[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 126 (Monday, September 12, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              A TRIBUTE TO THE HASTON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY

                                 ______


                           HON. JOHN W. OLVER

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 12, 1994

  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Haston 
Free Public Library of North Brookfield, MA, on its 100th anniversary. 
I am proud that Massachusetts has a longstanding tradition of support 
for public libraries, and the Haston Free Public Library is a part of 
that tradition.
  On September 20, 1894, the library was dedicated in the name of Mr. 
and Mrs. Erasmus Haston of North Brookfield, whose gift of $46,000 paid 
for the entire construction of the library. Unlike most 
philanthropists, the Hastons were of the working class. Childless and 
retired, after many years working in the town's shoe factory, the 
Hastons wished to provide the town with a modern library building.
  The library's dedication was a day of great civic pride for North 
Brookfield, and the library's tradition of service has only 
strengthened the community's pride. For 100 years the Haston Free 
Public Library has encouraged literacy and a love of learning, and 
served as a crucial resource for both young and old.
  In 1894 G. Stanley Hall, then president of Clark University, best 
articulated the goal and vision of the library when he said:

       May it ever be held a sacred civic trust, may its generous 
     support be not so much an annual duty as an annual joy to 
     every voter and may it forever have a warm place in the heart 
     of every inhabitant of this exalted and thrice beautiful 
     town.

  I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the Haston Free 
Public Library on its 100th anniversary, and for its long tradition of 
service to the community.

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