I asked my little friend Rosa at the North End, Barbara over in
South Boston, and Giovanni at the South End, if they would like
little libraries in their homes, of which they should be the
librarians, and from which their playmates or workmates might
draw books, the supply to be replenished from time to time. They
welcomed the idea heartily, and with me set about choosing the
boys and girls of their respective neighborhoods who were to form
the library groups. Then a time was appointed for the first
meeting of each library. The children who had been enrolled as
members met with me in the little librarian's home, and while one
child held the lamp, another the screwdriver, another the screws,
and the rest did a heap of looking on, we sought a secure spot on
the wall of the living-room of the librarian's family and there
fastened the library.
I remember that to start the first library off with vigor, and
secure the benefit from the beginning of a little esprit de
corps, I went with the children the evening before the
establishment of the library to see the Cyclorama of the battle
of Gettysburg. We rode in a driving snowstorm in the street-cars
from the North end, and had a gala evening. We got a bit
acquainted, and on the next evening, the time appointed for the
laying of the cornerstone of the whole Home Library structure,
the first library, you may be sure the children without exception
were on hand. I believe we had to wait a little while for Jennie,
who lived across the hallway from Rosa, to "finish her dishes";
then up went the library. Very quickly the second library was
established in South Boston, the third at the South End, and
before long some neighborhoods were dotted with libraries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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