A Friend of the Boys and Girls of Forty Years Ago

A Friend of the Boys and Girls of Forty Years Ago. BY DR. JOSEPH M. TANNER.

I am asked by the editor to become reminiscent, and to write something of the life and character of James Dwyer, whose familiar figure on the streets of Salt Lake City, recently, re- called to the older generation a pioneer bock-man of Utah. A testimonial of the man, at this time, should bring com- fort to his declining years, and encour- agement to those who take satisfaction in the welfare and progress of their fel- low-men. Thirty and forty years ago James Dwyer's book store was a popular rendezvous for all

lovers of good books; James dwyer. an d to the student As he appeared in his book-store days, and as body of those days hundreds of students will remember him. there was a certain

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charm and inspiration in his acquaintance. In casting up the accounts of life, one always feels a special indebtedness to good books, and he who has introduced one to the best thoughts of the age may claim some grateful acknowledgement as a benefactor to one he has so cheerfully put on the track of useful information. The writer never meets James Dwyer upon the streets, or more frequently in some book store, without feelings of special gratitude to the man who in days gone by took so much pleasure in recommending to him good books. I think I may conservatively say, after years of travel in foreign lands and in our own coun- try, that I never knew what I considered a better book man than James Dwyer. He had the happy faculty of making one fall in love with a good book. True, it was the business of this pioneer book man to sell his books, but his gains, I am compelled to believe, were not by any means the highest pleasure he enjoyed whenever he won a convert to good reading. I dare say his ledger accounts of those early days will reveal a very generous credit which thousands enjoyed who sought the opportunities of something good to read; indeed, I never heard it said that his generous allowance for the honesty of those who wanted his books had much to do with the financial prosperity of his business. James Dwyer had the happy faculty of finding out what his books contained. I don't mean by that that he always read the books himself. He found out those who were competent to pass a reli- able judgment upon a new book or to designate the qualifications of the mind to appreciate the great authors of the past. "Take this book," Mr. Dwyer would sometimes say to the writer, "with my compliments. When you have read it, tell me briefly what it contains and the quality of mind required to appreciate it, and in what way it will be specially helpful to those who read it." When I first became acquainted with Mr. Dwyer, I marveled at what appeared to me his great familiarity with all kinds of books. I soon learned to place great confidence in his recommendations, and I have always taken a singular pleasure is confessing his great helpfulness to me in the choice of books, and his remarkable en- thusiasm always induced me to read almost every book I bought in his store. Such expressions as I have here voiced I have heard from scores of young men who felt in those early days that con-