without straw, he was ready with advice and assistance at every emergency. Like Mr. Wadlin and Mr. Murdoch, he was something of a philosopher, viewing life from an individual angle which gave personality to all that he did and said. He had a genuine affection for the building and the life that went on here, and we are glad that he found it so easy to wander back to the old ruts in which he had run so long. Him too, and his warm handshake, we shall miss.

Happy the institution that enlists such men in its service! We who remain shall all be better and wiser men and women for having known these three.

The excellent portrait of Mr. Wadlin issued as a supplement to this issue is reproduced from a photograph taken in the fall of 1924, and lent for the purpose by Miss D. J. Deery.

A PRINCE AMONG NEWSBOYS.

Just as LIBRARY LIFE goes to press, there has come to the Library an unexampled gift, which was announced in the following letter:

Offices of MORRIS GEST

Princess Theatre, New York.

November 20, 1925.

Judge Michael J. Murray, Boston Public Library, Boston, Mass.

Honored Sir,

The fact that I am able to dictate this letter in the English language, I owe to the Boston Public Library. In my youth, I had neither time nor funds to study with, but what little education I did get, was through the Public Library.

I think, that in a modest way, I have paid my debt to the City of Boston, but I want to pay, in a more modest way, my debt to the Boston Public Library. Therefore, will you honor me, and give me the privilege of devoting one performance, and the entire gross receipts from that performance, to the Library. Monday afternoon, November 30th, I should think would be a good day. I shall stand the entire expense and turn over all the receipts to you for whatever use you may wish to use them. There will be absolutely no expense attached for the Library.

I beg you please to accept this, and make use of it in any way you and the Trustees of the Library see fit. Please accept this also, not as an offering from a rich man,

but as a debt of love from a very poor man, who still owes over $300,000 on the production of "The Miracle." It is my conscience and my soul which directs me to do something for that to which I owe so much the Boston Public Library. It has given me so many inspirations, and even now, on my visits to Boston, there is hardly a day that I do not walk in to look around, for it all seems so wonderful to me. What is there in Boston that does so much for both the poor and rich boys and girls, as the Boston Public Library.

One other fact that I'd like to tell you about, and that is, that while "The Miracle" is doing the most enormous business in the history of the Boston Opera House, not five per cent of the entire receipts will ever leave Boston, for all the money is being paid mostly for local labor, local musicians, local advertising, etc., and with the exception of a few of the people sending part of their salaries to their parents and some of the money going for royalty to Europe; the rest of it, mostly every dollar is being spent in Boston.

Please forgive me, dear sir, for taking up your valuable time with such a long letter, but I just wanted to express my innermost thoughts and feelings.

With my best wishes, believe me, dear sir,
Very sincerely yours,

MORRIS GEST.

In its whole history the Boston Public Library has received no finer tribute than this spontaneous gift from a former Boston newsboy, who loves the city of his first adoption. The great benefaction of Joshua Bates, the Boston boy who had felt the lack of just such library privileges as were available for Morris Gest, was prompted largely by the desire to provide the means of education to those who would otherwise be without them. This gift is among the fruits of Mr. Bates's far-sighted generosity; Mr. Gest is a perfect example of the sort of "adult education" which is one of the chief functions of the Public Library. Our gratitude and our pride are alike stirred by this royal gift; for the entire staff, LIBRARY LIFE expresses its heartfelt thanks to Mr. Gest.

THE LIBRARY EDITOR.

LIBRARY LIFE rejoices in the revival of the position of Editor of Library Publications, and in the appointment to it of Mr. Zoltán Haraszti. When we had just learned, as a result of his two years of efficient service in the Barton Library, to set a just value on Mr. Haraszti's qualities, we regretfully said good-bye, as he

departed on leave of absence; we now welcome him back to the new place among us, which he is eminently qualified to fill a fact demonstrated both by the numerous articles, based on Library material, which he has contributed to the Boston newspapers, and by his work on LIBRARY LIFE.

Mr. Haraszti is a natural journalist, of a scholarly type. Trained in law - of which he holds the Hungarian degree of Doctor; experienced as a journalist in his own country and as editor and publisher of a newspaper in Bridgeport, Conn.; a translator of books from foreign languages into Hungarian; a librarian of proved capacity; he brings to his editorial duties a wealth of equipment, which gives a fair promise to the Bulletin of the Library, which it will be his task to revive. Mr. Swift established in the position of Editor a great tradition, which was ably carried on by Miss Rollins. We are glad of the opportunity which has come to Mr. Haraszti to develop this inheritance.

SARGENT.

F. H. C.

Every member of the Library staff should make it a point to see the exhibitions of the work of John Singer Sargent now on view in Boston. There will probably never be another equal opportunity to study his work as a whole in any one place.

His greatest production the mural "Triumph of Religion"-abides with us as a priceless possession. The Widener Library at Harvard has two large mural panels on its stairway. At the Museum of Fine Arts is the rich decoration of the rotunda, now completed by the series of ten paintings and six reliefs over the stairway and its corridors, Mr. Sargent's last work, which were unveiled on November third.

These can all be seen at any time, as may the varied paintings by Sargent, some fifteen in number, in the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum. But at the Museum of Fine Arts there is now a temporary exhibition- to be open until December 27-of Sargent's paintings in oil and water-color which will not soon be duplicated. The exhibition fills five rooms, including the great Tapestry Gallery, and gives a

remarkable conspectus of Sargent's most characteristic work, from his student days up to last year. There are in all some 375 paintings and drawings in the collection, to which scores of lenders have contributed. Many of his most famous portraits are included, and the show as a whole gives an adequate impression of the man's tremendous power and skill, and of the scope and variety of his work. No one should miss this opportunity—it will not occur again.

As a supplement to this exhibition, there has been installed in the exhibition Room of the Boston Public Library a collection of photographs and other reproductions of Sargent's works, drawn from a variety of sources and arranged by Mr. Walter Rowlands. No one now in the Library has any excuse for a lack of acquaintance with the accomplishment of our great master.

NEWS NOTES.

LIBRARY LIFE regrets the omission, last month, of congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. John Watson on the arrival of a baby girl in August. Mr. Watson is a member of the Bindery Staff,

By oversight, it was stated in the last issue that Donald Walsh, of the Catalogue Department, received his degree from Harvard cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. Mr Walsh's degree was conferred magna cum laude.

Mr. Henry J. Moulton, long a figure in the life of the Library, died on November 25, after a short illness. Mr. Moulton after a busy early life as a newspaper man, editor at one time of a Lowell paper and prominent in political life, came to Boston some twenty years ago and as research man for the Boston Daily Globe spent his working hours in the Library. During these years he met practically every member of the staff and there is no one who does not feel that he has lost a friend. A broad, kindly, sympathetic man, his memory will live long in the hearts of the Library staff. His funeral services on Saturday, November 28, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception were attended by a large group of Library workers.

LIBRARY LIFE extends its sincerest sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Maier for the loss of their infant twin daughters. Mrs. Maier was formerly Miss Mary Daly, of the Fine Arts Department, and Mr. Maier is also a former member of the staff.

Friends of Mr. Chester Fazakas are urging him to publish in book form the articles on contemporary European literature which appeared last year in

America.

At a recent meeting of the Trustees an order was passed creating a new division of the Reference Department. This is to be known as the Genealogical Division and Miss Agnes C. Doyle is Assistant in Charge. She is to have her quarters in Bates Hall near the reference books on this subject and will have charge of all inquiries in her Division, whether made in person or by mail.

Mr. Michael J. Conroy has been promoted to the position of First Assistant in the Bates Hall Reference Department.

The following minutes recently adopted by the Board of Trustees are of general interest:

In Board of Trustees.

Friday, December 4, 1925. "RESOLVED: that the Trustees of the "Public Library of the City of Boston record "their regret at the death of Mr. Henry "Niederauer, who retired from his post on "February 9, 1924, after nearly thirty years "of faithful service as Chief Engineer of the "Library and Custodian of the Central Library "Building. His intimate knowledge of the "building since its erection, together with his "integrity of character, made him a valued “and trusted employee during his long term "of service.

"RESOLVED: that these resolutions be "entered in the records of the Library, and "that a copy be sent to Mr. Niederauer's "family."

In Board of Trustees.

Friday, December 4, 1925. "The President presented from Mr. Morris "Gest a check for Twenty-six hundred and "fifty-two and 50/100 dollars ($2652.50) a gift "to the Library under the terms of his letter "of November 20, 1925; and it was

"VOTED: that the gift be accepted and "funded as the 'MORRIS GEST FUND', the "income to be used in the interest of dramatic "art."

Miss Anna Lynch of the South Boston Branch was married to Mr. Joseph Carr, a prominent Roxbury business man, in St. Margaret's Church, Dorchester, on June 17th. Miss Mary Wall of the South Boston Branch was bridesmaid and John Carr, a brother of the groom, was the best man. After their honeymoon the couple made their home in Dorchester.

LIBRARY LIFE is glad to express the sympathy of his fellow-workers to Mr. James Sullivan, of the Shelf Department, whose mother died on September 9th.

To Mr. Thomas Manning, of the Fine Arts Department, LIBRARY LIFE extends its sympathy in the death of his aunt, Miss Mary G. Manning, on October 15th. Miss Manning was his only near relative, and acted in loco parentis to Mr. Manning.

season.

On Tuesday, November 11, Mr. George Gallagher of the Bindery was united in marriage to Miss Mary O'Malley of Brookline, in St. Cecelia's Church, Back Bay. It was one of the prettiest weddings of the Numbered among the ushers were Mr. John O'Brien and Mr. Philip Mooers of the Bindery. Mr. Edward Gallagher, a brother of the groom and a former member of the Staff, was best man, and Miss Elizabeth O'Malley, a sister of the bride, was maid of honor. After the ceremony a reception was held in the Hotel Westminster, where breakfast was served. Many members of the Staff were present at both the ceremony and the breakfast. Immediately after the ceremony the couple. left for New York City, where they stayed until November 14, when they sailed for Europe on a two months' honeymoon.

On Thursday, October 29, Mr. Belden spoke before the Library Section of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction, at Providence. On the morning of November 11, he addressed the Wednesday Morning Club, in the Trustees' Room of the Library, on "The Boston Public Library System."