41th September.
ae appeal of Mr, de Sausmarez on behalf of the Shanghai Library will not, we trust, fall on. deaf ears, While what we have pointed out before is true, that much of the wealth of Shanghai. which strikes the visitor belongs really to former residents. who have goae home to enjoy the fruits of their' labours and their luck, one has only to note the prosperous condition of the various societies that have been formed to promote our recreation and amusement, to realise that there is plenty of money in Shanghai itself for the Pours of relaxation, The Cricket revision of the means to enjoy the
Club, the Rowing Club, the Race Club, find no difficulty im collecting all the money they want for additions and improvements; only the Cinderollo of Shanghai, the Library, lanishes in neglect, a neglect that threatens its very life. And yet a great many people do read in Shanghai; we are not an entirely unintellectual community, as is proved by the results of the book auctions here from time to time. Why, then, should such an admirable and o!d-established institution as the Shanghai Library bellowed to fade away from in atten tion and inanition? It is a particularly valuable library to Shanghai, and grows more valuable every year, containing as it does a large number of standard works of reference and others, and a large number of books that are not to be found li any other library here, and whose dispersal would be a positive crime. It is kept' well-supplied too with modern literature, fiction necessarily forming large part of this division, for itis a good supply of fiction that attracts subscribers, It is incredible that with such a large and rapidly increasing intelligent community, to whom books are really as much a necessity as food and clothing, the to fill into such a pitiable condition. Shanghai Library should be allowed
It is admirably and very economically worked, and it is not from any. fault of the librarian or the voluntary officers of the institution that it is reduced to make the present appeal. Surely there are enough well-to-do people in Shanghai—as indeed we know there are, for appeals for cups and prizes for sport of all kinds are never made here in vain—to come to the rescue of the Library. It sadly wants a permanent home. It is, indeed, comfortably, if somewhat crampedly, housed at present, on one of the principal thoroughfares; but its location is not sufficiently central; for while the Settlement has expanded largely westward, it has and north-eastward; and those who expanded more largely northward
live in the latter direction are not so generally "carriage people" as those who live in the western suburb, and they therefore want the library nearer to them. This disadvantage will be considerably reduced, it is{ trae, when the trolley cars begin} running. Even so, the present home of the library is only a temporary one, and avy man or group of men who will provide the Library with a permanent home, s: mewhere near the Soochow Creek, will have his or their names recorded in the annals for Shanghai for many generations as being of those who loved their fellow-men. An imposing building architecturally is not required, nor is there any necessity that it should be on one of our big streets. It need have no street frontage, if it has access to a street, and-it must be large enough to house the present collection of books and at least as much again, and provide a reading-room, with modest quarters for a librarian. 'There is nothing' unreasonable in asking a community of this size to provide this first necessity of civilised life.
What the library wants _immediately is first, a sum of Tis, 2,500. to clear off immediate liabilities; secondly, more subscribers, who get value in full for their subscriptions if they use the library at all; and, when these pressing d2mends are satisfied, a new building where the library can feel that it has a permanent home. Members of other clubs, if they want a swimming bath, ora new pavilion, or an enlarged lawn. and Grand Stand, can raise the money quickly and certainly, Why should the Library be left in the Slough of Despond?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.