Show ors Mits Sangster on the hook Borrowing ITH librarIes springing up on W every try side some ome free ree as air oth th ens ars coating but a trifling annual un al alfe fee fe It does seem eem strange that people conti a to borr borrow bOOks groin from their al act A book Is as 86 much a 8 personal pG possession us as n a pall pair of glores es or or of shoes but nobody asks the loan of th these while anybody feels eels at to borrow bono the other I se see Mrs Allbright coming up the avenue exclaims a book lover In haste and perturbation Hurry VirgInia ant hide the new books Quick actually ringing the door Bell oell I Virginia Some or of the beautiful new book J are hustled hall and de deposited in the box or the hat rack nm among ng the overshoes overshoe and leggings kept there Another Is pushed under R a cushion on the divan Still another is i under the folds of the dress that Virginia is repairing An old black blacki silk i that tha t Is In of turning may coy 0 r like charity a multitude of sins Perhaps it is a sin to be unwilling to lend ones books banks It Is certainly a sign of moral cowardice to dislike refusing to lend them J I Allbright is a lever clever and agree agreeable agreeable able woman who chats charmingly and dl on a variety or of topics glancing gla from theme to theme with birdlike swiftness FInall Finally she rises t take leave But she he does not go at once She SIle w wanders vaguely toward toward the side of the room where the bookcases st JU and regards the shelves with inquiring eyes new here her I seethe same sam old 01 1 favorites she observes sold am Ute the owner ner of the volumes smiles but no reply Then the lady still vaguely vaguel mean meanders meanders ders in n dreamy way as if hold holding ing an Invisible clue in hor hand nd to theold the theold old mahogany table In the corner On that table lie the books bought extravagant man or of the house who loathes reading a book he does not notown own and wants everything ev new that the publishers offer and page at a glance and never yet has had so many books as he would like 0 Allbright Is well aware or of this I tendency on the part Of her friends husband Her husband hu band Is so different As for bu buying a book he would as soon mak a bid for the Statue or of Liberty in Nw New York harbor or for the Washington Wash Washington ington monument or 01 one of the beau beautiful beautiful buIldings of the St Louis fair He might possibly set one of these in his back yard ard but what on earth would he do with a book Th There re is little lit literature in Mrs 1115 home ex except except the flotsam and jetsam of al almanacs and schO schoolbooks and the drift driftwood driftwood wood of holiday presents She envies her neighbors many books She covets n a lOan not of one but of a several v ral at a tune But alas sh has neVer learned to t take ke proper care of a borrowed d book and her passion borrowing m makes kes her the despaIr or of her friends Mrs Irs Allbright gazes gazes with a dISS disappointed pointed and resentful expression grad gradually stealing across her face as a cloud ever ft a sunny landscape Why Vb you OU a single new thing Ive read eve on one of these I sent six of YOUr books home by Susie this morning bring them T Yes Yea says Virginia Susie left them on her bel wa way to school Is there nothing here bere that like to read Mrs AUbright Allbright Not a book Ive seen them aU all she replies dejectedly dej and gets herself hersel out of the room d the b house while hid het entertainers loOk at each other In pen penItence But the six sI books returned b by Susie aTe are sufficient excuse for the grudging attitude toward Susies moth mother er cr One is stained with coffee one one is greasy greas to the toUch one has its back hopelessly strained All are positively I and decidedly the worse for tor wear Not NotI ot J I one of them will Monsieur the Book Booklover lover ever eer hold hald in his hand again with without without I out a deep and angry murmur of wrath and a prohibition to hIs womankind I I to let his books go out of the house without his dIstinct permission I To do dl Monsieur justice he has the courage of his Among the treasures he ni m tt st S are certain bound volumes In sets or of au of s some me of the leading mag magazines magazines Once in awhile it happens that thata a friend man 0 or WOman asks to borrow bor borr boro r row ar ak from one it r U these se precious j o Sel sets fie lIst DS is bland blandly and answers With vinning gentleness I 1 Ishall shall Rhall be m mist haLpy if any of my books can serve M you but I have made mad it my myrt ru rt io never neOl t tO loan a volume that be belongs belongs longs t to a set give he me plea Jre t to l d the entire set It if you would like Uke to take thero 1 Fow F w pw pa oss n hi c the temerity to off oCt forty or nay volumes at one fell swoop the serves the b t turn it g It I borrowers d cf books after i a time appe appear to forget that they h have no vested ri right In What they borrow boMo Books a b and nd kept an inter interminable leUm times sometimes stretching over year TS b In a certain library known 1 I Ito to me the are Vacant places on a well beloved shelf self and hose gaps were made more than ae years ears ago when books were l and tb an irresponsible I has had them so long that she no doubt nou supposes them to be beher her own P People eople g generously pass books boks bookson I on to a second and third borrower with withoUt without oUt the formality or of inquiring whether the original owner Is willing lIling t to let them thus be sent rom from house to housE I I have haye known people to be extremely critical as to the character of th books they borrow A most respectable laun laundress laundress dress and charwoman man was once ome at work in n my home and seeing that I had a number or of boo wistful wistfully How I wish my m husband might have hae these books to read as he is s out of work and time hangs heavily on his hands I inquired what books she thought he would 1 prefer and was as assured assured that any books would be a gratl nd that he liked best n a good story ing two popular novels noels I 1 sent them her and received them bask baek the 11 text t day with a polite note not from the man himself It ran like this Dear I never neer waste time on such light liht trash If you you are aregood good enough to lend me b please pleas I send something ethnological or archi architectural o or intellectual or possibly his hil historicaL In this ease the borrower I Iwas was decidedly a cho ser jer serA A friend who lives In ina country place I where l bre r e is no library within r reach ah or of the young people makes it a point to lend hiss books very ery freely freel but obliges I Iea ea each ch borrower r to enter with his O or her o n hand han hi h n a large book that lies on ona ona I a by the bookcase the name of the borrower and its date of cf exit Vh n it comes b back ek tt It is again the duty of f the one returning the bo book k to enter th the date ate return ThIs little has saved the good god goodman man the loss of many volumes and he has the tho great satisfaction of beIng a benefactor to the young folk tolk in the re region gion roundabout Copyright by Joseph B Bowles |