And there is not a
circulating library that does not feel an authentic need of economies.
* * * * *
I should have objected to a censorship even of scandalized history, for no
censorship ever cured a population of bad taste. But naturally the
libraries could not stop at memoirs. They had, in order to be consistent
and to talk big about morality, to include novels in their scheme of
scavenging. At this point the libraries pass from futile foolishness to
active viciousness, and so encounter the opposition of persons like
myself, whose business it is to keep an eye on things.
* * * * *
I can tell a true tale about one of the three great circulating libraries.
A certain man of taste was directing the education in literature of a
certain woman. The time came when the woman had to study Balzac. The man
gave her a list of titles of novels by Balzac which she was to read. She
went to her library, but could not find, in the list of Balzac's complete
"Comedie Humaine" furnished by the library, one of the works which she had
been instructed to peruse. Hearing of this, the man, whose curiosity was
aroused, called at the library to conduct an inquiry. He had an interview
with one of the managers, and the manager at once admitted that their
complete list was not complete.
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