But when the doors of the public library are thrown open to the young,and they are recognized as an important class of its patrons,the question comes up,What shall the library furnish to this class in order to meet its wants?If the object of the library is understood to be simply the supplying of the wants of the reading public,and the young are considered as a portion of that public,the question is very easily answered by saying,Give them what they call for that is not positively injurious in its tendency.But if we regard the public library as an educational means rather than a mere clubbing arrangement for the economical supply of reading,just as the gas company is for the supply of artificial light,it becomes of importance,especially with reference to the young,who are the most susceptible to educating influences,that they should receive from the library that which will do them good;and the managers of the library appear not as caterers to a master whose will is the rule as to what shall be furnished,but rather as the trainers of gymnasts who seek to provide that which will be of the greatest service to their men.
No doubt both these elements enter into a true conception of the duty of library managers;but when we are regarding especially the young,the latter view comes nearer the truth than the other.
In the first place,among the special requirements of the young is this,that the library shall interest and be attractive to them.The attitude of some public libraries toward the young and the uncultivated seems to say to them,"We cannot encourage you in your low state of culture;you must come up to the level of appreciating what is really high toned in literature,or we cannot help you."The public library being,however,largely if not mainly for the benefit of the uncultivated,must,to a large extent,come down to the level of this class and meet them on common ground.Every library ought to have a large list of good juvenile books,a statement which at once raises the question,What are good juvenile books?This is one of the vexed questions of the literary world,closely allied to the one which has so often been mooted in the press and the pulpit,as to the utility and propriety of novel reading.But while this question is one on which there are great differences of opinion,there are a few things which may be said on it without diffidence or the fear of successful contradiction.Of this kind is the remark that good juvenile books must have something positively good about them.
They should be not merely amusing or entertaining and harmless,but instructive and stimulating to the better nature.Fortunately such books are not so rare as they have been.Some of the best minds are now being turned to the work of providing them.Within a few months such honored names in the world of letters as those of Hamerton and Higginson have been added to the list which contains those of "Peter Parley,"Jacob Abbott,"Walter Aimwell,"Elijah Kellogg,Thomas Hughes,and others who have devoted their talents,not to the amusement,but to the instruction and culture of youth.The names of some of the most popular writers for young people in our day are not ranked with those mentioned above,not because their productions are positively injurious,but because they lack the positively good qualities demanded by our definition.
