From WM. H. PRESCOTT, the Historian.

I have received the Circular you have done me the honor to send me, and have read it with pleasure. The subject is not one which I have before had occasion to consider; but I feel no doubt that the plan you propose for supplying the School Libraries of Wisconsin would be superior to that at present established, both in regard to the character of the books selected, and economy in purchasing them. I wish your enlightened endeavors for the advancement of education, all success.

From Hon. JARED SPARKS, formerly President of Harvard University.

I have perused, with great satisfaction, your plan of procuring books for School Libraries, under the immediate direction. of the State government. The superiority of this plan over every other is too obvious to admit of argument. Not only a vastly better selection of books may thus be made, under the guidance and judgment of a single agency, but by a judicious system of purchasing them together, in the requisite quantities, for the various Libraries, they may be obtained at reduced prices. In fact, there is but one side to the question, and it may safely be said, that no State in the Union could more effectually promote the intellectual, moral, and religious culture of the rising generation, than by supplying them, by some permanent arrangement, with the use of valuable and well-chosen books. As you ask my opinion, I have thus expressed it freely.

From Hon. EDWARD EVERETT, formerly President of Harvard University.

I am very glad to perceive, by your Circular of the 28th ult., that measures are in contemplation for supplying each town in Wisconsin with a School Library. No greater service can be rendered to the rising generation. It is in vain that children are taught to read, if they have no access to good books;-worse than in vain, if they are furnished with nothing better than the wretched trash in tawdry binding, which is carried round by the peddlers. If the State would adopt the plan of advancing to each town, for a School Library, as much as the town is willing to raise by itself, the greatest amount of good will be effected by the least burden on the State Treasury. You have my best wishes for the success of the movement.

From BAYARD TAYLOR, Esq.

My views on the subject of School Libraries are entirely in accordance with those expressed in your Circular. I cannot too strongly recommend the plan of establishing Township Libraries at the cost of the State, as has already been done on so liberal a scale by the State of Indiana. The advantages are not only those of cheapness, and permanence in the supply, but the selection of the works-on which so much of the value of all Libraries depends-would unquestionably be made with more taste and intelligence than if entrusted to so many different hands. The more our Common School system is made broad, liberal, and comprehensive in all its features, the more thoroughly and beneficently will it accomplish its mighty work.

From BENSON J. LOSSING, author of the Field Book of the Revolution, Pictorial History of the United States for Schools, Primary History of the United States for Schools,

etc.

Feeling great interest in the subject of popular enlightenment by means of schools and public libraries, I have reflected much upon the real and ideal character of both-the real as it exists, and the ideal as I hope it may be. Surely, no subject more important than the proper education of the people can occupy the thoughts, and employ the efforts of the statesman, the patriot, and the christian. Such education lies at the basis of private and public virtue, which is the only stable foundation of a State.

Next in importance to the School, in the work of education, is the Public Library. It is a copious spring from which knowledge flows among the people. How important, then, that the waters thereof should be wholesome and invigorating! How careful should all right-minded men be to keep these fountains pure and undefiled! The most active and fruitful seeds of good and evil in our social system, are found in the literature of the day; and the wisest discrimination is necessary to separate one from the other. It is impossible-absolutely impossible-to have anything approaching to the exercise of such wise discrimination in the system of District Libraries as organized in some States. How can the Trustees of schools, elected for a temporary purpose, many or most of them away from centres of business and general knowledge, and engaged in absorbing pursuits, be acquainted with the character of the thousands of books that fall from the press every year? They have no data to guide them, and they are left to the mercy of pedlars and others, who go about

the country with "sensation books "-in other words, moral and intellectual poison, and are compelled to form their judgment from the statements of lying advertisements. This is a monster evil; and many of the Libraries of this State are crowded with books that no judicious parent would willingly allow his child to read.

In view of the importance of this matter, I heartily coincide with your expressed opinion in relation to Town Libraries, leaving the selection of the books to the State, through proper agents duly chosen by the people. Your State has a noble education fund-(what a burning shame it was, to pour a part of it into that sewer of corruption, called the Drainage Fund, I believe) and it should be the business of the wisest and best men of your young and vigorous State to assist in forming a virtuous and efficient system for the establishment and maintenance of public libraries in every town in the commonwealth.

From CARL SCHURZ, Esq., Milwaukee.

The Circular which you had the kindness to send me, came into my hands but a short time ago. I have had no time since to study the details of your plan minutely; but it strikes me, that it will be a great improvement on the District Library system, which, from my own observation, I know to be complete failure in a large portion of the State. If there are no financial obstacles in the way, I trust your plan will find a great many supporters in the Legislature, and will at an early day be carried into effect.

From Rev. EDWARD COOKE, D.D., President of Lawrence University, Appleton.

Your plan for supplying Town School Libraries throughout the State meets my most hearty concurrence. It combines the following advantages over the old district systems adopted in most of the other States where anything of the kind exists:

1st. It proposes one Library for each town, for the use of all the districts in common. In this way, a better Library may be secured, and its supervision will be more efficient.

2d. It proposes a Board of competent and responsible individuals to select these Libraries, thereby securing the right kind of books to be placed in the hands of our youth. This is a very important feature.

Such a system, once put into operation throughout the State, would be a power for an incalculable amount of good. It would be silent moral influence constantly forming the social and intel

lectual habits of the youth in every nook and corner of our new but rising State.

Liberal provision is already made for the support of common schools throughout our State; and an adequate fund is also set apart for the encouragement of Academies and Normal Schools. What is now wanted to complete our system of public education is, reading of the right kind for the people, such as shall form the right material for intellectual culture. Would not a portion of the Drainage Fund prove much more permanently useful to the people if expended in this way than in grubbing out roads and cutting ditches?

Of course, strong guards will have to be thrown around the plan to secure the real benefit of the people, rather than that of book agents and publishers. If all these objects can be secured, and the plan put into operation, it will, I have no doubt, prove one of the greatest blessings ever conferred upon our State.

From Rev. Dr. ROSWELL PARK, President of Racine College.

In reply to your Circular, I do not hesitate to state my decided opinion, that the system of Town Libraries which you propose, would be far more beneficial to our State than that of School District Libraries, now in operation. Especially would this be the case, and a difficulty remedied, if, where there are two or more villages in a township, the Library should be divided correspondingly, and an exchange of the portions be made annually, with permission for any townsman to take a book from either portion, under proper regulations. By Legislative action, the present District Libraries might be combined, to form the nucleus of Town Libraries; multiple copies of the same work being retained or exchanged, as might seem best.

From I. A. LAPHAM, Esq., Milwaukee.

I most heartily concur with you in the proposed movement in regard to Libraries for our public free schools. The books should be chiefly such as convey useful information, rather than mere works of amusement and pastime. All such vile books as you mention should be rigidly excluded.

A large saving may be made by the State purchasing the books from first hands, and having them sent in suitable numbers, directly to the several county seats, from whence they could easily be obtained by the town officers-thus avoiding much unnecessary expense of distribution.

From Hon. CHarles Durkee, Kenosha.

You suggest a remodeling of the present Library system connected with our district schools, that is, to establish Town Libraries throughout the State, instead of the present imperfect district system, and ask my opinion as to the propriety of the change.

I give you my views briefly, and with much diffidence, as they are not the result of mature reflection, nor of an extensive observation. The reasons you assign, going to show the superiority of this new proposition over the present one, seem to me to be very obvious. In my opinion then, the adoption of your views is only a question of time. If the people are now prepared to incur the expense, the sooner the change is effected, the better for the cause of education, and the welfare of the State.

From JAMES W. STRONG, Esq., of Beloit, Secretary of the State Teachers' Association of Wisconsin.

The plan proposed in your communication of the 28th ult., of "supplying each Town in Wisconsin with a School Library,' "to be annually replenished by a permanent State provision for that purpose," meets my hearty approval in its main idea. The value of good Common School Libraries, to which all the children and citizens of a Town may have access, cannot be

over-estimated.

Public sentiment with regard to this, seems to be advancing; and I confidently hope, that before many years shall have passed, School Libraries will be regarded not only as an addition to our educational facilities, but as a most essential requisite in the work of properly educating the young mind, and disseminating through the whole community a correct and elevating literary

taste.

The question now, however, does not relate so much to the importance of School Libraries, as to the methods of securing and maintaining them. Probably no plan can be devised entirely free from objection, or respecting which great care will not be requisite in carrying out the minor provisions. A plan most excellent in its general idea, may be rendered inefficient, or indeed, quite worthless, by an unskillful arrangement of its details. It must be evident to every one who has at all observed the operation of our present system, that, however commendable its design, it entirely fails of its great object. My own observation, though limited, corroborates your statement, that only a small portion of the districts have any Libraries at all, and these are scarcely deserving the name; and, moreover, only a very