Long overdue

A man in America recently returned a book almost 100 years after the due date. What book could possibly have been worth keeping out for that long you ask…

“Facts I Ought to Know about the Government of My Country” by William H. Bartlett”

And what about the overdue fees on a book like this? Just $360, and they waived it.

Stanley Dudek returned the book, “Facts I Ought to Know about the Government of My Country” by William H. Bartlett, which was due on May 2, 1910. Dudek said he had found the book in his mother’s possessions after she died in 1998 and didn’t realize it was a library book until last year.

“I didn’t feel I should keep it any longer. It belongs to the people and city of New Bedford, the government. felt it was my duty to get it back to the library,” he said.

Fortunately for Dudek, the fine on the book — about $360, he said, or a penny for each day overdue, which was the charge way back when — was waived.