For St. Andrew's Day

Late to the party, I know -- chalk it up to the 8 hour time difference between my home in the Pacific Northwest and all you Blippers in Scotland.

I don't know much about your St. Andrew, but there is another Andrew, born November 25, 1835, in Dunfermline, Scotland, for whom I have great gratitude.

Andrew Carnegie emigrated to the United States in 1848 with his family. They settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father found work in a cotton factory and young Andrew started his work life as a bobbin boy for $1.20 a week. I won't go into detail about his life, as you can read an excellent article on that topic here.

It's this that I want to make sure you see, from that article:
Fond of saying that "the man who dies rich dies disgraced," Carnegie then turned his attention to giving away his fortune. He abhorred charity, and instead put his money to use helping others help themselves. That was the reason he spent much of his collected fortune on establishing over 2,500 public libraries as well as supporting institutions of higher learning. By the time Carnegie's life was over, he gave away 350 million dollars.

Not much like the vast majority of wealthy business leaders today, was he?

Founded in 1904, Fairhaven Library is among the 1,681 public libraries in the United States funded by Andrew Carnegie. "My" library, as I think of it, is one of two neighborhood branches of the Bellingham Public Library downtown. The main library and its branches have an annual circulation 1.6 million items to more than 47,000 registered cardholders (58 percent of the city's population).

A good library was on the list of "must have" features when P and I were exploring new places to live, having grown weary of the Seattle traffic. This is an exceptional one -- it even has a cozy gas fireplace and comfortable seating, blipped by P last year.

Thank you, Andrew Carnegie.

(This article about the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Andrew Carnegie's last and largest philanthropic institution, may also be of interest --I had not realized the breadth of causes he helped.)

Entry modified after original posting to add a link to a photo of Fairhaven Library.