The substance of two addresses made at Pittsfield, Mass.,
and printed in _The Library Journal_ for February, 1884. Mr.
Hubbard's advice with regard to children's reading was
followed long ago by specialization in work with children.
That with regard to adult fiction remains unheeded. Some
day, possibly we shall have "adults' librarians" and
training for "work with adults."
James Mascarene Hubbard was born in Boston in 1836. He was
made assistant librarian of the Boston Public Library in
1884 and also reorganized the Berkshire Athenaeum of
Pittsfield, Mass., in the same year.
Among all the pictures of Abraham Lincoln none perhaps are more
interesting than two which represent scenes at the beginning and at the
end of his life. In the first, a lad of thirteen or fourteen, he is
reading by the light of a fire in his father's log hut. In the second,
he is reading the Bible to his sons in a room in the White House. This
Bible, which lies before the President in the latter picture, with a
catechism and a spelling-book, were the only books in that frontier
cabin when he learned to read. Though his father could neither read nor
write, yet he took the greatest interest in getting books for his son,
so that when he was eighteen his library consisted of the Bible,
Pilgrim's Progress, Æsop's Fables, Weem's and Ramsay's Lives of
Washington, a Life of Clay, the Autobiography of Franklin, and a copy of
Plutarch. It is note-worthy that the one which influenced him the most
strongly, after the Bible, was the Life of Washington. At the very
crisis of his career, when on his way to the national capital to take
the leading part in crushing out the rebellion, he reverted to those
early days, and recalled the burning thoughts which filled his mind
while reading of the sufferings and sacrifices endured for the sake of
freedom by the great patriot leader and his followers.
Lincoln's experience was, of course, no solitary one, but it doubtless
had a great effect when it became generally known. It filled many men's
imaginations with pictures of obscure lads with latent powers for noble
deeds in danger of being stunted or wholly destroyed for want of proper
nourishment, and they gave freely and generously that these "village
Hampdens," these hearts "pregnant with sacred fire," might not live
useless and ignoble lives for want of books alone. Hence to-day a large
section of our country is dotted over with libraries, in which the
collective wisdom and experience of the world, as it were, are gathered
for the use especially of the youth of the nation.
But, as is inevitable with the blessing of abundance, has come its
danger also. Lincoln's naturally great intellectual powers were
strengthened by their being at first exercised upon a few subjects. The
possession of a book being an era in his early life from its rarity, he
read and re-read each one which he got, so as almost to learn it by
heart before he read another. So the vivid impressions received from the
lives of Washington and the other great heroes of history ran no risk of
being dissipated before they could have their full effect upon his mind
and heart. This, however, is our danger in this day of public libraries
and cheap literature, that the mental strength of our youth will be
weakened through the too much reading of a multitude of books. As the
waters of a brook when confined to a narrow channel may have power
enough to set in motion a thousand spindles, but if suffered to spread
over the ground are not able to turn a child's toy wheel, so with the
powers of the mind. When directed to a few objects they may be capable
of the greatest and most beneficent results, but when allowed to exhaust
themselves upon a multitude they are in danger of becoming sterile and
unfruitful. With Lincoln then, and with many a frontier and backwoods
boy now, the question was and is, How shall I get a book? With a greater
number to-day, however, the more important question is, Which book shall
I choose?
Before attempting to aid any one to answer this question for himself,
let me briefly advert to the fact that there are two kinds of reading
for each of us, and two corresponding uses, therefore, of the
library--the reading for amusement and the reading for profit. In regard
to the former, I can say but a word, as it is a subject by itself. And
that word is, let this reading be the best possible, and do not let it
occupy too much of your spare time. Books read simply for amusement have
on most a greater power to elevate or degrade than any others, and more
care should be taken in selecting them than in the choice of those to be
read for instruction. Read then, and put into the hands of the young the
best fiction, and shun those writers, whatever their power or their
popularity, who reproduce in their books the slang and vulgar speech of
the streets and paint realistic scenes of vice and crime.
The answer to the question, How or what shall I read? must necessarily
be as varied as the tastes, the talents, and the circumstances of
readers vary. The general aim, however, should be the same in all. We
should read in order to do well whatever we have to do in life. Now this
implies something more than the reading simply to increase one's
knowledge--certainly a worthy aim, but not the highest. The field of
knowledge is so broad and the time for reading so short that we must
necessarily choose those subjects, the knowledge of which will make us
better fitted for our work in life. And the mere seeking for knowledge,
which is the sole end of much reading, does not imply, but may even
prevent the attaining that higher end, the cultivation of our nobler
powers, as the imagination and the sympathies, and the gaining the power
of appreciating what is highest and best in literature and life. For
instance, one may be conscious of a total lack of a love for any great
writer. To him Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, and their peers are
but names. Now it may be that the best use to which such an one can put
a library is to make at least the attempt to understand and enjoy some
great author. It will be no easy task, but one needing and worthy the
hardest study. To take, as an illustration of one method, a lesser poet,
read carefully and thoughtfully Matthew Arnold's introduction to his
edition of the selected poems of Wordsworth. Whenever he refers to a
poem, read it before going farther and re-read it until the thought of
the poet as indicated by the commentator is reasonably clear. Then read
in the same manner what Coleridge, Shairp, F.W. Robertson, or any other
good critic has written upon Wordsworth. And, above all, sometimes read
the poems as nearly as possible in the same circumstances under which
they were written--in the forest, by the brook-side, in the solitudes of
the mountains, or on a bridge in the heart of a great city. If this fail
to awaken an interest in Wordsworth, try some other author in a similar
way, and it is impossible that of all who have stirred men's hearts
through the ages, no one can be found to arouse your sympathies. And
when the right author is at length found, you live on a higher plane
than before. This great poet, philosopher, or dramatist has become your
friend and familiar companion--a gain far greater than the acquirement
of any mere book knowledge.
The greater part of another person's life may be spent in sordid
surroundings, with companions and in an occupation tending to depress
and degrade the better nature. I can easily conceive that it might be
the highest duty of such an one to remain ignorant of much useful
knowledge in order to quicken the imagination, to enlarge the tastes,
and heighten the enjoyments. So that when the day's work is done, he may
exchange the sordid companions, suggestive only of mean thoughts and low
aims, for intercourse with men of purest and noblest nature--men, too,
it may be, who have lived, thought, and written under circumstances as
depressing as those in which he lives and works. So there may be some
one who regretfully feels that in Nature there is nothing which gives to
him, as to others, the keenest pleasure, refreshing him when wearied,
encouraging him when downcast. Who sees nothing in the skies save signs
of the coming storm, nothing in the trees or flowers, the rivers or the
hills, save something relating to his material comfort or discomfort.
The best use to which this man could put a library and his reading hours
might be to study the works of the great interpreters of nature, as
White of Selborne, Ruskin, or Emerson. And if they should open his eyes
so that he can look "through Nature up to Nature's God," his gain is
immeasurable.
Now, in neither of these instances is the increase of knowledge the aim
set before the reader, but the development of some dwarfed faculty whose
growth is necessary to the leading of a noble life. But where the
increase of knowledge is the direct end sought, the value of the
knowledge in itself must not be that alone which decides one in the
choice of books, or incites him to reading, but the use to which it can
and ought to be put. An employer of labor, for instance, one who is
immediately responsible for the welfare of a large number of workmen,
cannot, with any true conception of his duty as a master, devote his
time for reading to acquiring a knowledge of history, science, or
literature, if he know nothing of the principles underlying the
relations of capital to labor, if he is ignorant of the dangers, the
temptations, the needs and rights of his workpeople. However
well-informed on other subjects, he has read to far less advantage than
if his books had been chosen with a direct purpose to fit him to do his
duty as a master. So many a parent ought, for a time at least, to read
with a view wholly to prepare himself for the wise moral and mental
training of his children. And on the other hand a man should read the
history of his country, not merely that he may not blush from conscious
ignorance of it, but that, knowing what his heritage of freedom cost to
obtain, he may also come to the conviction that it is not his to enjoy
simply, but it is a sacred trust to be accounted for, however humble his
position. It could not be more humble than Lincoln's, and yet none can
doubt that to the spirit in which he read American history was largely
due his future fitness for the great work which God gave him to do.
To what highest and most profitable use can I put my reading? is the
question then which each one should ask himself, and according as the
answer is, so should the choice be made. It may be that one will read
that he may understand better his duties and privileges as a citizen;
another, that he may be a just master, or an intelligent and faithful
workman; still another, that she may be a wise parent; while a fourth
may have the strong conviction that everything else should be laid aside
for the study of one of the masterpieces of the world's literature, that
he may develop his higher faculties and become a man thinking lofty
thoughts and capable of noble deeds.
But there is a very large class of readers, especially of a public
library, to whom what I have just said will be of but little use. And as
it is upon them that the choice of books has the greatest influence for
good or evil, it is to speak of their interests that I turn with the
deepest solicitude. This class may be subdivided into two classes--the
children of intelligent parents who are capable of directing their
reading, and those children who have none to guide them in their choice.
As regards the former, one of the greatest dangers of the public
library, in my opinion, is that many parents throw off all
responsibility as to the books their children read upon those who have
charge of the library. A generation ago, all the books, as a rule, which
the young read were bought especially for them by their parents or
friends, with more or less care in the selection. Of course under these
circumstances they had a general knowledge of what their children read.
Now a great many parents neither know, nor do they apparently seem to
care to know, what books fall into their children's hands, so long as
they are from the public library, which is supposed to be a guarantee
for their fitness for young readers. Without entering here upon the
important question as to what books should or should not be put in a
public library, it is enough to say that no intelligent parent, with a
right idea of his duty toward his children, can properly lay this
responsibility upon persons, however carefully chosen or however
faithful in the discharge of their duties. The capacity of children for
receiving good or bad impressions from books differs, as their features
and forms vary. The same story might prove harmless to one boy and give
a moral twist to another's mind from which he might never recover. One
girl might receive from a book a hundred evil suggestions, hopelessly
depraving her imagination, while upon another it might not leave a
single evil trace. Now, it is not possible for the most scrupulous
librarian to discriminate between these two, and refuse the book to the
one and freely give it to the other. And therefore no library with a
large and miscellaneous collection of stories and novels can be safe for
children freely to use except under the careful supervision of their
parents. The only safeguard of which I know is for parents to read much
with their children, to interest themselves in their books, and to talk
with them about them. Those stories, for instance, against which there
has been such an outcry of late years, would have but small power to
hurt that boy to whom a father had taken the pains to point out the
absurdities, the unrealities, the false ideas and aims of which they are
accused.
But in our cities and large towns there can be no doubt that the
greater number of the younger readers of a public library belong to the
second of the two classes referred to--those who have none to guide them
in the choice of their books. The most of these come, of course, simply
for amusement, without a thought of any better use of the library. But a
few come with other and higher aims. Some, with no specially strong
tastes or more than ordinary capacities, merely wish to read that which
will cultivate their minds and increase their knowledge, or will be
profitable to them in their work. A very few there are, however, in
every large town, with intellects of no mean order and strong ambitions,
who turn to the library instinctively for that which will satisfy the
cravings of their intellects and the promptings of their ambitions. A
youth with the instincts of a Lincoln or a Webster comes to read the
history of his country. Another, with the latent powers of a Nasmyth, a
Stevenson, or an Arkwright, wants the books which will give full play to
his inventive faculties. Another finds a strange and irresistible
attraction in natural phenomena, in the habits of plants and animals, in
the formation of the rocks and the hills, in the aspects of the skies
and the movements of the stars. Now, it will depend very much upon the
first choice of their books, and the subsequent direction of their
reading, whether they will become men useful to the communities in which
they live and add substantial material to the sum of human knowledge, as
statesmen, inventors, naturalists, or astronomers. The danger is that,
for lack of proper guidance and restraint, they will dissipate their
mental energies and lose sight of all high aims by too much and too
vague reading. If the public library is to be in fact, what it is in
theory, an educating power second only to the church and the school, and
supplementing the work of both, there must be some method devised by
which such readers as these may be helped to choose the right books.
Without such aid, given continually and systematically, the library
fails in the principal end for which it was founded--the elevation and
instruction of the people. We might as well turn our children into a
school-house, fully furnished with books and apparatus, but with only a
janitor to see that no injury is done to them, and expect the children
to make a wise use of their opportunities, to take up and pursue the
proper studies without the aid of a master, as to give children the free
range of a great library and expect them undirected to make a wise use
of its advantages as a means of education. It is, therefore, in my
opinion, a most pernicious error to encourage young people, of the lower
classes especially, to come to a library, and to give them poor stories
in the mistaken belief that, the taste for reading being developed, they
will naturally and surely rise from these to better books. Such a belief
is contrary to all our experience of human nature. With careful guidance
and restraint a boy may be brought from the Dime novel to read Scott and
Macaulay. But without this restraint and guidance, where one will rise,
a hundred, a thousand rather, will remain at the level from which they
started, or more naturally sink to still lower depths.
The question is, Can anything be done to help the young who throng our
public libraries to read well and wisely? Shall these boys and girls,
with their unknown powers both for good and evil, be left to grope
helplessly amid these treasures of wisdom and knowledge which our
libraries contain, or shall the attempt at least be made to give them a
kindly and intelligent guidance? This work, of such incalculable
importance, I hasten to say, is already well done to a certain extent by
a few librarians in the country. But it is a work which requires time,
patience, tact, an insight into character, and a very varied and
extensive knowledge. It is evident that the librarians who combine these
requisites are few in number. It is a work which cannot be done by them
as a class. Nor can it be done by the ordinary catalogues, however
skilfully prepared. For it is evident that there needs to be some
personal knowledge of each reader's capacities in order to help him
intelligently and profitably. Nor is it something which the
school-teachers, willing though many of them are, can do, except in a
limited degree, as many of those who need help are not school-children.
There are, however, a few persons in every town fitted by their
education and their circumstances in life for this work, and it is to
them we must finally appeal.
The most practical plan, presenting on the whole the fewest
difficulties, seems to be the following: Let those persons who are
willing to make the attempt to give this instruction in reading choose
each a subject, as general History, the History of the United States,
Science, Travels, Biography, Fiction, or Children's stories, and see
what their public library contains on these subjects. In due time notice
could be given that all persons wishing help in the choice of books in
any of these subjects could be aided by applying to the librarian. He
would refer the inquirer to that person who has chosen this subject, who
will naturally endeavor to find out something of the character,
circumstances, and abilities of the applicant before selecting the books
best fitted in his or her opinion for him to read. No doubt, at first,
there would be few to apply, and mistakes would be made from lack of
experience. But, if only one reader was substantially aided, if only one
bright youth was rescued from the danger of dissipating his energies by
aimless or depraving reading, all the labor would be amply rewarded, to
say nothing of the benefit which the guide himself, in preparing for his
work, would receive. I do not believe, however, that the applicants for
guidance would be few, when it was known among the work-people of our
mills, our shops and stores, among the poor, that every one coming to
the library asking for aid would find some one ready, as it were, to
take him by the hand, and lead him from book to book, so long as he
needed help. I am confident that it would be an invaluable service if
some one or two persons should take the pains to become acquainted with
the character of the books for the children and the novels contained in
a library. There are many parents who feel instinctively the truth of
the words of F.W. Robertson, that "a man's character and mind are
moulded for good or evil far more by the forms of imagination which
surround his childhood than by any subsequent scientific training." Many
an anxious but ignorant parent who sees in her boys and girls a craving
for books, at which she rejoices with trembling, would turn with
heart-felt gratitude--I speak with the fullest confidence, because I
speak from experience--to one who would give them advice as to the books
which their children might safely read and those which they should shun.
It is only by some such means as this that the public library can be
made a real educating power for the masses. In far too many places, now,
it is simply a place where children can get story-books at the public
expense. This cannot long continue, and I believe that the greater part
of the libraries which continue to do this work without an effort to
fulfil their higher mission, will surely and inevitably die, as the
District School and Agricultural libraries died fifty years ago. The
responsibility rests with the people of each place where there is a
public library, as to which of two ends shall be reached. It may be
merely a means for furnishing amusement for an hour, or it may be a
central beacon from whence the rays of light shall stream into every
house.