The Olneyville Times

AN ENGLISH SOCIETY.

WOMEN WHO KEEP INFORMED IN CURRENT LITERATURE,

An Economical Method of Purchasing Books and a Convenient and Sociable Way of Discussing the Latest Effusion of a Popular Writer.

An English woman, recently married to a New York lawyer, with a home in the suburbs, is trying an interesting experiment in the way of a literary and book lending society. The system she has adopted has been used in suburban towns of England and in many of the larger provincial cities for more than half a century. In fact, there is a society in Rochester. England, which claims to have had it in continual use for more than 100 years. There is probably no system exactly like it, however, in this part of the world.

The main object of this system is to supply books to women who have ample time for reading and are eager to keep pace with all that is interesting in the tremendous rush of contemporaneous literature. A man with even a moderate income cannot afford to keep his wife supplied with new books and magazines as they come out. The cheapest new novel, if it is worth anything, will be sure to cost him 50 cents. In nine cases out of ten the first price is more likely to be $1.50. To be sure, almost everything nowadays ultimately drifts into the cheap edition, but it is after the book has ceased to be fresh in the minds of the public and people have ceased to talk about it.

Women who live in the country and in the suburbs have more time for reading than women in cities, and withal fewer means of getting anything good to read. The time worn volumes in the local circulating library have been their familiar friends from childhood. If the husband subscribes to a circulating library in town and promises to bring a new book home with him every night, he is likely to grow weary soon and forget all about it. And then when an intelligent woman reads a good novel she likes to talk to somebody about it. Her husband hasn't time to read, and the acquaintances she visits have never even heard of it.

The literary English woman found herself in this plight, so she interested herself in forming a club similar to the one she belonged to at her English home.

The idea is a simple one. Forty or 50 persons in a town organize a book society. That is the name usually given to them in England. It has been found advisable to have at least 40 members and not to have more than 50. The Rochester society has adhered to this rule despite powerful pressure to increase its membership. Applicants for membership are kept waiting six years and sometimes more, for admission. A society No. 2 has naturally been formed. but the prestige remains with the pioneer society, which meets every week, winter and summer. in the Old Bull hotel, made famous in the "Pickwick Papers." The society hires a room, cheerful and comfortable, which is placed at its disposal one night each week. The landlord allows the members to keep a large cupboard in the room in which to store books.

These books are in charge of a secretary. The position is simply an honorary one, but the members usually make the secretary who attends to business a very substantial Christmas present-a piece of silver or some article of household furniture perhaps. The members determine by ballot what books shall be purchased, but it devolves upon the secretary to buy them. He is supposed to get discount prices from publishers. This is managed without difficulty. and the publishers generally find it for their own interest to remember the secretary about Christmas time. The result is that in prosperous societies the position is sought after. It is worth while to devote some little time to it.

Balloting to determine what new books shall be bought takes place once each month. If twenty or more members find it expedient to purchase some new book or series of books issued between balloting meetings-such, for instance, as Stanley's latest record of his travels or a new volume of a popular encyclopedia-the secretary must get it for them when they present a request in writing But the members keep themselves so well posted that books of this kind are usually voted for in advance.

All the money subscribed is not devoted to buying new books and magazines In every society there are a few members who prefer to read and even reread Dickens. Thackeray. Scott and numerous other standard writers. The wants of these people must be and are provided for to a reasonable extent. Each member may draw three books at one time but it is not allowed to keep any book for more than 14 days. If it is a book which is in demand. the time is limited to one week.

Every two years the books belonging to the society are assorted by the secretary into lots of equal value and are "drawn" by the different members in a lottery. Every member present has the right to draw one number. In this way the "cupboard" of the society is kept free from dead wood" and the individual members are able to build up a solid little library at home. Every member eventually gets his money back in books.

As to the cost of running a society of this kind, perhaps the best criterion would be the Rochester society. Each member pays a shilling at initiation and sixpence a week dues. If he gets behind in his dues. he is fined threepence for each week. If he neglects it for more than a month, his name is dropped. This has rarely happened in the Rochester society, although the rules are rigidly enforced. The money collected in this way has been found ample to run the society and keep the members abreast of new literature.

The weekly meetings are largely devoted to discussion. Two or three of the newest books are usually taken up. The talk is mostly conversational. though the secretary is supposed to exercise some control of the meeting and keep the members from all talking at once.-New York Times.