Little Bobby and The Library Card

The Library Card

From the small yellow house where little Bobby and his family lived to the strange new world of the public library located in the heart of the busy business district was, to Bobby, a journey to another place, another time.

It was a trip that would take Bobby into a world far removed from the lonely life he lived. There, the little boy would find books on every subject that could interest this very shy and impressionable kid simply by searching the tall, well-stocked shelves.

Books on pirates and sailing ships, both real and fictional were waiting to awaken the imagination of our little hero. Books on simple chemistry were there among the sciences. Books on the mystic and magical practices of early magicians were there on the shelves waiting to excite little Bobby’s curiosity. Books on aviation, books on gardening, books on astronomy, books on inventions, books on famous people, books on photography, books on dinosaurs and even books on books were all there for Bobby to discover.

The events leading up to Bobby’s first trip to the library and, indeed, the visit itself are lost to memory. The first recollection of library visits begins with a walk through the heavy wooden doors with their large glass windows where, painted in gold letters, the solitary word “Library” was stenciled. The doors, actually more glass than wood, were the entry to little Bobby’s private world. Private because, in his remembering those long ago events, he was always alone.

Maybe there were others with him, but Bobby was there to set forth on a new journey every time he entered that magical place. If there were others, they didn’t concern him. He was there to continue his personal journey into the world of printed pages. For Bobby had that most cherished of all possessions: a library card. With his amazing library card, the young dreamer could search the shelves for just the right books. They were allowed to checkout three books at a time. This limitation annoyed little Bobby, but he had learned to live with it.

Once inside the magic doors, Bobby passed the people waiting at the checkout counter with their selection of books and entered into the new world of excitement. There he would let his imagination run free as he wandered through the enchanting aisles, reading the titles arranged neatly on the shelves. Row after row, the aisles seemed to go on forever. The endless shelves of exciting books were there waiting to be discovered. There must be some order in which the books were arranged in their categories, but the youngster didn’t want to waste time with systems. He just needed the names of the subjects on the end of each aisle to steer him to the books of interest.

After deciding on the books for the week and finally whittling the choice to the maximum allowed, Bobby would checkout the books. Deliberately noting the "Return By" date card inserted in the holder inside the back cover of each book, Bobby would leave the library through those magnificent double doors. The walk along the familiar route from the library to home was spent daydreaming about the contents of the precious bundle of books carefully tucked under his arm.

Several interesting books stand out in our hero’s memory, The Three Musketeers, The Life of Robert Houdin, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Man from Illinois, The Wonders of the World of Science, The History of Powered Flight, Lucky Lindy, The story of Lindbergh’s Journey, Tom Sawyer, The Last of the Mohicans and Bobby’s favorite, Young Tom Edison.

Young Bobby grew up and soon gave up the trips to the library. Reading became something that was required and became more of a chore than an interesting pastime. Other things now interested the young lad: girls, cars, sports, career, marriage and family. Eventually the pressures of career and family life lessened and our little hero returned to his first interest, reading.