The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-02-21
a NOVEL BILL.

There was novel bill before til
b. House of Representatives on Thurs
sh day night. 1t was intended for tn
10. encouragement of authors, and con
stituted the Supreme Judges and TIL
u superintendent Of Public educatio,
,e INTO standing committee on, Autho
W. snip, perpetual Examining Board t,
decide on the merits of books writer
: by Mississippi authors, and If foiiHd
j. worthy then the State was to buy, 2O(
v copies, and the State Superintendent
10 buy also two copies for each county
superintendent. The novel part OF
v the bill, as it strikes us from critical
c standpoint, is the absence Of all pro
) visions to pay the learned gentlemen
for the labor of examining and pass-
ing upon the works of Mississippi
genius in this line. Great publishing
houses pay large salaries to crit
les for the special purpose of
passing upon the worth Of new
books, and to do the work well moth
ing but the best order of talent will
answer as starting point, and then
IL requires patlentinvestigation, much
time and application. After all this
they very often allow books to be
printed that fall as flat as batter-ca&es.
The business of a critic is as much Il 1
speciality as the legitimate business |
Of JudgA, and decisions upon the
value of new book, harder to make
fthan those upon complicated law
case. Imagine our grave and able
|jurists of the Supreme court, rein
forced by the Superintendent ef Bdh-
cation, sitting lin solemn committee
for weeks, like the Legislative Commit
tee on Che new Code, over an elabo-
rate treatise on Arithmetic by Dominic
Welsh; OF prolonged, gushing, senti7
mental yarn of Miss Nancy McKen-
zie; or longitudinal dissertation upon
ABSTRACT Metaphysics, by Prof, Dana
phool; or note of 600 pages ICON .
tanning fiery warning Of the rapid $
approach of the moral Cyclops from
the pen of the Rev. Mr.. Intolerable I,(
Bore. Imagine these State critics and !
Governmental Victims corralled in \
in their literary State Chamber and "
by law to listen to the h
reading of chapter after chapter, in is
terspersed with elaborated parentheti- .
cal explanations as to the time, man o.
ner and style in which the several =, y,
and particular brilliant thoughts n
flashed upon the geniuses. Behold n,
jhe state y approach of the stage &C
struck hero rs he descends upon the "
awful critics with tragedy that he tie
intends they shall electrfy the world st
With. See them waylaid on the C'
treets, pursued to their private cham NJ
'ers, OF hauled down on the. Capitol ~
urb stones, and have roll of soiled D,
ools-cap pulled upon them without a fo,
warning or a chance for an
SCipc1 dlnl UllSll ullI phS DSuuluCu- vi
ion pictured upon the critical from NJ;
ispieces as they are forced to endure y
)r hours the fire of rhetoric and the ST;
latter of words How could a mortal M,
udge stand it, and keep out of the ge
unatic Asylum? of
And all this for nothing. We would m'
lther do the work Of a Supreme Tie
udge or be the Governor of State an
IAN to be such State Critic at the yo
me salary. III
ma
OF course such an Act would prove fin
farce-a superb farce-eveh If nclothed
it'll Legislative sanction. The man
ho originally invented the bill, how
'er, deserves honor for having adj
lnced an entirely new idea; but the on
Mus that has to be preserved by set
gislation is generally not worth pre- Th
rving. And if any of our geniuses iSf
include TO go into book-making it No. IT.,
Duld be better for them to submit fiji
cir manuscript fOl1os to the judg- 1877
ent of experts who have time to eX slol
nine them, and whose business it is Ion Pni
This singular bill passed the Senate on
it the House very properly squelch- Th'
it. sesS