Page:ABC of Library Science.pdf/15

 1. GARDEN OF EDEN GARDEN OF EDEN A library is a "Garden of Eden" as it existed before the Fall of Man. If we enter this Garden, there are many fruit-bearing trees with their over- We hanging branches that yield their fruits to us. need only pluck them with zeal to enjoy them for there is God's Plenty in a library. It is the place where the educated congregate. It is the place which satisfies the intellectual curiosity of man. A library is one of the important institutions which contributes to the welfare of a country. All revolutions to establish a society based on justice and equality, spring in one sense, from the library of the nation. It spreads knowledge and thereby helps the healthy growth of the culture and the elvilisation of the country. It knows and makes no distinctions whatsoever of sex, caste, colour or creed, but draws all the young and old of a country to- wards it and sends them out, the better for it, by enlightening them in their particular fields and entering to their tastes of intellectual curiosity. For hundreds of years in the past in India and other Asian Countries, the generality of mankind have wallowed in ignorance being uneducated and poor, while the few privileged rulers actually ex- ploited the ignorance of the poor and firmly founded their way over them. To-day the percentage of How- illiterates in India is very slowly decreasing. The ignorant ever, it is important and interesting. poor have not been provided with all opportunities to enlighten themselves.