NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN

Two of our volunteers put together another interesting display in the glass case outside the Bullis Room, and we invite you to stop and take a close look at it on your next trip to the library. It contains books from the collection that offer the reader learning experiences in a variety of subjects. 

There's Hints for Home Reading, Book Buyers Guide and a Book Record, which is described as "a series of papers on books and their use," edited by Lyman Abbott and published in New York in 1900.  This book bears Abram R. Bullis's bookplate, and we can imagine him studying this book in his search for titles to add to his library. 

There are 14 volumes displayed. Their subjects range from technical books on organic chemistry, physics,  economics, algebra, and hydraulic motors to the history of art. There's even a book on eighth-grade poetry that was published in 1906.

The size of the Bullis collection and the variety of subjects, genres, and authors indicate that all generations of Bullises were avid lifelong readers and considered themselves never too old to learn. As a result we now have their collection to enjoy--so let's do it.

CONSTITUTION AND CITIZENSHIP DAY

Constitution and Citizenship Day was established in 2004 to commemorate the signing of the Constitution of the United States on September 17, 1787.

Looking for ways to observe this 223-year-old event?  We suggest you stop by the Bullis Room and let us show you these books from the collection:

The Constitution of the United States, its sources and its application, by Thomas James Norton. The World Publishing Co.  of Cleveland and New York published this book in 1941.

The Story of the Constitution of the United States, by Francis Newton Thorpe. Chautauqua Press published this book in 1891 and included it in their literary and scientific circle in 1891 and 1892.

Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court, by Felix Frankfurter. This book was published by Harvard University Press in 1938 and contains essays that cover the major controversies that came before the Supreme Court during the thirty years of Mr. Holmes' judgeship.

And if you'd like to read about a really old constitution, ask to see the Bullis Room's copy of Aristotle on the Athenian Constitution (translated with Aristotle introduction and notes by F.G. Kenyon),  2nd edition, published in London by G. Bell and Sons in 1912.

So please stop by...and take a look at these awesome books.

THE HASH KNIFE OUTFIT by Zane Grey

"Mert Bartels won the honors in our Bullis Book Review Contest's over-18 category. His review is reprinted below for your reading enjoyment.

"Jed Stone, a low end cattle rustler and leader of the 20 year outfit in the untamed, wild area in the Tonto Basin and Mongollon rim country of Arizona, exemplifies the many characteristics of how the westerner lived up to the Code of the West. Like many Jed Stone, due to circumstances early in his life, was forced onto the wrong side of the law. Good men as well as bad men exhibited these virtues: loyalty, courage, hard workers, untalkative and protector of women and children, well for the most part. Stone's dilemma is whether he continues to manhandle the Outfit or to alter his ways to leave outlawry.

"Zane Grey also weaves into the novel the Traft family Diamond Ranch with its array of mostly young cowhands who face the natural elements, mean cows, low-down rustlers, dishonest gamblers, and two young women of opposite upbringing. Uncle Jim Traft has nephew Jim, who is a year new to the West, ramrod the Diamond. Jim's ill-health, purpled-eyed sister, Gloriana with an Eastern education and ways, appears suddenly from Missouri with a past that she wants unrevealed. Her bad experience with a gambler named Darnell spelled past family troubles and future ones too as Darnell has tracked her west. Meanwhile, young Jim has not only fallen for a low country girl named Molly Dunn from the Cibeque Valley, but he plans to marry her despite Gloriana's objections. The problems begin between Gloriana and Molly because apparently it's easier for ten men in a bunkhouse to get along than two women in one ranch house. Gloriana convinces Molly that she is unfit to marry her  brother since she has only back woods upbringing, thus Molly moves to town to work and get away from moonstruck Jim.

"An unusually enjoyable part of the story is how simple cowhands compete to spruce themselves up for the Thanksgiving dance in town and outdoing one another at Christmas time. Grey is a master of dialog to convey their joshing each other and their fawning all over the ladies from the ranch as well as the Flag town girls. No modern day writer can equal his use of western talk and character mood. He too vividly describes rock-faced canyons, hues of the forestry and amber colored  brooks, plus wildlife sounds.

"Besides attending to the Diamond ranch young Jim finds he is given land in Yellow Jacket country by his uncle. Jim sees this as an opportunity to build an adjacent ranch and pine-pole log house for his bride-to-be Molly. As Jim and cowhands build the ranch house some Diamond cattle are stolen. Something disruptive happens to Uncle Jim. From this point the bad element seems to control the action.

"The western genre extended by Grey herein evolves into the traditional battle between good and bad elements. Croak Malloy, vicious weasel-faced gunman, Sonora, a Mexican with no ethics, and Madden both gunhand and cook comprise some of the bad element. Malloy in every back-handed attempt tries to lead the rustlers away from Jed Stone to become the Hash Knife's leader. When will the inevitable confrontation between these two occur as we learn more of their inward code and beliefs brings us closer to the end? Malloy who is loyal only to himself joins forces with Bambridge, a dishonest cattle buyer, the cheating gambler Darnell and other rustlers to remove 5000 head of Diamond stock. What is to become of the Hash Knife Outfit as the potential for leadership may change?

The next question becomes what the Diamond hands and young Jim will do to thwart the rustlers. Who will rescue the kidnapped Gloriana and Molly from the outlaw cabin? Also, will Gloriana evolve into a tough, resilient western woman? Only the reader knows."

REVIEW OF THE NOVEL MADAME BOVARY

Here is Danielle Stoner's winning book review, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did.

"The 1857 novel Madame Bovary by novelist Gustave Flaubert is truly a masterpiece in its own right. Unlike other novels of its time, Bovary touches on issues that are as relevant now as they were in nineteenth-century France; items such as dreams, infidelity, debt, suicide, and unrequited love constitute the makeup of this novel that is considered a classic of American and European literature.

"The novel centers around Emma (Roualt) Bovary, a bookish woman who holds dear her dreams of romantic love, and Charles Bovary, the smitten, mediocre doctor that falls for her. Emma falls for Charles soon after Charles sets her father's broken leg; to Emma, Charles is the ideal man, and they are soon wed. However, Emma is soon bored with Charles's superficiality and the mundane life she now leads as Madame Bovary.  Charles does not realize that his adoration is one-sided, and remains oblivious to Emma's disinterest throughout the novel. When Emma falls ill with what appears to be anxiety or depression, the Bovarys move to Yonville, a small village in the countryside. It is here where Emma falls in love first with Rodolphe, a wealthy landlord, followed by Leon, a young law student.  Emma's boredom with married life becomes a flurry of frantically concealed love affairs, sprouted from the romanticisms she had read about as a child and a young adult. To deal with her issues, Emma turns to compulsive buying, a trend with which many women can empathize today, but her problems come to an end abruptly and tragically.

"I found this novel to be quite intriguing for a novel of its time. In my experience, most novels from the nineteenth century seem to skirt over issues that were deemed "unseemly" or otherwise controversial. Bovary, however, approaches these topics at full force, describing in great detail the makeup of Emma's relationships with both Rodolphe and Leon. As a true romantic, myself, I liked the premise, even though I disagree with Emma's principles as a whole. I enjoyed the fact that Emma was seemingly able to find true love, or at least what appeared to her to be true love, even though she made the wrong choice in marrying Charles in the first place. Although I disagree with Emma's practices of adultery and abandonment of her child, I sympathize with her dilemma and I admire her will to achieve her dream of true love, no matter what it took to get her there. The novel is masterfully written, painting pictures of the French countryside so vivid that it seemed I was there inside the novel with characters smelling the fresh breeze and listening to the wind whistle through the trees. To me, that was one of the best parts of the novel; the descriptions of the scenery were absolutely lovely. Although the book has a tragic ending, I enjoyed the work as a whole. Overall, I like literature that deals with real issues, and Bovary did just that. Flaubert, although he received harsh criticism for his approach, did an excellent job making the reader aware of the prevalence of these issues in society, and showed them in a way that made the reader empathize with the characters' points of view. It is hard not to sympathize with Emma when Rodolphe abandons her, or grieve with Charles during any of the times where he experienced the death of a loved one. I feel that reading this novel has expanded my knowledge of classic literature, while helping me further understand the motives behind certain people's actions.  I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a change in pace, anyone interested in classic literature that is still relevant today, or anyone yearning to take a stroll in the French countryside."