Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1885-01-01
NOAH WEBSTER.
Bill Nye Compares Noah Webster's
Books it'll His own.
For Tie courIer-Jourual,

S"oAs 11h his pWns
For the Courier-Jourual
/ Mr.. Webster, no doubt, had the best
command of language of any Ameri-
can author prior To our day. Those
who have read his pondsrouS but
rather disconnected romance known
as "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary,
or How One Word Lad on to An
/ other viii agree With me that he
was smart. Noah never lacked for
word by which to express himself.
He was a brainy man and a good spell
err
1t would i'll become me at this late
day to criticize Mr. Websters great
work-a work that is now in every
/ library, schoolroom and counting
house in the land. 1t is great book.
| only hope that had Mr.. Webster
lived he would have been equally fair
/ in his criticism Of my books
/ hate to compare my own works
with those OF Mr.. Webster, because it
may seem egotistiosl in noe to point
out the good points in my literary la.
bors; but | have often heard il said,
and so do not state it solely upon my
own responsibility, that Mr.. Webster's
book does not retain the interest of
the reader all the way through.
He tries to intoduce too many char
acters, and SO we can not follow them
all the way through Ii is a good
book TO pick up and while away an
idle hour with, perhaps, bu, no one
would cling TO it at night TIL TIE fire
ahn 10 hsril auf
plot, and the glowing career OF the
hero.
Therein consists the great difference
between Mr. Webster and myself A
friend Of mine at Sing Sing once wrote
me that from the moment he got hold
of my book he never left his room un
til he finished it. He seemed chained
TO the SPOT, he said, and If you can't
believe convict, whe is entirely out
Of politics, who IA the name OF George
Washington can you beheve3
Mr. Webster was most assuredly a
brilliant writer, and have discovered
in his later editions 600 words, no
two of which are alike. This shows
great Huency aud versatility, tits true,
but we need something else The
reader waits in vain to be thrilled by
the authors wonderful word painting.
There is not a thrill in the whole time,
| had read SO much of Mr.. Webster
that when / read his book ! confess |
was disappointed. tits cold, method
ical and dispassionatc Ia the extreme.
As | said, however, tits good book
TO pick up for the purpose of willing
away an idle moment, and no one
should start out on long journey
without Mr.. Webster's tale in his peck
ct. 1t has broken the monotony of
many a tedious trip for nae.
Mr.. Websters ''Speller' was a work
of less pretensiOns, perhaps, aud yet 1t
had an Immense sale. Eight years
ago this book had reached sale Of
40, 600, 600, and yet it had the same
grave defect. 1t was disconnected,
cold, prosy aud dull. / read 1t for
years, and at last became a close stu
dent of Mr.. Webster's style, yet |
never found but one thing in his book,
! for which there seems TO have been
such perfect stampede, that was even
ordinarily interesting and that was a
I little gem. Ii was so thrilling IN its
details, and so Numerically different
I from Mr.. Webster's style, that | have
often wondered who he got to write
it for him. 1t related to the discovery
of boy by an elderly gentleman in
the crotch Of OF an ancestral apple
tree, and the feeling of bitterness and
animosity that sprang up at that time
between the boy and the elderly gen
tleuaan.
Though | have been close STUDENT
of Mr.. Webster for years, | am free TO
say, and do not wish TO do an Unjust
ice to great man in doing SO, that
his ideas Of literature and my own are
entirely dissimilar Possibly his book
has had little larger sale than mine,
but that makes no difference When
| write a book IL must engage the in
terest OF the reader, and show some
plot to it. 1t must not be jerky in
It's style aad scattering in its state
ments.
know it is great temptation to
write book that will sell, but we
should have a higher object than
that
do not wish to do an injustice to a
man who has done so much for the
world, and one who could spell the
longest word without hesitation, but |
speak Of these things just as ! would
expect people to criticize my work.
II we aspire to moAkey with the
litterati Of our day we must expect to
be criticized. That's the way look
at IT. BILL NYE.
z. 81 might also state that Noah
Webster was a member Of the Legis-
lature Of Massachusetts at one time,
and though | ought not TO throw it
up to him at this date, / think 1t moth
ing more than right that the public
should know the truth. BILL NYE
HUDSON, WIS Dec Q.