Shakspeare says of a
jester:
"This fellow's wise enough to play the fool;
And to do that well, craves a kind of wit:
* * * * *
This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man's art:
For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit;
But wise men, folly-fallen, quite taint their wit."
A kindred mental dissipation follows in the steps of progress, and
demands aliment from our public libraries. In the selection of books
there is a wide range, from the trashy productions of the fifth-rate
novelist, to stately history and exact science. It is, however, to be
assumed that libraries will not be established until they are wanted,
and that the want will not be pressing until there is a taste for
reading somewhat general. Where this taste exists, it is fair to assume
that it is in some degree elevated. The direction, however, which the
taste of any community is to take, after the establishment of a public
library, depends, in a great degree, upon the selection of books for its
shelves. Two dangers are to be avoided. The first, and greatest, is the
selection of books calculated to degrade the morals or intellect of the
reader. This danger is apparent, and to be shunned needs but to be seen.
Books, of more or less intrinsic value, are so abundant and cheap, that
common men must go out of their way to gather a large collection that
shall not contain works of real merit.
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