choice fitly fell upon the Rev. Henry Matson, a man of marked literary tastes and of wide experience. At this time the Library was opened every afternoon in the week for the use of the students, and on two afternoons of the week for drawing books for home use. The class of 1870 about this time presented many valuable sets of the later literature to the Library, including complete sets of Irving, Scott and other popular novelists. A small charge was added to the college term bills which provided for the payment of salaries and necessary expenses, and left a few hundred dollars each year available for the purchase of new books. From these sources, and from gifts, the Library increased during the administration of Mr. Matson from about ten thousand volumes to sixteen thousand. In 1885 Mr. Charles V. Spear, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, presented the College a beautiful building containing on the upper floor a large reading room, 75 by 40, fitted with adjoining stack rooms, and upon the first floor rooms designed for the storage of books, but which have, thus far, been temporarily occupied by the museum and the Geological and Zoological Departments. Mr. Spear also presented the Library the Relief L. Holbrook Fund of over eleven thousand dollars, the income of which was to be spent for the purchase of books. At about the same time, under the leadership of Professor William G. Frost, now more widely known as President Frost, of Berea, Kentucky, a movement was made by the Alumni which resulted in the raising of sixteen thousand dollars, which was spent in carefully cataloging the Library and classifying it on the Dewey system, and in the purchase of new books. Mr. Azariah S. Root, a graduate of the class of 1884, was employed for this work, and in 1887 was appointed Librarian, which position he still occupies. Since 1887 the Library has grown very rapidly, reaching 21,628 volumes in 1890, 33,136 books in 1895 and 44,705 books in 1900. Its use grew even more rapidly, and the number of books drawn increased from about 3,600 per year to more than 13,000, while the use of the books within the building increased in far greater proportion. In 1900 from the legacy of Rev. E. K. Alden, D. D., of Boston, Massachusetts, a fund of more than $5,000 was added to the endowment of the Library, which, with other smaller sums, make a total endowment, the income of which is spent for the purchase of books, of nearly $21,000. In addition to this, special gifts are received from time to time, and, as the finances of the College' permit, special appropriations are made by the Board of Trustees. In 1901, upon the death of General Jacob D. Cox, his valuable private library, numbering about twenty-seven hundred volumes came into the possession of the Library. This valuable Library is especially strong in the history of our late Civil War. The last report of the Library showed 51,405 bound volumes in the possession of the Library and 52,422 unbound volumes, or an aggregate of 103,827.

OXFORD.

THE WESTERN COLLEGE LIBRARY.

The following is from a description Alumnae Hall of the Western College and Seminary, Oxford, Ohio:

"A fire-proof library with a capacity for one hundred and twenty thousand volumes, constitutes the entire north end of the building. More than eight thousand volumes are now upon the shelves. The library is open for consultation more than ten hours daily, and books are drawn for use in the student's rooms, subject to certain restrictions. In this library is the Tillinghast window, placed here by the class of '66. This window received the gold medal at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and is said to be one of the most beautiful works of art in America. In addition to the library there is a large, sunny, reading room, which is furnished with more than one hundred of the leading reviews, magazines and newspapers."

In a letter the librarian, Caroline D. White, supplies the following additional information:

"We have had two fires. Very few books were saved from the last fire in April 1871; as near as I can learn, not over five hundred. About eight or nine hundred books were given to the library soon after they re-opened the following October. The library grew in a very small way until we received an endowment of $2,600, which gives us an income of $180.00 to be used yearly.

Since we moved into our new library, June, 1895, we have received some larger gifts from time to time which have increased our number of books. From six to eight hundred dollars is appropriated from the receipts of tuition to meet the current expenses of the reading room and the binding of magazines and periodicals, also the purchase of a small number of books."

PAINESVILLE.

PAINESVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Several early attempts were made to establish a library in Painesville, but with no permanent result until the foundation of the Temperance Library and Reading Room. This was established by the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and aided by Mr. C. H. Moore, who loaned a thousand books to the library.

With the death of Miss Dean, January 31, 1898, who, for twenty years, had been its faithful librarian, this went out of existence, only to rise again Phoenix like from its ashes into a larger and more lasting form.

This had been the earnest desire of Miss Dean, that a Public Library should be established on an enduring basis for the youth of the present and future. Early in February a charter was obtained, and an organization effected for a Free Public Library and Reading Room. The articles say any citizen can become a member of the Library Association by the