Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-01-17
FROM NEW YORK.
Among ne Books and PnPcrs-The
Editor Of h Eclectic Magazine
Anecdotes of Englishmen-A Rare
Literary Dish for January--The Eng
ltsh Bible, DC, DC.

- VI INV NCACCNLC 1A1816AA4C-
Anecdotes of Englishmen-A Rare
Literary Dish for January-The Eng.
fish Bible, DC, dc.
Especial Correspondence of the Cleveland LEADER
To those who sre fond of books and
newspapers, who love to read, and keep
themselves posted in the literary world,
there is nothing of greater interest in the
city of New York than a'visit to the estab-
lishments where books and papers are
manufactured; than a chat with the ven
cradle editors, authors, and quill-drivers
who constantly keep up the supply which
the reading public is all the time demand
ing. Printing House Square, Nassau
street. and its vicinity, not to forget the
various publishers scattered up and down
Broadway, is rich in alT,that appertains to
books, magazines, newspapers, dime
novels, editors and authors. 1t is well for
US to take a peep at the powers behind
these thrones and learn what manner
of men and women those are who furnish
US with reading matter, and thereby, to q
certain extent lead the public mind.
Something more than mere curiosity
prompts us to this-many M have be-
come as familiar to US as our A, B Cs; we
have learned to lore them. Many maya
zines and newspapers are looked for i'm
patiently from month to month and week
to week; the book of some favorite author
is always in our hands, upon the study
table, or feeding our eyes with its rich
AkAv,-hkn - .nn11nn ~ 4ho chn6n ~ a
branching tree upon some cool, moss
covered bank. Of some of these
I hope to tell you. The United
States is as yet young in lit
erature and authors where VIC hsve but
half-a-dozen magazines and quarterlies,
Europe has fftyl And in the present ad-
vanced state of enlightenment and civ
ilization the people of this land and of this
day cannot afford to ignore the writings
of men and women in other countries.
The American must know what the lead
ing minds Of Europe think; the British
poet, tho Frsneh romanoor or political
writer, the German essayist or education
alist, must be as familiar to him as the
authors of his own land, hence it is that
many European authors are better read in
America than they are at home. ~ did
not know what fame was" said Charles
Dickens, "until 1 found my books being
read on the banks of the OhioT"
By the aid of steam and mighty print
ing presses books are now produced stimuli
taneously in both the old and the new
worlds; and magazines published in Eu-
rope are Immediately reproduced in
America. But unfortunately for most
men, life and the world is too much for
them. The thousand and one demands
made upon their time so I'll up the work.
ing moments that but little is left for the
pursuit Of any study, or the perusing of
but a fragment of the literature which
swarms from the press. Can We wonder
that q man becomes discouraged and per-
haps disguised with his futile powers,
when he daily sees his table loaded down
with scores of magazines, hundreds
of new books, and thousands of
papers! How can he aver read them all,
ever glance at their contents And
yet which n shall he give up? What
shall he let pass by unread Seated in
his Office at No. 5 Beekman street, New
York City, is the venerable Rev. W. II.
Bidwell, the editor of the Eclectic Maoa-
nine. Every month there comes to his
Office some thirty foreign magazines, or
about n each day the year round. You
may be sure he has to read pretty fast to
keep up with them. Think of q man
stufing himself with one or two hundred
pages of magazine and quarterly q day
Very likely many of my readers never
even heard the names of many of these
magazines, much less have they seen a
of them. Think how much there
is written which you will never read
or know about. From all these magazines
Mr.. Bidwell, as he expresses it, "skims off
cream and puts it into his Eclectic.
nearly thirty years he has been at his
post, and thousands OF middle-aged people
can now remember, in their childhood,
at the beautiful ~sngravings in the
Eclectic, mostly Of kings, queens and
princess, for Mr.. Bidwell is sometimes
facetiously termed "the friend Of sover-
I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr..
Bidwell several times, and have even spent
an hour chatting with him in his editorial
rooms, or saRctum sGnetoTunt. He is a
stout, healthy looking old gentle |
man, with 3 jolly good face, full of wit
and humor; he is very interesting in
conversation, and having long been an
editor as well as an extensive traveller in
he has a fund of anecdotes with
which to amuse and instruct his hearers.
He graduated at Yale College in 1877, l
shink, in the same class with DR.. Bacon,
n. P. Willis, and many others of note. |
Old DR.. Lyman Beecher was a particular |
of his, and he used to enjoy the
friendship and acquaintance of such men
Is Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and
many others of the great as well as the
good, who have departed from u midst.
Perhaps 1 ought not to mention it, but
Sir Morton Peto and his friends have
returned home, we may take it for granted
hat the English are a little better
posted in relation to America, and 1
eel sure you will pardon me. We were
of the ignorance which exists Tor
lid exist, l should say,) in the minds of
many intelligent Europeans about Amer
ca. at is q fact" exclaimed Mr.. Bid
veil, "they are ignorant. I was taking
walk over Black Friar's Bridge in Lon
early one morning, when I met a
veil dressed EngliBhman, and asked him
he could tell me what that large build
ng was at the right, at the same time re-
marking that l wasa stranger in the coun-
~, having just arrived from New York.
All replied the Englishman, you speak
ur language almsst as well as a nati7er"
Again." he continued, "I was in
large store shopping with my
rife. The clerks o found out
re were from New York. One of them
emarked that ne had "a friend going to
country SOON To what placer 1
skea him. Monte Vidsor was the reply.
lie gave me what he called a "perfect
'eecherism," and as it is not published in
biography of DR.. Lyman Beecher, 1
i'll repeat it. When DR.. Beecher was in
of the Lane Seminary, near Gin
lnnsti, Englishmen frequently wrote to
i'm, asking if there was any placs for
lem to settle in the valley of the Ohio.
Place, placer replied DR.. Beecher; 4
there's place enough-it's nothing but !
lace God never created such a place F' {
Having learned thus much of its I
litor, you will be pleased to hear a I
tile of the magazine. I have before ]
9 a copy of the January number for
s66, and unlike most magazine reviewers
have read every article between the COW
8, and therefore can speak by the book"
Q less than sixteen foreign magazines are F
i'd under contribution to furnish the con- P
nts for the commencement of the new {
of the Eclectic MGgazine.-sA splen- 1
a nn0Hou1.. e " q