Holy Library!
Filed under: Book Slut - March 28, 2007 @ 5:59 am
One last stop in Alton before hitting the fabulous Beall Mansion Bed & Breakfast - The Hayner Children’s Library. Just look at the place - they took a church and converted it into something USEFUL - stocking it with a huge array of books and media. It’s beautiful, with cathedral wood-beamed ceilings and a green glaze tile fireplace, and smells so good - like a university library. I was totally turned on.
And best of all, there were no kids there, so the place was quiet, serene, and I could sit and flip through the books in peace, as well as stare at the gangly teenage boys in button down shirts as they unsmilingly shelved carts of books. I wonder what they do for fun in this small town when they’re not working in a children’s library, what music they listen to in order to get the quiet out of their heads…
March 28th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Just remember that without the spritual aspiration for joy and heavenly redemption, the overwhelming scale and beauty of such buildings would be lost to much more utilitarian visionaries who’s god is a bit more cold, a bit more green, and a bit more obese on the food of greed.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:00 am
“Quiet?” Maybe compared to the Missouri side. As for music, most of the youths sport iPods (or the like). I don’t know what it does for the “quiet,” but it does tend to quell the voices…