3. =Causes of Decline.= It is not difficult to find reasons for this present lack of interest in the Sunday-school library. Books are now far more abundant than they were formerly. They are sold cheaply, and are to be found in almost every home. The periodical literature in circulation to-day is apparently a hundredfold greater than it was two generations ago. Every city and almost every town has its public library. Many schools are furnished with free libraries. Readers can scarcely find time for the books and magazines that are open to them. Moreover, the Sunday school now stands in such recognized honor and power that it no longer needs the old-time library as a bait for scholars. The library for mere recreation does not readily fit into the general scheme of education in the modern Sunday school. Then, too, the educational work of the school demands such an outfit of books and periodicals, renewed each year, that the additional expense of the library is a heavy burden. Sharp criticism is passed upon the quality of the books in most Sunday-school libraries, as being almost wholly stories, and stories of a cheap and commonplace character, many of them absolutely injurious. The conducting of the library is often found to interfere with the order and work of the school. These are among the causes which have led to disuse of the library in many Sunday schools. 4. =The Uses of a Good Library.= Notwithstanding the objections to the Sunday-school library, its neglect by many scholars, and its abolition in many schools, the fact remains that the majority of Sunday schools still retain the library, and claim that it is needed. There are even places where the Sunday-school library holds its own constituency in competition with the town library; and in small villages the Sunday school supplies most of the books in circulation. The principal claims made in behalf of such a library are the following: (1) _Family Needs._ Every family needs good reading matter. The books that interest the young generally interest the old also. People who would be at a loss to select a book from the shelves of a public library will read the book brought to them from the Sunday-school library. The reading of the library-book fills leisure time on Sunday afternoons and on long winter evenings.