I have noted with considerable pain the opinions a Mr.
Kelly of Galway City has been enunciating regarding certain journals which he stigmatises as highbrow. They include Studies (The Universe), The Dublin Review, The Spectator, The Saturday Review and The Tablet. There are others, and the Galway County Library spends Li 2 a year on the lot. Mr•. Kelly wanted the money spent on children's books, particularly fairy tales, instead. Fortunately a Mr. McGuiness took the other view, though his conclusions appeal to me rather more than his arguments. He was sur- prised, he said, to find anyone pretending to be an Irish Nationalist use the word " highbrow," because it was only used in England, that land which was rotten with class- distinction, to denote specialisation. He added, with rather more sobriety, that these periodicals dealt with current affairs ; they were of a high cultural value. (I have taken quite a fancy to Mr. McGuiness.) In the end it was agreed to continue to stock the periodicals (which will involve the resurrection of the dead in the case of The Saturday Review) and to buy children's books as well for Mr. Kelly. * * * *
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