The Public Library

Its Importance as an Educator and Its Influence Upon the Young. Address Sunday Night, At Centenary M.E. Church, by Rev. J.E. Steele. "The committee on Public Library some months since requested the pastors of the city to preach on the general subject of "The Public Library." In compliance with that request I have set apart this evening to talk upon this topic. It is difficult to handle so great a subject in so short a time. There is not a citizen of New Albany that can afford to be indifferent to this public enterprise. We own it. The time has come when a state or city is measured by the intelligence of its citizens. This is true in great part because there now remains no reason for its absence. There was a time when ignorance was winked at--when it was no particular humiliation for a man to be unable to write his own name. This was true when the country was new and the people were poor, and books were high and schools were select, and only thee or four months out of the twelve that the children would attend. But everything is changed now. The country is developed--the people are good livers--the schools are free and books are cheap, the average family can send their children to school eight or nine months out of twelve. See microfilm for more!