Llangollen Advertiser Denbighshire Merionethshire and North Wales Journal

BY THE WAY. I About Landladies. This is Whit-week, and the air is full 8t any rate the memory of holidays. With ir of us it is only a memory now, but a. very fragrant one, with one possible excep- tion. For, as the old lady said when she ex- plained that her married daughter was get- ting oft all right except that she could not "abide her man," "there is allus a sum- ii -t." And the summát fly in the holiday ointment is often the landlady. There are, of course, landladies—and landladies. I have known members of that much maligned class who deserve nothing but honour and praise. But I have also known others, and the others, unfortunately, seem to predominate. Per- haps it is partly due to the point of view fro a J which we regard them. If we could read their innermost mind we might very likely find that they had their opinion of guests and that it was .not always by any means complimentary. Anyhow, we gener- ally approach them on our guard, and live more or less in fear of them during our soj ourn under their roof. If the children are noisy we dread the sound of a tap on the door, though, to do them justice, it is always the people who have taken the drawing room upstairs" in whose interest their in- tervention upon our juveniles' exuberance is based. If we spill coffee on the table cloth we furtively cover it with a plate when the landlady comes to clear, though we know that this is no permanent defence against a charge for "sundries" in the bill; and a broken cup or saucer we are painfully, aware leads to an item which will purchase quite a dozen new ones, justified generally on the ground that it spoils the set." In short, those of us who put ourselves at the mercy of a land- lady are well aware that we are out to be had," and if we grumble inwardly it is only because human nature always finds 'it so hard to face the obvious consequences of its own folly. Besides, as I have said, the landlady j has her point of view-and a high rent to pay for a house which is usually only full for three months in the year. But, though I have so far been writing more particularly of the landlady of the seaside or inland resort lodging house, the term has really a much wider application. It may range from the prosperous proprietress of the fashionable hydro down to the humble soul who puts a little card in her cottage window intimating to the casual wayfarer in search of work that she has at her command the provision of more or less adequate lodgings for travellers." Somewhere half way between the two extremes is the landlady who sets her net to catch, if possible, a perm-aa- eney" and advertises her desire to meet with some young gentleman or lady in business who wishes either to secure "separate apart- ments" or to "live as one of the family." Popular conception has stereotyped this class of landlady for us in no nncertain form. She is elderly and not particularly handsome, either in person or manners, apt to complain and seldom obliging. In fact a composite character sketch reduced to graphic art would I coma out something like this:— But even in this case much depends upon circumstances. Like most other bargains in this world, whether you get hold of the best or the worst end hinges largely on the law of toss in May, 1917, the lodger can generally make his own terms and count on careful supply and demand. If landladies are as plentiful as blackberries in autumn and in- quirers for "apartments" as rare as pota- attention to his wants and even some con- sideration for his whims. If, on the other hand, the market is reversed, then we must put up with whatever we get, and be thank- ful even for that. Sometimes some accidental circumstances will change the whole attitude of the land- lady. For instance, the establishment of a large military camp, bringing with it hosts of officers' and soldiers' wives and families, has been known to revolutionize the econ- omic problem of lodgings-hunting in a very few weeks, aad to lead not only to wailing letters in the local Press but to provide material for topical satirical allusion on the local stage. At an Oswestry theatre, last week I hear it was sung that Good lodgings in Oswestry cannot be got, Soldiers, wives snap them all up like & shot, So people who don't, care to lie on bare floors Are sleeping and eating their meals out of doors." This, no doubt, is an exaggeration, justified by the necessity for dramatic effect; but the fatire, 1 fancy, u not whoUj; devoid, of ptiaa. and the position of seekers after apart- ments in Oswestry at the present time is like that of W. S. Gilbert's policeman, not a happy one." Nevertheless, let me say in justice to the righteous that I know land- ladies in Oswestry who are willing to take all sorts of trouble to make their guests com- fortable and deserve in return a consideration which, I am afraid, they do not always get. For lodgers can be unreasonable as well as landladies, and even if the latter do occasion- ally display some irritation, as one of them said to me yesterday, what with the food re- striction orders, and all the rest of it we really don't know how we keep sane. So I. for one, will plead for extenuation for the landlady, despite all her peccadillos. But then, of course, I have a happy home of my own, where—though don't let Margaret know I said so—I can do just as I please; and per- haps that makes all the difference to my poiiit of view. A PHILOSOPHER ON THE PROWL. I A GREAT LIBRARY. I WELSH NATIONAL AIMS. GOVERNORS AT SHREWSBURY. Something of the story was told in the Shire Hall, Shrewsbury, on Friday afternoon, of the wonderful development of the National Library of Wales, the home of which is the strikingly magnificent building that elands high up on the hill side to the left of the traveller on his going into Aberystwyth by the Cambrian Railways. Large photographs, showing the exterior of the library and the interior of the great hall were set out in the Shire Hall at the half-yearly meeting: of the Court of Governors of the National Library, over which the Vice-Presi- dent, the Right Hon. J. Herbert Lewis, M.P., presided. The attendance included Lord Mo-s-tyn, Sdr Vincent. Evans, the Hon. Mrs. Bulkeley-Owen, Principal T. F. Roberts, the Rev. H. Elvc't Lewis. Professor Ed. Edwards, Mr. J. W. Willis Bund, Mr. J. B. Willans, Montgomery. Mr. J. H. Davies, Aberystwyth, with Mr. John Ballinger, librarian, and Mr. Evan D. Jones, chairman af the Building Com- mittee. Mr. Herbert M. Vaughan of Llangoedmore, Cardigan, was. elected a member of the Court in the place of Mr. D. Lleufer Thomas, who had been appointed a member of the Court by the Lord President of the Council, and Mr. John Owens of Chester was elected to serve on the Council. I EDUCATIONAL IDEALS. Mr. Herbert Lewis, in the course of his open- ing speech, said they met in the absence of their president, Sir John Williams, who t-it his affectionate greetings to the Court. They reci- procated most heartily the greetings that lie had sent them, and tihey wished him long lite to serve the library, to which he had been such a generous benefactor. (Applause). They met, the vice-president went oil, under the shadow of the war, but notwithstanding all the pre- occupa,tions which the war necessarily involved it was right that they should keep their national institutions going for the eake of the country after the war—(applauses—and he was glad m -say that the work of the library, notwithstand- ing all the difficulties of the past six months, had been adequately maintained, and that its work and influence had been extended in vari- ous directions. When he said they ought to keep their national institution going in time or war he could not help remembering that our gallant ally France, a large portion of whose territory is at present in the occupation of the enemy-Franoo that is bleeding from so many woun,d&is now enig-aged in the task of preparing for the establishment after the war of continu- ation schools. He hoped that in our country Parliament would have the good sense to follow so exe4ent an example and carry out the recom- mendations of the Departmenbal Committee cn Education after the war. In the same way, they who were concerned in the national institutions at their country would do well to see that they did not fall behind durine the war, but tha.t they were kept at a reasonable level of efficiency. Having referred to General Smuts's speech in the House of Lords and said how deeply he was impressed by the way General Smuts described the unity of our empire as depending very largely on the free development of its compon- ent parte, the Vice-President said that those of them who were .connected with the life of Wales could do nothing better at the present time than help forward the orderly progressive national development which was typified by an institution i Th,ey ,ha? d ?tly been like tihe National Library. They had only been in existence about eight years, and since then what a marvellous amount of work had been done! They h&d a glorious building, and one of its glorias was the fact that it had been built on the sound foundation of absolute freedom from debit. (Hear, hear). He thought they could all be proud as Welshmen of belonging to Such an institution and Wales might well be proud of it. (Applause). A CREDITABLE PERFORMANCE. Mr. Evan D. Jones, chairman of the Building Committee, presented the report of that coin- mittee. which showed that the whole of the building contracts had been completed. The position of the building fund was that they had received in subscriptions £ 60,581; Treasury grant, £ 40,000; Treasury grant to be received, £ 1,000; tubecriptions, £ 251; t-otal, 2110,812. The total estimated expenditure as reduced after the outbreak of war was £ 110,663. Since the last meeting, Mr. Henry Radcliffe of Druidstone had subscribed 26M. Taking aU the amounts named into consideration, they Would have sufficient to pay for all the work done and have a few hundreds to the good. There remained, how- ever, the fittings and furniture and other works not contracted for when the war began, and abandoned for the time being. It would be necessary to proceed with the abandoned Work and the fittings and furnitruteas soon as pos- sible so that the buildings may be put to their full use. The Treasury might reasonably be ex- pected to contribute £ for 2 for that purpose, but it would be necessary to ask for further public support. He was ?lad that the duties of the Building Committee were now praoti3ally over and hoped before the next meeting that the committee might have been formally dis- solved. (Applause). The Vice-President referred to the success with which the oomtnittee had carried out its work and added "I have never heard of a great building of -this kmd being completed within the estimates." Lord Mostyn moved the adoption of the re- port and eaid how satisfactory the position was 4nd how be agreed with what Mr. Herbert Lewis hlld said as to a great undertaking like that being done within the estimate. It was an immense credit to aU those associated with 1t, and he wished the library every possible success. The R6v. Elvet Lewis seconded the motion, which was carried. Bir. Vinoent Evans moved a vote of thanks to the donors of subscriptions, which was The Vice-President referred to the anonymous I gift of 25,000 to the library, and said that t.he I conditions of the gift were that it was to enable I the library, that had no funds at its dispopsal, to spend over the next five years up to a thousand pounds a year in the purchase of; books, MSS., prints, etc. I LIBRARIAN'S REPORT. The Librarian afterwards gave an exhaustive and interesting report on the development and work of the library, which is now open daily to readers. The exhibition of MSS. and rare books arranged. in the great hall was being continued and had been much appreciated. It was a great pleasure to mention the additions which the President, Sir John Williams, continued ro make to his already fine collections. He had recently given, a complete set of the books print- ed for William Morris at the Kclmscott, Press. Sir John lent these books, 60 volumes; for the exhibition in the great hall of the library. He had now transferred them to the library, to- gether with a very fine copy of Blake's Illus- trations of the Book of Job, 1826. A small col- lection of MSS. relating to the family of the Wynns of Wyhnstgy had been acquired from a special fund given anonymously for including the Journals of Miss Frances WTynn in ten volumes, of which a portion was published by the late Mr. Abraham Hayward in 1864 under the tie Diaries of a Lady of 'Quail ty." The journals, however, included a large amount of important material not used by Hayward, who appeared | to have used five only of the ten volumes. A number of drawings by Miss Wynn were in- cluded in the journals. There was also a large collection of letters ranging from 1783 to 1840 or thereabouts. They were mostly family let- ters to Miss Fanny Wynn, and threw light upon many matters of more than local interest. Some of the letters were from her brothers, Sir Henry Williams Wynn, who was for some years Eng- lish Minister at Copenhagen, and the Right Hon. Charles Williams Wynn, the grandfather of Mr. Arthur Wynn, of Coedymaen, who, it wa'S worth recalling, presented to the National Library a number of valuable books from his •grandfather's library, six years ago. Mr. Arthur Wynn represented the county of Montgomery on that court. The collection is being arranged in 16 volumes and includes a catalogue of tihe library at Wynnstay, made in 1840. 18 years be- fore it was destroyed by fire. Duplicate copies of many books were desirable to carry out the special provision made by the charter for lend- ing a book when there was more than one copy in the library. The calls under that head were mny and various and sometimes difficult to meet. They came from all parts of the 13 counties; very often from men and women struggling.to pursue some piece of study but who have not within reach a library where they could go for the books they needed. To assist and encourage such workers offered one of the many opportunities of useful service in the pursuit of knowledge, a service which the National Library might render with ever increasing efficiency if the books were available. He should like to refer to a recent incident by way of illustration. The Hon. Mrs. Bulkeley-Owen sent a few i months ago a list of books which she offered as a gift if they were required. Many of them were duplicates of books already in the library, and he pointed that out, and at the same time asked whether they might be used for loans. Mrs. Bulkeley-Owen agreed readily, and he was sure that she would be glad to hear that her t gift had enabled the library to make loans which would otherwise have been impossible, and some of the books had been lent more than once since they were received. (Applause). (| The Vice-President said they had had a most R interesting report.-Alderrnan Howell, Newport, 1 moved, and Mr. Parry, Bethesda, seconded its J adoption, which was supported by Mrs. Bulkeley- Owen, who paid a tribute to the wonderful work put in on behalf of the library by Mr. Ballinger. She was glad that the loan side of the library a was developing, and eaid how wonderful the whole success of flhe library had been. Might • Mr. Ballinger live long to carry on the work. (Applause).—Mr. J. H. Davies, Principal Roberts, Mr. Henry Taylor, Flint, and Mr. J. B. WiHans, who .suggeated the running of a parish register society for Wales, having spoken, the motion was carried. and the meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Salop County Stand- ing Joint Committee for the use of the Shire I Hall for their meetin-go that day.