thing 4 -- the public library

Well, of course the cooperation between the schools and the public library is an important one. And the work of the library to provide services for the general public is vital for an intelligent and informed society. My wife and I went to the new Rondo library and borrowed some Hebrew language books and tapes in an effort to learn a little modern Hebrew in preparation for a visit to Haifa University in Israel where our daughter is studying for this fall term.
And I wanted to share with you a poem written last year:

THE OLD MAN WANTS TO KNOW

“Why can’t things be as they were,”
The old man wants to know;
The promises and dreams of youth
Seem so much long ago.

As the tears begin to well
And start on down his face,
He says, “I want to see my friends
At some familiar place.

The barbershop’s too small these days.
There is no place to sit
And play a quiet game of cards;
It makes me want to quit.

So please don’t close the library doors,
There’s so much yet to know;
It offers us great wisdom.
It’s the place we like to go.”
...Webb

(I tried to paste this in the "Compose" mode and couldn't do it; it worked in the "Edit Html" mode. ...just a word to those who are interested.)
I have never been scared away from any library; I had a wonderful "old" woman who worked at the library when I was kid. I could walk a block, traverse down a ravine, cross the "major" road [no crosswalks there, of course :-) ], back up the ravine, through a narrow walking "alley" and into the entrance of the children's section of the library. It was almost as much fun to get there as it was looking for books inside! I read a series of sports books about tennis {Match Point was the name of one, I remember} and loved them.