Personalities in the Columns                            7

deficiencies of bed and board by quickly locating his host's book¬
shelves. A few hours spent with books which he would probably
not have acquired himself but which are wished upon him, so to
speak, by the vicissitudes of hospitality, often prove unexpectedly
interesting. Just so, the readers of the Columns may sometimes
feel like guests in another man's house, as they sample a miscellany
of articles which reflect another's choice. As guests on the campus,
we Friends of the Libraries who are not faculty members are at
times a little out of our element. This is just where the Columns
can be useful—as a kind of versatile middle-man, interpreting and
humanizing the intellectual life of the university, both as it is crys¬
tallized in the collections of the Library and as it dynamically
appears in the achievements of scholars, past and present.

Frankly, we have fashioned the Columns for lay readers, and
have frequently hinted to our authors that their audience might
shy away from scholastic prose. There is no need to apologize for
this, since Jacques Barzun has reminded us that even the classics
were "for the most part addressed not to experts. They are books
written in the idiom of the streets rather than in the jargon of the
schools . . . Their authors were sublime journalists". We do con¬
gratulate our authors on the way they have entered into the spirit
of the periodical. Some of the articles, like Helen McAleer's piece
about her uncle, David Eugene Smith,' and Richard Logsdon's
account of his Afghanistan adventure," have been journalism in
the best sense, and (without aspiring to become classics!) have
achieved a good-humored distillation of theit subjects which
anyone can enjoy.

A few of our articles have had specialized appeal, of course, and
with the printing of the ten years' Index readers may readily look
up subjects relating to their particular interest. But articles which

1 Helen E. AIcAlcer, "A Family Portrait of U.D.'", Alay, 1961, pp. 19-55.
- Richard H. Logsdon, "A Librarian in Afgiianistan," Nov., 1959, pp. 3-8.