant what he tBought it did. The slang dictionary was given to nim and he went pretty well back and sat down. Next came an old man who wanted to look at some f{llustrated architectural works to find a picture of a circular &upola. Symbols of science, the psychology of animal play, the manufacture of hairpins, the chemistry of wood alcohol, and the law of property owned by an unmarried woman were called for in rapid succes- sion. A high school youth wanted a medical work called “The Anatomy of Melan- choly.” A girl was writing an article on noted American women. She sald she'd like to start with the mother of Ben Hur. “Where could she find it?” When a young lady walked up and asked for “Even How"” the Mbrarian thought for a moment. Then she looked up with a smile. think you mean ‘Ivanhoe,” don't you?’ In this way she guessed “The Red ~Badge of Shame” meant Hawthorne’s “Scarlet Let- ter.”” *The Revelries of a Bachelor,” “The Miserables by Dumass,” “Marion Crawford’s Sequel,” “The Love Letters of an English Washerwoman,” “Plcnic Papers by Oliver Twist,” *“The Count of THE SUNDAY CAL 1 Corpus Cristy,” “Dante's Infernal Com- edy,” “Abraham’s Nights” and “Dickens’ Toothpick Papers” are specimens of what have been asked for. A little fellow wanted “The Busting of a Chestnut Burr,” by the same man that wrote “From Jessie to Earnest.” “I want that book about the man who tra Is it Ernest Maltravers?” “Yes, that’s him.” A complimentary proof of the position accorded by the small boy to the librarian ic shown by the fact that he uncon- sclously calls her teacher. The librarian gradually gets to know the character as well as names and faces of the readers. The readers usually have some particular friend among the assistants whom they regard as a sort of father confessor, for whom they wait and from whom alone ‘they accept service and advice in the se- lection of bocks. These librarians occa- sionally receive very touching notes from their retainers. Here is a specimen: “Won't you please send me a real nice book, 'cause my husband is awful sick and our doctor told me that sure he can’t live till morning and i want something to keep me awake.” The librarian sent her “A Charming Widow.” Here is & modest request: T want one or two.of the very best lections from Aristophanis, Aristotle, Cicero, Confusious and De- monsthenes—something soul stirring and eloquent. I ask for only the book, chap- ter and page, and if you have time two or three of the first words of the quota- tion to be sure I have the right ones.” A scrupulous member writes: “Dear Miss: 1 hereby return the in- clossed card, the borrower being my wife. The reason I do this is that I have the inside track that our Lord is coming and I desire to be ready and have no bor- rowed books in the house, for in such a day as you think ‘not he cometh. The scriptures are sufficient. See first Tim. fourth ch. 7th verse.” Quite a domestic pow-wow was started by a note from the librarian telling a man that “She” had arrived and would be held for him. It took a great deal of ex- planation to make the wife understand that it was Rider Haggard's “She” ‘and not a petticoated she that would be held for him. Other domestic high lights may be seen from the following requests: “I want “The Potter's Saturday Night’ My pa is a potter and ma would like if he'd stay home In the evening.” The little fellow was glven “The Cotter’s Saturday Night.” “Dere sir: “Say, my pa don’t want no more of them derelect stories. He wants one in our own language.” “My mother wants a book with lots of information in it and not so much litera- ture, also a very exciting story of Bryen's ‘History of American Criminals.” " In the juvenile department I heard a lit- tle new comer ask his friend, “How long ken you keep a book out?” *“Well, if.’it’s a bully book you ken only keep it out one week, but if it's rot- ton you ken keep it out two weeks.” “Have they got ‘Ivanhoe’ here?"’ “I dunno, but they’ve got ‘Westward, - (. Crumpled, sweaty bits of paper are often given to the librarian from the folks at home. These notes rarely have any- thing to do with the child’s list of books, for one noticeable trait of parental ine‘- \ i D) mother seldom guides Sometimes the teacher s dren are dependent on strangers, and their literature. One mother brought her boy before the librarian and complained that her boy read dime novels all the time and they minds run riot in the field of had a brand-new encyclopedia at home. The confidential relationship established between the librarian and the children en- If his ideals are brigands and pirates, she insin- “The Adventure Series,” where fact and fancy are so dove- tailed as to defy cataloguing as history or fiction. Tact in its very essence is re- to The small boy “senses’’ missionary work from afar and ables her to lift the boy's taste. uates on his attention quired on the part of the Ilibrarian bring about this change. he resents reform. The crumpled note that Jobnnie brought a1a not refer to any prospective literary ““Will you please give Johnnie that book on cooking called “The Aristocrat at the Breakfast Table? ™ Another note asked for a book describing a place where they keep leopards on the Another requested the “Dramatization of the Reformation,” to be sent by bearer—‘“that's fur my wife. Fur myself, I want something exciting. light for him. It sald: Sandwich Islands. SKETCHES Send ‘Bugs that Infest Vegetable Life,’ if you have it, and if not anything else that you have that is interesting.” The periodical room is the paradise of the story flend. Here, the hopeless story drunks congregate every day at early morning, stay all day and come back in the evening. The wonder is when they get time to eat. The same crowd, for the most part, come here every day to do their desultory magazine reading. The regulars have their special seats. If a regular’s seat is taken he will wait around till it is vacated; then he makes a run for it and settles himself for his day's read- ing. Sometimes they fall asleep and snore, and the librarian has to awake them. They always declare that they have not been asleep at all. One old man after making this declaration to the librarian immediately turned and said to his neigh- bor in an undertone, “Did I make much SN ABOUT “ONE EYE BILL OR THE BLACK BEARDED gom&rmns ) TERROR noise?’ These habitues of the Ilierary afford infinite varfety for the art student, and the art student is right on deck. There he sits with his tablet, screened be- hind an encyclopedis, sketching yonder unconscious tramp. The favorite seats are around the stove--the dress circle, as it were. An English Count has a seat here, though for all the world he looks like a scavenger. Although he has no money, he is a real live Count fallen from grace. Here is a chance for an American title-hunting heiress to patronize home goods. Here is all the chance in the worl.. for reclamation. He is here in our midst, whiling away his days over the pages of the Strand. The characters of the library! Their name is Legion. There is the old lady who comes early and stays late and reads nothing but novels. In the morning she asks for the book she had yesterday. She does not remember the story, but it was interesting. She cannot tell the name or the author. There is the old fellow who advertised for a governess and set the public library as a meeting place. Twenty-flve came to apply, while he sat back, unknown and undiscovered, watching them. A conservative who is studying along a special line of research works next to a Chinaman, who calls fiction “small talk,™ fit only for common people and women. He scorns religious works of all kinds. Mohammedan, Buddhist, Christian he re- gards with indifference. “No gpod,” he tells the librarfan. For him only strictly authenticated facts fill the bill. An old man moves from window to win- dow to keep in the sun. A weazened old lady always brings her newspaper to wrap her books in. “For, she says, “folks always knows library books when they sees them, so I like to wrap them up.” The shabby-coated, gray-bearded indi- vidual who daily peruses the want ads. im “ HERE ComEs THE PrizZ® QUESTION FAEND.» the aper Is a w. tion. He gropes that uncertai which marks quainted with on hope. He h ot want often enoug ing of At 4 girls novel a day, and sometimes two. dread anderer seeking a post wn the column with and lack of animation > is thoroughly ac- despair and presumes not t tasted the cup to know the mean- ty depriva lock in every ading band of They read a “Oh, I the effect of so much romance on rmed minds,” said the librarian. 1 tend to make them dissatisfied flock flock with their position in life. will tend to de-classify them, I am afraid.” To the type that say, “Couldn’t you pick me out a good bo Anything will do,” the “Pligrim’'s Progress” is always offered and has never been accepted. An old lady once looked the book over and said: “T've got a copy of this home, but it is in small print. I don't suppose you want to swap with me, would other type says, “What was the name of that book we were talking about the last time I was in?" Just as though no one had been in since. ie Is a noticeable trait in these m the old men to the boy whom the librarfan has helped wtih some ques- ti for his debate. A bright young boy waited around the desk on his way out till the librarian was at leisure. “Did you get what you wanted?” she asked. s ma'am, and I am very much obliged to you. I want to thank you for your trouble.” “That's what lightens the labor and makes you think you're not a machine.” It was amusing to see the old man jump and carry the bound magazines for the librarian and climb up after the books that are high up. It was a questionable though well intended kindness that prompted an old graybeard Jadder for a book. Tableau—Old man, moving ladder, trembling librarian. He finally came down safely with the book. “I would have climbed higher If you had said so."” he declared. An inde bond exists be- tween the librarian and these people, for m helped to untangle some tty questions. She has smoothed the zled brow of many a one, and grati- e sits in his heart he lib to climb the finable mental she has fan sometimes e a new It would seem information wonders 12 question under the that she had looked about everything; but hitherto un- Each has found an Some not right away: some have been left for a few days with §ne ibrarian, and she wrested the an- swer in her moments of leisure from the library lore. A good librarian must be superior to his tools, and a good librarian must be the key to the whole library. His qualification is not to glibly answer any question, but to be able to direct the ap- plicant where to find the Informati sought; for had the librarian all know edge and could speak with all tong he would stand a chance of answer perhaps one question in the hundreds put to him daily. up each rising sun brings its heard of question. answer up to date. As I was leaving a young man cam and asked where he could find language of postage stamps. He that if a stamp was put on sl would mean one thing to his and 1f it was put on upside dowr convey an entirely different sentime The library was ransacked, but if it the secret it would not give up the ro- mantic significance of the postage stamp, and the librarian would be grateful for any information on the subject. the -