books for children. In the twelfth clause he gave the residue and remainder of his estate to the Trustees, one-half to be spent for "materials for scholarly research," and the other half to become a cumulative building fund. It is the money for children's books which is under dispute at the moment, for Mr. Benton qualified his gift by stating that this money was meant to be in addition to the sums which the City should spend on its library, and by directing that the income from the fund be given to the Library only in those years "when the City appropriates for the maintenance of the Boston Public Library at least three per cent of the amount available for department expenses from taxes and income in said City." In the years when this amount is not appropriated for the use of the Library the income is to go to the Rector of Trinity Church, "to be dispensed by him in relieving the necessities of the poor." Each year since Mr. Benton's death the income from the fund of $100,000 has been paid to the Rector of Trinity.

The question to be decided is what constitutes the "amount available for department expenses from taxes and income in said City." It is the opinion of the Corporation Counsel that expenses for the schools, the police department, the finance commission, and the licensing board are not "department expenses" in the intent of the testator, since the control of these departments and the appropriations for some of them are not wholly vested in the City Government. On the other hand, it is the friendly contention of the Rector of Trinity Church that, since these departments are supported by money secured by taxation and income from the City, they should be included in estimating the three per cent of expenses.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

Miss Alice M. Jordan has a delightful article, entitled "Little Books of Long Ago," in the Library Journal for October I. She marshals in review

many of the forgotten classics of our grandmothers' childhood, and draws interesting comparisons between them and the children's books of to-day. She sees progress, and expresses the belief that "more and more writers of ability consider that books for children may be worthy to become a part of general literature and, consequently, deserve their best efforts."

"Children's Book Week," now in its fifth year, will be celebrated November 11-17. The Library will make its usual displays of good books for younger readers, both at the Central Library and in some of the Branches.

A second edition of "Graded Lists of Books for Children's Reading, Grades III to VIII," has recently been completed by Miss Jordan. The list is thoroughly revised, and contains about 200 new titles, classified in each grade under such headings as "fairy tales and fables," "books about animals. and outdoor life," "adventures," and "applied science." The list in its earlier edition, which was frequently reprinted, had a wide use, and will be exceedingly welcome in its enlarged. form.

EXHIBITIONS.

"FIFTY BOOKS."

The American Institute of Graphic Arts has undertaken to stimulate interest in the improvement of bookmaking. To this end it proposes to organize each year an exhibit of fifty representative American and Canadian books of the year, to be displayed in all the larger cities of America. It is the hope of the Institute that both publishers and the reading public may by this means be educated in the art of book production, and that the standards of beauty and durability in the making of books may thus be gradually raised.

In September of the present year the "Fifty Books of 1923" were displayed in the Exhibition Room of the Boston Public Library. The exhibit was accompanied by an instructive catalogue prepared by the Institute. No one who saw these books could go away without learning something of what constitutes

John P. Malone, first assistant engineer in the Central Library.

Twenty-eight years in the Engineering Department, with the days that he has missed from work so few that they could be counted on the fingers of one hand; a bachelor, yet for many years contributing to the support of three families of young relatives; Mr. Malone has borne with vigor his share of the world's burdens.

There are just a few things that he has always enjoyed, he says. Not even a lifetime of hard work has ever crowded them out, and in the days of leisure which are in prospect, he thinks pleasantly of what these things will be to him. They are (the rest of the Library must take off its hat to the Engineering Department here) poetry, music and mathematics. Of course, he will say that he never got far in the last, only what he was able to do years ago in school. But he likes now to review his old arithmetic and to juggle with decimals. Poetry has always

filled his heart and his head, too, one would think, to hear him quote verse after verse of John Boyle O'Reilly. For music to satisfy him at home, he has put in a radio.

Mr. Malone, we congratulate you. If the good wishes of LIBRARY LIFE can add anything to cheer you in this pleasant companionship, we give them most heartily. Truly, it may be said. of you that you have chosen the better part.

THREE BRANCH VETERANS.

Here are some records from the Branches, Mrs. Elizabeth T. Reed, librarian of the Dorchester Branch, fifty years; Miss Ellen A. Eaton, first assistant at South Boston Branch, forty-nine years; Miss Alice M. Wing, first assistant at East Boston Branch, fifty years in the service of the Library!

Good-bye, ladies! It renews our faith in library work to see you. Mrs. Reed, rosy and blue-eyed, tells of years spent in the Central Library, and of the Dorchester Branch, in a now muchchanged neighborhood. She is of Canadian origin, but Boston-born, with

a great family connection scattered over the northwest. Hosts of nieces and nephews with their families claim her and bid fair to occupy the time which the duties of a Branch librarian have filled. But she still clings to the Library, means to keep up with the Staff Club and its meetings, and, bless her, wants to continue as a reader of LIBRARY LIFE. Mrs. Reed, our hearts. are all yours.

Miss Eaton confesses to a feeling of joy in her freedom. The years at the South Boston Branch have left her a seemingly undiminished vigor. She has a sister, and they two, now that they have time, mean to enjoy life. The future is before them and it is a Miss Eaton, our best wishes go with you.

shining one.

Miss Wing prefers that the record of her years should speak for her. Modesty forbids . . . Yet the testimony of those who have known her places her among the Library's most devoted workers.

All of the Branch librarians, we have it on good authority, over-stayed their allotted time and even refused their vacations, that the work of their respective branches might not suffer in their retirement.

MISS MAUDE M. MORSE.

And now we say good-bye to Miss Maude M. Morse, of the Branch Department, whose voice has for so long rung out a hearty good-morning in the Library corridors. Miss Morse is sorry to go. She says so. On her last day here she was on the verge of real tears. Over thirty-five years in the service of the Library, a charter member of the Benefit Association, Miss Morse began her work as first assistant at the South End Branch, worked as clerk in Bates Hall in the old building on Boylston Street, and afterwards as clerk in the Branch Department. Duties at home have made it expedient for Miss Morse to retire earlier than would ordinarily be the case, but she says, and we know that she means it, "I have always considered the entire Library staff among my best friends." Good luck to you from LIBRARY LIFE, Miss Morse.

Once again LIBRARY LIFE makes its bow, as another season opens. Once again, it feels fresh hopes for a new volume, and plans to be a better paper, as the result of the year's experience and the summer's meditation. To a share in its hopes and plans it invites its readers.

First, it will aim to be even more concise. It believes that the past year saw some progress in this direction, but the present year should see more. A paper exists for the purpose of being read; and LIBRARY LIFE will keep at it until it gets itself read by every member of the staff who is not blind or illiterate. To this end it is going to limit its size to eight pages - a policy in pursuance of which it appears this month with sixteen! In excuse for this unseemly bulk it can only say that so much has happened in the three months since the summer issue of July 15 that eight pages simply wouldn't hold the

news.

Second, it plans to issue, as a consolation to the serious, an occasional supplement of four or eight pages, in which articles of more permanent interest, outside the field of current news, may be published.

Third, it has reorganized its staff, with the purpose of covering the field more systematically by means of a division of responsibility. Mr. Chase will continue to serve as editor, with Mr. Taylor as managing editor, with the duty of seeing the paper through

the press.

Miss Hayes will have charge of reviews and exchanges, and of the provision of special features. Mr. Mathews will serve as news editor, and Miss Marion A. McCarthy, whose reports from the Staff Club were so interesting last year, editor for organizations. These five will be assisted by four reporters, each with a special field: Mr. Graham will collect items of personal interest; Miss Dorothy Harvey will round up the news of the Branches, which have never been adequately covered by the paper; Miss Swift will be responsible for news of an official character; and Miss Prim will be available for special assignments. With this set of fine new brooms, LIBRARY LIFE hopes to sweep the news into its pages more effectively than ever.

The

So much for the program. editors bespeak the co-operation of every member of the Library staff in carrying it out. The paper exists for the service of all the citizens of our little world. It counts upon them to help it with both criticism and encouragement; and, above all, to see to it that LIBRARY LIFE gets "all the news that's fit to print."

On the afternoon of July 17 the first of a number of excursion parties from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, made a visit to the Library. The pilgrims on this occasion numbered about were 150, and marshalled solemnly through the public rooms by the official conductors. It is interesting to realize that to persons in other parts of the country, a trip to Boston has the same meaning which a trip to Washington has for Bostonians.

HEAVEN HELPS THOSE ..

During the past four years, the Library has been supplementing the opportunities freely opened by Simmons College and Boston University, by offering courses of instruction to its employees, as a means of helping

them to strengthen themselves for larger and finer service. Some of these courses have been given in the Library building by Simmons College; some by members of the Library staff; and some by the Division of University Extension.

In the aggregate, a considerable number of the staff have been enrolled in one or more of these courses, and everyone who has taken the work seriously, and has done his or her best to get out of it all that he could, has something to show for it. We grow by using our powers; and these courses have enabled us to use our powers in new directions.

Some members of the staff have felt disappointed that it was impossible to credit those who had passed a course with a certain definite number of points, to be added to their mark on a grade examination. They have failed to realize that the step from one grade to the next higher represents, quite aside from the examination, an advance in maturity and training equivalent to that registered during four years in school on full time; and that it would take at least twenty Library courses, each running through a full year, to make up this requirement. It is plain, then, that the function of these courses is to furnish the background for an examination, not to take its place in any way.

This year the courses are of specially practical value. Miss Jordan's course in Children's work is a definite preparation to meet a crying need of the Library; the same is true of the advanced course in reference work. The course in Italian is planned directly with a view to enabling those who take it to pass off a language requirement, and thus to advance toward a higher grade in the service. Prof. Rogers's course in Modern European Literature offers a rare opportunity to obtain knowledge of a great field, of deep importance to every Librarian, in regard to which most of us are pretty ignorant. There is not a person in the service too mature or too wellread to profit by this course; in fact, the more one has read, the more one will learn.

Except the Italian course, none of this work will lead directly to a better mark on examination; but every one of them will contribute to the efficiency of those who take them, and will make them worthier fellows of the library craft. And when one applies for promotion, this improved efficiency-this addition to education-will have its full weight in determining the value of one's equipment. We all want the best man- the best woman- to win; and in many a case, the help obtained from these courses will be a decisive factor in determining who is the best person to win a coveted place.

On August 21, Mrs. Mary Florence Blaisdell, wife of Mr. Frank C. Blaisdell, Chief of the Issue Department, died at her home at Allston after a

long illness. Mrs. Blaisdell before her marriage was a member of the Catalogue Department of the Library.

The funeral service was held at the Church of the New Jerusalem, Newtonville. Mr. Goddard, an old friend of Mrs. Blaisdell's, officiated, and a large number of her Library acquaintances were present.

Mr. Blaisdell and his family can count on the affectionate sympathy of every member of the Library staff.

SUMMER IMPROVEMENTS.

New and powerful drop lights have been installed in the West Gallery, Special Libraries floor. Each light is equal in candle power to twelve of the old table lights, with the result that the Gallery is the best lighted spot in the entire building.

Extensive repairs have been made in the lavatories, and a ventilating system is soon to be placed in the Lecture Hall.

The old French chandelier, which was removed from the Trustees' Room some time ago and replaced by an indirect lighting equipment, has been refinished and returned to its original position, thus preserving the French atmosphere of the room.

Material is arriving for the work on the new stacks in the Annex.