Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-07-25
ODDITIES OF AUTHORS
ln Givin: Titles TO the Productions
Of Their Brains.

in Givin. Titles TO the Productions
Of Their Brains.
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Though Shakespeare tells us that a
rose woul smell a> swcet hv any other
name, vet there is no doubt til 1t an at e
trActlve title gnei u great way toward
the pOpulariZat.on of new work. No
author was Ii ore keenly alive TO this
than Ii 'kenS. HIS titles are all in
tiinscally laughable, gro es Iue carl
catnreS on name. as it We're: The
Pi' kwick Papers, ""Ni. hoias Nickleby,r
Mart Il Chulzlew.t," David Copper
field, 10 hey and Son" Little Dor
rt" and "Barnaby i,u 'ge' are all
funny titles. Whether it is in the
oddity of the names, the queer iargon
of soun IS, or the as ociation with formal
ideas, the very title leads one to look
for drOllery. tn the other hand, Ed
mund Yates titles have a horsey an
sort OF nautical turn to them. Yet the
reader is lei to expect so ething on
the go" order. Broken to Harness "
"Wrecked in Port" Land at Last.
and TIE Rock Street" smack some
thing of the briny deep. "Running the
Gauntlet" and kissing the Rod" are
attractive, and have a gool deal of the
quality callel touch and go.
Some years ago the daughter of
Humphrey Marshall published novel
with the odl title. "As by Fire" AMI
Walt Whitman, the long haired poet
selected an equally odd one for his
eccentric prose poetry, Leaves of
Grass, as if the grass had leaves.
Alden, the funny man of The New York
Times, published his editorials under
the title of domestic Explosives" and
an English writer puts book on the
market, "The Splendid Advantages OF
Being Woman" ani the first of a num-
Der Of essays is upon this subject.
Charles Reade's titles have q sort
sermon in them-have motto cast to
them: Very Hard Cash, ,""Never Too
Late to Mend," pleasant reflection to
a man on the gallows or worn-out de-
bauchee on his death-bed; Put Yourself
in His Place." command that one
wouli prefer to ask whc SO place before
signifying assent. Hawthorne. Ann
Radcliffe and Edgar Allen Foe, all Sc
lected titles indicative OF mystery and
gloon, dark dungeons haunted houses
and ghosts; "The House OF Seven
Gahle'." by the former; "Mys-
teries of Udolpho.' "Count Al
vonto." by Miss Radcliffe: "The Devil in
the Belfry." Never Bet the De il
Your Head" "Ees .ent into the Mael-
strom," "The Masque of the Red
DEATH" "The Murders of the Rue
Morgue," by Poe. In 1903 a pamphlet
appeared with this strange title: The
Deformitie of Sin Cured, a sermon
preached at st. Michaers, Crooked
Lane, before the prince OF Orange, by
the Rev. j. Crookshanks. Sold by
Matthew Denton at the Crooked Billet.
near Cripplegate, and by all book
sellers The words of the text are
livery crooked path shall be made
straight" The prince before whom it
was delivered was deformed i'll person
Some Of the early theological writer's
were famous for allegorical titles. such
as The Heart Of Aaron" "Ihe Bones
of Joseph" "TEe arden OF Nuts" "A
Fan to Drive Away Flies" The Shop
of the Spiritual Apothecary." Matches
Lighted by Divine Fire" "The Gun OF
Peni.ence," etc. A famous old Puritan,
Sir Humphrey l. nd. published book
which Jesuit priest answered by an
other, entitled "a PAR of 81 ectacles
for Sir Humphrey Lind" and the old
pilgrim retorted by "A Case for Sir
Humphrey Lind's Spectacles."
Tho tfk1o ,,ora of 80 ,,,o.t
quaint: "A hundred sundrie fioweres,
bound up in one small poesie, gathered
partly by translation in the fvne and
outlandish gardens of Euripides Ovid,
Petrarch, Ariosto and others, and partly
by invention out of our own fruitful
orchardes in England, yielding sundrie
and divers swete savors of tragical,
comical and moral discourses, both
pleasant and profitable to the we'll
smelling noses of learned readers"
The curious titles are by no means
confined to authors now little known
and only valuable to the antiquarian
The oldity of the sub ects sele ted b.
some of the greatest authors would well
nigh fill o volume. Gray wrote oe n
on the death of Cat" Pope wrote o
poem on The Rape of a Lock of Hair"
and Dean Swift hal calculations on q
Broomstick." The learned Erasmus
discussed "The Source of Folly" and
one Joshua Burne, wrote a poem to
pro that Solomon was the author o
Homer's "Iliad," as ridiculous as Della
Bacon and Judge Nathaniel Holmes
book, in our da~, to prove that Lord
Bacon wrote Shakespeare. In an
cient times Apuleius selected for
. sub;ec the classic and refined
"Ass,' and Homer wrote a poem on
the battle between the Frogs and the
Mice"
Some authors have a fondness for
Scriptural titles, an the Psalms have
been cut up by piecemeal and made to
do service as titles for tracts and books.
There are "Green Pastures" Still
Waters" The Valley of the Shadow
of Death."" A Table n the Wilderness"
Crumbs Of Comfort" Amounting Oil"
"The Overlooking Cup" and Good
ness and Mercy" and so on through the
category.
A good title is lucky hit, an odd
one sure to attract attention, even if the
reader does not look ins de; but plain,
straightforward title, disclosing in
word, line. the scope, the intent, the
purpose of the book. is always prefer
able. if the author can compass it. Hit
ting the nail on the head is better than
going rounl obin Hood larn.
The Tragedies OF the Nest.
IIohI, he in Tl11.