Following the introduction was the presentation of the keys. The Rev. John Parsons spoke as follows: "A French writer recently said that if the work of some fifty men of distinction in the varied life of the nation were to be removed, the prime moving forces of culture and civilization would be lost. This statement is both just and striking, and its essential truth is applicable to other nations. These men of genius have their power in virtue of their special endowments: some of them have keen intellectual insight; some, delicate sensitiveness of temperament; and others, unusual force of character.
The results of their work are perpetuated in books, and books are gathered into libraries. The mission of a library is manifold. When we enter the doors, we come first, upon the newspaper rack with the daily papers giving a kaleidoscopic view of current events; destruction of property through fire and storm; breaks in the stock market; records of crime; disasters and loss of human life. On the tables we find magazines to keep us in touch with investigations of deeper interest: politics, scientific discovery and invention, and the problems of general social welfare. But when we enter the alcoves we get, as nowhere else, light on the profoundest questions of life, its origin and destiny. From natural history we learn of the epochs of the earth; from political history, of the important changes in governments and dynasties; from biography, of the characters of gifted men. Here also we find the works of literature: drama, delineating the hidden springs of action; romance, charming and kindling the imagination; poetry, purifying and ennobling the soul. Here are volumes on science to reveal to us the secrets of nature; on morals, to show us a safe pathway amid the dangers of life; and on religion, to lighten up the future.
The library is, therefore, an institution of greatest social importance. It joins with church and school, and exercises prominent influence in forming a distinct and elevated social tone.
Individuals pass away, but a library with its social tone endures from generation to generation. At the same time, this continuity is not like that of the recurring historical anniversary, or that of the monument erected on the battlefield; for these simply repeat unchanged the lesson from year to year; whereas the library moves on from year to year receiving contributions from each new generation. Every reader in a library, therefore, stands at focal point. He gathers there all the influences of the past and present. Men in early ages built monuments and established thrones, but time has destroyed them; but the man who put forth a great thought and embodied it in language created that which is imperishable. Plato and Aristotle wrote for Athenians, but their influence has lasted on down to the present. Plato has done his greatest work for Christians; into the most intimate thoughts of some of them he enters today; and the logical method of Aristotle ruled scientific thinking for two thousand years. Homer and Virgil sang for the men of their own time, but the echoes linger still. What a great spiritual heritage has the English people in the dramas of Shakespeare, the epics of Milton, and the songs of Burns! Thus the reader meets the elect souls of the past.
He stands where the great and the good of all lands gather to instruct him. He stands where the limitations of time and space are transcended. He stands where thoughts that have wandered through eternity have been fixed by books for humanity as a part of its permanent treasures. Thus the library will lead the van of the forces of the social environment from period to period to the century's end.
And now hoping that when the residents shall gather a t that centennial gathering and shall take the assets of the social influences that have come down to them, they shall be led back to this hour and shall find that ti has been as a landmark from which important social influences have flowed on like a trail of light through the years, and will flow on beyond the centennial line with increasing light from increasing volumes, summoning the coming generations to keep step with firmer tread in the march of civilization, I give you this deed to that building and this key to open its treasures." (York County Coast Star, August 2, 1907)
The Reverend Parsons certainly got it when it came to the importance and meaning of libraries. His one-hundred-plus-year-old advice and insight is just as meaningful today as it was back then. Let's hope that others continue to get it through the years. Support your local library. It makes common "cents."
