It's a small library in a small town--Brinkley, Ark. (pop. 2,960 and dropping back in 2014) but there are those who love it. Not least because of its history in state law and its local brushes with some of the great and near-great figures on the national scene through the many years.
Formally known as the Harriett M. and William B. Folsom Memorial Library, it's a landmark that almost wasn't until this state's Supreme Court intervened to save it. And saving it certainly needed back in 1954, when a nephew and niece who'd received $2,000 and $1,500 respectively if not respectfully under Folsom's will, claimed that Mr. Folsom was demented at the time he made his will. Even though his wishes now seem not only perfectly sensible and beneficial, not to mention highly relevant. They shine with sense and sensibility every morning the old library opens its doors to the books and services inside.
Happily, Folsom's will was upheld by this state's courts time and again--first by a chancery court in nearby Forrest City on July 13, 1953, and then upheld in a majority opinion of the state's Supreme Court that written by His Honor Paul Ward the next year. In a comprehensive opinion (223 Ark. 489) deciding that Mr. Folsom was of sound mind when he wrote his will. If his was a case of dementia, may we all be so crazy and accomplish so much lasting good whatever our station in life and wherever we've wound up. To quote Mr. Justice Ward's wise words:
"Old age, physical incapacity and partial eclipse of the mind will not invalidate a will if the testator has sufficient capacity to remember the extent and condition of his property without prompting, to comprehend whom he is giving it, and be capable of appreciating the deserts and relation to him of others whom he excluded from participating in his estate." Which sounds like the start of an old folks' Bill of Rights. Or as Justice Ward went on to conclude from the overwhelming evidence at hand:
"The weight of the evidence shows that the testator in this instance had many times expressed the intention of giving the bulk of his property to establish a library for the town of Brinkley, that he fully comprehended the extent and condition of the property which he owned; that he knew whom it was giving it; and that he fully realized the relation which he bore to appellants and their natural claim to his bounty."
And so--oh, happy day!--the library opened April 1, 1956, and hasn't been closed since. Its first floor is reserved, naturally enough, for the printed word the Folsoms loved so much: books and papers. The law library where local attorneys once gathered to study is still there, a monument to diligence and ambition, and it's still used on occasion for taking depositions. (The second floor is reserved for the kitchen and bedrooms.)
To quote Martha Pineda, its director: "People have told us they'd be lost without the books . . . This is an instrumental part of their lives."
It's there not only to educate but to comfort, waiting to help those in search not only of knowledge for the future but help here and now. Just the other day, a woman who said she was homeless and had no other place to turn to showed up at the library looking for help. Which figures. "What other place," asked Director Pineda, "would have a better list of resources?" She called a minister, who volunteered his church's help. The director drove her to a local hotel, where the minister paid her bill. The good work of the Folsoms goes on to this day, leading by their kindly light. "We help a lot of people," she notes, God bless her and her storied library in Brinkley.
The library sits just across the street from Brinkley's city hall, where Mayor Billy Hankins sees it whenever he goes outside. "It's essential," he says. "It's a wonderful thing to have for our town, and we are proud to have it. It's a landmark for Brinkley."
Something tells us the Folsoms would be proud of it, too. Baxter Sharp, the city attorney in Brinkley, is also one of the library's trustees, and comes by that honor and responsibility almost as an inheritance, for his grandfather was one of the library's original trustees. He also seems to have inherited his grandfather's frugality, for the library operates on an annual budget of $19,200. And he adds: "A lot of the public doesn't know that we don't receive any funding from the county. The county gave us some money to help operate in the past, but they stopped that a few years ago." It's a great illustration of the American capacity for self-help. But that doesn't mean the library won't accept donations.
At this point, as Director Pineda notes, the Folsoms' far-sighted trust has kept the library going for more than six decades. "We are just going to keep on trucking," she vows. "We want to get more funds so we can start thinking of our future." Just as the Folsoms did in their fruitful time. From generation to generation, their trust--like the old library itself--goes marching on.
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Paul Greenberg is the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Editorial on 06/07/2017