OUR RETIRED LIST.

Emeritus the word, attached to a title, always carries distinction. A professor or pastor emeritus is one whose work and personality have so endeared him to the institution which he has served that it is unwilling to sever the tie which has bound him to it. He has earned a permanent place, and is entitled to its honors and its rewards.

The most famous names in the roll of our army and navy are found on the retired list men who have served their time with credit, and whom the country is proud to retain upon its arm and navy register. These men are no longer on the fighting line, but they are none the less soldiers of the nation. In many a case that of Admiral Mahan is a conspicuous example a man has done his most significant work after retirement from active service. President Eliot, who remained at his post until the ripe age of 75, is still a force in the life and thought of college and nation. Leonard Wood is on the retired list of the army, but he was never more active, never more useful, than to-day.

Retirement is a state of mind. Beginning May first, the Library will have a retired list, which will grow with the years. We feel certain that, as our older associates cease active service, their interest in the Library will not flag, and that their minds and hearts will never "retire." We who remain on the job shall gain distinction from the records of our friends on the retired list. We shall always regard them with special pride and affection.

LIBRARY LIFE offers its congratulations to the Boston Athenaeum, and to Mr. Charles K. Bolton, its librarian, on the recent completion of his first twenty-five years in the position which he fills with such distinction. The Athenaeum has made steady progress during his term as librarian. He found it in cramped quarters, which have been splendidly expanded under his leadership. May he continue for many years to serve the institution which was Boston's earliest great library.

THE MERCHANT MARINE.

The

All the world loves a sailor. nature of his life, with its dangers, its uncertainties, its contrasts, makes an immediate appeal to the imagination. His character, open-hearted, impulsive, good-natured, gives him popularity wherever he goes.

For the past two weeks, the sailor of the Merchant Marine has been kept before our minds by means of two packing-cases in the entrance hall of the Library, marked "Books for Seamen." Into these boxes books have been poured until they have overflowed again and again. For a number of days there were displayed, in showcases near the boxes, designs for a bookplate, to be placed in the books. collected for the sailors in Massachusetts. The "drive" is a success.

telephoned to the headquarters of the Merchant Marine Library Association: "We are ready for a new library, in exchange for the one you placed on board four months ago. Please send us a big lot this time. We are going for nine months."

We often use the expression "alone on a desert island," to denote the acme of remoteness. It is quite as bad to be alone on an ocean ship, without books. A proper regard for citizenship demands that no vessel should leave port without good reading-matter to last until its return.

It is a pleasure to add the name of Miss Mary McCready to the list of those who received more than 85 per

cent on the examination at the close of the first course in Reference Work; it was omitted from the list printed last month, through a regretted oversight.

BRANCH LIBRARIES AND SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

A larger use of school buildings for various public purposes has been widely advocated, and has met with the hearty approval of the Mayor of Boston. A closer coöperation between the libraries and the schools is also being generally urged, whether in the form of special school libraries, as a part of a city's library system, or of ordinary branch libraries, located in school buildings.

An important step in the establishment of closer relations between library and school has just been taken in the form of a conference between members of the Boston School Committee and the Trustees of the Iibrary, looking to the provision of library quarters in new school buildings. As a result of this conference, the Trustees have voted: "That the Librarian be directed to inform the Mayor that the Trustees have met with the School Committee in accordance with his wishes, and have agreed upon a tentative plan to effect the full purpose he has in mind; the details to be worked out later in connection with the erection of any

new school buildings, with special reference to those districts where there are at present inadequate library facilities."

It is gratifying to record this action, which seems to promise further extensions of the Library. It is of interest to note in this connection that the Library now operates one or more branches in every ward of the city, with two exceptions, Ward 8, in the Back Bay, and Ward 3, which comprises the northern section of Charlestown.

AN OATH OF LIBRARIANSHIP.

I pledge myself never to let little myself always to abhor the one great rules obscure large service. I pledge sin, that of hiding the light and closing the mind. I promise to remember the punishment of Pharaoh at the Red Sea and of all others who have stopped their ears and shut their eyes to the daylight. I renounce Caliban. I will serve Ariel, encouraging in the best way I can all who would explore truth and beauty. - Paul M. Paine.

A REVISED CONSTITUTION.

The constitution of the Benefit Association, like those of other similar organizations, is a set of rules adopted by a number of persons acting together for the common welfare. Under these rules the Association has completed twenty years twenty-one to be exact of successful coöperation. Why, one may ask, make any change?

The answer is found in the almost unanimous desire of the members to make the Association more efficient and prosperous: to reduce, if possible, the number and length of the cases of sickness, to pay adequate benefits, to intensify the interest of the members in the Association, to increase the income and improve the administration. These requirements are vital, and to meet them the Committee proposes a number of constructive measures.

Health is of the first importance to every one. The health of its members

is the primary object for which the Association exists. We do not directly help our members to avoid illness, but our benefits aid the sick to recover health as quickly as possible. The perfect health of every member, every month in the year, would mean welfare for the member, efficiency for the Library, and prosperity for the Association. Every member, sick or well, should feel that he has behind him, at all times, the good will, the organization and the resources of the Association.

The direct contact of the sick member with the Association is in every instance through the Relief Committee. The work of this committee has suffered greatly of late through delay in getting notice of illness and difficulties in the way of reaching the sick. person. For the sake of assuring immediate notice, it is proposed to authorize the Directors to appoint a member in each department and branch, whose duty it shall be to notify the Relief Committee at once of each case of illness; and, in order to facilitate visiting, to provide an address list arranged by districts, that the Relief Committee may appoint the member, living near by, who is in its opinion most suitable to visit the one who is sick. It is further proposed to empower the Directors to employ a physician for consultation or examination, in cases of serious or prolonged illness.

Sickness may involve loss of pay and entail unusual expense. The benefits ought, therefore, to be as liberal as possible. For the safety of the Association, the benefits have been left at the rates now in force, but the Directors are given full control of the Emergency Fund, in order to meet exceptional cases that may justify increased benefits. This fund is to consist of the net returns from entertainments, and no limit is placed on the amount to which it may be increased.

By these means - prompt notice in each case, special medical attention. when necessary, and adequate benefits it is hoped that long periods of illness may be diminished, and that the realization of the strength and backing

of the Association may even operate to reduce, somewhat, the number of cases of sickness.

The success of the Association depends upon the interest of the members. "Incentive is the soul's self." In every possible way, the revisions aim to make the life of the Association closely responsive to the enterprise of its members. The object is stated broadly as the welfare of the members; each department is to have its representative member, to be appointed by the Directors; members retiring under the Retirement Act are given an option, either of receiving one-half the dues paid, minus benefits, or of retaining the right to death benefit by paying dues; and, in general, the administration has been made more flexible, in order that the Association may avail itself of the abilities and voluntary services of its members, and may undertake any activities conducive to the objects for which it exists.

For any campaign, the sinews of war are necessary. The expenses of the past year have exceeded all records. The question of funds has given the Committee deep concern. Not parsimony, but intelligent economy, must be a prime motive of the immediate future. An initiation fee of one dollar is proposed; the period of eligibility for admission is limited, after 1924, to three years from the time of entering the service, in order to make a fairer distribution of the burden of dues, in proportion to benefits paid late in life; for the same reason the monthly dues of new members over 45 years of age are raised to fifty cents; members on leave of absence, except on account of illness, receive no sick benefits; and the duration of all sick benefits is limited to thirteen weeks. For canvassing the possible sources of additional income, a Ways and Means Committee is proposed.

The administration of the Association has always been successful, owing to the ability of our officers, but it is fair to give them the most favorable conditions for their work. The statement of the object of the Association has been enlarged to enable them to

is ready to answer all general inquiries in regard to the operation of the Boston Retirement Act, it does not give estimates of the probable allowance which any individual will receive on retirement. One who desires to know the amount which he or any other person will receive from the city, in the event of his retirement at any given age, must make his own computation on the basis of the tables furnished by the Board.

Mrs. Elizabeth Fairbrother Musgrave, who died on March 15, at the age of 83, was the first librarian of the Mount Bowdoin Reading Room, of which she was in charge from January I, 1887, to June 29, 1910, when she resigned to be married to Mr. Bart Musgrave. Mrs. Musgrave was a native of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and was early married to Mr. Alvin Fairbrother; it was after his death that she came to Boston and entered the service of the Library.

On March 31, at their own request, the first members of the Library Staff were retired under the Boston Retirement Act; they were Miss Ellen A. Eaton, first assistant in the South Boston Branch, who entered the service in December, 1873; and Mr. John Murdoch, first assistant in the Catalogue Department, who had served the Library since November 16, 1896.

Mr. Lucien E. Taylor, of the editorial staff of LIBRARY LIFE, has been promoted to the position left vacant by Mr. Murdoch's retirement. On the occasion of his appointment, Mr. Taylor was pleasantly surprised to find on his desk a beautiful rose-bush, which had been placed there by his friends in the Catalogue and Shelf Departments.

In connection with the lecture given by His Honor Mayor Curley, on the subject, "Recent Municipal Activities in Boston," on the evening of March 15, a motion-picture machine was for the first time used in the Lecture Hall of the Library.

Mr. A. J. Philpott contributed to the Sunday Globe for March 25 a most interesting and appreciative account of the career of his life-long friend, Otto Fleischner, under the title, "Boston's Library to lose its 'Wheel Horse.'"

Miss Jordan addressed the meeting of the local group of libraries, held at the Milton Public Library Tuesday, April 10, on the subject of "Recent Children's Books."

Mr. Chase addressed the Old Colony Library Club at its meeting in Brockton, March 22, on "The librarian's leisure reading." On Sunday, March 25, Mr. Chase gave a gallery talk at the Museum of Fine Arts on "What the background contributes to the picture."

On the morning of March 26, thirtytwo students of the New York Public Library School, with two of their instructors, Miss Tiemann and Miss Fenton, visited the Library, and, after an informal talk by Mr. Belden, were conducted over the building. This visit was a part of the annual tour of libraries, covering a week, which is a feature of the Library School course.

Miss Nellie M. Whipple, assistant librarian, with the training class of the Somerville Public Library, visited the Library on the morning of March. 30.

On the afternoon of April 6, a group of about seventy boys from the Miles Standish Pre-Vocational School, Roxbury, visited the Library by appointment; they were accompanied by a number of teachers, including Mr. Francis V. Kenney, formerly on the staff of the Library's Bindery, who was warmly greeted by his old associates. The boys were first assembled in the Lecture Hall, where Mrs. Cronan briefly recounted the story of Sir Galahad, as a preparation for their enjoyment of the Abbey pictures. Before leaving the Library, they visited the

Printing and Binding Departments. where they showed a keen interest in the various mechanical processes, for which their school work had given them an excellent background.

In the February issue of The Shield, the journal of Theta Delta Chi, is printed a history of the fraternity during the past 25 years, compiled by Lucien E. Taylor.

Major-General Clarence R. Edwards was a visitor to the Library on the afternoon of March 24.

An excellent group-photograph of the cast of the recent Library Minstrel Show, taken on the night of the dress rehearsal, may be obtained from Mr. William Graham, at a price of One Dollar.

The final examination in Professor Robert E. Rogers's first course in American Literature was held on April 6. On the following Friday, April 13, Professor Rogers began his supplementary course of ten lectures, on American Literature since 1870.

Under the auspices of the Boston Conservation Bureau, a series of "Conservation Rallies," with moving pictures, music, and short addresses on civic topics is being held in the Library Lecture Hall. The first rally took place on Sunday afternoon, April 8.

The next meeting of the Library Spirit Club will be held in the Staff Lecture Room on Friday evening, April 20. The Committee in charge, consisting of Arthur Buckley, chairman, Edith Daly, Harriet Kelleher, and William Graham, have arranged a most interesting program for the evening.

The showcase of the Children's Room is at present occupied by a very attractive group of spring birds, lent by the Children's Museum.