by Dr. Smiles.
Originally published in Howitt's Journal (William & Mary Howitt) vol.1 #9 (27 Feb 1847).
Public opinion is now setting in so strongly in the direction of National Education, and so many signs are manifesting themselves, in even the most unlooked-for quarters, of a disposition to extend to the whole people the benefits of elementary instruction, that we look upon it as a matter of certainty that, in the course of a few years more, we shall have our juvenile population as well cared for in this respect, as in any other country in Europe.
Already, voluntary effort is doing much; but it cannot do all that is required. In this respect, Education must be regarded as very different from Religion: for whereas the latter may be efficiently maintained by voluntary effort, by reason of many powerful motives; the former, in order to be well sustained, and to embrace the whole nation, must be based upon a system, not liable to be affected by the fitful ebbings and flowings of opinion, the indolence or activity of parties, or the angry rivalry of sects.
Our object at present, however, is not to state our views as to what such a system ought to be, but to urge upon educationists the necessity tor efficiently carrying on the work of education among the youthful and adult population, after school instruction has done its own work. For, the most important part of education has to come, when school days are over. The means of gathering knowledge have been acquired; but knowledge itself is yet to be gained. he mind has to be furnished with instruction, opinion has to be matured, morals have to be formed, the character has to be strengthened, and education perfected in a noble and manly character.
And for this purpose, what is so valuable as Books—which distil to us the wisdom of the present, and the experience of the past—which set before us the highest models of character, and the loftiest aims of life—which are an unfailing source of entertainment and
instruction for youth, as well as for the maturest age. Hence do we regard Books—an abundant and perfectly free supply of books to all classes—as an indispensable feature of any great and true scheme of national education.
We are disposed to attribute much of the prevalent ignorance of the present time to the difficulty of obtaining free access to libraries on the part of the industrious classes. They are too poor to buy, and the sources from which they can borrow are miserably scanty and unattractive. Hence what little school education they may have obtained in youth is ultimately rendered useless, and they are too often driven for a pastime to the entertainments of dissipation and vice.
How, then, is this great educational want to be met? is the question to which we would now address ourselves. And perhaps this question is best to be answered by briefly stating the results of an experiment which bas already been made in this direction, and crowned with the completest success.
It is now some thirty years since it occurred to the mind of a worthy and sincere Christian man, who died a few years ago, that much yet remained to be done in order to carry out the education of the working classes, besides merely teaching them to read and write. And in this latter respect, the people amongst whom he lived were highly favoured as compared with the working population of the towns and districts of England. With but few exceptions, they could all read and write; for in Scotland, a national system of education has been at work for centuries; and, with other influences, has converted a rude, barbarous, and turbulent people, into one of the best educated and most soberly conducted nations on earth.
Samuel Brown, the author of the system of Free Libraries, (or, as he styled them, "Itinerating Libraries,") was a merchant of the small town of Haddington, where he was born,—the same town, by the way, that gave birth to John Knox, the founder, among other things, of the Scotch system of National Instruction. He was a man of the most modest and unassuming deportment; but altogether indefatigable in carrying out, even amidst debility and sickness, which often held him prostrate, his schemes for the improvement of the population amidst which he lived. It occurred to him, about the year 1817, that the working population of the towns, and the peasantry of the rural districts, might be put in possession of the same advantages as regarded books, which the better classes derived from the institution of subscription and burgh libraries. With a "balance of unclaimed militia insurances," for which he could not find owners, he purchased two hundred interesting volumes, and dividing them into four divisions of fifty volumes each, he stationed them in four several villages in the neighbourhood, for gratuitous perusal by the population: placing them under the superintendence of gratuitous librarians. At the end of two years, these divisions were exchanged; division B taking the place of division A in the first exchange, C taking the place of B in the next, and D taking the place of C in the next. And so on with all the stations. Thus, for eight years, a succession of books, new to the readers of each place, was regularly kept up; and the novelty of the fresh arrivals sustained the interest of the reading population. By these simple means, four villages were mutually supplied with the advantages of four libraries of two hundred volumes each, at exactly one-fourth of the expense of four such libraries, supposing them to have been fixed and not "itinerating."
The success of his first small experiment being proved, Mr. Brown proceeded to enlarge the scope of his design. And first, a set himself to discover how the system might be worked out in its details, the first expenditure for new books be defrayed, its wastes be compensated, and the whole machinery kept in action. He hit upon the following plan: he induced a number of subscribers of five shillings a year each to join him; and to these he held forth the equivalent of a perusal of the best new books of the season, in return for their subscriptions, at the same time that they were furnishing a supply of excellent books for the free reading of the humbler classes, who could not purchase for themselves.
The average number of subscribers to the scheme did not exceed a hundred, but this was sufficient to prove its immense value, and its universal practicability. With the subscriptions new books were bought, and kept for two years in a division by themselves, for the use of the subscribers; after which, they merged in the general circulation; when their place was supplied by a fresh lot of new books, selected from the lists supplied by the subscribers. Thus the subscribers got value for their money, and the number of village divisions of books was regularly increased.
For twenty years this single-minded man laboured at his work, cheered by the hope that his plan would ultimately be taken up by the friends of human enlightenment everywhere, and become one of the most potent means for the moral and intellectual improvement of mankind. After the lapse of that period, he saw forty-seven libraries in circulatory motion throughout the county of East-Lothian—a county whose population does not much exceed that of Rutland, the smallest of English counties;—these libraries containing a total of nearly 3000 volumes. Indeed, there was scarcely a village or hamlet without its little library. Whenever an application was made, a division was sent; and there was not an inhabitant of the county but had the free perusal of instructive books within his reach. They were brought, as it were, to their doors, and the benefits of literature placed within reach of the meanest. More recently, divisions of books fitted for the perusal of children have been placed in all the schools, which, like the other divisions, undergo a constant change, in order that the novelty and attraction may be kept up.
What is there to prevent this scheme from being set on foot in every town and county in England? The practicability of the plan is proved. It is in actual operation, and has been so for nearly thirty years; having, during that period, been instrumental in the instruction of the rising generation of a whole county. Its machinery is most simple and efficient. It only needs a few earnest, practical men, to give it a start everywhere. A hundred subscribers of five shillings a year may be found in any district to form a commencement; and, were they to number by thousands instead of hundreds, free itinerating libraries might soon be in full practical operation throughout all England. It was an idea of Mr. Brown's, that a powerful and well organized Society would yet be formed, to carry out his plan on a national scale; and he was even sanguine enough to think that a government which cared for the morals and well-being of the people, might yet take up the scheme and carry it into practical effect.
The immense value of the Itinerating Library system has not been overlooked by the acute Americans,—ready, as they generally are, to anticipate us in the application of our greatest discoveries. The enterprising "American Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" have resolved to incorporate the plan of Itinerating Libraries with their other operations. The Reverend Mr. Abbott, Secretary to that great national association, closes a letter on the subject by saying—"I have much hope of one day seeing that system, in all its substantial advantages, generally adopted over the millions of miles of our national territory." What a disgrace it will be to this country, if America outstrip us in the practical application of this great educational discovery!
The plan has already been highly praised by the leading educationalists of this country; but little or nothing further has been done. It has extended itself into some of the counties neighbouring to East-Lothian—into Berwickshire and. Roxburghshire; and the General Assembly have to a considerable extent adopted it in their Highland Schools. The germs of the system have also been carried to Jamaica, Canada, South Africa, Van Diemen's Land, and even to Russia. But it has yet to be taken up by the people; and, until they do take it up with spirit, the valuable means which it presents for the diffusion of enlightenment among the mass of our population, will come to nought.
It is with the view of urging this matter on the minds of thinking and earnest men, and placing before them a practical plan of free libraries for the people, that this article is penned; and the author sincerely hopes that good will come of it.