Naturally, the activity of the public library movement in recent
years, with consequent multiplication of institutions, has attracted
the attention of thoughtful men and enlisted the cordial aid of
public-spirited individuals. Philanthropists have found therein an
avenue for their benefactions yielding undoubted results. Many wealthy
men, instead of rearing to their own honor shafts of stone or images in
bronze, have taken the wiser and happier method of securing an enduring
monument in the form of a public library. There are now living a number
of wealthy men who have provided in their wills for suitable bequests
whereby buildings of this character may be erected in the places which
they make their home, and similarly others have provided endowments for
their home libraries to come out of their estates. Thus does one good
deed suggest another.