BOOKS FOR THE LONELY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19136, 30 September 1925, Page 13

BOOKS FOR THE LONELY.

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS. COMMITTEE'S GOOD WORK. APPRECIATIVE RECIPIENTS. Preparations for Christmas packings are now h«ing made by the Mayoress' War Memorial Library Committee in anticipation of a more than usually heavy request , for reading matter from the back blocks and lonely, places by sea and by land. j * ' ; The work of the Library Committee has grown to such an extent during recent years that it has become more than an organisation—it is now an institution in the lives of hundreds of men and women, who but for ! its ministrations would suffer tenfold from a sense of isolation and loneliness. It is only through generous public sympathy and support that this fine work can be maintained, and it is hoped, therefore, that during the coming weeks the committee's book-bins will be filled to overflowing with a rare Christmas harvesting. Every kind of literature is acceptable, scientific and technical works as well as fiction. Some time ago the committee established a special department to deal with books of a technical, classical or special nature, and in order to ensure that they reached the people by whom they would be most appreciated, sent out lists of these special publications, with a form to be filled in stating what was required. The replies are most interesting. They show that in fiction Dickens enjoys a popularity ucapproached . by modern writers; Dictionaries, works of reference, cookery books and medical works suitable for perusal by lay people, are in so great request that the committee can never meet the demand. Requests for books of poems and recitations and indoor games all bespeak the yearning of dwellers in, lonely places to have soma means of wiling away the long hours after the day's work is done.. From one of the most isolated districts of the far north came the other day a typical letter requesting copies of the Penny Encyclopaedia, two books of Scottish poems, a book of travel and one of Mark "Twain's works. "We have each selected one book," stated the writer, "with the encyclopedia extra, if you have any copies on hand;" And in the portion of the form asking for special f rounds on which the request is made, ppears the following: "No special claim. Just five old gum-diggers in the far north."

Equally interesting is a form sent in by a farmer's wife living in a wayback valley in the Bay of Plenty district. She wanted a copy of a popular English magazine, Mrs. Beefon's cookety book a volume each by Dickens and Scott, a volume of poems and. a book of recitations. "If out of these, send anything," she adds, "I do not mind what it is. I cannot go out much, and being so far away from anyone, X have not been, able to get, many books or reading matter of • any kind. ' As the packages of books will constitute the only Christmas cheer which many of the recipients are likely to. leceive, the committee strives to m%ke them as full and attractive as it possibly can. Old Christmas . calendars, to which 1926 flaps will be attached, cards and Christmas numbers of magazines will; be most welcome, while bright' pictures for scrap-books for children are eagerly looked, for. The space set apart for the presents, for the little ones is never so full than it cannot hold, more, ; and the slight effort. involved in looking up unwanted cards and pictures would be more than compensated could those who go to this trouble but have a glimpse of the joy with which the scrap-books will' be received. :

■ Another special feature of the com? mittee's work is the: renovation arid rebinding of old vojumes, which are taken to pieces and made up into / practically new books. • Between two and three thousand volumes have been thus remade this year," special assistance' having been given by returned soldiers and by one or. two devoted women workers. In this way every donation is put to practical use, and everyone who plaices a book in one of the street bins may be assured that it is going to serve a far higher purpose than it could ever achieve as a useless'• collector of dust, lying idle in a bookcase.