COUNTY WORK WITH CHILDREN
My subject, as announced on the program is "County work with children." In the first place let me say that there is little or nothing to be said about county work with children that does not apply equally to work with adults in the same community. The experience of the Washington County free library of Hagerstown, Maryland, during eleven years of rural work, has been that the books that go into the country homes are read by old and young alike. The reason for this is not far to seek; the children are going to school, for a few months of the year, at least, and are receiving an education that was, in many cases, denied the parents. Before the installation of our library, books, other than an occasional religious periodical, perhaps, were an unknown quantity in the average farm house, so that, even if the farmer or his wife had acquired the reading habit as a child, it had lapsed, through disuse. Consequently, when our books were first brought to the door the same books appealed to both parents and children. One mother told us, with tears in her eyes, that we could never know how she enjoyed hearing the children read the books aloud, for neither she nor her husband could read or write.
At a farmers' institute in Ohio, an enlightened farmer once remarked that the three things that had done most for the amelioration of the lot of the farmer's wife were, rural free delivery, rural telephones and Butterick patterns, and to that trilogy we add rural free delivery of books. How to reach the country children, is, of course, the problem that confronts a county library. The methods of the Washington County free library of Hagerstown, Md., are:
First—The children's room of the central library. This is a large, pleasant room, on the second floor, where the usual activities of any children's room are carried on. Two story hours a week are held, Friday nights for the older children, and Saturday mornings for the younger ones; many of our regular Saturday morning visitors are from the outlying districts; there are three little boys who come "four mile," as they express it, nearly every week to hear the stories, they have been known to be led into the extravagance of spending even their return fare on the train—such are the temptations of city life!—and having to walk home. One very small boy who is with us almost every Saturday is the son of a stage driver, his father brings him in, and leaves him with us for the morning, he is known among us as "sonny," because of characteristics similar to those of Ruth McEnery Stuart's hero.
Any child in the county, so soon as he can write his name, may "join liberry," regardless of "race, or previous condition of servitude," a phrase not without meaning still, in Maryland. The same privileges are extended to all, town and country children alike, two books at a time, with privilege of renewal. Country books may, of course, be renewed by telephone or mail, and frequent cards come to "Dear teacher," or even "Dear friend."
The teachers draw to a practically unlimited extent upon the circulating collection, as well as from the school duplicates, of which more a little later. So much for the work of the main library.
Second—Branches throughout the county. These are deposit stations, placed in the country store, the post office, the toll gates or, in some cases, in private houses, the boxes contain about fifty books, and are returned every two or three months for a fresh supply. A custodian is appointed who keeps track of the books by means of an alphabetized blank book, the book slips being kept at the library, filed by the Browne system, under the name of the station, Shady Bower, Black Rock, etc.
Third—The Boonesboro Reading Room. This village began with a deposit station, and became so interested that a permanent reading room was established, maintained entirely by the village, except for the books, which are supplied by the library; a permanent collection was given, which is supplemented by an exchange every ten days. A fortnightly story hour is carried on here; during the past two years it has become necessary to divide the children into two groups, to the older ones the same series of stories is told as to the older group at the library, Norse myths, Iliad and Odyssey, and, this winter, Chaucer, Spencer and Shakespeare. The latter author, by the way, meets with special approbation among our country friends.
Fourth—Schools. The country schools, as well as those in town, are visited, and collections are sent; with the books are sent pictures, prints of the masterpieces, mounted, and annotated with sufficient fullness to serve as a lesson outline, if the teachers wish to use them so.
Fifth—The book wagon, or to be strictly accurate, one must now say book automobile. About six years ago it was discovered that thirty of the stations were off the line of railroad, trolley or stage, and the question of transportation arose; for a year a horse and wagon filled the need, going out simply for the purpose of carrying cases back and forth. Then the book wagon was built, so constructed as to carry several cases for deposit stations, and at the same time, some two hundred books on its shelves; thus began our rural free delivery of books, and the wagon, with its driver, Mr. Joshua Thomas, became one of the features of the county, until about two years ago, when a most unfortunate accident deprived us of both. A stray engine, coming round a curve, struck and completely demolished the wagon; happily, Mr. Thomas and the horses were across the track, the horses escaped uninjured, and Mr. Thomas, though thrown out and stunned, sustained no injuries other than the shock, which, at his age, was naturally very great. Mr. Thomas has now retired from active labors, and the wagon has been succeeded by an automobile.