this is well. All agree that a taste for healthful literature should be encouraged. Much of the time in our public schools is devoted to the art of reading. "Not for school but for life" applies especially to this branch. The sturdy youth, who closes his reader on his last day of school and afterwards finds neither interest nor pleasure

C. B. GALBREATH.

in the companionship of books, has not, indeed, attended school in vain, but to him has been closed the chief avenue to continued intellectual growth and attainment; while the young man who, after school days are ended, finds in books a substitute for the living teacher, is heir to the inspiration of the master minds of all time., The free library holds forth to all the oppor

tunity to exercise the power acquired in school. Properly equipped and administered, it becomes a most important adjunct to our educational system. In the more progressive communities its mission is recognized as a beneficent

one.

The ability to acquire infor'mation from books is no mean accomplishment, and this the school and the library may cultivate. All that I might say for the free library would include nothing which has not already been approved by those who will read these lines.

The problem, then, is to reach the villages and country districts. How is this to be done? Before venturing an answer it may be well to consider what has already been attempted in Ohio.

The public library of Cincinnati has been opened to all the citizens. of Hamilton county. Branch libraries have been organized in villages outside of the city, delivery stations have been established, and recently, a number of traveling libraries have been added as supplementary distributing agencies. In this way hooks are brought within easy reach of all citizens of the county. The result of the experiment is that with comparatively small additional expense the circulation has been almost doubled. If every county in the state had in it a city of Cincinnati with a board of trustees and librarian as wide awake to the public interest, the library problem would be solved at

once. It is entirely probable that one or two other counties, with large cities, will soon adopt the plan which in Cincinnati is proving a marked success.

In Franklin county, the districts outside of the city of Columbus are supplied with books through the Free School Traveling Library, introduced and administered by Probate Judge Tod B. Galloway, assisted by the board of county examiners. This system, which has been remarkably popular, is rapidly extending, and there will soon be a traveling library in every rural school district.

The books circulate among patrons as well as pupils. The libraries change from school to school at regular intervals, and thus keep a fresh supply of literature constantly accessible. The system is supported by contributions and the work of the schools. If each county had a Judge Galloway and a device to keep him in office, every country community would have its free library. The plan has proven practical as well as popular, and there has been talk of adopting it in other counties.

In Van Wert, the Brumback Free Library has been dedicated and opened to all the citizens of the county. The building, a model structure for the purpose, is the gift of the late J. S. Brumback. A tax is levied on the county for its support. The library has been opened only since January first and

is now supplying books to all parts of the county. An interesting article in the May Forum describes. the progress of the work. The writer says:

"The method adopted by the Brumback Library to bring its books to all parts of Van Wert county is easily explained. The library itself-which represents a value of $50,000, receives an annual income of fully $6,500 and has a stack-room capacity, when all available room shall be used, of 100,000 volumes-is located in the city of Van Wert, the county seat of Van Wert county. Fortunately, this city is located in the center of the county, which contains in round numbers 275,000 acres and has a population of 35,000. Besides the central library there are ten branch libraries, which are so situated that every resident of the county is within easy access of the library itself or one of its branches. The ten branches have a unique feature in the form of what may be called a traveling library system, and are also in direct communication with the central library. The ten branch libraries are placed in the more important stores or offices of the villages of the county, where they are excellently managed, by virtue of the fact that those having charge of them are given nominal salaries.

To start the traveling library system, the library trustees purchased 1.000 books, most of them entirely new, which were sent to the ten branch libraries, 100 to each branch. After keeping its 100 books two months, each branch sends them to one of the other nine branches, and receives a second 100 from one of its neighbors to take their place. So the books pass

from branch to branch until each branch has had the thousand. books, when they are returned to the central library. In the meantime, another 1,000 books have been purchased and put in readiness to repeat the experience of the first thousand."

It is needless to add that if every county had a benefactor like Mr. Brumback, the people of the state would soon all enjoy library privileges. Donations and bequests for library buildings are becoming more common, however, and there is reason to hope that the Brumback library will not continue to be the only one of its kind in Ohio.

The work of the traveling library system operated by the Ohio State Library has been so frequently set forth in the columns of the MONTHLY that details here would be superfluous. In the October number of last year a map was published showing that traveling libraries had been sent to all parts of the state. The following statistics indicate the continued popularity of the system:

Traveling libraries distributed from the Ohio State Library: Prior to Nov. 15, 1896, 2 libraries, 50 volumes; Nov. 15, 1896, to Nov. 15, 1897, 62 libraries, 1.331 volumes; Nov. 15, 1897, to Nov. 15, 1898, 379 libraries, 9,887 volumes; Nov. 15, 1898, to Nov. 15, 1899, 445 libraries, 12,812 volumes; Nov. 15, 1899, to Nov. 15, 1900, 711 libraries, 19,505 volumes.

Thus far within the current year

425 traveling libraries have been issued. Indications are that not less than 900 will be sent out before the close of the year. While the range of organizations served has been very wide, our most numerous patrons are the rural schools. The system has grown beyond the anticipations of its friends and has stimulated local library activity in many parts of the state. It was the first traveling library system in Ohio. Within the past year it has, perhaps, served more communities than any other similar system in the United States.

A new interest in the library movement is everywhere manifest. As the work takes definite form there will be a growing demand for systematic administration. This will probably call for additional legislation. In the solution of the library problem the county will be found a convenient unit. The state of Wisconsin, in an act recently passed, has recognized it as such. The law provides for a county board of libraries, to serve without compensation; the establishment of a county traveling li brary system and the employment of a competent person to administer the same. The concluding section practically embodies the Ohio act under which the Brumback library has been established. It authorizes any county "to receive by devise, bequests or gifts, lands, buildings, money, books, or other property, for the purpose of

establishing a public library for the county" and to "enter into an agreement to maintain a public library in consideration thereof." The law is permissive in character. It holds forth to every county the opportunity to have a permanent library and a system of traveling libraries. Such a law would doubt

less encourage library extension in Ohio.

In the meantime, under existing conditions, a free public library of some kind is possible in every community. Those interested should correspond with the State Library Commission, Columbus, Ohio.

I am a dull boy. I do not read your paper because I have no interest in it. One of your friends asked me to state my opinion of myself for you.

I am in the third year of the high school. While I have never failed to pass on any branch except Latin and spelling, my teachers have raised my grades to seventy through sympathy. They say I have been growing rapidly and will strengthen up in a year or so.

I should like to please my teachers by getting good grades, but 1 can't get them. I have thought some about what I shall do after leaving school. I do not have much interest in my work because I do not just see how what I am studying will be of much use to me. A girl can become interested in anything that the teacher presents, but it is different with some of us boys.

In original and memory draw

ing, I am one of the best in the room; fair in penmanship, but poor in everything else. I can make toys, telegraph keys and sounders, batteries, a frame house, and test patent medicine for arsenic, for I have done each. I can understand the directions in a book for making apparatus but still do not get much of an understanding of the every-day lesson at school.

While I am dull, I know when the teacher makes a speech to the school that is intended for me. I know that he thinks that I do not study of evenings, but I do. I know that he thinks that I could pay strict attention, but I can't. I know that he thinks that I do not know how to study, and he is right. I know as well as he does, that 1 put off getting lessons as long as possible, and that I am not always studying when looking at a book. Perhaps he has looked straight at

the preacher through a sermon and heard not a word of it. I often have such experiences in recitation.

I know better than does anybody else, that I am a poor student. Knowing this, I am easily confused and generally fail to answer what I do know. I am inclined to stammer and never say more than is necessary. This tendency also leads me to mumble my words. If I do not get a problem the first time, I have no patience to continue. If I do not know the inflection of a Latin verb, I guess at it, and generally have it wrong.

Every evening I study Latin for two or three hours, am one year behind my class in it, and am making seventy per cent in this branch. English grammar is as difficult for me as is Latin.

1

I am timid and afraid of society, and do not know how to be polite. I can not take a joke. Perhaps I am over-sensitive because I am re garded as dull. I enjoy fun and never get over eighty per cent in deportment unless by mistake. It would not look well for me to get a hundred in deportment; I would rather be dull than a good little boy.

I like to earn money, to tease my little brother, to play foot-ball, to skate, to read "The Little Chronicle," and "Stringtown on the Pike." I am so big, and rough, and gruff that I make my mother very nervous. I never get any

speeches in school. A fellow like me is always ready to give up easily and cannot do himself justice even when he does know his lesson. I can not think of any one that cares much for me, but I do not blame anybody. I happened to be looking in the mirror the other day, and I heard father whisper to mother, "That is a good sign."

I would like a course in engineering, but I could not pass in the required text-book work.

I am permitted to play at bowling, checkers, cards, etc., but, da not care for any of them. I do not like to say, "Please pass the bread," nor "good night." I do not care much for company, but when I have any, I prefer persons younger than myself, or those that have no better education. I am a good mimic, but no one knows it but myself. I can not sing, but play a little on the simple instruments, mostly by air. I took a term of lessons on the violin, and father had to hire a woman to stand over me with a club to get me to practice. I am shy of violins now. I was a good swimmer before mother quit telling me never to go near the water.

There are many people like me out of school and a few in. I supI do not seem to be sociable and people say they cannot understand me. I suppose that means that I am not just like other people. (If