NEWSLETTER No. 53 March 1992 Dear Friend of the Library, MEMBERSHIPS Thank you to all those who have renewed their membership, and welcome to new members, for 1992. Between the dates of our meetings in January and February, 40 good Friends renewed or joined. By February 26th, our total was 77 members, still short about 30 compared with the eventual 1991 total. Hopefully, the gap is still closing! BOOK SALE Yes, we are going to have a big one after all, on Saturday and Sunday, June 27th and 28th, and it will be held in the Ice Arena (across the way at the Community Centre). Book sorting has already started and will continue as and when discards become available. You will be glad to know that sorting will no longer be done "down in the dungeon", but in dry and warm (even if a wee bit cramped) conditions in the old Board of Health building next door to the library (on the west side). More volunteers are needed for sorting, so please contact Natalie Logan at 922-6281 to volunteer a few hours of your time (not necessarily all at once!) for this vital groundwork for the sale. Remember, many hands make light work - and it also gives you a chance to spot and reserve the odd book that may specially appeal to your tastes. One way to be ahead of the crowd. Natalie would be very happy to hear from you. Thanks! GOODWILL - BY DESIGN When you consider all the groups of people who don't get along with each other in this country [U.S.A.], it's surprising that the country works at all. You'd think we might have a Beirut or a Belfast here. Blacks and whites, for example, don't get along .... There's growing friction between the young and the old. In small towns the Baptists don't have much to do with the Methodists and neither of them speak often to the Catholics. Southerners resent Northerners and in every major city there are enclaves of Italians, Chinese, Germans and Vietnamese who don't mingle much with anyone who doesn't speak their language. Doctors and lawyers aren't looking each other in the eye on the street because of all the malpractice practice. Just when I get most depressed about all this, something happens to revive my confidence in the goodness of people, the greatness of our country and our common interest in things that are right. Last Tuesday after work, I stopped by the Whitney Museum in New York City because there was an exhibition of Shaker furniture that I'd been wanting to see. It had been there for several months and was closing soon. I thought I'd