University of Virginia Library

Relentless Perseverance

admonishments concerning
overdue books.

My wife had the misfortune
of becoming entangled in such
a correspondence over a
volume of Our Founder's
collected works, (thus making
the matter especially sensitive),
which she had neglected to
relinquish on the appointed
date. To compound the felony,
she checked the book out again
without having paid the
original fine, a paltry $1.50 or
so, and thereby confused the
records such that the second
due-date was not recognized,
and, despite the fact that the
book was subsequently
returned and produced for the
authorities on request, we are
now being enjoined to
contribute $10 (slightly more
than the retail value) to the
library for a volume which is
now, and has been for the past
three weeks unmolested on its
shelf.

The effect of this fine, and
the threats which accompanied
it has been two-fold; first it has
put us in awe of the library's
policing and punitive energies
and second it has instilled in an
an abiding good-will, such as
that of a repentant child for a
stern but fair-minded parent,
towards the library's relentless
ethical perseverance regardless
of manifest substantive
deficiencies. In the future we
shall diligently explore all
means to avoid putting
ourselves again in jeopardy of
this august institution's
dunning-power.