Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-14

WHAT WOMEN READ.
The Revelations Made by an Avenue
Bookstore Salesman.

WHAT WOMEN READ.
The Revelations Made by an Avenue
bookstore Salesman.
HOW CHEAP LITERATURE Is pRvouRED BIT THE FAIR
oNEssoAB OF The BOOKS THAT ARE MOST PoPU-
LAR-WHAT MEN READ-wHY STUDENTS AND sCIEN-
TIFIc MEN TAKE To TRASHY PUBLICATIoNS-THB
LITERARY TAsrE or TIE CHINESE LEGATION.
"Give me 'Thornsand Orange Blossoms" said
pretty little miss. upon whose cheeks was the
bloom of seventeen springs as she waltzed into
one of the principal book stores on the Avenue,
where periodicals and all sorts of literature are
sold You haven't got it? Oh. that's just aw-
fully horrid!" she exclaimed, as a provoked ex-
preston passed over her pretty face. and she
pohed her red parasol into pile OF Sea
sides" stacked upon the counter. NO. don't
want anything else. No one can write a novel
but Bertha NJ. Clay. and Thorns and Orange
Blossoms IS the .'Ciy one haven't Read"
1T is really somrthn~ appalling the number
OF cheap novels read by young girls" said the
dispenser OF literary consolation to a STAR re-
porter when the dissatisfied customer had taken
her departure 1t Is simply appalling" and he
shook his head mOurnfuy as he Strengthened
the pile of books the young girl had thrown
ASIDE petulantlv.
DO youn- ladies' generally read cheap litera-
tuIt: asked the reporter. becoming interested
"l'ey just devour it. and won't have any but
the cheapest ana conmOn,'st. They read all this
stuff he replied. sweeping his hand over the
huGe pie OIL paper covered volumes scattered
on the table in front of him. why. thronys of
young ladies and misses just from school come
here every day and buy the sensational love no
wells they find published in the Seaside. AXE
side Standard. Franklin Square and Lovers
libraries Such stories as "A Broken Wedding
Ring Her Mothers Sin,' Beauties Daughters
Faith aud Unfaith. Not Wisely, but Too Well
Good,by Sweetheart Airy. Fairy Lillian and
all of Rhoda BroughtOH's and Bertha NJ Claws
novels they read with avidity. Some young
ladies' buy as many as five or six Of these novels
in a week"
''DO you see those 'Seasdcs?'' he continued,
running through pile of probably two hun
dred paper bound volumes Those are lust
out, and the most of them are Of the class that
are most popular. yet young lady came i'm here
the other day and complained that they did moi
get OUT new stories fast enough. | went through
all those books with her and there was not u
love story or light novel of any kind among
them that she had not read. 'Oh, I've read 'em
all. she said. and think it's a real shame they
don't get out some new ones"
How many ofthese books have been issued?"
asked the reporter. astonished at the revela-
tIOns being made to him.
THE last issue is in the seventeen hundreds:
they go by numbers. This is No l. 1853 (picking
up DOCK from the pile): the number signifies
the number OF stories; not the number of vol
unes"
lis the sale of these books confined to young
ladies'"
Not bit Of it! The mammas are az fond of
li"ht reading as their romantic daughters. !
guess if you'd come in here some day and see
the BOOKS they buy. you'd believe me. 1t would
ast0nISh you II | should tell YOU the names of
some of our regular customers" Then. becom-
in9 confidential. he, leaned over and whispered
in the reporters ear.
whist" exclaimed the reporter. ''Is that so?
DO -! Then checking hmself as he caught
his niormants eye. "Oh. shant mention it,"
No; pray DON'T" pleaded the bookworm Il
Should never have told you. If their names
were to come out they'd never forgive me-
Being assured that he could always trust a re-
porter with secret. lie went Oh: The idea that
cheap literature is read mostly by shop girls APP
prentice boys. and the poorer classes is all
wrong. There are women OF culture and refine
ment who buy these books; women who have
abundant wealth and nothing to do but to re-
cline upon their upholstered sofas and
read No. they are not shop girls and chamber
maids, out fashionable women. vino ride up in
their carriages and take away loads OF common
trashy novels with them. a younr lady co!neS
here Regularly every week and buys lot OF
these books, generally getting tnree or four
written in German, besides several in English
the Seaside put! shes in both languages. She
Is an American. bat reads German, and appears
to be thoroughly educated anu refined Yet she
reads an almost unlimited amount of this
trash
How many Of those books do you sell-say
In week. asked the reporter.
1--WE have about two hundred regular lady
customers. You couldn't get enc of them t.
read book written by George Eliot. or by
any of the standard authors. Oh. no. But
they read these novels. and we se--il week
YOU say?-Weil. in Il week | guess we sell from
60 to $50 volumes"
Don't women ever bug better class of
literaturr?" asked the surprised scribe.
Yes. there are few spectacled spinstcrs
who come in to buy philosophical and religious
works. but these are very few, indeed. AMI they
generally ask for some text books that We don't
keep in stock"
women are very curious about brying
books" he continued the subject evidently
having fascination tor him. They will never
editions. those costing from 20 to 25 cents
When men come in they want the best ofeyery-
thing. Not so women. They always want tie
cheapest Women generally will never read a
novel until it comes out in the Seaside or
some other cheap form. We have had women
come here day after day to see it certain new
books were out in cheap edition yet Show them
the book they wanted in a fifty cent or dollar
edition and they would not touch it but would
wat and wait until it came out in 20 cent
pamphlet form. At the same time they will
spend their money eXtravagently in matters of
dress"
''Do men read much light martcr?"
mo. not generally. But sometimes scientific
men and students ask for Frank Leslie's and all
the pictoras down To- the Police GdzeHe They
read them as a kind Of rest tor the mind. they
say. There is II judge OF one of the courts here
who buys a great deal of this class OF reading
matter he members of the Chinese legation
also get considerable. There is one of the le-
CATION, however. a little fellow who wears
glasses. who never buys any but such works as
those of Emerson
IL ENARKAEsLE FEATS OF MEMORY.
An Incident in the Career of David
Paul brown.
To the Editor Of THE EVENING STAR:
The article in your issue Of November 10, on
the remarkable faculty of Senator Beck. copied
from the Louisville Courier Journal. reminds
me of an incident in the early legal experience
of the late David Paul Brown, Of PHILADELPHIA.
as related in his work 1.-The Forum and the
Bar" perhaps now hardly remembered-cer-
tainly never alluded to.
He was a young practitioner q believe ONLY
then about three years at the barr when iud,e
of Pennsylvania was impeached and tried be-
fore the senate or house. The impeach ed
Judge selected Mr.. Brown as his counsel. who
expressed doubt of the wisdom of his seec-