Horace Greeley, in an article in a recent number of the 'Tribune,' says that the fund left by Smithson is spent by the regents of that institution in publishing books which no publisher would undertake and which do no good to anybody.

Now in our little town of Nantucket, with our little Atheneum, these volumes are in constant demand....
"I do not suppose that such works as those issued by the Smithsonian regents are appreciated by all who turn them over, but the ignorant learn that such things exist; they perceive that a higher cultivation than theirs is in the world, and they are stimulated to strive after greater excellence.

So I steadily advocate, in purchasing books for the Atheneum, the lifting of the people.

'Let us buy, not such books as the people want, but books just above their wants, and they will reach up to take what is put out for them.' "Sept.

10, 1855.